Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 558: Learning About Each Other’s Strengths and Weaknesses

Chapter 558: Learning About Each Other’s Strengths and Weaknesses

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

All of them received a magic pen from her. Magic pens were expensive but she bought one for each of them so they could work more effectively. She even had it magically marked with their first name.

The other contents of the golden box were more personalized items she based on what she had seen they seemed to like using.

"Oh, my goodness! Are we allowed to use these?!" Odette gasped upon opening the silver box.

"These are so expensive! The cost of just a yard of this can be used to build a whole building," Nadia gawked when she opened hers. She knew the price since she had worked as a guard for a merchant before.

It contained different kinds of fabric of the best quality and a lot more which was why Odette and Nadia wondered if it was alright to receive and use all those.

"Yes, of course. Have it sewn into dresses, sell it as is, or do whatever you want with it. It’s yours," Arabella assured them.

"Uhm, Your Majesty, I have a question," Denzel raised his hand.

"Yes, what is it, Denzel?" Arabella smiled.

[Her Majesty remembered my name!! Oh, right. My question.]

"I’m just asking to be sure. We don’t have to return any of these in the worst-case scenario that we get fired, right?" Denzel asked and everyone paled when they realized that possibility because he raised the question.

"No, you don’t. These are gifts. It’s already yours no matter what happens," she clarified.

Denzel and everyone else sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will treasure these for the rest of my life! I finally have something to brag about to my brothers!" Denzel was ecstatic.

Arabella chuckled at that.

She simply wanted to reward them for their months of hard work while she was gone. But a gift from the Empress would indeed be valuable. It was something all her assistants could brag about.

"Me too. I will show these off to my siblings! And I’m keeping all of these in a box as my family heirloom," Nadia said too seriously. She wanted to keep everything as a treasure.

"Anything but that. I had these gifts for you so you may utilize them. Do whatever you want with it but do not just keep it sealed or displayed in a box. I’m sure the next generation would treasure an heirloom more if it had been useful to you. Moreover, you will receive many more gifts from me in the future as long as you keep working for me. Don’t treat these like the first and the last," Arabella clarified.

[These are too grand for a first gift, and we would receive more?!] Even the males were overwhelmed.

[I will receive this much from working for Her Majesty? My parents pampered me, but I didn’t get to wear dresses made of these kinds of fabric. These are rare and very expensive even for nobles, but Her Majesty is just giving it away. And we would receive more gifts later?] Narcissa noted that she might begin making her life choices.

[I never received a gift from my former superiors.] Ivan did not know what to do. He was elated but flabbergasted, especially after noticing that all of these were expensive.

"Our deepest gratitude, Your Majesty," all of them bowed in unison.

They then opened the third box. It had teas from Lobelius and other products they produced.

"These are the banner products of Lobelius, my homeland. Back when I wasn’t married yet, I usually marketed these during the yearly Assembly. I wanted all of you to have a taste of Lobelian products, so I had a box for each of you," Arabella explained.

Her assistants were delighted with everything they received so Arabella was satisfied as well. Watching their expressions was delightful.

"Alright, now then, as you can see, Narcissa is back. She would work with everyone as usual from today onwards," she pressed on with more serious matters.

"Yes, Your Majesty," everyone responded.

"My deepest apologies for all the inconvenience I caused the past few months," Narcissa apologized to everyone.

They were all silent for a few seconds but accepted it. They knew Arabella had acted about how Narcissa treated Ivan, Nadia, and Odette but most did not know the whole story.

Things were still tense but hopefully, it would gradually improve as time went on.

Arabella then proceeded to explain the new changes.

"All of you are skilled and talented and can work independently with minor supervision. I was delighted and impressed by your performance these past few months.

"But this time, I want to see you working together as a team since the people collectively see all of you as the ’Empress’ assistants.’ All your actions could be attributed to the whole group so you need to be responsible and considerate of each other."

[Did Her Majesty hear about us fighting last time? The knights must have reported it.]

Her assistants glanced at each other. They were referring to the fight they did not know, Arabella herself had witnessed.

[We do need to work together. Everyone had worked to themselves except for Nadia and Odette who seemed to have gotten close because of Narcissa.] Norbert noted.

"As you can see, I had a new table added here. The boxes here are the results and records of your performance on each task and test during the selection," Arabella continued, and everyone was wide-eyed. They wanted to see it but likewise felt nervous.

The publicly released results were only general information while these were the raw results.

"I had it brought here so you will know where you did well and where you did not. It may help you identify your strengths and weaknesses so please do check on it."

[I want to see it!]

Everyone was excited.

"You may also check the results of your fellow assistants after they reviewed theirs. This way, you will also have an idea about their strengths and weaknesses," Arabella added, and they gawked.

[What if my results were lower than Denzel’s as well?!!]

[What if my results were lower than Narcissa’s?!!]

Narcissa and Denzel did not want to show each other their results. But they had no choice but to do it. It would be a lesson for them both.

"But please remember that you are prohibited from taking these documents out of this office. All of these will remain here for a month where you can freely check it," Arabella had to remind them since they might get too excited and take it with them.