CHAPTER 897: CHAPTER 897: WENT UNNOTICED

With this, all her assistants have their tasks.

As for the construction work, Arabella had listed it herself, so she will be the one making the proposals for the projects.

Likewise, it was too heavy for one assistant to bear all alone.

In case the construction failed, her assistants would be blamed heavily if they were the ones assigned to it.

Thus, Arabella will do it herself. At least she had Ferdinand, the most powerful person in this Empire, as her backer.

Even if the people criticize her for a failed project, they won’t be able to harm her with Ferdinand’s protection.

Though her assistants were from powerful families, their entire career and even their households could still be affected if they failed a national project.

There was too much money involved in all the construction work Ferdinand mentioned as well.

If Arabella gave it to her assistants, it could be seen as heavy favoritism, and whoever was in charge of it could be ostracized.

All of them could receive a backlash due to it.

Thus, she will do the construction projects with Ferdinand.

This way, it can also help boost Ferdinand’s reputation in a positive light.

Arabella’s reputation had been improving since her visits to Prudencia and Safiro.

Thus, it’s proven effective that if they do more for the people and improve their reputation, they could earn more allies who will not turn their backs on them once the Secret Alliance attacks.

Arabella discussed a bit more with the assistants and entertained their questions before she returned to her study.

Since the projects should begin as soon as possible, she began drafting her project proposals for the construction works.

With her experience in her past life, it was quite easy.

However, when she was done with them, her hand hurt from writing too much since she had made a draft for all the possible construction projects Ferdinand had mentioned.

Arabella made sure to dismiss everyone so they would not see she did it all in one sitting.

Even after several months as the Empress, it was still suspicious for her to be able to draft multiple proposals for construction projects in one sitting.

Arabella did it, though, to immediately lessen the tasks on her hands.

What she needed to do soon was to summon the department heads with whom she needed to work with on these projects.

Once they finalize the proposals, she will then show them to Ferdinand.

She was rather very embarrassed by the list she had presented to him earlier.

This time, she wanted to show him a complete proposal that he could officially sign and approve.

Thankfully, Ferdinand was not the type to take it as an insult to be presented with something so incomplete.

’Geez, I was just supposed to ask him about it in a relaxed manner, but he took everything so seriously and even made suggestions to help make it more appropriate for the situation there.’

Arabella was rather not the only one who was a workaholic.

Ferdinand, who went to take a break with her, approved major activities and projects while he was there with her.

"Ah, finally done," Arabella stretched her arms and back after she organized the last document she had just prepared.

"Finally done?" a voice suddenly said.

Arabella froze and almost screamed to ask Rendell for help, only to realize it was Ferdinand who talked.

Ferdinand was sitting on the couch comfortably, drinking some tea.

"S-since when are you?!" Arabella inquired.

"Hmm, I’m not sure," Ferdinand said and took a sip of his tea.

"Did you have Zion teleport you inside my study?" Arabella inquired since she did not hear the door open at all.

"No, I knocked and knocked. Someone was not responding, so I rushed in only to find her smudged with ink on her face but highly focused on what she was doing, so I did not disturb her," Ferdinand said, and blinked repeatedly.

"Oh, and by the way, I approve of these. They are very much well done," Ferdinand lifted more than an inch of documents stacked together.

Arabella frowned at first, not getting what he meant.

But when she glanced at her table, she paled as she realized not all the documents she had written were there.

Ferdinand was holding the rest.

"W-when did you get them?" Arabella asked in a low voice.

"I picked them up while you were busy. Oh, and you did not say a word, so I thought it was fine," Ferdinand said and drank the rest of his tea.

Arabella blinked twice and glanced back and forth from her table to the couch.

’How could I have not noticed him?!!’

"Why are you so pale? You must be exhausted. Come and have some refreshments first," Ferdinand said.

He rose from his seat and walked to her.

Before he could, Arabella picked up all the proposals still on her table and hid them behind her back.

"Why are you hiding them? I’m just going to read them," Ferdinand said as he settled the documents he had read back to her table.

"These are still incomplete. You can read them once they’re complete," Arabella kept hiding the documents.

"I have already read half of them. Why bother hiding the others?" Ferdinand asked her.

Arabella eyed him, and he was not angry or puzzled or anything.

He looked like he simply wanted to read the proposals she made.

’Why is he so calm about it? Is he not suspicious after seeing it? Or he wanted to verify first by reading the rest?’

Arabella gulped nervously as she pondered about what she should do.

"Why are you acting so scared? You made perfect project proposals that I could already sign right now. Why are you nervous instead of being proud of yourself?" Ferdinand asked.

Arabella gulped, "I-It’s just that I’m not sure about these yet. And I have unintentionally ignored your presence."

"It’s okay. I had fun reading these while I was waiting," Ferdinand responded.

"Are you not angry that I made you wait for a long time without noticing you?" Arabella inquired, feeling bad for not even noticing her husband had been here since who knows how long.