CHAPTER 1034: CHAPTER 1034: OUT OF DUTY AND SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY

Ferdinand was conflicted since he also knew past empresses who did not go to Estrella after speaking with the Pope.

Arabella held Ferdinand’s hand and gave it a squeeze. She smiled reassuringly and said, telepathically, {Don’t worry. I simply want to ask him a few questions. And I’d like to know what he wants to talk about.}

"Alright. I’ll wait outside," Ferdinand reluctantly agreed. Then to the Pope, he said, "Don’t try anything funny."

"Rest assured, I won’t," the Pope smiled. He was already used to Ferdinand and the other dragons’ attitude.

Everyone else then got out, leaving only Arabella and Pope Elsevier in the meeting room.

"You seem to be faring well in Valeria," Pope Elsevier said.

"Yes, more than I thought I’d be," Arabella smiled.

[She doesn’t seem to be lying.] Pope Elsevier observed her silently.

"You have dark circles under your eyes. Have you not been sleeping well?" Pope Elsevier inquired.

’How did he notice?! Did my makeup already melt?!’

Arabella wondered if all the makeup her maids carefully applied was gone now for the Pope to notice such detail.

She forgot to ask Alwin to heal it for her, and the maids did a wonderful job of hiding it anyway, so she forgot all about it.

"Ah, these? There is a lot of administrative work to do since I’m also involved in politics," Arabella clarified, since Pope Elsevier was mistaking it for something else.

[Isn’t it because her husband is beginning to show signs of the usual problems?]

’What usual problems?’ Arabella wanted to inquire, but could not risk revealing her skill.

"Valeria is rich with talents, and surely they could afford to hire people to do such tasks for you,’’ Pope Elsevier said.

[I did hear she excelled among her peers. Are they abusing her just because she can? With all the people in Valeria and their current system, surely it’s not that hard to find someone to do the work.]

’’I do have 10 assistants, Your Holiness. They are capable and reliable. However, there are still tasks I must do myself. With the war here recently concluding and the problem with the viral disease, which Ferdinand is personally dealing with, there are tons of tasks to do. Everyone is occupied, and I don’t want to be the only one doing nothing. I also want to do my best as the Empress of Valeria,’’ Arabella clarified.

She didn’t want the Pope to continue suspecting she might be getting overworked against her will.

Ferdinand and the others were telling her to stop overworking herself, but she’s the one insisting on keeping working.

It was not their fault that she had dark circles under her eyes because she decided to keep working even when she could have slept earlier than she did.

"I see... It’s out of a sense of duty, then. You are indeed royalty, Lobelius raised you well,’’ Pope Elsevier sighed. ’’It’s good to know you are integrated well, even in their politics, and you seem to be doing well in it. I have only heard good news so far about your work."

"Oh my, thank you!" Arabella smiled, even when the Pope’s words revealed he indeed had spies in Valeria who kept him up to date with news and rumors in it.

"I’m sure by now you must have a clue why I wanted to speak in private. And perhaps, they have informed you why they were wary of me being alone with you,’’ Pope Elsevier directly brought up the matter.

’It’s not that they told me. I have learned from their thoughts,’ Arabella wanted to say, but did not dare utter a single word or else her ability would be revealed.

"They did not tell me, but I did overhear them talking about how fast some Empresses have refused to retire to Estrella after speaking with your Holiness,’’ Arabella said instead.

She wanted to hear the Pope’s perspective about this from his own mouth.

She did have a clue from his and the other’s thoughts and their past conversations that he truly cared about the fate of humans who become mates of the long-lived races, and that it was part of his role as overseer and protector of the human race.

However, Arabella wanted to know more details about what exactly happened in the past and what the Pope was willing to tell her.

"Well, I understand it’s easy to interpret it as me convincing them not to retire to Estrella.

However, all I did was listen to their plight and give them another option.

You see, not everyone who learns about the existence of the long-lived races is as accepting as you.

Most are terrified and find it hard to accept that the person they are with is not human and has abilities beyond their understanding.

Some remained silent out of fear for their lives.

Even if the long-lived races truly loved them, and were loyal to them, and they felt the same, not being of the same races can change this.

Some of the past Empresses of Valeria lived in fear, in silence, even when they wanted to get out of the relationship once the truth was revealed.

They thought they simply had to get along, since how could they dare to oppose or contradict such powerful beings?

Fear of the unknown does a lot of things, and sometimes, no words of explanation or even proof can fix it.

Thus, there are a lot who wanted no part in the Oracle system or being a mate of another race.

They thought they only had to suffer in silence, but when I spoke to them, they were relieved to have an escape route.

Because I promised to protect them from the long-lived races regardless of the choice they make, they decided to live their remaining life as human and go wherever they wanted to stay.

All I did was give them an option and did my job as a tasked protector of the human race to ensure they were not forced to head to Estrella by long-lived races.

It is part of my task to monitor these marriages and relationships of humans and long-lived races.

All I did was do my job as I was supposed to do," Pope Elsevier explained.

"I see..." Arabella nodded her head.

For Pope Elsevier, it was also out of duty and a sense of responsibility.

a/n:

Sorry for the hiatus. Work was hectic, and it was hard to do it all together. I have written some Chapters on paper, and I hired a typist to do the typing for me, so I can upload them.

Thanks very much for waiting!

Love you all!!