Arabella wanted to tell Ferdinand, everything would be alright.
But deep inside, she also feared that the worst could have happened to Alwin.
She was rely assuring herself everything would be fine since Alwin was able to return alive to her past life.
But what if things had changed in this life? What if sothing changed in Umbra too the way it did in things here?
’No! Alwin will definitely co back!’ Arabella told herself, doing her best to push the dark and negative thoughts away. He promised to return, and she wanted to have faith in him. The Alwin she knew would not allow himself to die like that after everything he knew about the past.
. . .
Ferdinand kissed her one more ti before calling Raymond’s attention.
{Raymond, you may go back to Valeria now.}
Raymond then occupied his human body.
"I’ll return as soon as I can, Your Majesty" Raymond promised.
"Do what you need to do first. Five days had already passed," Ferdinand inford.
"F-five days?!" Raymond was surprised as well.
[We had been searching for Alwin with no success for five days?! Is he even alright if it had been this long?] Raymond got even more anxious.
"Please get a bit of rest and sustain your human body first," Arabella reminded him. "And do visit Clarisse."
"Right! Now that I thought about it, I need to see her and the kids. Are they doing well? What if those two are giving Clarisse a headache again?" Raymond facepald when he realized he hadn’t visited his pregnant wife for five whole days.
[I was wondering why His Majesty suddenly told to go and see my wife when he was the one who usually delayed from seeing her. It was because it had been several days. He knows the feeling now, so he finally understood what it was like.]
’Oh my. Thank goodness Clarisse knew that Raymond is Ferdinand’s butler.’
"When you return bring Ivan yer and Ronald Reginald with you to help with the workload. Arabella had been doing everything in our place. Go and see for yourself how good she was," Ferdinand bragged out of nowhere.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
[Right. There was always a lot of work to do. I was alard when I suddenly stopped feeling Alwin’s presence so I didn’t have the ti to instruct my assistants. I’m sure they are doing their best to do the work they can. Still, even my most capable assistant there are not allowed to do my work for even if they could. Her Majesty must have been swamped with all the work instead.] Raymond knew that there were a lot of matters that cannot be finalized by their assistants due to the rules in Valeria so only those in certain positions could do it.
"My deepest gratitude for your hard work, Your Majesty," Raymond bowed slightly.
"I didn’t do much. Ferdinand praises too much," Arabella humbly said so Raymond’s expectations wouldn’t be too high.
"You are too humble." Ferdinand gave her a peck.
"I’m not."
"You are. I’ll have to trouble you with my work. I’ll do my best to make it up to you later. I have to go for now," Ferdinand kissed her again before going to his dragon form.
"Then, shall we go to your study, Your Majesty?" Raymond asked and Arabella felt embarrassed.
"Please don’t expect too much," Arabella knew she could not defeat Raymond’s eons of experience working for Ferdinand.
"His Majesty doesn’t realize it, but he is quite strict and picky, so I always ensured only the best beca his assistants. I’m sure Your Majesty did well for him to ntion it," Raymond smiled.
They went to her study and Arabella nervously waited for Raymond’s comnt. She was relieved when he praised her work too.
Raymond then left and headed to Valeria.
Arabella then focused on work again.
* * *
Raymond returned after two days with Ivan and Ronald with him as agreed upon.
However...
’Why does Ivan have slap marks on both cheeks?’ Arabella wondered. She wondered if he had fought with a lover or sothing. She glanced at Raymond and Riley, and they both looked away.
’They knew why?’
[I knew she wouldn’t like it. But if I had allowed Riley to heal her assistant, she wouldn’t have a clue about what happened to him.] Raymond thought.
’What’s that supposed to an?’ Arabella glanced at her assistants who both tensed at her gaze and greeted her stiffly.
Her brows further furrowed when she noticed that Ivan seed to be pained when he bowed to greet her.
Ivan had clearly lost weight too compared to how his body was before she headed to deus.
Ivan was skinny but lean when she just hired him due to the bullying from his forr superior and coworkers that deprived him of his salary and made him have the worst als.
But Ivan earned so weight after eating balanced and healthy als made by the palace chefs when he began staying in the palace and working for her.
Yet, he was back to being skinny again. He wasn’t as skinny as before but there was a clear difference.
’What’s going on? Was there too much work? But Ronald seems fine. Don’t tell soone still tried to bully Ivan even though he is already my assistant. Is it because I haven’t achieved much as an Empress yet?’
[I thought I bandaged it a lot before we headed here so Her Majesty would not notice. It still hurts when I move.]
"Ivan, where else are you hurt?" Arabella inquired. Only the slap marks on his cheeks were visible. It was clear they were fresh. But with how he winced when he bowed, she could tell he was injured elsewhere too.
[How did Her Majesty notice?! I tried to maintain my expression. Or did soone inform her about what that lady had been doing?]
’What?! So, this wasn’t the first ti?’ Arabella fud. Who would dare do this to her precious assistant?
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