The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Married Life in a Former Enemy Country in Her Seventh Loop

Back at the castle, after parting from Arnold, Rishe decided to bathe before it grew dark.
She rinsed off the seawater and sunscreen and scrubbed herself bright and clean with her homemade soap. So long as it was still light out, bathing alone wasn’t frightening.

After she left the bath and her hair had fully dried, there was a knock at the door of the room she’d been using as a study.
Elsie, the maid who entered, dipped her head in a neat bow.
“Lady Rishe. A delivery has arrived from President Tally of the Aria Company.”

“Thank you. What do you think of it, Elsie?”
“Yes…! President Tally is amazing.”
Even with her usual blank face, Elsie’s eyes sparkled as she spoke.

“The items were exactly what I expected. I was already surprised that what we asked for in the morning would arrive by evening, and yet they’re precisely what we requested…”
Finding her endearing, Rishe rose to her feet and set out at once.
Word had already been sent ahead.
But when Rishe visited that room, its occupant reacted as if genuinely shocked to the core.

“Good afternoon, Lady Harriet.”
“L—l-l-l—Lady Rishe…!!”
“A-are you all right!?”

In her mad scramble to stand, Harriet bumped her knee hard against the table. When Rishe hurried over, Harriet spoke in a near-tearful voice.
“Wh-why—why would Lady Rishe come to my room…! To trouble yourself like this, I’m so sorry—truly, I’m sorry for being alive…!!”
“P-please be calm, Lady Harriet. I did ask through your maid if I might have a little of your time this evening…”

When Rishe glanced toward the Head Lady-in-Waiting, the woman, hair neatly bound, answered crisply:
“If we inform Her Highness in advance, she may become so tense during the wait that she takes to her bed.”
F-fair point…

At that entirely non-exaggerated note, Rishe gave a wry smile.
“I’m sorry. I very much wanted to speak with you, Lady Harriet. —Separately, I also have a favor to ask of you, Head Lady-in-Waiting.”
“Ah. Y-yes, I was told. That I should instruct Lady Rishe’s maids about a Fabranian lady-in-waiting’s work…”

The Head Lady-in-Waiting nodded with a composed air, eyes closed.
“I understand. You would like me to relate some of my experiences to those young girls who are not yet seasoned. —I am still learning myself, but I will do my utmost.”
“Thank you, Head Lady-in-Waiting. My maids were delighted.”

Lately the maids had grown accustomed to most tasks, and bit by bit they had even begun to learn their letters.
Thanks to Diana, who drilled them intensively in the words and characters used for work, they could now take simple notes related to their duties.
That much learning seemed to make the process enjoyable.

When Rishe asked whether they’d like to hear the Head Lady-in-Waiting speak, every hand went up.
…If I’m greedy, I’d like to hear her stories myself…
But Rishe’s essential objective lay elsewhere.
“Then I’ll be off. —You there, I’m sorry to leave it to you, but please.”

“Yes, Head Lady-in-Waiting.”
Elsie, standing by the door, nodded with solemn resolve.
Once the Head Lady-in-Waiting departed, three people remained in Harriet’s guest chamber.

“L-Lady Rishe, um…”
“Lady Harriet. Is there anything you’d like right now?”
As she posed the question, Rishe gently sat on the settee.

Harriet beside her only grew more nervous at that. But when Rishe waited calmly, Harriet eventually opened her mouth, slowly.
“N-not particularly…”
After that faint murmur, Harriet hurried to add:

“Ah…! Galkhein is, um, a wonderful place, and the rooms are beautiful. I meant that it would be extravagant to ask for more. I—I’m sorry…!! In times like this, I can never seem to keep a conversation going…”
“Please don’t worry. This isn’t about making small talk. I truly want to know.”
At that, Harriet looked puzzled.

“Lady Harriet. If you could have anything you wanted, as much as you wanted—what would you wish for…?”
“A great many books.”
“!”

The clear reply made Rishe blink.
“I want so many books that I could never finish reading them, no matter how I read.”
“Lady Harriet…”

“But to obtain more books than I can read and hoard them all to myself—that would be wrong, wouldn’t it. …I don’t want to make a great many books mine alone. I want to share them with everyone who loves books…”
Perhaps even the imagining of it made her happy.
Smiling, Harriet lowered her face as if to hug the daydream to her chest.

I knew it.
Seeing her like this, Rishe was certain.
I cannot imagine the Lady Harriet before me bankrupting her country and causing her people to suffer to buy up jewels and dresses from abroad. …No matter what may happen down the line.

Then she asked the thing she wanted to confirm.
“—A little while ago, you spoke about your face, didn’t you?”
“!!”

Before the Aria Company’s goods, Harriet had said it:
‘If I show my face, His Majesty may declare the engagement annulled.’
It seemed she indeed wore her bangs long to hide her face.

“Did someone say something cruel to you, Lady Harriet?”
“C-cruel? No…!! He ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) merely stated the facts, just as they were—as facts…!”
With a brightness that felt like hollow bravado, Harriet pasted on a stiff smile at her mouth.

And then, as if speaking of some trifling past, she told it herself.
“When I was little, my marriage to His Majesty Walter was decided… Back then, my father and brother, and my mother while she was still alive, all went with me to pay our respects in Fabrania. …At that time, when His Majesty was still a prince…”
“…”

“I-it’s embarrassing, isn’t it. I got carried away and ended up dressing up, even though it didn’t suit me…”
At that, Rishe narrowed her eyes.
“No matter how many times I think about it, it was presumptuous. Someone like me could never dress up and become a pretty little doll—how foolish of me. With these ill-looking eyes, with this face that makes people uncomfortable, how could I have shown myself to His Majesty Walter. It still seems strange to me, hehe…”

A dry laugh, like a way to paper over a wounded heart.
So Rishe spoke.
“…What’s shameful is the side that hurt another, not the side that was hurt.”

Harriet flinched, her shoulders jerking.
I’m sure His Majesty of Fabrania said exactly what Lady Harriet just repeated about herself.
Suppressing the urge to grimace, Rishe continued.

“Lady Harriet. When you say your eyes look ill—what do you mean?”
“I—I find that before I know it I’m scrunching up my face and glaring around me… I don’t mean to, but I tense up without realizing it and end up with an angry, scary expression…”
“…”
The words confirmed the suspicion she’d been forming.

“Thank you. My next question is for the Lady Harriet of your childhood.”
“Y-yes…?”
“When you dressed up for that audience—were you happy, little Lady Harriet?”

“!!”
Harriet gave off a tiny intake of breath.
“I—I, no. …When I think back, I’m just so embarrassed…”

Rishe wrapped Harriet’s lowered hands softly in her own.
“…Did the child you were feel the same way?”
“…!”

Her small lips pressed tight.
Lowering her head with fearful caution, Harriet squeezed out a voice so small it was on the verge of tears.
“…No…”

The frail murmur spun on, quiet.
“I was bashful. …But I wasn’t ashamed. My heart was pounding, and I hoped that—even just a little—to that person… that he might think I didn’t dislike this marriage.”
“Lady Harriet…”

“I heard that, in truth, His Majesty Walter had wanted to be engaged to a princess of Galkhein. But I was also told that couldn’t be.”
The unexpected detail surprised Rishe. But for now, Harriet’s issue came first.
“…So it isn’t that you’ve always disliked dressing up, Lady Harriet?”

“…”
The hands Rishe held were trembling slightly.
“I…I do think it’s unbecoming. Even the way I am now, hiding my face behind this sloppily grown-out hair. …Just as unbecoming as my bare face.”
Slowly, Harriet spoke her feelings, each word carved out.

“But it’s still unbecoming… For someone like me to even think ‘I want to change by dressing up.’”
“Lady Harriet.”
“I know. It’s terribly presumptuous and mortifying…!”

Rishe gently withdrew her hands from Harriet’s.
And instead, she softly stroked Harriet’s head.
“L-Lady Rishe?”

“Forgive me if this is forward. …You’re shaking so much. I made you speak about something that hurts this badly.”
Beneath those bangs, Harriet seemed to blink rapidly.
“When I’m shaking, there’s someone who strokes my head too, and it makes me feel very safe.”

She remembered how Arnold had done that for her yesterday when she was frightened of ghosts.
Harriet’s golden hair, as expected, was properly tended—silky as satin.
“H-how strange.”

Harriet stared blankly, yet spoke as if the words slipped out on their own.
“I feel like… I can relax.”
“I’m glad.”

Relieved, Rishe smiled, and Harriet, shyly ducking her head, spoke up.
“…Lady Rishe, but um, why are you doing all this for someone like me…”
“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t leave you be.”

“Eh…”
Her golden hair slid beneath Rishe’s fingers.
“Forgive me for overstepping, Lady Harriet.”

Looking at her, Rishe declared, clear and firm:
“—Your eyes are dry.”
“…huh?”

The response was as if to say she must have misheard.
But it was neither a mishearing nor a misspeaking.
With deliberate intent, Rishe explained again.

“I am almost certain they’re dry. I would guess that whenever you have spare time you read, and that you read by candlelight late into the night. Since you’re in bridal training and your Head Lady-in-Waiting seems strict, I even suspect you sometimes read by moonlight so she won’t notice you’re awake. Am I wrong?”
“E—eeeek, h-how do you know that…!!”
“When people focus on close work, they blink less, and the surface of the eye tends to dry out. On top of that, these bangs. Having something at close range to the eyeball places a great burden on the eyes and can even cause micro-abrasions.”

As Rishe spoke with absolute seriousness, Harriet grew paler and paler.
She no doubt had more than a few things come to mind.
“Try it, Lady Harriet. Can you keep your eyes open without blinking for more than ten seconds?”

“N-no, impossible—just imagining it is impossible…!!”
“Most people can do it with no trouble at all.”
“!!”

As Harriet reeled, Rishe continued:
“If your eyes remain dry and the surface continues to suffer fine scratches, you become more sensitive to light. And to keep them from drying as much as possible, you unconsciously limit how wide you open your eyes. Do you understand what that means?”
“M-maybe…”

“Exactly. Your brow knots with tension, and you end up grimacing without realizing it.”
Rishe recalled how, while walking in town yesterday, Harriet had kept her head down almost the entire time.
Part of it was surely her temperament, but likely not that alone. In the port town, the walls of the streets are painted white, and the early-summer sunlight bounces off them.

For her eyes, that must have been painfully bright.
To escape the glare even a little, she may have been watching her step, where there was less reflected light.
“I have some knowledge of medicine. …I would like to help with your health in any way I can, Lady Harriet.”

“Ah—ah, um, that…”
“Please tell me, Lady Harriet.”
Peering through her bangs into Harriet’s eyes, Rishe smiled.

“You say you want to dress up but feel ashamed to wish for it at all. —If you could take the first step for your health’s sake, would you be willing to be brave?”
“…!”
“Elsie.”

At Rishe’s call, Elsie—who had been standing by the door—glided forward.
In the box at her side were several dresses she had just ordered from the Aria Company.
“Excuse me, Lady Harriet.”

“Eep…! Eeeeee…!”
A thin little scream drifted forlornly through the guest chamber.