"That day was akin to the gods themselves descending and helping us. Our people were miraculously healed by His Eminence as per His and Her Majesties’ orders. They fed and clothed everyone as well.
"Then, His Eminence regrew the whole forest and other vegetation in Safiro. It was such a mysterious and miraculous sight. Towering trees grew impossibly after years of nothing...
"Later on, a huge magic circle appeared in the sky, and clouds gathered. It rained torrents for the first ti in years. The dry soil was finally soaked in water and beca damp...
"It was such a magnificent event that everyone in Safiro will never forget. We will write it in our history books so our descendants will never forget the kindness and blessing we received after our long suffering.
"And that’s exactly why I and the entirety of Safiro will forever be grateful to His and Her Majesty, His Eminence, and everyone who helped us," Nadia was teary-eyed when she was done retelling a shortened version of what happened in Safiro.
Everyone had a lot more questions and Nadia did her best to answer them all until they understood what happened to Safiro and why Count Dempsey was executed in Arno Dukedom.
"Alright, that’s enough. It’s not even break ti yet. Let’s get back to work. We need to finish all this before another set of docunts arrives," Norbert had them all return to work when he noticed they had spent several minutes doing sothing else instead of working.
. . .
Arabella just watched her assistants work for a while before having Odette and Nadia summoned so she could get their statents and side of the story.
They were only told that they were being summoned to the Magic Tower so the other assistants would not know it was Arabella summoning them.
[Did sothing happen in Safiro?]
[Is this about Prudencia?]
Nadia and Odette had not yet entered the room Arabella was in, but she already heard their worried thoughts.
They thought it was about their holand since their communication with the Magic Tower usually only happened when it was about it.
"Greetings to Your Emi-"
They were supposed to say a greeting for Alwin but stopped midsentence and gawked in shock and alarm when they saw Arabella instead.
"Y-Your Majesty?!"
Arabella smiled and said, "Yes, it’s . I’m back for today."
The two instantly composed themselves, though they were still stiff as they greeted and welcod her back to Valeria.
"W-Welco back, Your Majesty."
"Thank you. Please be seated so we can speak."
Nadia and Odette bowed and nervously seated themselves. They did not expect to et with her suddenly, so they were not ntally prepared.
"I know this is sudden, but I needed to ask you a few questions. No need to be nervous," Arabella tried to help them relax a bit, but it was no use even with so tea.
[Did Her Majesty notice that half of our work had been done by Lady Narcissa the past few days? Are we going to be reprimanded? We will not be fired, right?!]
[This is about the docunts Lady Narcissa had been doing instead of us, isn’t it?]
They were scared to be scolded or even worse. They feared that Arabella may have thought they had been slacking off at work because they had been leaving half of their work for Narcissa the past few days. But that was as per Narcissa’s instructions, not their own will.
Arabella could easily determine who did what from their handwriting, so they thought she learned about the docunts.
But that was not yet the issue she would be inquiring about.
"I heard you two had been eating separately from the others. Is that true?"
[Eh? Is it not about the docunts?]
Nadia and Odette glanced at each other when their feared question did not co.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Why is that?" Arabella inquired next and the two glanced at each other again.
[What should we do? It is Her Majesty, herself, asking us. We cannot and should not lie.]
"Please answer honestly and don’t hold back anything," Arabella added and the two gulped.
"Y-Yes, Your Majesty."
[Does Her Majesty already know?]
[I heard she was the one who summoned Ivan. Did he inform Her Majesty?]
"Uhm, Lady Narcissa told us to eat separately since our rank is far different from the others," Odette replied.
[I didn’t want to do it, but she kept glaring at and Nadia just as she did at Ivan before, so we did it before she got even more irritated by us.]
"Lady Narcissa said it was difficult for her to eat at the sa table as us. Especially who lacked manners," Nadia gulped.
[I learned about proper etiquette back in Cordelia. I also tried to study and imitate the etiquette here in the capital, but Lady Narcissa who grew up here was on a different level. She kept noticing everything I did that was slightly different, just as she did to Ivan.]
"I see. I already know about the matter with Ivan, so you do not need to hold back with your answers," Arabella clarified.
[Her Majesty already knows!!]
The two perked up and hope shined in their eyes.
[Thank Heavens! I thought Ivan would have to keep suffering like that for a while.]
Odette sighed in relief. She also knew about it.
[Did Ivan tell Her Majesty despite Narcissa’s threats? He’s braver than he looks. I hope he has recovered now. I’m glad I don’t have to guard him without Narcissa noticing it was helping him leave that storage house and tending to his wounds. I’ve been nervous for a while that Narcissa’s people may notice .] Nadia sighed as well.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The two were relieved that they did not have to choose their words or limit what they relayed to her since Arabella already knew the truth.
They realized that she was just trying to verify what was true and not since Ivan may have exaggerated or downplayed so things.
"When did she begin treating you differently from how she usually does?"
.
.
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A/N:
Yaayyy! We have gone past 500 Chapters with 571.86k words and counting for more...
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