Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 273: Unaware [Bonus - ]

Chapter 273: Unaware [Bonus Chapter]

Since it was Julia’s handmaid who paid the palace maids, Arabella arranged a meeting with her.

As usual, Rendell was with her. But Alwin, disguised as a knight, also stayed by her side this time to ensure she was safe and to catch the culprit who paid the palace maids.

Ferdinand wanted to come too but he had a lot of work to do. A lot of urgent documents just came from Riva so he had no choice but to work first.

Arabella assured her husband she would be fine since she won’t be alone.

Alwin could just teleport her to the mansion the instant they sensed danger.

Ferdinand still insisted on increasing the number of her guards though so more knights were with her today.

Arabella was sure it would look intimidating to Julia but there was nothing she could do. Who knows if Lucille had something else planned out? Arabella was not keen on getting hurt either so more guards should be fine.

As Arabella had expected, Julia was taken aback at the sight of more knights guarding her.

[Did something happen? Why did the number of guards following her double? Or do they think our residence lacked security measures? Or was it because last time there were suddenly many more attendees when I hosted our tea party?]

Julia got nervous at the sight of the knights but she welcomed Arabella without panicking thoughts or fear that she was caught.

’Hmm. Does this mean Julia is not aware?’ Arabella carefully observed Julia’s every move and listened to her thoughts.

"Please excuse my guards. These two have to be with me," Arabella gestured to Rendell and Alwin. She meant they would stay close to her even during their conversation. They would not stay outside the room as guards usually do during tea parties.

"Oh, right. Of course. I don’t mind," Julia smiled politely.

"I hope it won’t make you uncomfortable."

She already knew though that it would. Having their guards with them limits the topic they could talk about.

"It’s alright. I know it’s important to have your guards with you," Julia readily agreed even though having Alwin and Rendell around clearly made her nervous.

Julia was too used to just saying yes to whatever everyone with a higher rank tells her to do so she wouldn’t offend anyone and possibly put her kingdom at a disadvantage or in danger.

Arabella had not yet informed Julia about the real purpose of this tea party. She only told Julia she had something important to talk about and warned Julia not to inform anyone else about their meeting aside from her most trusted maid and guard.

After all, Julia could have been the one who instructed her handmaid on what to do.

Julia then only told everyone that she had an important guest today but did not say it was Arabella.

They had the usual tea party and talked about how each of them was faring.

Julia was nervous at first due to Alwin and Rendell’s presence but she gradually relaxed and forgot about the two.

Arabella did not catch Julia thinking about the incident yesterday. But she did learn that Julia, Lucille, Carmella, and Marisa were all together yesterday.

They were picking pieces of jewelry since the most famous shops from Medeus were invited to the Grand Palace. It was the same as the event the princesses yesterday had said they were going to.

Arabella stopped herself from smiling as Julia said Lucille was the one who invited them and the one who organized the event.

’I see. No wonder their venue was right in front of the room Sera and I were supposed to meet in.’

"Lucille did not invite you since there was a meeting of rulers again yesterday," Julia explained, worried that Arabella might think they left her out on purpose.

The meetings usually ended before or after lunch. It may take the whole day as well. But the meeting yesterday was scheduled to end at lunchtime and it did since everyone had their own appointments.

"What a coincidence. I had an appointment on that wing of the palace yesterday. The meeting ended early so I had another appointment scheduled. But it was canceled because someone tried to harm me," Arabella began the topic they were supposed to discuss today.

"Oh my! What happened? I didn’t hear any news about it. Did you get hurt? Is it alright for you to be going out now?" Julia was genuinely worried.

It made Alwin and Rendell frown.

"I’m alright since my guards were able to get me out of the situation before it escalated. However, it would have been bad if I wasn’t able to get out of it," Arabella said and Rendell blushed in embarrassment.

[I merely followed Her Majesty yesterday. I should have indeed taken her out of that room the instant I learned it was a man who was inside and not the one she was supposed to meet.] Rendell reflected.

Arabella felt bad. She was not trying to say Rendell was not doing his job. She was simply telling Julia that her guards helped her get away from the situation.

After all, it was Alwin who teleported her back to the mansion and Rendell vouched for her innocence.

Ferdinand already knew that Arabella was indeed innocent and did not plan to meet Andrew at all. But it was still better that Rendell fully vouched for her.

"Thank goodness. Then they were caught, right? Those who tried to harm you," Julia didn’t have a clue about what was going on.

"That was what I came here for," Arabella said and Julia blinked repeatedly in surprise.

"What do you mean?"

When Arabella informed Julia that someone who set her up could be someone among her handmaids, Julia instantly said it wasn’t them since they would never dare provoke the Empire.

As she had suspected, Arabella was able to tell through Julia’s thoughts that the latter was not aware of the setup. This meant the maid had done it behind Julia’s back.

"Then, can we please let us meet all your personal maids? I believe the palace maids would be able to tell who had paid them to do all those. If it’s none of your maids, then I would be very much relieved," Arabella smiled and Julia flinched.

[What should I do? I’m sure none of my maids would have done something this horrifying. But what if they find the person they were looking for among my maids? What would happen to me and our Kingdom? Would Valeria be hostile to us from now on? Would they have all my maids killed? Arabella wouldn’t do that, right?]

Julia turned pale. Her maids were quite close to her after all. She grew up with some of them while the others had been taking care of her since she was a child.

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