Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 279: Do Not Ever Say Yes

Chapter 279: Do Not Ever Say Yes

Rendell apologized to Arabella for not being able to protect her. He said he should have been able to sense something was wrong. He was standing close by when it happened but he did not notice anything amiss.

But even Arabella who could hear thoughts was not able to notice that something was wrong. She figured that the one who poisoned her was probably not in the event so she did not hear their thoughts at all.

Though he was caught and was temporarily imprisoned until they find more evidence, the waiter who gave her the wine was probably ignorant that it had poison in it.

"It wasn’t your fault. It happened so suddenly," Arabella tried to reassure Rendell but he still kept apologizing. He only left the room when Arabella accepted his apology. He also promised to protect her as best he can in the future.

Arabella did not doubt his words at all. In her past life, Rendell had saved her from several poisoning attempts in Riva. No one succeeded because he was her guard.

[Should I go and kill them right now? No, I can’t possibly leave my wife’s side. What if something happened to her again while I was away? I just turned my back a bit to speak with someone and she was poisoned. I will never leave her side again.]

Arabella flinched when she heard her husband’s thoughts.

Ferdinand’s thoughts kept shifting from worried to angry to gloomy and worried again. He was moody and unstable because of all the emotions he went through ever since Arabella got poisoned.

Just thinking about what happened infuriated him so much that his eyes seemed to change color to dark green then to black, and every now and then, it even seemed to turn reddish. Or was it her imagination?

When Ferdinand was told to calm down, he becomes gloomy. When he recalls the state she was in earlier and the previous days, he becomes too anxious. Soon, he vents and blames it all on those who poisoned her and his fury rises again.

Alwin explained what happened to Arabella since her husband cannot be calm enough to explain it all.

According to him, after Arabella lost consciousness, Ferdinand caught her and Alwin teleported them to the mansion while Rendell and Riley gathered all the evidence they could from the banquet.

Alwin detoxified the poison and healed her immediately to prevent it from spreading further. Her complexion, heartbeat, and blood flow all returned to normal.

However, Arabella did not wake up even after a day so they brought her to Estrella where Alwin could examine her without his limiters and even Ferdinand could use a bit of his abilities and examine her as well.

Once they were in Estrella, both Alwin and Ferdinand examined her repeatedly but found no remnants of the poison remaining in her bloodstream. Alwin was able to detoxify all of it completely.

However, Arabella still did not wake up even after they healed her repeatedly. Nothing was wrong with her body.

Until Alwin checked her soul and realized that once again, just like the last time she lost consciousness, her soul seemed to be wandering elsewhere.

Arabella soon began having fevers and convulsions so Ferdinand and Alwin ensured they were always close by to lower her temperature when it goes too high and increase it when it goes too low.

Earlier, her soul almost left her body and her heart even stopped beating. Her body temperature suddenly dropped rapidly too until she became cold as a corpse as if she had already died.

Her mana seemed to be getting sucked out of her by something but they couldn’t stop it. Ferdinand supplied her with his own so her body would not become empty.

When they applied purification spells on her, she finally became stable. They rechecked her for any spells or curses but found none as well so they were puzzled as to why they needed to use purification spells.

"This was almost the same as the last time Your Majesty lost consciousness but also different. Did you dream of something, Your Majesty?" Alwin inquired and she shivered at the memory of her weird dream.

"Yes. I had a nightmare. Something was chasing me so I kept running without knowing what it was. When I stopped and turned around, no one was there. Nothing but darkness. But the shadows moved. I felt like I was in danger so I decided to run again but I was caught. I felt my body going numb and cold as if they were absorbing all the warmth in my body," Arabella braced herself at the memory. Ferdinand held her.

[If darkness and shadows were chasing her, was it someone under the God of Darkness? But he has no reason to interfere. Or was it the God of Death? She sensed danger. She had died before so perhaps someone under him thought it was unfair she was living again and was trying to kill her. But who would it be that I cannot sense their presence at all?] Alwin was in deep thought.

’They can try to kill me because they thought it was unfair?’ Arabella realized she cannot relax at all.

She just got poisoned but someone under the God of Death may have just attempted to kill her.

Alwin and Ferdinand thought that it must be because she was in a life-and-death situation. She was close to death so the underlings of the God of Death had the chance to try to kill her.

It was such a scary thought. Not only humans were trying to kill her now. Even beings under the gods. Could she even protect herself from something like this?

"Did they say anything in particular?" Alwin followed up.

"Yes. The inscrutable voice was inviting me to go to the land of rest."

[That’s the realm of the dead!] Alwin and Ferdinand were both wide-eyed.

’Thank goodness I refused. I knew they were just sugarcoating it,’ Arabella internally sighed.

"What did you say?" Ferdinand asked in alarm.

"Of course, I refused. I’m too young to be resting. I still have a lot to do in this world. And I can’t possibly leave you alone, can I?" Arabella said and her husband gave her a hug.

[I see. That must be why. They won’t be able to take her against her will. As long as she refuses, they won’t be able to take her with them.] Alwin sighed in relief as well.

[Those cowards. I kept asking them to come and take me but they never came. Now they approach my wife the instant she almost died. I had been asking them to take me for thousands of years.] Ferdinand thought and it was Arabella’s turn to be wide-eyed.

’Ferdinand had been longing to die for such a long time?’

"Arabella, no matter what, please say no to such invitations. Those are tricks from the minions of the God of Death. If you had agreed, I would have lost you," Ferdinand held her hand.

"Yes, I won’t ever go with them until my time has come," Arabella smiled, and yet her response still didn’t sit well with her husband.

[I won’t let that time come.]

’But everyone would die someday,’ Arabella wondered how to explain it to her long-lived husband but she better not. After seeing her almost die, he was still very much emotional.

{My lord, I need to cast a protection spell against them. Please allow me to touch Her Majesty’s hand.} Alwin asked permission from Ferdinand first. He knew his master was too emotional right now that he might get furious if he didn’t ask him first.

{Fine, make it quick.} Ferdinand replied with a glare.

"Your Majesty, please allow me to cast a protection spell to prevent those beings from approaching you again. This is only a temporary solution but at least we would be able to ward them off in the meantime," Alwin explained and Arabella nodded.

Alwin cast spells on her hands and forehead. He only touched her for a second or two but he still asked Ferdinand for permission.

Once his task was done, Alwin excused himself.

Arabella was carried to her husband’s lap the instant Alwin turned his back.

"Oh, right. Your Majesty, please hold back. Her Majesty needs to rest," Alwin sighed when he saw the position they were in when he glanced back.

"I know! Just leave already. I want to be alone with my wife now," Ferdinand glared and Alwin bowed and continued walking to the door.

[Right. I don’t have to tell him. He was able to hold back for months after all.] Alwin thought.

’Huh?! Alwin knew about that now? How did he know? Just recently he thought Ferdinand and I were being intimate every chance we get.’

[It’s hard to believe they haven’t gone all the way now. But that can be the only reason Her Majesty still has zero resistance to poison. If they had been consummating every night they were together, she should have been resistant to a lot of poisons by now. I don’t know how he managed but if they had consummated since their first night, this wouldn’t have happened.]

’What does he mean? Sleeping with Ferdinand can give me resistance to poison?’ Arabella gazed at her husband who was currently wrapped around her.