What
@mahtan and
@L_Nikto said wasn't a spoiler.
This issue about the Arabella and the Empress Dowager's plan was actually brought up in the previous chapter's comment section and I, like a lot of readers, forgot about this. So in Ch 63, the Empress Dowager (ED) says "I don't care who becomes the Arabella as long as they bring out the Elpetis from deep within the Temple." They say the Elpetis is such a strong illness that anyone to touch it would die. In fact every Arabella who touched the Elpetis died but all the records in Artvana (the ED's fallen empire) were burned so no-one except Artvana royalty would know about it -- that's why the ED sends the Duchess that warning/threatening letter since th ED considers her a friend.
But somehow the ED wants to have the Elpetis' "power" in her hands so "It'll become a strong weapon for Arlendo," so she could then use that "power" to make Arlendo the emperor. The ED actually wanted to sacrifice Eli since she's "an easy to use pawn" but didn't account for Salvatore's new daughter to join in. In all, this whole grand scheme will probably be better articulated in the official English releases cuz I'm still a lil confused
And I think she probably did find out
@mahtan cuz Eli was fighting to be an Arabella before.
♡♡Thanks for the chapter and info
@elezend!! Love your work for Beatrice too lol