CHAPTER 838: CHAPTER 838: TEMPTED TO RETIRE EARLY

"Your Majesty," Raymond greeted formally and only seated himself once Arabella was already seated.

"Please have some tea and refreshments," Arabella invited and picked up a cup.

"Thank you. This is exactly what I needed," Raymond picked up a cup too.

Knowing that they had been working continuously without a break, Alfredo had prepared quite a lot of pastries for them too.

It was perfect since Arabella and Raymond both did not have their afternoon tea due to all the work they had so this was their break time.

Still, they are here to have a meeting about work-related issues.

Their work is simply never-ending.

Ferdinand’s offer to live on his island in Estrella all by themselves without all this work was becoming more and more tempting as days passed by.

If they were in Estrella, they could simply be together every single day without having to worry about work.

It was so tempting to retire there early.

But Arabella was not yet ready to live everything and everyone she knew in the human realm behind.

"Ever since Your Majesty arrived, Alfredo got better at making these," Raymond praised as he ate some of the pastries.

Pastries were not Alfredo’s expertise but he had learned a lot from the other chefs to be able to prepare them himself for Arabella.

Alfredo was their chef in Ferdinand’s island and only the young ones were actually eating and they were not into sweets or pastries but meat so Alfredo’s expertise were meat dishes and Valerian cuisine (but also mainly meat dishes) which he had to learn before heading here.

But Alfredo had been preparing a good variety of meals for Arabella for months now.

He had studied and learned well after Aletha explained Arabella’s preferred foods.

"Yes, indeed. I really appreciate his efforts," Arabella smiled as she retrieved another pastry.

It was good as expected.

They ended up having their snack time first since they were both drained from work.

When they had finally recharged their energy from the food, they finally talked about the purpose of their meeting.

"How should I respond to the Pope’s request?" Arabella inquired.

"We have to agree or he would assume we are trying to hide something from them," Raymond said and had another cup of tea.

"I see. Is it alright to ask Alvis to attend as well?" Arabella inquired.

"It should be fine so Alvis can explain it himself," Raymond sighed deeply. "He did help us out a lot but also caused us trouble."

It was because it would be difficult to make up a reason for the earthquake Alvis had caused so they could not hide the fact that Alvis was here.

Especially since from the letter Alvis sent, it was clear he knew that the one who caused it was not Alwin.

"The Pope will know if we lie to him since he could tell immediately just from the difference in mana and Alvis released so much," Raymond explained. "Let’s let Alvis take care of the explanation since the Pope would likely chide us about it."

The earthquake from Alvis arrival had caused a lot of injuries but thankfully, no casualties.

"If there were casualties, the Pope would have headed here directly without sending a letter first," Raymond pointed out.

"Had it happened before?" Arabella inquired since from the look on Raymond’s face, it seemed like it did.

"Yes, on the other primordials several hundred years ago. He had to head here to remind them of laying low when they ended up causing too much damage and getting civilians involved."

’Ah, it must be why the Pope seemed especially wary of Primordials. He frowned when he felt that Ferdinand was not just any dragon but a primordial one,’ Arabella finally understood one of the reasons why the Pope did not seem to like Ferdinand.

They discussed who would attend the meeting and it was decided they would inform Ferdinand first to check if he would like to attend or let Raymond handle it if he was busy.

No one had gone to report there yet since Zion, Riley, and the others had to recover their mana after all the teleportation and healing they had to perform during and after the war.

They could not possibly send Alvis either.

Alvis was ruler himself so he was much more free to do as he pleases here as long as he does not violate any rules.

"Zion should have recovered his mana by now. I will send him to report to His Majesty. Your Majesty should write a letter too," Raymond said and Arabella perked up.

"Yes, of course! I’ll prepare one immediately. What time would Zion go?" Arabella inquired a bit too enthusiastically and Raymond chuckled.

[Haha. Her Majesty’s expression changed immediately. She must miss His Majesty a lot.]

"I don’t!" Arabella corrected in embarrassment.

But in truth, she does want to see Ferdinand. She was already hoping he would attend the meeting with the Pope himself so she could see him again.

"Haha. Worry not, Your Majesty. Please take your time to write a letter. Zion will go once he has received your letter," Raymond assured her.

With that, they discussed work for a bit more before parting.

Arabella immediately headed to her personal study to write a letter to Ferdinand.

She eagerly wrote her letter and informed him how the past few days had gone.

She was not sure if she should mention about Alwin’s situation so she did not say a word about it.

Once again, when she was done, Arabella left a kiss mark on her letter before placing it in the envelope.

"Riley, please hand this to Zion," she excitedly gave it to Riley after sealing it.

It was just a letter but her heart was racing loudly in her chest. It made her feel like she was indeed just a teenager when in fact she was already in her forties.

’Geez. Calm down. Do you miss him that much? It had just been a few days. You survived months in your previous life,’ she chided herself as she felt her heart beat quickly.

Arabella knew though that not being able to see him for months again would be difficult. She was truly grateful for teleportation spells.