Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 910: Agreement

Chapter 910: Chapter 910: Agreement

The paladins were quite surprised that the Pope was revealing this much.

[Father does keep ranting about them not sending more people, even without him sending letters lately.

He said they used to go monster-hunting even without him asking for aid.

But it suddenly stopped after the Emperor got married.

Even so, can’t Father stop ruining his and the Great Temple’s reputation?

Should I be grateful he’s only going this far, only now that he’s speaking with the long-lived races?]

Cassandra was the only one who was not surprised but still thought the Pope should maintain his dignity.

’Since Ferdinand and I got married?’

Arabella’s attention was caught by something Cassandra thought.

She recalled the time she met Ferdinand at the foot of Mt. Callion.

Ferdinand was out monster-hunting at that time since he felt bored at the palace and said he needed some exercise.

’Does this mean it stopped because Ferdinand is no longer monster hunting out of boredom?!’

Arabella gulped at the thought and noted to never mention it to the Pope. Or else, he would realize Arabella’s presence was partly at fault for why he was overworked.

The Pope clearly had the look of someone who was tired of his usual daily routine of working tirelessly for years.

And for the Pope, it had been more than 6,000 years’ worth of exhaustion.

’I should probably send him some rejuvenating and energizing tea.’

Arabella noted to give the Pope more gifts in thanks for all his hard work for humanity.

After all, he looked more exhausted than when they met him in Medeus months ago.

"A few of your knights in the nearby kingdoms won’t weaken your military powers. Yet, you haven’t been maintaining the nearby areas lately," the Pope added.

[Ah, His Majesty did stop having his excursions since his relationship with Her Majesty improved.

Did it contribute to the increase in monsters?]

Raymond wondered about it as well since Ferdinand usually cleared the areas with strong monsters.

{Your Majesty, perhaps we should send some knights to the kingdoms that shared borders with us. It will lessen incidents of monsters crossing the borders and harming the citizens.}

Raymond recommended helping the Pope as a preemptive strike to prevent more monster attacks on Valerian territories.

"Alright. Alright. There should be some knights raring for some action. I’ll send them to hunt monsters in the kingdoms sharing borders with us."

Ferdinand pretended like it was because of the Pope’s rant that he was sending knights.

It was partly. But more due to Raymond’s recommendation.

’Haha. Ferdinand’s acting is improving lately.’

Arabella was impressed that Ferdinand was improving in this one.

Raymond’s lessons were working.

This meant Ferdinand might do better than they thought once they began attending social events together this winter.

"Great! I knew you’d uphold your end of the deal," the Pope beamed brightly, glad to have some work off his hands. "You’ll take care of Lobelius, too, right?"

[Satara and her children had grown weaker. They won’t be able to fight monsters that pop up there.]

’The Pope knows Elder Satara?!’

Arabella perked up at the thoughts she heard.

But now that she thought about it, the Pope did visit Lobelius in the past. It was likely that he felt Elder Satara’s presence and knew she was from the long-lived races.

Arabella learned from her visit to Lobelius last time that Elder Satara and her children did try to keep protecting Lobelius and Arabella, from monster attacks.

However, their remaining mana was no longer enough as the years went by.

Thus, they could no longer do as they usually did, especially with Elder Satara nearing her end.

"Of course. Lobelius is under our protection," Ferdinand held Arabella’s hand.

Everyone’s eyes followed it, but they quickly pretended like they did not see anything.

"Oh, and Lahar as well," Ferdinand added, and even Arabella was shocked.

[Isn’t that where Her Majesty’s former lover came from?!] Cassandra and the paladins glanced at each other.

"Are you sure you would be protecting them instead of something else?"

The Pope was suspicious and narrowed his eyes on Ferdinand.

[There’s already a precedent of someone from them killing their mate’s former lovers. This is quite risky. Isn’t he planning something like that since she had even eloped with Prince Andrew?]

"Of course. I’m sure you’ve met Satara before. She’s still extending her roots to Lahar even now," Ferdinand explained.

[I understand how she feels now that I have Arabella.]

[Ah, His Majesty has truly understood what love is. All my hard work has paid off.] Raymond thought.

’I see, it’s because of Elder Satara...’ Arabella finally understood.

Like the Pope, she also thought it was something else for a second.

"Yes, I’ve met them. If you will protect Lahar for her sake, then I’m glad to have one less kingdom on my list."

[He does know now that the Prince is already married with someone else.

I heard they got along just fine in the assembly.

Perhaps he’s no longer bothered by him since the Empress seems to be doting on him.

Wait, he just mentioned Satara in front of her!

Does this mean....]

The Pope glanced at Arabella and said, "Your Majesty already knows about your ancestors?"

"Yes, Your Holiness. We visited Elder Satara last time and I learned about my ancestry," Arabella smiled.

[Is this why she could accept him more easily than the others did? Because she already knew she had some of their blood?]

It wasn’t. But Arabella remained silent, or else they would learn of her ability.

"I see... Then, do you recall me visiting you when you were young?"

[They said she forgot about all the monster attacks on her, but she might at least recall my visit.]

’Unfortunately, not yet.’

Arabella wanted to recall all the memories she had forgotten, even if they were traumatic. However, her memory remained the same after the last time she recalled things from the past.

Perhaps talking with her family and visiting Lobelius more often were key to remembering those.

However, she did not have time to keep visiting for now.

They had a lot of issues to deal with, so she could not spend much time in Lobelius again.

’Perhaps, once things calm down a bit. I will visit there again.’