Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 458: Things They Must Do

Chapter 458: Things They Must Do

"Why did you sigh like that?"

"I thought you would scold me because I just used your seal without permission," Arabella admitted.

"As I said earlier, you can use my seal as much as you please. I give you permission. I’ll write down an edict, so no one can complain if they realize it wasn’t me who did those documents."

"Thank you," Arabella was amazed and touched at how much Ferdinand trusted her. She could use his seal for a lot of evil and selfish things, and yet, he was even writing an edict that allowed her to use it as she pleased.

"I’m the one who should be thankful. You did both my work and Raymond’s in addition to yours. We both panicked and failed to consider these things. Thank you for covering for us. The Ministers would have been at their wits if all these documents were delayed without proper explanation. You did everything so well too. I might end up wanting you to work in my office instead of your own," Ferdinand praised and thanked her instead.

"You are praising me too much," it made Arabella blush. She did not expect anything in doing all the workload. She simply thought of distracting herself with work, so she was immersed in it for days.

"Because you deserve it. This much praise is not enough. I’m going to keep praising you later," Ferdinand kissed her forehead.

It felt so nice to be praised like this when she wasn’t expecting it at all.

"Is there someone you can trust among your assistants that you would like to help with your work? I can have Raymond and Riley bring them here. All this is still too much work for just two people," Ferdinand was talking about her assistants back in the Imperial Palace in Riva.

"Hmm, it would indeed be much easier if had someone from them. Since Rowan is Raymond’s assistant here, I can let him focus on all of Raymond’s work. I can focus on yours and have my assistant do mine."

Arabella thought about it, and she knew who she wanted to be here.

"Ivan. He is the best of them all. I’m sure he can do my workload just fine."

’He would surely be taken aback and overwhelmed at first to be entrusted with the work that I, myself, should do. But I’m sure he will perform well.’

[I thought she would choose one of the ladies. It’s a man. And it’s that man again. I noticed it back then, but he seems to be her favorite.]

Arabella chuckled when she heard her husband’s thoughts.

"What are you worried about? Ivan knows his bounds. If you are still worried, we can have Ronald with us too."

’He would be the next Prime Minister so it would be a good experience for him to begin doing more complicated work that had a lot of responsibility with them. It would also be convenient to have Norbert here, but I need him to stay there since the others would be riddled with more work the more people I summon from there.’

[It’s still another man though.] Ferdinand internally complained but noted to instruct Raymond to have the two brought to Estrella.

He made two bracelets out of magic like the one Aletha was wearing since they needed special permission to bring humans to Estrella.

Ronald should have been fine since he was half Estrellian. But he hasn’t been brought here yet and doesn’t know the truth.

"I have to go then," Ferdinand kissed her goodbye and embraced her tight. He had to switch with Raymond since Clarisse was probably on edge, and she was pregnant to boot.

"I, I’ll see you return to your dragon form," Arabella wanted to be with him a bit more, so she wanted to see him off.

"Alright," Ferdinand wanted to be with her just a little bit more too, so he agreed. And instead of just teleporting where his dragon form was, they walked there holding each other’s hand.

They missed each other and parting just like this felt quite difficult. That it was as if just holding hands for a bit would help quench their longing for each other.

They both had things they must do. Thus, even when they wanted to hold each other much longer and much more intimately, they couldn’t.

Holding hands like this, it was as if they had a silent agreement for delayed gratification once things were better. Once they were able to locate Alwin and ensure he was safe first.

The walk to the hall with Ferdinand’s dragon body suddenly felt too short even though it was quite far from the dining hall, especially with Arabella’s shorter strides. And yet, it seemed to be so much nearer for today.

"Arabella, please bear with me. I need to find Alwin first," Ferdinand held her tight as they stood in front of his dragon form.

"I will. Please don’t worry about me. I will be here waiting for you so please do everything you can to find Alwin," Arabella held him tight too.

She could feel his worry and his fear. He was holding her so tightly because he missed her, and it was hard to part. But the way he held her, it was as if he was holding her so tightly to assure himself everything would be alright. That Alwin was fine.

It wasn’t in his thoughts, but she could feel that deep inside, he feared that Alwin may already be dead. That if he was too late, he would be seeing Alwin’s corpse instead.

It was why he didn’t waste a single second and did not even go see her even just for a bit to tell her the situation.

Arabella wanted to tell him everything would be alright. But deep inside, she also feared that the worst could have happened to Alwin. She was merely assuring herself everything would be fine since Alwin was able to return alive in her past life.

But what if things had changed in this life? What if something changed in Umbra too the way it did in things here?