Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 195: Tempter and Savior

Chapter 195: Tempter and Savior

"You are not allowed to die again," Little Arabella heard a voice say as she felt someone carry her.

She was finally able to breathe again. She clung to whoever it was as she coughed up the water she had swallowed.

Little Arabella opened her eyes and it was hazy but she recognized that this person was different from the man earlier. It was another man.

"Ella . . . Where are you? Ella?"

She heard her brother’s voice.

Shortly after, there were more people yelling her name, searching for her. They must have heard her scream.

The man who pulled her out of the water stopped moving and she panicked when she felt he was settling her down.

"No!!"

She gripped at his clothes but she was too weak to hold on. And her eyes were becoming even more blurry as her consciousness was fading yet again.

"It’s alright now," he assured her and somehow, Little Arabella felt a surge of comfort and let go of his clothes.

The man soon vanished into the darkness as if he was never there.

Little Arabella closed her eyes as she felt so sleepy. She heard footsteps closing in and she could hear her brother’s voice drawing close.

"Ella!" he screamed and she was soon gathered in his arms. "Call the doctors immediately!"

Her brother carried her and just as she gave a glance at the pond, Arabella once again saw the man who saved her.

She extended her hand to wave at him but she saw the man who tempted her to walk into the pond appear beside him.

"Stop meddling with human lives," her savior said.

"What are you talking about? Isn’t it fun? I was even able to drag you out here," her tempter replied.

Little Arabella wondered why the knights were searching around for possible intruders who could have entered when the culprit of her "accident" was standing over the pond right in front of them.

"Brother, he’s right there," she tugged at her brother’s clothes and pointed at the pond.

Benjamin glanced at the pond and frowned.

"Where? No one’s there," her brother replied.

"Oops. Forgot the little one’s still awake," her tempter said and pointed at her.

Arabella’s head suddenly felt heavy and her eyelids closed on their own. She soon lost consciousness.

And when she woke up, she could not recall how she fell into the pond or how she was able to get out of it. She could not even recall it was her elder brother who found her.

But she does recall the feeling of suffocating underwater with nothing but darkness surrounding her.

Since then, she was afraid of any body of water when it was dark. And she never dared nor was she allowed, to have swimming lessons.

* * *

Arabella felt a lump in her throat. She was never able to recall this memory before.

Since she was a child, her head ached every time she thought about the night she almost drowned in a pond. And she could still recall the fear she felt then. It was why she was so scared of drowning.

She thought she had perhaps, slipped and fallen into the pond. But now, she could suddenly recall what truly happened.

The man who tempted her to pick the glowing flower was the man in Alwin’s thoughts.

Arabella was only able to recall what happened in the past after seeing that man’s face in Alwin’s mind.

The man tempted her to go into the water. Now that she thought about it, his eyes looked rather scary though he was smiling. And she could barely hear the sound of a chuckle as she was clinging to the flower for life.

It was as if he intentionally invited her to watch her drown. Though he did vanish, it was as if he was still there watching when she was struggling for her life.

’I was just a child then. Why would he want to kill me?!’

Arabella was horrified to know that an experience that had been a source of fear for her even now was actually an attempt to kill her.

If no one pulled her out of the water, she may have been dead long ago.

And the man who pulled her out of the water . . . it was someone who looked like Ferdinand.

Her vision then was hazy but she was sure he resembled Ferdinand very much. His voice sounded like him too. But somewhat different.

’Was it Ferdinand?!’ she wondered at the possibility.

’No, how could it be him? At that time he was probably here in Valeria. And he would be in a body that was just five years older than me.’

Did he have a brother?

No, he was an only child.

Or maybe, it was his father?

But Ferdinand didn’t resemble his father that much.

’No, the former Emperor and Empress don’t resemble him. They may not be Ferdinand’s parents just like Raymond was not Regis’ son.’

Arabella had been thinking about it ever since she learned that Raymond was not related to Regis.

She checked the portraits of the former Empress and Emperor and they did not resemble Ferdinand except for the color of his eyes which was the same as the late Emperor.

But due to that one thing they had in common, she cannot rule out that maybe, they were Ferdinand’s real parents. If they died here, they must be in Estrella now.

Ferdinand had portraits with them when he was young too and they looked like a happy family.

But if they were Ferdinand’s parents, who was the man who saved her? He truly resembled Ferdinand.

"You are not allowed to die again."

Arabella shivered when she recalled those words. It was indeed Ferdinand’s voice. Or someone whose voice sounded like his. It reminded her of how Ferdinand looked when she died.

"Your Majesty?!"

"Your Majesty? Are you alright?!"

Arabella blinked repeatedly when she realized Alwin was asking so closely with an alarmed expression.

[I thought she was suddenly horrified of me but I realized she wasn’t looking at me but beyond me so I thought an enemy came to attack. Or that bastard may have hidden his presence to come and try to meddle with things again.]