Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress-Chapter 683: I Am Happy Now

"Stop it. Why are you acting so formal? It’s okay now since it’s just us. Let’s speak like usual," Arabella encouraged.

"Is it alright?" Nicholas glanced at the door of Lei’s room.

[I heard that guard is one of the Emperor’s best men. He might be able to hear our conversation.]

Nicholas was conscious about Rendell who was standing right outside the door.

"Of course it is. It’s just us here. And I’m not here on an official visit. Don’t worry about Rendell. He would most likely fall asleep soon," Arabella assured them.

"Eh? He can sleep on while in his post?!" Eloisa frowned.

"Haha. Yes, he is allowed to since he wakes up immediately as well if something’s wrong," Arabella clarified.

"I see..." Eloisa and Nicholas nodded.

Lorelei remained frowning though, and asked, "He can sleep while standing?"

"Yes."

"Eh?! How can he?" Lorelei stared at the door.

Arabella did not know how to explain without revealing anything important so she simply responded vaguely, "Hmm, because he’s that skilled?"

Even if they were her siblings, she could not reveal to them anything about the long-lived races unless demanded by the circumstances and Ferdinand and the others approved.

"Alright, let’s not talk about him. You have a lot of questions for me, right?" Arabella redirected them to their supposed activity.

"Oh, right!"

The three were suddenly nervous again.

"Uhm," Lorelei was the first to speak but she hesitated.

Arabella nodded for her youngest sibling to continue.

"Are you really happy with him now?" Lei finally asked.

[I was not allowed to go and see her back then but I saw Elder Sister several times from afar and she was always crying.]

Arabella smiled, "Yes, I am."

She reached out to Lei and finally patted her head. Lei blushed and looked up. She looked so adorable that Arabella could no longer stop herself and hugged their youngest.

’She’s still so small and young. How did she look back then?’

Arabella gulped as she recalled she thought about her past life. She barely got any news about her family back then. But thinking that they had betrayed her, she did not try to get information about them either even when she finally could when her power had stabilized or with the help of Dimo when he became her magician.

Now she wished once again to have her eyes opened much earlier. She had wasted decades of her life not looking after the people who truly loved her. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

It had indeed been so long since she had been alone with her younger siblings like this so she held Lei tightly, "I missed you a lot, Lei."

Lei was slightly older than Dimo. Since Arabella was just about to turn 19 in Spring, Lei was just about to turn 12. Meanwhile, Eloisa would turn 15, and Nicholas would turn 17. Benjamin would turn 24.

"I missed you a lot too, Elder Sister," Lei said in a delighted voice and hugged her back. "I wanted to join your tea parties once I was old enough but got married and vanished."

Everyone tried to keep everything that was happening from Lei since she was the youngest. They wanted to spare her from all the sadness or conflict, but Lei was still able to grasp most of it from what she had been seeing and overhearing from the maids.

"Sorry, about that. Let’s have a tea party together next time," Arabella chuckled at Lei’s comment.

Since Arabella was the first daughter in the family, she debuted early to take the job of the first princess just as Benjamin debuted early to do the job of the firstborn son and crown prince. Thanks to that, their siblings could debut a bit later though they still had to appear in events when necessary.

Arabella hugged Eloisa and Nicholas next and gave them both a tight squeeze. She had to die once before she could hold them again. She truly regretted not communicating with them in her past life.

[She held us so tightly. Is she missing us and home so much because she’s not truly treated well there?] Eloisa noted and silently observed her without voicing it out.

Unexpectedly, it was Nicholas who asked.

"Are you sure you are not pretending to be happy? Is he truly treating you well even in Valeria?" Nicholas inquired next.

[She had been all smiles since they arrived. But what if it was all a facade? She was so sad when she had no choice but to marry him. And she held us all so tightly as if she had a lot to say but could not.]

’Oh, I didn’t know Nicholas was this observant.Was he always this mature?’ Arabella was impressed and touched.

"I’m not pretending. You may not understand it for now, but I am in love with my husband now. He is kinder than he looks and treats me very well," Arabella smiled at Nik who had been looking guilty since earlier for being unable to help her escape this marriage.

"But, weren’t you strongly against marrying him?" Eloisa finally spoke. "Have you truly gotten over Prince Andrew? I mean... you loved him so much."

[Elder Sister cried day and night and looked like she was being sent to her death when she departed for Valeria.]

Eloisa found it hard to believe that Arabella had truly moved on from her first love because of all the actions Arabella did before departing for Valeria.

’Why did I have to do all that madness?!’ Arabella internally facepalmed. Her siblings were wary so she had to explain or they will keep being doubtful of Ferdinand and his motives in marrying her.

"It’s alright now. I have accepted my fate and that is to be wed to Ferdinand. I am happy the way things are now. And yes, I have truly moved on from Prince Andrew. He has a life of his own now as well. I met him in Medeus and both of us made peace. We indeed loved each other so much in the past. But we have both moved on. And we are both happily married now. He’s even expecting a child with his wife."

Arabella hoped they would understand, but perhaps they were still too young since they looked at her sadly even more.