Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 537: Caught in the Act

Chapter 537: Caught in the Act

"I want everyone to know you’re mine so they wouldn’t dare approach you," Ferdinand kissed her again.

They had a meal together and Arabella saw him off as he teleported to his meet-up point with Elrond.

Her heart ached for some reason. It felt like he was leaving her alone.

’It will be just a week to a month,’ she reminded herself so she would stop worrying.

With Ferdinand gone, Arabella busied herself with work once again.

Their workload has greatly lessened though thanks to Raymond going back to work.

A week passed by quickly.

But Ferdinand and Alvis did not return yet.

Arabella’s negative inkling about it got worse. But she didn’t want to worry too much and make herself unable to work. Thus, she did her best to wait patiently.

Another week passed, and still nothing.

No letters. No contact via the ring. No telepathic messages to Riley and others.

Arabella was becoming edgy, but she busied herself with work instead.

One day, Riley came to deliver a letter to her. She perked up at the thought that it may be from Ferdinand. He said he would contact her in any way possible if he could not return yet.

But it wasn’t from him.

It was from Duke Olivier.

’Hmm. What would this letter be about?’ Arabella wondered.

A few days ago, they had sent the men Alwin caught near the forbidden road to Duke Olivier so he could decide what to do with them. Those were the group whom Sonia and the Head Butler had hired to abduct and kill Dimo.

The letter may be about those.

Eunice carefully unsealed the envelope and handed it to her after the necessary checks were completed by Rendell and Riley.

Ferdinand had instructed them that even the letters from everyone were to be checked for the possibility of any poisonous substances, spells, or curses. Thus, everything was checked multiple times before she could touch anything.

Arabella had gotten used to wearing gloves all the time while working or reading letters as well.

In his letter, the Duke informed her that he had dealt with the situation in Olivier. He had Sonia and the Head Butler exiled. He thanked her and Ferdinand for all their assistance and asked if he could meet with Dimo.

’He must want to get Dimo back now,’ Arabella pouted. It was nice to have Dimo in the Magic Tower. He loved learning about magic and was learning at a fast pace.

However, since the issue in Olivier was already resolved, then there was no reason for her to hold him in Valeria.

"Riley, can you tell me in detail what happened in Olivier," Arabella glanced at Riley who had received the reports from the magician assigned to watch over Olivier.

"Yes, Your Majesty. The one assigned to follow and help the Duke when necessary reported that..."

Riley explained that Duke Olivier pretended to be focused on investigations outside the castle. Bandits, in particular. He pretended to have believed Sonia’s words that it was bandits who tried to abduct Dimo and beat him up.

After more than a week of doing so, the Duke was able to make Sonia and the Head Butler believe that he did not suspect them one bit.

Thus, the two were joyful and relieved. They unconsciously let their guard down and began speaking to each other again and visiting each other’s room at night since the Duke had not been going home anyway.

But the Duke had asked for help from the magician Alwin had assigned to him. The magician secretly kept watch of the castle and informed the Duke of what the two were doing. And when they let their guard down, the Duke decided it was time to catch them.

The magician teleported the Duke and his entourage into the castle while the two were busy doing naughty stuff.

Thus, the insiders in the castle who were helping the two were not able to inform them of the Duke’s arrival since it was too sudden. And right outside the Head Butler’s room too.

The entourage was comprised of Duke Olivier, the Knight Commander, some of the Duke’s most trusted knights, and elders of the ducal family.

They used magic to open the door and caught Sonia and the Head Butler in the act. The two were horrified and quickly covered themselves but there was no longer any way to salvage the situation.

With all the witnesses who saw it, they could no longer deny their illicit affair.

Duke Olivier, already too disappointed in Sonia no longer cared about protecting her image after what she had done. Thus, he only felt shame and embarrassment as everyone saw her entangled and intimate with the Head Butler.

It was then that Duke Olivier had them arrested not only for their affair but also for what they did to Dimo. He revealed that they were the culprits for Dimo’s abduction, attempted assassinations of him, and the death of Dimo’s nanny.

Sonia admitted having an affair with the Head Butler and reasoned that it was because she was lonely because the Duke was always busy.

Sonia and the Head Butler strongly denied knowing anything about what happened to Dimo nor the attempts on the Duke’s life.

The men they hired to kill Dimo and the Duke were all brought in, and the two denied knowing them even when the Duke said they would all be executed for hurting and attempting to kill the heir of the Dukedom and the Duke himself.

The men who went after Dimo were thugs from a neighboring duchy. They specialized in abducting noble’s children for ransom.

Thus, they used that as their reason for abducting Dimo. They said that the ransom was their goal.

However, when they realized that they could not contain him due to his fire abilities, they decided to kill him since he had already seen their faces.

But when the Duke said they would all be executed for their crime, and Sonia nor the Head Butler, did not go against it, and even suggested the men should be executed immediately, they finally admitted who hired them.

The men were executed days ago since all the proofs against them were already there.

Sonia and the Head Butler were also supposed to be executed. However, for the sake of Brent and Monica, they were exiled instead.

Brent and Monica were supposed to go with the two. However, the Head Butler’s parents were against it since the children were innocent and still part of the ducal family.