’Maybe I should give her vacation?’

Arabella thought about it, but she had to announce Blanca as her new maid to replace Renee before giving Aletha a vacation.

After all, if Aletha was to go on vacation while there was no replacement for Renee yet, Eunice and the others would have more work to do. They would have to make up for the work of two people.

Thus, Blanca had to be with them first.

"You should worry about your health more, Your Majesty.

What if you happen to be pregnant?

You cannot simply sit for hours working without even drinking water," Aletha chided.

’Pregnant?!’

Arabella was wide-eyed at hearing such words.

Aletha and the others had not mentioned that in the past since they were not sure yet if Arabella and Ferdinand had the time to be intimate.

But now that they knew she had been sleeping with Ferdinand, they thought of the possibility of her being pregnant when taking care of her and choosing the tea and food for her.

"Yes, I will keep that in mind."

Arabella wanted to say that there was no way she would get pregnant since Ferdinand was using magic to prevent it because of their agreement.

But there was no need to disappoint Aletha.

Aletha was excited to see Arabella’s children, so she did not say anything that might make the latter feel depressed.

If Arabella told Aletha that they were using magic to prevent pregnancy, the latter might misunderstand and think that Ferdinand did not want to have a child with her.

Thus, Arabella decided to let things be as it is for now.

After all, just a few more months and it would be fine for her to get pregnant.

Just thinking about it made Arabella smile.

’Just a bit more and I’ll see him,’ she unconsciously caressed her belly.

A few more months and she would finally be pregnant. She could not help but be excited about it.

Even if she could not see Fermin yet, once she gets pregnant, Alwin said she would be able to feel his presence now too that Ferdinand had given her his mana. She would feel the combination of their mana in Fermin.

’What would Ferdinand say once he feels our son?’ Arabella thought.

Now that Ferdinand was so much more vocal, she was sure he would have a lot to say.

’Geez. What am I thinking about when I’m not even pregnant yet,’ Arabella pushed away the thoughts since she was getting distracted by it.

First and foremost, she needed to improve her standing here in Valeria so that her son would be very well received, not just because he was Ferdinand’s, but also because they liked Arabella as their Empress.

That would help in lessening the number of people that would try to harm her son.

"Please drink this, Your Majesty."

"Thank you," Arabella accepted the tea that was poured by Aletha.

After taking a thirty-minute break, Arabella went back to work. She spent the whole day working and even had her lunch in her office.

Ferdinand was likely very busy as well since he did not come to see her so they could eat together.

Arabella had no complaints at all since she knew he had a lot of work to do. She might not even see him for several days.

But that was fine with her as long as she could feel his presence and know that he was here in Riva.

Despite Arabella and Raymond doing their best not to make it obvious that Ferdinand was gone, so they had done almost all his work, there were things they could not decide on their own and thus, they had to save it until Ferdinand returned.

His office was filled with such documents so Arabella knew he would be busy doing those.

After all, he also did not like getting work postponed to the point it would pile up in mountains.

’I’ll work until late at night,’ Arabella thought as she continued working.

But then, as the sun set, someone unexpectedly knocked on her door.

Knock.

Knock.

"Arabella?" a voice asked gently.

"Eh? Ferdinand?!"

Arabella quickly rose and went to open the door herself when she heard her husband’s voice.

She was surprised to see that it truly was her husband.

"What are you doing here?"

"Why? Am I not allowed to visit you here?" Ferdinand acted like he was offended by her question. He even pouted and it was cute.

"That’s not what I meant. You can, of course. But are you not busy with work?" Arabella eyed him and he frowned at her.

"I was. But my wife whom I haven’t seen in a while, is of course, more important," he said with a straight face as if he did not say something cheesy.

It was sweet of him though to still think about her and come check on her despite all the work he had to do.

"Right. Thank you for coming to see me," Arabella smiled.

"..."

Ferdinand did not say anything and leaned towards her instead.

Since he might kiss her out of nowhere, Arabella took a step back and looked around worried that there may be people in the hall that would see them.

"Why are you still working?" was what Ferdinand said though.

"What should I be doing then?" Arabella tilted her head.

[Doesn’t she know what time is it?]

Ferdinand was frowning at her as he thought that, so Arabella checked the wall clock and the windows.

It was already dark.

"Oh, I just thought I should do a bit more work," Arabella reasoned, looking at her hubby sheepishly.

She forgot the time when she got absorbed in work and Ferdinand had already told her repeatedly before to eat on time even if he was not around.

"It’s dinner time. Let’s go and eat together first," Ferdinand said and Arabella finally understood why he came here.

She thought he would not be around for dinner, so she thought of eating later. But he came to get her so they could eat together.

Her husband is so sweet!

"Right. Yes, of course," Arabella beamed.

Then, she noticed that Ferdinand’s right hand had been placed behind his back since earlier. "What are you hiding behind your back?"

[She finally noticed?]

Ferdinand was silent for several seconds and just stared at her before he said, "Here. It’s for you."

He brought out a bouquet and handed it to her. The flowers were pretty and fresh.

"Did you pick these yourself?" Arabella inquired as she took a whiff of the fragrant flowers.

"Yes," Ferdinand looked away somewhat embarrassed. After all, he was supposed to be busy with work, not picking flowers.

"Oh my, thank you!"

Arabella beamed at her husband and his ears turned red.

"I just got them on the way here," Ferdinand said.

But Arabella heard from his thoughts that he wanted to give her flowers today and eat dinner with her because he would not be in her room tonight.

He had a lot of work to do so he was planning to work all night.

"I love them," Arabella said and Ferdinand glanced at her, as if checking if she truly liked it, before looking away again.

Arabella tried to peek into his eyes but he avoided meeting her gaze. She wanted to tease him but when she heard his thoughts, she stopped.

[I have gathered my resolve to not sleep in her room tonight. But if she keeps being too adorable, how will I be able to hold back?]

Ferdinand avoided meeting her gaze since he was getting tempted to have her for "dinner" instead.

’My goodness. We have already done it so many times. I’m the one who missed him so much since I was waiting for his return for so long, and yet, he was the one who’s acting like everything we did was still not enough.’

"Let’s go and eat dinner then," Arabella looped her arm around his instead so they could head to the dining room.

It would be bad if Ferdinand surrendered to his desires and let the delayed work sit there a bit more.

She handed the flowers to Aletha who went to display them on the vase on her bedside table.

"You should take some rest now that I’m back. You have worked too hard while I was away," Ferdinand said guiltily.

[The work that had piled up was so much less compared to how much I usually have to do if I was gone for that long.]

’Ah, I see,’ Arabella finally understood that Ferdinand was apologetic which was why he did not like that she was still working although it was already dinner time.

It was one of the reasons why he went to her personal study. He wanted to stop her from working but had to use dinner as an excuse.

"I was not the only one who worked hard though. Everyone else did too. Oh, especially Raymond."

Arabella had to mention him since Clarisse was pregnant. He needed to be home more often and yet, he got so busy instead.