Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 867: Don’t Kiss My Hand!

Chapter 867: Chapter 867: Don’t Kiss My Hand!

It is quite worrisome when Ferdinand’s thoughts begin heading in such a direction.

After all, if Ferdinand put his mind to it, he had the ability to keep her somewhere far and hidden if he wanted to. But he hadn’t done it even if it had crossed his mind repeatedly.

Before she knew it, she kissed Ferdinand’s hand.

Ferdinand was wide-eyed and instantly pulled his hand away from her grasp. He said, "Don’t kiss my hand!"

’Eh? Did I just commit a taboo or something?’

Arabella was taken aback at his reaction.

"Why?" Arabella frowned and pouted.

He’s the one who always wanted to hold hands and the like so it was quite a shock when it’s him who suddenly pulled away from her touch.

Ferdinand noticed and held her hand as he said in a gentle voice, "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do it violently. Did I hurt you?"

[Did I use too much force?]

"I’m fine," Arabella tried to pull her hands away to get back at him but he held them firmly.

She glared at him but he still did not release her hands.

There’s no point in trying to win in physical strength with him so she simply repeated her question instead, "Why then? You kiss my hands quite a lot."

"Your hands are clean, soft, and fragrant," Ferdinand quickly replied this time. "My hands are hard and rough. And I often hold dirty things. You can get sick from them."

’Oh, I see,’ Arabella was relieved it was because he was concerned about her and not because of another reason.

"I’m not sickly though. I’m healthy. Especially since you have given me a lot of mana. My body is at the healthiest it has ever been," she assured her husband.

"Even so. Today, I was at the field and did not clean up before teleporting because of Zion’s report. Thankfully, I took a bath and got changed before heading here. What if I hadn’t? The new plant disease is currently only affecting plants but what if it can also harm humans and animals? These things can evolve sometimes. You could have gotten sick from it and it doesn’t have a cure yet since it’s new," Ferdinand was quite stern about it.

"I see... Thank you for your concern. I’ll be more careful," Arabella promised.

Ferdinand smiled warmly at her response; glad and relieved that she understood his worries.

Arabella was touched at just how much he worries and considers things when it comes to her health.

Something he said bothered her though, "But what did you mean about the disease possibly harming humans and animals as well?"

The crisis with it being a new plant disease was already a disaster.

If it could harm animals and humans as well, it would become even worse.

"It’s quite rare but there are times when new diseases affect plants first and after some time, they evolve and affect animals and humans as well evolving into a completely new disease. There was even a time when some of the long-lived races were affected by such a disease."

"Even the long-lived races?! Has it happened in the past?!" Arabella was quite surprised by this revelation.

"Yes," Ferdinand nodded. "I had witnessed it happen several times. This is one of the reasons why we must burn all the affected flora even if we had to clear farmlands and forests."

Arabella further understood why even Ferdinand, who had already seen a lot in his long life, was quite alarmed when he heard about the new plant disease.

It could cause so much more problems than meets the eye.

Thus, Ferdinand himself had to go to the site to ensure things were handled immediately as he had instructed.

"Do you think this plant disease could be one of those instances?" Arabella inquired nervously.

They were not even done dealing with all the aftermath after the war with Crux and yet they already have another problem which could lead to be one of the worst problems they needed to deal with.

A plant disease infecting animals then people did not happen in her past life but who knows if it did happen but Ferdinand and the other long-lived races dealt with it before she could hear any news about it.

"It doesn’t seem to be the case. My knights had been exposed to it on a daily basis but no one had shown any signs. The animals in the farms or the forest did not seem to be infected either. I just did not want to take any chances since my knights are trained so their bodies were used to getting exposed to all sorts of things. Meanwhile, your body might be more sensitive since you were raised differently," Ferdinand clarified.

"I see," Arabella sighed in relief.

They did not need more problems after recently resolving the matter with Crux.

Further, they have not even found a solution to the current plant disease.

"The researchers said there were some improvements on their studies. Your assistant in particular had been researching on his own for a while and he seemed to have noticed something. He is having the other experts compare their findings so they are currently working together very well."

"Ivan did?"

"Yes. The other researchers were wary of him at first but the experts noticed his excellence and recognized it. The others had no choice but to believe it when they saw how capable he was and knew how to use even the most expensive research tools. He could easily speak with the best researchers as well."

"Oh my! That’s good then," Arabella was delighted her assistant was doing well.

This was Ivan’s forte after all.

This may have happened earlier than in her past life but she was still looking forward to good results since Ivan was simply that outstanding.

***

Arabella and Ferdinand updated each other while they were having their meal until the stars shone brightly in the sky.

They parted while the maids cleaned up her balcony.

It was also so they could both prepare for bed.