Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 478: The Duke Testing His Own People

Chapter 478: The Duke Testing His Own People

The carriage Arabella and Ferdinand were about to use had a Valerian design but did not have their insignia or that of any of the households so it would remain a mystery who visited Olivier that day. Unless Sonia and the butler, or any of their accomplices would have the chance to reveal they visited in person.

As agreed before, they would pretend to have just stopped by Olivier for a bit to send Dimo home, but the goal was to have Sonia sign the agreement for Dimo to stay in Riva.

When they arrived, Duke Olivier was already there waiting for them, along with his most trusted knights.

Everyone greeted them, albeit stiffly. The knights tried to look calm and collected but it was clear they were nervous and on alarm.

[It’s truly the Emperor and Empress of Valeria!! Why is His Grace meeting with them? He didn’t tell us the details.]

[Her Imperial Majesty is gorgeous! I thought the rumors were exaggerated... Wait, I don’t have time for that. I need to focus, or I’ll die today. His Grace told us to be extra vigilant and ensure nothing goes wrong.]

[Why are they suddenly visiting Olivier? Are they going to declare war on us?! No, if they do, they would have just sent an army.]

[The Emperor of Valeria has such a terrifying presence as the rumors said. He has no openings too. It was said he had no emotions and didn’t care about anything. It was rumored that he left for the borders right after his wedding and doesn’t care about his Empress... but he stands close to her like a guard ready to intercept any danger.]

The knights had various thoughts. Some were wary, some were scared, and everyone was confused.

It was only yesterday when Duke Olivier informed them that the guests, they were receiving were from Valeria, so a lot of the knights were not able to sleep last night overthinking what it was about.

And to prevent information from leaking, it was only this morning that the Duke informed his knights that it was Arabella and Ferdinand who would visit the duchy.

The knights were shocked, they thought their Duke must be kidding. But it wasn’t something to joke about. Thus, they were even more dumbfounded when it was truly them who arrived.

They could not fathom why the Emperor and Empress of Valeria themselves would visit Olivier. They only figured a bit when Riley appeared with Dimo.

[The missing young master is with them?! So he wandered to the closed-off zone. Why?]

[The young master! We have been trying to search for him everywhere. Why is he with them?]

[Is this why they decided to visit? The young master truly wandered to the closed-off zone, and they caught him? Thankfully, he seems unharmed.]

[Thank goodness the young master is safe. But if they personally came here, there must be something else. Are they going to reprimand His Grace for letting someone wander to the road?]

[Is it just me or did the young master grow a bit taller? He seems to have gained some weight too. Or was it because it’s been months since I last saw him?]

The Olivier knights were relieved that their young master was alive. Since he had been missing for a while, they thought he could have been captured by bad elements and sold somewhere, or people who had a grudge against the Duke had his heir eliminated.

Seeing Dimo with them, it became clear that he did wander to the temporarily forbidden road.

[But why did the young master go there when he wasn’t the type to go against what he was told to do?]

They knew Dimo was obedient to his father and his elders, so they thought it was strange for him to disobey.

"Your Majesty!" Dimo ran to hug Arabella and everyone from Duke Olivier’s side froze.

[Why did he embrace Her Imperial Majesty?! Won’t he be punished to death for disrespect?!!] The Olivier knights panicked.

Meanwhile, only Rowan was surprised on the Valerian side.

Dimo saw Arabella first which was why he hugged her. They hadn’t seen each other ever since they departed from Medeus, so he was acting like this.

Dimo had gotten much more comfortable and open with her due to their stay in Medeus and this wasn’t the first time they hugged.

Rendell and the others were already used to this sight (except for Ferdinand, of course).

[This little brat! The first thing he does is embrace my wife?!] Ferdinand gave Dimo a dark gaze but maintained his emperor mode and just stared silently.

’Dimo’s so adorable. It’s hard to believe this little boy would one day be a wanted criminal in several countries. I truly must ensure that doesn’t happen again,’ Arabella patted his head and gently stroked his hair. ’Fermin always hugged me like this too whenever I went to see him.’

Arabella almost laughed as Duke Olivier and his knights paled at Dimo’s actions, especially since they noticed Ferdinand’s gaze remained on Dimo.

{Dear, your eyes.} Arabella reminded her husband before he finally stopped staring at Dimo.

"Your father is here," Arabella informed the child and Dimo finally looked around.

"Father!" Dimo’s face brightened up even more and he ran to Duke Olivier and hugged him. The Duke smiled and welcomed Dimo in his arms.

This puzzled knights.

[His Grace doesn’t look surprised. Was he told in the letter he received that Dimo was with them? No, even when Her Grace told him that the Young Master was missing, he didn’t look so surprised. I thought he looked furious but not surprised.]

Duke Olivier’s closest knights knew him, so they were able to tell.

But since Arabella had warned the Duke that there may be more traitors by his side, Duke Olivier did not tell anyone the truth and kept it to himself.

Likewise, because of the unexpected betrayal of the people he thought were closest to him, Duke Olivier was wary and wanted to test everyone to see who was true to him and the duchy.

Duke Olivier observed his closest knights’ reaction to seeing Dimo again and was relieved that they were genuinely glad Dimo was safe and sound.

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A/N:

Sorry for the lack of updates. I’m still helping with the dissertation.

I’ll make it up to you by trying to upload more Chapters once we are done with it.