Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress

"It’s been a while. How are you all doing?" Arabella beamed as she tried to fight her tears. It was nice to finally be able to see all her siblings.

Arabella was once again grateful for this opportunity given to her to live a second life. Not only was she able to have a so much better relationship with Ferdinand, but also be able to meet her family again. And this time, she wanted to understand them better than she did before.

But instead of replying to her, Arabella’s younger siblings greeted her and Ferdinand politely instead. They were nervous because of all the knights who were in shining armor.

"Greetings to His and Her Imperial Majesty. Welcome to Lobelius. W-we are doing well," her younger siblings said.

Benjamin and Arabella’s eyes meet and they both stop themselves from chuckling.

"I guess we should head inside first. We prepared some refreshments. You must have missed the food here."

"Right," Arabella smiled.

Benjamin knew that their younger siblings were stiff because they had not met Ferdinand before and were scared of him.

[They seem terrified just at my presence. Would they even accept the gifts we prepared for them?] Ferdinand fidgetted, noticing it too.

Arabella squeezed Ferdinand’s hand to assure him everything would be fine. She helped him choose gifts after all. She knew what her siblings liked.

Benjamin glanced at Aletha and the latter greeted him. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Greetings to Your Highness," Aletha curtsied.

"Welcome back to Lobelius, Aletha.Thank you for taking good care of my sister even in Valeria," Benjamin smiled.

"It is my honor," Aletha said with a smile.

Arabella couldn’t help but smile at that too. She was very much grateful that Aletha had gone to Valeria when she sent the letter.

’They must miss her a lot,’ Arabella glanced at Aletha’s family and smiled at them. They were likely informed by Benjamin that Aletha would be coming home so they came to pick her up.

Aletha’s family smiled back and bowed.

"Aletha, your family is here to pick you up. You may take your leave now. Enjoy your vacation," Arabella smiled at Aletha who was trying to contain her excitement.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Aletha bowed and walked to her family who welcomed her with tight hugs.

"Oh, right. These are Linus and Reuben. We brought a lot of ingredients from Valeria so as I wrote to you in the letter, we brought two chefs from the Imperial Palace so they could prepare Valerian dishes for everyone," Arabella introduced the two.

Arabella’s younger siblings perked up at that. They were visibly curious about what Valerian cuisine was like.

"Welcome to Lobelius. Thank you for taking the time to head here for us," Benjamin welcomed the two.

"We are very much honored, Your Highness," Linus and Reuben replied humbly.

Arabella learned from their thoughts that as chefs, the two were proud to show off Valerian cuisine. Likewise, they were here to learn more about Lobelian cuisine so they could prepare more meals for Arabella once they were back at the Imperial Palace.

"Bring their things to their room and give them a tour of the palace," Benjamin instructed two of their most trusted butlers.

"Yes, Your Highness," the two butlers then ushered Linus and Reuben.

"Alright. Let’s head inside," Benjamin ushered Arabella and Ferdinand inside the palace.

They headed to the grandest dining hall and there was already a lot of food served atop the long table.

Arabella’s mouth watered as she saw dishes she hadn’t tasted in two decades. Most of the dishes prepared were her favorites too. She was suddenly hungry.

Arabella and Ferdinand did not eat after the court session since they knew a meal would be served once they arrived here. And they were right.

"You prepared a lot," Arabella noted. She thought they would not be able to prepare much since they were supposed to arrive in the afternoon or evening.

"Of course. I know you would love to eat these again. I can see your eyes sparkling," Benjamin teased and Arabella chuckled.

"You know me too well. But first, let me introduce my husband," Arabella glanced at Ferdinand who had been glancing at her younger siblings.

"Right. Please do. We could not bring everyone with us to Medeus even though they wanted to go too so they could see you and His Imperial Majesty," Benjamin glanced at Ferdinand. "Welcome to Lobelius, Your Imperial Majesty."

[They wanted to meet him when Mother and Father said he’s kind and gentle to Arabella. But now that they see him, they are too scared to speak. His demeanor and aura were no longer as terrifying as it once was but he was still scary.]

"Thank you," Ferdinand replied stiffly because he was nervous too. But Arabella’s younger siblings thought it was because he did not like speaking with them, even when it was Benjamin who was about to be crowned.

"Nicholas, Eloisa, Lorelei, this is my husband, Emperor Ferdinand of Valeria," Arabella introduced Ferdinand and her younger siblings greeted Ferdinand formally again.

Her siblings stood several steps behind Benjamin since they were scared to stand near Ferdinand. He did not even have a sword on his waist but they stood at a good distance as if he did.

"Ferdinand, this is Nicholas. He is my younger brother. He is the third child and follows after me. This is Eloisa, the second daughter and the fourth child in our family. This is Lorelei, the third daughter and last child in the family," Arabella introduced her siblings.

And yet, everyone was so taken aback at hearing her call Ferdinand by name that they were nervously glancing around and waiting for Ferdinand to get angry.

Instead, Ferdinand smiled at Arabella before looking at her younger siblings and said, "Hello, thank you for growing up with Arabella all these years. I hope you continue to be good siblings to her."

Arabella had spoken about this with Ferdinand and they both decided it was better if they did not speak formally to each other while they were here since her sibling might think they were not getting along as well as they thought.

Ferdinand preferred it like this too since he did not like her calling him by his title.