Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 223: Assassins

Chapter 223: Assassins

"Ferdinand, it hurts," Arabella complained when he held her too tightly. Her bones might break if she doesn’t stop him.

’Did he always embrace me this tightly in his dreams?’

He was so much more gentle to her in reality.

"I’m so sorry!" Ferdinand instantly raised his hands with open palms.

"Geez. What are you doing? How much longer are you going to keep insisting this is a dream?" she frowned at him.

"It isn’t one?!" Ferdinand looked around.

"It isn’t."

Her husband blinked twice and glanced at the window and asked Rendell what the time was. Rendell replied just fine.

"We truly spoke about all that?!" he verified.

It seems that after all the nightmares her husband had about her not accepting him, it was so hard for him that this was indeed happening.

He also couldn’t believe he suddenly told her he was truly a dragon because they were speaking dragons. He originally planned to just ask if she was fine with the marriage of other races to humans.

"Yes, we did," Arabella smiled.

"You truly accept me even if I’m a pureblooded dragon?" he asked for the nth time.

"Yes," Arabella held his hand to assure him she truly does. That she was not disgusted or scared of him because of it. He glanced at the wedding ring on her finger.

Ferdinand was speechless and just stared at her for a few seconds. He cupped her face with both hands and gazed into her eyes before he once again asked if she indeed still accepts him as her husband despite being a dragon.

When Arabella’s answer didn’t change, Ferdinand sighed in relief and embraced her tight.

"Thank you," he said with so much emotion in his voice. "Thank you."

Arabella smiled and embraced him back. She gently patted his back and he held her even tighter.

[If I had known she would accept me with a smile on her face, I would have told her sooner. What did I hesitate for all this time? I should have told her sooner.]

Arabella was simply glad Ferdinand finally told her though. She could understand his fear and hesitation after learning why he couldn’t tell her much sooner.

If it was her in her previous life, she knew she wouldn’t have accepted him if he told her right on their wedding night or before their marriage.

Back then, she was still hurting because of her breakup with Andrew so she would have finally had a reason to be able to leave Ferdinand if he told her he was a dragon.

She was only able to accept Ferdinand easily now because of the past life they had before and the truth she learned after death.

And another reason was that she wanted to see Fermin again. She wasn’t sure he would be born again in this life but she wanted to take the chance. Fermin resembled Ferdinand so much. He’s the only one who could be Fermin’s father if he was ever born again.

Moreover, was it just her or this Ferdinand was somehow so much more adorable than he ever was in their past life?

She has her promise to be with Ferdinand in this life too and atone for what she had done before.

Perhaps, this life was both their chance to change. And they both took the courage to take a step forward. It was different compared with how they used to in their past life when they were both swallowed by whatever their reasons were for not reaching out to each other.

This time, they were both changing. All the more as they respond to each other’s changes.

"Thank you for telling me. I am grateful you were honest with me," Arabella kissed her husband on the cheek.

"I cannot describe the relief and happiness I feel right now to hear that you still accept me despite what I am," Ferdinand kissed her tenderly. He had a relieved smile when they broke apart. Not being able to tell her his identity had been heavy on him.

[I feel so warm inside that I want to share this feeling with her.] He embraced her tight again and they just stayed like that silently listening to each other’s breathing.

Until Ferdinand wondered why she could accept him so easily. He apparently had some of his people gather and read about Lobelian folklore and dragons were portrayed as evil and cruel in all of them.

Thus, it was a puzzle that she was able to accept him just like this. He surmised it could indeed be because of Esmeralda and Blanca who were both of a different race. But they were not portrayed as evil as dragons were.

Ferdinand wanted to ask her but before he could, the carriage suddenly stopped and her husband’s expression changed.

[Sneaky bastards again. And they surrounded my wife’s carriage, not mine. These bastards! Are they trying to harm her instead because they know they cannot harm me? I’ll kill them all.] Ferdinand’s expression darkened.

This time, Arabella found his expression kind of scary. But she had seen this expression before so it didn’t scare her as much as it did in her previous life.

"What’s going on?" she glanced at the windows and saw that their knights had surrounded them so she could not see what was happening.

"Some rats had come to make trouble. But you don’t have to worry about anything. The knights will take care of them," Ferdinand closed the blinds so she could not see what was happening outside.

Arabella was could not see what was happening but she heard the sound of fighting. It still made her restless.

’Right. Of course, this would happen.’

The Empire had a lot of enemies though most hid their talons and attacked in secret. In the past life, some never showed any sign of hostility until an opportunity came.

This was was the first time Ferdinand was attending the Assembly himself. They knew possible routes from Valeria and the one that passed through Olivier took the shortest time.

Arabella was glad they had Dimo teleported to the magic tower first. He wouldn’t have to experience this.

"Fear not. I will protect you. They won’t even be able to touch a single strand of your hair," Ferdinand assured her.

"Right. I have the strongest person in Eliora right here with me," Arabella smiled. Her husband was so reliable when it comes to this.

He then informed her that when she was asleep, different groups of assassins apparently tried to attack the inn they stayed in last night. Ferdinand had made Alwin put up a barrier so Arabella didn’t even hear the sound of the battle.

The knights eliminated the attackers and tried to capture some alive. But the assassins killed themselves so no information would be extracted from them. Whoever sent them was wary because it was the Empire they were challenging.

"I slept so soundly while something like that was happening?!" Arabella was horrified.

"You don’t have to be bothered by them. Everyone does their job well so you can be at ease and still have a safe journey." he gently stoked her hair.

Ferdinand didn’t want her daily routine which was already disturbed by this journey to be disturbed even more because of his horrible reputation and enemies.

As much as possible, he didn’t even want to inform her about the assassins so she could have the journey with some peace of mind. But then, here came another group that attacked in broad daylight.

The fighting went on as Arabella and Ferdinand listened.

[This group seems to be better than the groups last night. It seems they had confidence in themselves so they didn’t bother to wait until night came. Did they think I would let my wife be guarded by a lousy bunch?] Ferdinand was irritated that they were underestimating how he valued Arabella’s safety.

After a while, the sound of metal hitting metal outside soon stopped.

Arabella wanted to look but Ferdinand didn’t let her so she would be able to proceed on the journey without thinking about their bloodied corpses.

"Insignificant nobodies have no right to occupy your mind," was what he said when she tried to open the blinds.

Rendell and the Grand Commander reported that there were no casualties on their side.

Ferdinand’s knights were strong after all. They fought huge monsters in Safiro as if they were normal beasts.

Alwin was also here with them. It was his pride to ensure not even a single one of their knights was missing or would go to Medues with an injury.

Any injuries on their side, Alwin healed once the assassins had left.

They were not revealing the fact that Ferdinand’s legendary magician went with them to Medeus.

But of course, the carriage was still surrounded by a magic barrier so even if one managed to go pass the knights, they would not be able to get near the carriage at all.

Alwin was their strongest defense and Ferdinand himself was their strongest offense so Arabella didn’t have anything to worry about.

The sound of the battle just reminded her of her last day in Riva in the past life so it made her jumpy.

After the knights and Alwin cleaned up, they resumed the journey as if nothing happened. But after an hour, another group of assassins attacked them. The knights fought them again until they could continue heading to Medeus.

If they had used the route at the borders, they would been attack by more assassins. Passing through Olivier already made their attackers lesser.

Arabella was no longer in the mood to eat lunch anymore when mealtime came. But she did her best to eat as she usually does so as not to worry Ferdinand.

She also didn’t want to be tense in front of Rendell and the knights since they were doing their jobs properly. She didn’t want them to think she didn’t trust in their strength.

Tip: You can use left, right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.Tap the middle of the screen to reveal Reading Options.

If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report