Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 557: Souvenirs

Chapter 557: Souvenirs

"Wait! Are you pregnant?!" Alwin was wide-eyed and gawked at her.

Arabella covered his mouth and looked around. Thankfully, no one else was there. Alwin had also used a spell to prevent their conversation from leaking early on.

"Don’t say such things loudly," Arabella quickly said. "What if you did not cast a spell? The ears have walls. It might reach the ministers."

"Then, you are?! Let me check," Alwin was ready to examine her, but Arabella stopped him.

"I’m not. I’m saying it because I might be in a just few months. Days are passing by so quickly. Once spring arrives, I might be," Arabella corrected.

"I see. You do not have to tell me to be nice. I have always been nice to the Young Master," Alwin reminded her.

"Right. Thank you for that."

Arabella smiled when she realized Alwin was also excited to meet Fermin again.

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.

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Once they were done eating, Arabella suggested, "Why don’t you go and rest? Rendell and Rowan will do as my guards. We will contact you immediately if there’s a problem."

"What? No need. I’m perfectly fine."

Alwin did not want to seem weak or incapable. But with how moody he was, she knew it was because of exhaustion.

His eyes had dark circles too. He hadn’t slept since he had gone to Umbra because he could not let his guard down while he was all alone there.

"You look tired. You did well in going to Umbra and returning safely with those two. Reward yourself with some rest," Arabella insisted.

Alwin still refused even though he knew he needed rest. But when Arabella repeatedly insisted, he finally accepted it.

"Steer clear of trouble," Alwin reminded as they were about to part.

"I will. So go and sleep as much as you want," Arabella assured him.

Alwin then teleported to the Magic Tower while Arabella headed to her office.

She intentionally arrived before any of her assistants would since she was making a bit of change.

"Alright, Rowan, please have the table placed here," Arabella pointed to the space between her inner office and her assistants’ tables.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Rowan used magic to teleport a table. Rendell helped him fix its position to suit the arrangement of the room.

Arabella added an empty table where her assistants would leave the documents they had finished working on. She would allow them to crosscheck each other’s work to verify each other’s capabilities and likewise learn where to improve.

This was so they could learn from each other and likewise learn about each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Arabella needed them to know each other on a deeper level. This way, they could support each other and act as a team when necessary, instead of acting as separate individuals with separate goals all the time.

The level of their individual outputs was already superb so she needed to see if they could all work well together. She needed to inculcate in them to support each other instead of dragging each other down.

Her plans for the future needed them to be able to work as a whole and protect each other.

She would begin attending court sessions in a few days as well so they would get even busier. Her assistants needed to be able to cater to the other when one was assigned to do something else.

To prevent any more claims of cheating from any of her assistants, she also had the results of the selection brought to her office today.

She would allow her assistants to see it so they would know that each of them worked hard to be where they were and not waste time thinking the other must have done something to pass.

It was primarily to address Narcissa’s concerns but it would also prevent the others from having such thoughts in the future and help them get to know each other more.

Arabella then began working while waiting for her assistants.

"Greetings to Your Majesty," someone greeted several minutes later.

It was Ivan. He arrived first.

Nadia and Odette followed. They arrived together.

Arabella learned from their thoughts that Nadia had been arriving with Odette every day ever since she learned about Narcissa having Ivan beaten up. It was to ensure Odette did not experience the same fate.

"Greetings to Your Majesty," Ronald and Oscar arrived together as well.

Then Narcissa and the others arrived one after the other.

Once they were complete, Arabella was ready to give her announcement.

"Good morning, everyone!" she beamed, hoping they would stop being so tense.

They all rose and greeted her stiffly. They were wondering if something happened again which was why she was back or if she was back for good.

"First of all, thank you very much for your hard work while I was gone. I will be working with all of you again from today onwards. As a token of my appreciation for all your hard work, I have souvenirs for everyone," Arabella began with a lighter topic so they could ease up.

The knights who were part of her guards, carried boxes in and settled three on each of her assistants’ tables.

[Her Majesty remembered her promise!!!]

Everyone was delighted to see they had a lot of gifts. After all, she had indeed told them she would buy them souvenirs.

The first box was colored gold. It contained gifts for them that Arabella had managed to buy from shops in Medeus.

The second box was silver. The items there were from the gifts she had received in Medeus that she knew she would not use. She had already shared some with all her maids, so she was also giving some to her assistants.

Since the other royals were trying to get to her good side, they had sent her far too many gifts for her to use. So, she picked items she knew would suit her assistants.

To help them get to know her homeland, the items in the third box, green, were from Lobelius.

"Go on. Don’t be shy. You may open it," Arabella encouraged them once the knights had exited.

Her assistants hesitated but could not contain their excitement. They began opening the golden box since it was the first one settled on their tables.

"Wow! I can use it to write without ink!" Nadia was the most vocal.