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

The moment she recognized that, she snapped fully awake.
Wh—why!? Why is Prince Arnold… here!?

She hastily pushed herself up and looked down at Arnold, who lay on his back with his eyes closed.
And he’s… sleeping in the same bed as me…
Perhaps it was because Rishe had taken his bed.

Arnold, who apparently had come back to this room after finishing his work, might have been at a loss when he found her asleep.
She didn’t know why, out of the two beds, he hadn’t used the other one, but the fact that they had lain so close together left her rattled.
A-anyway, I have to be careful not to wake His Highness.

Maybe because Rishe had taken the center, Arnold was at the very edge of the bed. Worried it might be cramped for him, she inched away from Arnold.
…I thought he wouldn’t return to this room tonight.
Moonlight slipped in through the window, filtering through the summer curtains.
The pale glow washed the bedroom, casting the sharp shadow of Arnold’s lashes across his white cheek.

Because I’m afraid of ghosts, did he come back to this room for my sake?
That guess was surely right.
He had kept the promise to sleep together with her. A tightness squeezed in her chest, and Rishe hugged the coverlet °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° to herself.

I should go back to my own bed…
She knew that, yet she couldn’t bring herself to move.
She felt as if she would be lonely if she pulled away, as if she wanted to keep gazing at his sleeping face forever; those feelings coaxed her to stay.

Just then, Arnold’s well-shaped brows drew together and his expression twisted slightly.
Had she woken him?
She jolted, but apparently that wasn’t it.

…Ah.
A faint sweat had beaded on Arnold’s forehead.
It struck her as unexpected for a moment, then she corrected herself—there was nothing strange about it. However beautiful his features like a doll’s, he was certainly human.

The droplets of sweat seemed to make that plain.
The room must be hot.
Rishe glanced toward the window.

The sea-facing window was shut. Alone in the room, she had been afraid to open it.
Perhaps Arnold had read that and left the window closed for her.
But even at night, in the month of July, like this, it had to be stifling.

He needs to sleep at least a little more comfortably.
To do that, she had to do something about this shut-in room.
Rishe steeled herself and started to rise from the bed.
Going near the window frightened her.

Opening the curtains frightened her even more. If she left even the slightest gap, it felt as if she might meet something’s eyes.
As luck would have it, at that exact moment, a small shadow flitted past outside the window.
“!”

Her shoulders jumped and her heart nearly stopped. Clutching the black sword she had set beside her, she carefully scanned the view beyond the window.
I-it’s fine. The way that shadow moved could only be a bat.
Her experience from her hunter life made that certain, and yet the possibility of a one-in-a-million chance wouldn’t leave her.

It is absolutely not a ghost, absolutely…!
Rishe told herself that.
Holding her breath, she mustered all her resolve, stood, and slid her hand into the gap of the curtains. Feeling along for the window frame, she unlatched it and opened the window.

Slowly, quietly, so I don’t wake him.
The sea breeze wafted in and pushed the curtains open with a soft billow.
Rishe let out a relieved breath and hurriedly stepped away from the window. Taking care to make no noise and to move quickly, she climbed back onto the bed, set the sword aside, and settled at Arnold’s side.

This should do…! The window’s open, there’s nothing outside, the problem should be solved!
Forcing herself to declare it so, she planted both hands on the mattress and slowly lifted her body.
So as not to disturb his peaceful sleep, she cautiously peered into Arnold’s face. His bangs clung with sweat, and she felt the urge to comb them back.

But the hand she reached out stilled.
A short breath slipped from Arnold’s lips.
“…!”

There was a faint trace of strain in that breathing.
The soft sea breeze stroked the sweat-dewed skin, and yet Arnold only furrowed his brows more and more.
Could it be…

Perhaps the sweat on his brow wasn’t from the heat.
…He’s having a dream…?
Realizing that, she reached toward Arnold again.

If it was a bad dream, she wanted to shake him awake at once.
If it wasn’t, she wanted him to sleep even a little longer. Caught between those feelings, she hesitated over what she could do.
And then, in the next instant—

“Hyah—!”
The world flipped over.
Her wrist was caught, her shoulder pressed, and the world inverted. She tried to take the fall, but there wasn’t an instant of room to move even a finger.

“—!”
She was pressed down onto her back on the bed just like that, and a weight bore down over her body.
Both wrists were pinned beside her face, and he leaned his weight into them.

The instant she looked up, she met the eyes of a carnivore.
“…!”
Ice-cold eyes stared straight down at Rishe.

But it lasted only a heartbeat; Arnold’s eyes flew wide at once.
Then he lowered his gaze, and as if calling to something that shouldn’t be here, he let a solitary, self-echoing word slip out.
“—…Rishe.”

A voice as if to make sure of something.
Pinned as she was, Rishe looked up at Arnold without resisting.
She let out the breath she had been holding, let her body go loose beneath him, and answered him.

“Yes. …Arnold, Your Highness.”
“…”
There, Arnold knit his brows.

After that, he slowly bent down, and still covering her, he let himself flop onto the bed with a soft thud.
“Your Highness?”
By Rishe’s ear, a hoarse voice murmured:

“…Sorry.”
“—”
Her eardrums trembled, and a shiver went through Rishe.

She twisted just slightly, to keep from squirming at the ticklish sensation. But Arnold had her, and she couldn’t move freely at all.
“Your Highness, my hands.”
Her troubled gaze flicked to the wrists Arnold had pinned.

With their bodies pressed close, even pleading was an effort.
“Let… go of my hands.”
“…”

When Rishe begged, there was a pause of barely a second.
“…All right.”
Arnold formed the words as if carving them one by one.

“…I understand.”
Even with him over her, he didn’t feel heavy in the least.
No doubt he was minding her so she wouldn’t be crushed. Keeping that posture for the moment, he freed Rishe’s wrists.

“…”
His fingers uncurled so slowly it made her imagine he was reluctant to let go.
It had felt as if he’d grabbed her hard, and yet there wasn’t even a mark on her wrists. Rishe found herself vaguely staring at how pale they still were.

At length Arnold pushed himself up, and their bodies separated.
Once she confirmed that, Rishe also sat up on the bed.
Kneeling, she reached both newly freed hands straight forward without hesitation.

“!”
And she wrapped Arnold in a tight embrace.