Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 510: Are You a Spy?

Chapter 510: Are You a Spy?

With Narcissa’s new questions, it became clear that she also knew a lot about Valeria. But Ivan also did.

Narcissa kept asking questions to the point she was so frustrated she rose from her seat as she thought of more questions and threw them at Ivan. But Ivan answered it all correctly until she ran out of questions she thought were difficult.

"Then, what about this, tell me everything you know about Ryvaleh," Narcissa said out of frustration.

"But that will take days," Ivan replied.

[This bastard! Is he saying he knows so much about my homeland? There’s no way he would know more than I do, so I’d be able to tell if he said something wrong.] Narcissa thought he was being overconfident.

He was only speaking the truth though since he had read a lot about Ryvaleh and all other territories in Valeria.

"Then, let’s do this. You have fifteen minutes. Say as much as you can about the current Ryvaleh and Narcissa will point out if you make any mistake," Arabella suggested and the two agreed.

If it was about history, Ivan would be able to say so much, and it would indeed take them days since he had books from the Imperial Library memorized.

Ivan then began with Ryvaleh’s current land area, population, and more general information before delving into more difficult ones. He enumerated all the counties and territories in Ryvaleh including the ruling houses, the current ruler and how many registered children he had, the population of the said territories, the products they contributed to Ryvaleh, and a lot more information that Narcissa didn’t understand how he was able to know.

The only mistake Ivan made was how many rooms there were in Ryvaleh Castle because there were new renovations that were not announced in public and a lot more rooms were added this year.

"How do you know all those?! Are you a spy or something?!" Narcissa asked Ivan.

Arabella stopped herself from laughing. First a cheater, now a spy. What else would Narcissa accuse Ivan of?

"Most of this information is available to the public in the Imperial Library. Some are in the news as well. I have read even all the old news releases I could find.

"And after becoming Her Majesty’s assistant, we are allowed to access more sections of the library that were not accessible to us before. I have been borrowing books every day and spend almost all my nights reading.

"Every territory in Valeria is required to submit books for the Imperial Library so there was a lot of information about Ryvaleh as well," Ivan explained so Narcissa wouldn’t accuse him of something new.

There were things Ivan mentioned that Narcissa pointed to be somewhat wrong or lacking but Ivan had his proof. He specified the book, page, and paragraph where he learned it. Those books were authored by royals or scholars from Ryvaleh.

The books were then retrieved by Riley. When they checked those items, Ivan was right.

Arabella already knew Ivan was right though because, when she looked into his eyes while he was thinking about it, she saw the pages of the books he was citing. And it was so clear in his memory.

He perfectly recalled what he had read and could see the image of the book clearly when he thought about specific sections. No wonder he said it would take days for him to state everything he knew about Ryvaleh.

’He’s even better than I thought,’ Arabella was further impressed.

It made her grateful she hired him despite what people may say about her for hiring someone with a record of fighting with his superior to the point of violence.

"Narcissa, I have given you the chance to test Ivan and he answered to the best of his ability. You should not accuse him of something else. He had to prove himself, so he did his best. Sit down. It’s my turn to ask him questions," Arabella said and Narcissa finally settled down.

[Her Majesty will test me too? Does she also doubt me?] Ivan blinked repeatedly.

’No. But I have to show her more of what you can do.’

"Ivan, do you swear that you did not cheat in any way nor had connections that informed you about the contents of the Imperial Civil Service Exam and the selection of my assistants? Do you swear that you passed only with your own efforts?" Arabella began.

"Answer carefully and truthfully. All your words can be used against you later. If you say yes but we find otherwise, you can be fired from your position as my assistant," she added sternly.

Arabella had to show Narcissa that she was serious about this and was willing to act if Ivan was indeed just a cheater as she had accused.

"Yes, Your Majesty. I swear that I passed both tests with my ability. I studied as much as I could and passed both. I will never resort to cheating on such important tests, or any test for that matter, nor will I ever try to use connections so I will be passed. I also do not have such connections, Your Majesty," Ivan answered easily because he was simply stating a fact.

"Alright. Then please answer my questions as well, as best you can."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Arabella then asked more difficult questions than Narcissa’s. She also prepared her list while Narcissa was preparing hers.

Arabella added questions on the events that happened in Medeus to see how updated Ivan was.

He had no connections but as her assistant, he could utilize his position to receive news.

Maximizing the library was one. Reading the latest releases of news was another. Listening to the conversations of the people around them could also count. The documents they worked on were also another way.

She increased the difficulty to show Narcissa that Ivan could be wrong on some things too. Yet, Ivan also answered all of it without much difficulty.

[Why is he so good at this?! Does he truly have no connections here in Riva, but he knows so much? Is that even possible?] Narcissa pouted.