The Villainess Enjoys Her Seventh Life as a Free-Spirited Bride (hostage) in a Former Enemy Country

What came to mind was the brief greeting that occured in the reception room just an hour ago.

Since they arrived in the middle of the night, they were only able to greet him and receive a souvenir. However, no matter how short the time, it was enough to confirm her conjecture.

“It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Curtis Samuel O’Fallon, First Prince of Sigwell.”

He seemed a little timid, but he greeted people without hesitation and smiled modestly.

Even the little habits were the very behavior of the Curtis that Rishe knew.

His face is just like His Highness Curtis, and so is his voice. In addition, if His Highness Arnold and His Highness Curtis have never met before, there is no way that the Garkhain side can discover it. ―― By all rights.

Still, Rishe knew.

Although not depicted in the portrait, the color of the real Curtis’ eyes was a pale green, like olive.

I’m pretty sure he’s Raul.

When Raul saw Rishe in the reception room, he did not blink an eyelid.

However, he could not have failed to notice that Harriet’s “bodyguard,” with whom he had crossed swords in the back alley, was Arnold’s fiancée.

But why would Raul pretend to be His Highness Curtis?… I wonder if Harriet knows about this. Maybe something happened to His Highness Curtis…

Meanwhile, Rishe asked Arnold.

“Your Highness, Arnold. What part of the city did you visit today?”

One of her concerns was Arnold’s purpose for this visit here.

She tried to feign simple curiosity, but he might have seen through her intentions. Arnold said quietly as he flipped his book.

“We’ve been to several money exchange counters.”

“Exchange counter…”

Most countries with seas have exchange offices in their port cities for other countries.

Naturally, this was to exchange the money of other countries brought in by ships into their own currency. And of course, it could play the opposite role

“Most of the ships that trade with the western continent exchange their money in this city, so if you check the exchange offices in this city, you can have a good idea of which countries in the western continent need our money and how much.”

“In other words, it’s easy to see which countries we should prioritize for diplomatic relations.”

“Fabrania is still worth a bit more than Sigwell.”

He was being deliberately nasty, but Arnold’s account was interesting. Apparently, national government affairs were sometimes similar to the merchants.

“This kind of information can easily be misrepresented in a report. There’s something to be said for occasionally showing up and getting a firsthand account.”

However, I’m sure you aren’t telling me everything I need to know…

Rishe expected and knew that much, so she pondered about it.

As long as I have no clue what His Highness’s intentions are, I can’t circumvent sharing information about Sigwell’s movements…And there’s no way Raoul’s goal is to harm Garkhain.

For Sigwell, the opportunity to establish friendly relations with the great power, Garkhain, was something they’d been wishing for. It was hard to imagine that Raoul, who served the royal family, would take any action to interfere with that.

If so, is it because of Harriet? Or maybe His Highness Curtis is in poor condition, and he wants to act as a pure shadow warrior…

As she was thinking in circles, Arnold suddenly looked up from his book and stared at her.

Rishe took notice and also stopped contemplating.

“W-What’s the matter?”

“…”

If those blue eyes could see through her, he’d see right through her.

Arnold removed his hand from holding the edge of a page and smoothly stroked Rishe’s hair.

“Are you going to have your hair tied up before bed?”

“This is…”

As Arnold had pointed out, Rishe was now wearing her coral hair in the form of a loose braid.

Her hair wasn’t tied up, but rather swept to the side. Of course, she usually didn’t bother to braid it before bedtime.

In her fifth lifetime as a hunter, Rishe often wore braids like this.

To hide her noticeable hair color, she wore a hood while hunting, so it was more convenient to tie her hair up.

“It reminds me a little of the old days.”

“Pardon?”

He fiddled with the end of her braid as if he was tickling the tail of a cat.

Without her notice, Arnold put his fingers on the chiffon ribbon and pulled it off with a swoosh.

“Ah!”

Rishe’s braid almost came undone, so she quickly pressed it down with her hand.

However, Arnold caught that hand, and it eventually came undone.

They were going to bed soon, so it was not a problem, but she felt somewhat embarrassed that Arnold had untied my hair.

“…You’re like a naughty boy.”

“Ha.”

Arnold smiled happily at Rishe, who looked up at him pretending to be sulking to cover up her embarrassment.

“You’re probably right.”

“!”

He sounded so gentle that Rishe was truly surprised.

After all, she felt unsettled when he combed her hair with his fingers.

“Well, Your Highness…”

“What?”

“…I want to go to bed.”

Rishe then stood up and grabbed Arnold’s hand as well, pulling him along.

“So let’s get some sleep, Your Highness!　We have a lot to do tomorrow, and I’m exhausted from our journey from Garkhaine!”

“…”

She thought he might say something, but he closed the book in his hand. She was relieved when he stood up from the sofa, so she headed to her bed.

The two beds were about fifty centimeters apart, with a side table between them.

Perhaps it was because she was scared of the wave sounds at night, so Arnold chose the one by the window without saying a word, and she was glad of his thoughtfulness.

“I’ll turn off the lamp.”

“Okay. Good night.”

“…”

When Arnold heard Rishe’s greeting, he fell silent, as if he had just heard an unfamiliar word.

But then he replied in a soft voice.

“Good night.”

“…”

The moonlight was very bright tonight.

Even with the lamp out and the curtains closed, she could still make out Arnold’s figure in the dimness.

Rishe turned around and spoke to his profile.

“…I’m truly sorry, Your Highness.”

“For what?”

Arnold turned around to face her.

Rishe lowered her eyes a bit and apologized sincerely to him.

“It was my wish that you sleep with me.”

“It’s nothing…It’s better than having to let you sleep alone in terror.”

She was thrown off by such a statement.

Then Arnold shot Rishe a question.