The Villainess Enjoys Her Seventh Life as a Free-Spirited Bride (hostage) in a Former Enemy Country
Chapter 40.3

Arnold, who has been silent for a long time, slowly uttered.

“Ah, I see.”

He didn’t exude any kind of anger.

She almost sighed in relief when the expression on his face took her breath away.

“Now I’m sure of it.”

“…?!”

Arnold laughed as if to challenge her.

A chill ran down her spine, because the light in his eyes looked eerily dark for a moment.

What does that mean?

Rishe hasn’t counted on this response.

“You’re pretty cute.”

“What…”

“You don’t understand what I’m thinking and are terribly confused, right? But you don’t have to know. You’re free to let your imagination run wild, though.”

“!”

Arnold said, without the slightest indication that he would confide anything to Rishe.

How sweet. Thinking so, she clamped her lips tightly. After living in the castle for a few weeks now, she thought she has gradually got a better understanding of Arnold.

Terribly conceited. I don’t even know where this person’s bottom is…

Arnold, on the other hand, lost his smile and regained that bored, blank look he had earlier.

“Let me repeat, leave Theodore alone.”

“But…”

“As you’ve mentioned earlier – I certainly do have a plan for what happens after I die. But that’s only natural. I can’t make a policy that would stagnate just because of my death.”

It seemed that Arnold was only going to deny Rishe’s speculations.

If that was his answer, then there was no break through with her current cards.

“There’s another way to look at it. Theodore read too much into it, and acted exactly how you led him to believe.”

“It’s…”

“Everything is only foolery. It’s too stupid a choice for someone who has the right to the throne.”

Arnold spat out in reply.

“As I thought, you shouldn’t have gotten involved with a person like me.”

“!”

Rishe rolled her eyes at that response.

At the same time, she felt like she understood why Arnold tried to keep Theodore away.

Why he refused to even talk to him and turned his back on him.

“You also think your little brother is lovely, isn’t he?”

“What?”

Arnold frowned.

It was an expression of wanting to deny Rishe’s remark, but that wasn’t about to change her idea.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said anything like not getting involved with him or something like that.

“Someone once told me that if you want to protect someone, sometimes it’s better to keep them away. Being there by your side to help you isn’t always in their best interest.”

While passing it off as she “read that in a book” again, Rishe remembered a certain knight. That knight looked a little lonely when he told her this.

“I’m surprised. Did someone really say that?”

“I’m serious. You’re a bottomless pit and a schemer, and I don’t know what the hell you’re thinking, but you’re not a cold-hearted person.

Although she was frightened earlier, Rishe has no intention of abandoning the idea.

Even though she knew that he was the man who killed her and waged war on the world, she already knew that he was human.

“But I’ll mention one thing. You seem to be preparing for a future in which you will be gone, but have you ever thought of doing the opposite?”

“The opposite?”

“A future without His Highness Theodore could happen. One never knows when or if one dies.”

Rishe has no idea what would happen to Theodore in the next five years.

In another life, he might have chosen to continue to stay out of the public eye. Or he could have rebelled against his brother and been captured and punished.

He could have lost his life for one reason or another.

So she look into Arnold’s eyes.

“At that time, you can live life without regrets.”

“…”

Hopefully, so would Rishe.

Even if she’d be dead in five years. Even if this was her last life.

“I, too, hope to live the life of your wife with no regrets.”

Rishe turned his back to Arnold and left the room.

From Theodore’s footsteps, he should have headed upstairs, not outside.

“Shit…”

A soft click of a tongue echoed in the room where Arnold was left alone.