Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress

He had a lot of trust in the knighthood since he had been with them for a while since he was a child here. Thus, he had seen them work hard and had influenced their training routines.

"I see. That’s good then. It would be better too if they just complied without putting up a fight."

Arabella did not want the innocent people to get involved either. She knew that what the nobles wanted was not exactly what the commoners wanted.

Moreover, most of the nobles had already returned the Prudencians they had gotten.

However, there were still hardheaded nobles who kept refusing. If they still do not comply despite Ferdinand’s new edict, Valeria has no choice but to push through with the war.

Arabella and Ferdinand had already pressured the King of Crux a lot when they were in Medeus so most of the Prudencians were already returned by the Crux nobles and had returned home after they stayed in the Magic Tower to recover.

If some of the nobles in Crux still insisted on being hardheaded due to their pride, then they were awaiting nothing but their death.

When Ferdinand made the declaration the other day, the ministers and household leaders were all in favor of it. They were already quite amazed that Ferdinand had not declared war just a few days after he learned what happened in Prudencia.

They knew Ferdinand had already given as much patience as he could only because he had just gotten married back then. If that was not the case, he would have indeed declared war immediately.

"I have sent the letter, Your Majesty," Alwin returned and reported, bringing Arabella out of her thoughts.

Alwin sent it through a magical messenger bird. He used to send it in person but it seems he was envious of Orpheus’ magical messenger bird so he also made one for himself.

"That was fast. Thank you."

Arabella and Ferdinand then entered the throne room with Alwin following behind them with Rendell and the Grand Knight Commander.

The court session continued from where they left off yesterday and they ended up spending an entire day in court again.

Much to Ferdinand’s annoyance, they once again had their meal with everyone. Of course, they were once again in a separate table so that it would be easier to track any assassination attempts.

Of course, it was also because Ferdinand did not want to socialize. He already had enough of it in Medeus and was not yet ready for more.

Socializing drains him much more than training for days. After all, Ferdinand was like a social recluse most of his life. He only had a few groups of people whom he had chosen to socialize with.

Thus, the long Yearly Assembly was already too much socializing for Ferdinand so he was taking a rest from it at the moment.

Arabella did not want to push him too much since he was not used to it so she did not insist on mingling with everyone.

After getting poisoned last time in Medeus, she was wary to mingle at the moment as well.

Thankfully, the nobles understood since she almost died last time. Thus, they did not comment on why she was not socializing with everyone.

When it came to Ferdinand they were already used to him not mingling at all so it was no surprise.

Arabella knew that as Ferdinand’s wife, it was her job to socialize since it was his weakness, but she was not into it at the moment either due to what happened in Medeus.

Moreover, court sessions were usually formal and they did not talk much about unrelated matters even during meal times like this.

Arabella was reserving the socializing part for winter since most of the wives and children of the noble households usually gathered in Riva during the said period.

The noble ladies had likely traveled here to Riva with their husbands and were preparing their residences for gatherings this winter while their homes in their territories were preparing for the same.

Since winter preparations were mostly going well, preparing for social gatherings to make winter productive despite being unable to go out far away was another preparation everyone usually does.

The noble ladies are usually in charge of this. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Thankfully, Arabella did not have to do a lot for such preparations now since she had already begun preparations for social events several months ago when she was planning with Raymond to have Ferdinand attend such events.

The Imperial Palace halls were already prepared for such events. They had a lot of chefs and butlers too.

They needed more maids but Arabella would do the hiring later since they were already very busy right now.

Right on time when she was thinking about it, when they returned to the throne room one of the ministers mentioned it.

"Your Majesty, I think it’s time we hire more maids. I believe Her Majesty does not have enough to be able to conduct tea parties of her own," the Head Minister of the Imperial Family’s Public Relations said.

Everyone perked up at that, finally seeing the chance to talk about it. They quickly agreed with the Head Minister.

They pointed out that Arabella was lacking personal maids because they wanted to recommend their daughters and nieces.

"Is that so? That’s a good suggestion, indeed. But I already asked the Prime Minister to ask everyone here before my marriage to send at least one of their daughters to the palace. But only four people sent one each," Ferdinand responded, and everyone was silenced.

[They are acting so eager to send one of their daughters now. They should have sent one before Arabella even came here.]

What Ferdinand said was true so the nobles were silenced.

Arabella listened to their thoughts.

[That’s because we are afraid His Majesty might punish them with death at the slightest mistake. But now that we know he can be gentle, we do not have to fear that anymore.]

[How can we send our daughters to serve someone we do not even know? We heard she was young and naive and in love with someone else. But after her efforts for Valeria the previous months, we can accept her now and send our daughters to work for her.]

[I thought Her Majesty would be too pampered and naive and might get my daughter into a lot of trouble.]