[We should indeed declare war on them. We had only waited because there was also a mistake on our part for not realizing what was going on as soon as possible. But that ends now.]

[Despite the gravity of their actions, we had been too patient and lenient with them. We had already given them too much time in recompense for our mistake.]

[We cannot allow them to be scot-free after everything they have done. We should have declared war against them immediately.]

[Crux should get a taste of their punishment for daring to slight Valeria and its people.]

[They have been such a pain in the eye since the beginning. They were so full of themselves to think they could take Valerians as slaves without getting the consequences. They could only blame themselves for being too full of themselves.]

[We had been waiting for His Majesty to finally say this. He had been very busy since he attended the Yearly Assembly in Medeus for the first time. He must have pushed the matter with Crux aside in the meantime. But it seems he could not wait anymore either. Crux had been playing around too much.]

[Is he finally declaring war because their honeymoon is over? Or because Her Majesty had finally fully recovered so His Majesty could leave to get vengeance for her?]

[Whatever the excuse Crux says, we can no longer waste more time. This is for the best!]

The ministers and rulers gathered inside were not against a war to conquer Crux.

"Since no one is against it, this is final," Ferdinand declared because no one dared to say otherwise.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will obey your order," Minister Adelard bowed his head.

None of the other ministers contradicted Ferdinand’s decision since some of them had already been discussing among themselves that they should have already declared war on Crux. However, they held back because Ferdinand just got married and might feel obliged to lead the war as usual. Thus, they waited for him to say it himself.

Moreover, now that Ferdinand had been married for months, they were not that worried especially since he declared that Arabella had fully recovered.

In the past, they were worried every time Ferdinand went to war since even if he was strong, he might encounter accidents or injuries in the war that could lead to him being unable to father a child.

Thus, they had insisted on him getting married to ensure an heir first before he continued going to war.

Now that Arabella was here and Ferdinand obviously liked her, they were assured that she might already be pregnant, especially with how Ferdinand was treating her so gently and sweetly.

The ministers and rulers of Valeria were all having their assumptions and conclusions.

Arabella felt pressured as they hoped that she was already pregnant. Still, it was her duty as Empress so she did not feel bad. It was normal that they expected an heir from her for the safety of Valeria.

Especially since they did not know that even in the worst-case scenario that something happened to her or Ferdinand, either Raymond would be the emperor or someone else from Estrella would be sent here to rule Valeria.

With that, Alwin provided Ferdinand a paper to write on and he made the Imperial Decree and sealed it. That made his declaration final and could no longer be changed if Crux still did not return everyone.

After reports and discussions on national security, the next was the Head Minister of Finance. This year’s budget was not fully used and there was still a huge amount that could be spent for winter preparations.

Despite the huge amount of budget shelled out for Safiro and Prudencia, this year’s budget was not heavily affected at all.

This was one of the reasons why in the past life, Nadia and Odette hated Ferdinand and blamed him for the death of their people. Because, a small amount of Valeria’s yearly budget would have been enough to help them, but the help never came even when they tried to ask for help several times. They did not know that all their attempts to seek help did not even reach Ferdinand or Riva for that matter.

Thankfully, due to the ability Arabella suddenly had when she was reborn, she heard the situation and both Prudencia and Safiro were now out of dire straights.

Likewise, Nadia and Odette were supposed to go through even more suffering but were both Arabella’s assistants instead.

Arabella had managed to save the two and help them out of their predicament thanks to Alwin, Raymond, and Ferdinand’s quick response when they learned about the situation.

Blanca and Esmeralda were even added to Valeria’s assets and Arabella’s allies.

In addition, the revelation of what happened to the Prudencians led to the approval of the abolition of slavery in all of Eliora.

Arabella had reaped so much more than she had sown as the little changes she triggered caused a ripple of events to change.

However, she almost died due to it too. But thanks to Alwin and Ferdinand, she was still alive.

It had just been several months since she returned to this life but so many things had already changed. And Arabella welcomed it all.

Because now, she was here beside Ferdinand, seated on her throne as Empress once again. But this time, without receiving as much hate, doubt, and distrust from everyone.

It was a long road getting here, but it was worth it.

[Is she sad that I’m going to war again?! Her eyes are watering as if she would cry.]

Ferdinand squeezed her hand as if to reassure her everything would be fine.

’Even my husband had changed so much. No, it wasn’t that he changed completely. I grew to understand him and he grew to understand me. We both learned to communicate and even assure each other like this. It was indeed worth it.’ 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Arabella smiled at him and gestured that they should listen to the next report.

Ferdinand smiled back and nodded. They then focused on the next report.