"Yes, I will do my best. Now, stop brooding and let me work in peace," Arabella said.

She had documents to prepare and a lot of work to do.

A brooding elf this beautiful was still adorable, but it was distracting. She needed to focus on her work.

"Alright. I will do my best not to comment or correct her. I will not promise though, since if I see it again, I might accidentally correct it."

Alwin said those words so that in case he accidentally gets back to old habits and corrects Blanca, Arabella would not say in the future that he did not fulfill his promise.

’I guess he is more of a perfectionist than I thought,’ Arabella thought.

Since Alwin was so capable, and yet, also followed instructions to a tee, as long as he understood it right, it was frustrating for him to see people keep repeating mistakes that had already been pointed out.

Seeing someone keep repeating a mistake gives him the sense of compulsion that he needed to correct it so that the person would not have to make the same mistake.

Arabella had to wonder if it was because he still felt responsible and was still blaming himself for the tragedies of the past.

She had already told him that though he may have committed a mistake that contributed to it, he was not at fault that everything turned out that way.

Arabella had formerly blamed herself for it too, but after she realized she had been used, she knew now that what happened was the plot of many people. They were merely among the people who had been played around with, used, and discarded when they were no longer necessary.

Thus, there was no need to blame themselves for everything that had happened since it was not entirely their fault even if they did commit mistakes that contributed to it.

What was important was they would not make any of those mistakes again and learn from what happened in the past so they could live a better life this time.

"Yes, it’s alright. You can still discipline her when it comes to things related to magic since everything related to magic is your jurisdiction. Just leave etiquette and her behavior in front of other people on us," Arabella clarified.

"Yes, I’ll do that," Alwin was suddenly more agreeable because he realized that he missed seeing something and Arabella had to point it out before he understood.

The atmosphere suddenly got heavy and it was because of a suddenly depressed elf.

[I guess this was why I wasn’t able to do anything in the past. Even now, I am still limited in my perspective despite the future that I know.]

He was blaming himself indeed. He had very high standards even for himself and the slightest mistakes made him feel so terrible.

"Alwin, don’t be too hard on yourself.

It wasn’t like you made a mistake.

You were right to correct Blanca’s behavior and point out her mistakes.

However, we needed to compromise, adapt, and use a somewhat more amicable strategy that Blanca would be more willing to accept."

Arabella had to explain before Alwin ends up berating himself or further thinking that he was not capable enough.

[...]

"The more you explain it the more I feel depressed," Alwin said with sarcasm and Arabella knew he was feeling a bit better.

After all, the more silent he was without any complaints, the more problematic things get.

Arabella was reminded that with her, an Alwin filled with complaints and rants was better than this depressed elf in front of her.

"Alright. You can work now. I will be doing some of my work too," Alwin did not want a reply from her so he spoke and changed the topic before she could talk.

"Sure," Arabella did not say anymore and Alwin vanished.

He went and stayed on the balcony of her office though to keep guard. He made a table for himself and brought his work there.

Then he made a magic barrier around himself so he would be invisible to other people and be able to focus on work without disturbance.

Arabella stopped listening to his thoughts once he began working and focused on what she needed to do.

She glanced at all the paper piled on her table. She was gone for just a few days but she already had so much work to do.

But this time, Arabella was filled with excitement and eagerness to do all her work immediately.

After all, Ferdinand was finally back. There was nothing to fear or be worried about anymore since he was here in Riva with her.

It was such a wonder how the mere thought that he was here, coupled with being able to sense his presence gave her so much comfort and assurance. She even felt so motivated to work.

Arabella walked to her table and checked the seat and table for dust. It was clean. Her maids had done their job well. She then seated herself and began working.

She did not go yet to her official office since she needed to tend to these documents first.

There was a mountain of letters for her to read too in just a matter of days.

Arabella prioritized working on the documents and saved the letters for later when Alwin was free. After all, he would have to check these letters first before she could read them.

Several hours passed by and Arabella did not even notice time go by until someone knocked.

Knock. Knock.

"Your Majesty, I brought you some tea and refreshments," someone said.

It was Aletha.

[Her Majesty had been working for three hours straight without even drinking water. Is she alright?] Aletha worried.

’Eh?! Three hours already passed?!’ Arabella sat up straight.

No wonder her hand was aching. She did not feel time had passed by.

Arabella glanced at all the documents she had worked on and felt a sense of pride at how quickly she had cleared several piles.

These would have taken days but she did it in three hours. There was still a lot left but she could do it all in a few more hours.

Since Alwin already knew that she was used to her work and she had been the Empress for several months, she was no longer holding back in how quickly she did her work.

Raymond would likely further misunderstand that she had such a talent for this but it’s alright as long as work was done quickly and efficiently.

Arabella no longer wanted to waste time doing things slowly just to maintain a show when there was so much work to do.

She preferred clearing her table from all the work piled up as soon as possible.

After all, no matter how quickly they clear it up, more work would come soon anyway.

That was the truth of being the Empress.

Arabella had read a lot of books when she was younger that described how being the monarch was something like a fairy tale.

That they could simply do whatever they pleased and change the rules however they wanted and demand people to do this and that regardless of how unreasonable it was.

But they could not be more wrong. In real life, it was not true at all.

In fact, as the Empress, Arabella was heavily tied to the rules.

She had so many rules and etiquette to obey and if she was not born royalty, she would have hated abiding by all these and doing a lot of work every single day.

However, since she was born a royal, it was already inculcated in her ever since her childhood that this was their fate and their duty as someone born into the royal family.

She had already gotten used to living her life this way especially since she had already lived as Valeria’s Empress for two decades in her past life.

Arabella glanced at the boxes of letters she would have to read.

Even reading so many letters and documents could be quite a chore but she had gotten used to it too. Especially since this was her second life.

"Your Majesty? Are you alright?" Aletha’s voice pulled Arabella from her thoughts.

"Yes, you may enter."

Once she gave the permission, the door was opened by Rendell and Aletha entered with a serving trolley.

"Your Majesty, please take a short break before working again," Aletha eyed her with worry.

"Yes, I got too engrossed in work. Thank you for recalling to bring some refreshments," Arabella smiled.

Asking for Aletha to come here was one of the best decisions she had made when she just returned to this life.

The former’s presence here changed so many things and helped her to be more comfortable and welcomed. Because of Aletha, the chefs and maids understood her needs better and took care of her so much better compared to her past life.

Aletha had been a great help to her in every way. But sometimes, Arabella also worries that she may be overworking Aletha and the latter might be missing her family back in Lobelius.

’Maybe I should give her vacation?’