“I won’t reprimand you.”
“Eh...?”
“Just now, I retaliated without holding back. That cancels it out.”
Rishe blinked rapidly.
Then, feeling a little troubled, she opened her mouth.
“...Aren’t you being too lenient with ...?”
“It’s a little late to point that out.”
He declared sothing far from ordinary as if it were the most natural thing.
But that wasn’t good at all.
“If you don’t scold once in a while, I’ll only grow more arrogant.”
“Arrogant?”
“Because Your Highness Arnold is always so gentle with .”
She furrowed her brows tightly and covered her mouth with both hands, muttering.
“If this keeps up, I’ll only end up making more and more selfish demands...”
“...Pfft.”
Arnold laughed in amusent, showing, for once, an expression befitting his age.
Then he looked at Rishe and said in a softened voice:
“I want to hear them.”
“...!”
The tone was so calm that, for so reason, her ears burned.
“Everything you do is always unexpected, beyond my imagination.”
“Y-you’re enjoying this again...!”
Frustrated, she scrunched her face. Arnold lowered his gaze with a quiet smile.
“...Besides, there aren’t many things I can grant you.”
“...?”
“So when it isn’t sothing like that, spoiling you a little doesn’t hurt.”
The words didn’t align with Rishe’s own perception, and she tilted her head.
“Your Highness has already granted so many requests...”
“That’s only because your requests are trifling things.”
Hearing that, she felt oddly unsettled.
(From my perspective, I thought I was asking for quite a lot...)
She’d had him prepare a detached palace for his “hostage” fiancée, and even had a small garden patch cultivated at the edge of the castle.
She had chosen all her maids herself, and he let her trade freely with the Aria Company.
Surely that was already plenty of selfishness.
Perhaps her thoughts showed on her face, because Arnold spoke again.
“I have sothing I must prioritize above all else.”
His gaze shifted toward the sea.
“If your wishes ever opposed that priority, I wouldn’t be able to grant them.”
“....”
When he had proposed to her, Rishe had asked: Will you grant all my selfish wishes?
Arnold had answered then: I’ll grant them as far as I’m able.
From the very start, he’d made it clear that depending on the content, he might not comply.
“In my position, there will be tis when the country or my duties must co first.”
“Of course—I understand that well.”
“It’s more than just that.”
His blue eyes turned back to her, unwavering.
“...Even if you grew to hate this marriage, I could never let you leave .”
“....”
A dull ache throbbed in her chest.
“Because that’s the purpose behind Your Highness Arnold’s proposal, isn’t it?”
Arnold narrowed his eyes slightly, yet still spoke clearly.
“That’s right.”
“....”
So as not to be noticed, Rishe subtly pressed a hand to her left breast.
Feeling lonely here was wrong—completely wrong.
(Even I haven’t voiced my true wishes...)
She lowered her eyes, the brim of her white hat hiding her expression.
Clinging to that cover, she traced the soft sand with her fingertip.
(Like Don’t kill your father. Or Please abandon the war you intend to start. ...I’m hiding my greatest wish. Now of all tis, I can’t say it.)
But she couldn’t reveal it so easily.
(I can’t. His Highness only grants such freedom because he doesn’t know my real aim is to stop the war.)
In this life, everything she did was to obstruct Arnold.
She wanted to prevent the war he would start—that was her sole motivation.
(That war must be born of His Highness Arnold’s iron will. Otherwise, a man this gentle would never begin an invasion war.)
The priority Arnold had just spoken of—surely it ant that future war.
(...If he ever realized I was trying to stop it...)
Rishe would beco Arnold’s enemy.
(It won’t be easy to obstruct his plans. The only advantage I have over him is that I know the future. That’s the one and only edge.)
That was why she had to protect it at all costs.
She must never let him know that she carried knowledge of the future.
(I have secrets too. I have no right to wish for His Highness to reveal his.)
Even so, her heart still ached.
“...Your Highness Arnold.”
She had asked him many tis already why he had proposed.
And yet now, the words caught in her throat.
Instead, she lifted her gaze just a little, peeking at him from under the brim of her hat.
“As your wife, what do you want to do?”
“....”
Arnold looked briefly surprised.
Then he smiled, as if amused by sothing intriguing.
“You’ve changed the phrasing of the question.”
“Because I know you’ll never answer the usual one.”
She lied, holding his gaze.
Arnold answered without hesitation.
“What I want you to do is already decided. —‘Loaf around, idle, and live without working,’ wasn’t it?”
“!!”
She recognized those words.
‘When I live in the castle, I’ll laze about all the ti! I’ll loaf around, idle, and refuse to work!’
That was exactly what she had declared to Arnold when he proposed.
“T-that was what I wanted for myself, not what you wished for...!”
“Either way, I doubt you could manage it.”
“Eh—? What do you an by doubt!? I’ll absolutely win my loafing lifestyle in the end!”
“There’s no need to win it. You simply aren’t suited for it in the first place.”
Not suited? What was that supposed to an?
As Rishe pouted in dissatisfaction, Arnold asked in return:
“But why ask that?”
“...Because Lady Harriet seed to be working far too hard at her bride training. I was curious about what n think in such tis.”
That, at least, was no lie.
Since the chance was here, she also wanted to hear Arnold’s view.
“What is Fabrania like, in Your Highness’s eyes?”
She asked as if casually, though she had lived there in a past life.
“A country on the Western Continent that’s been the most forward in seeking diplomatic relations with Galkhein—that’s my impression.”
“...You sound rather put out.”
“Diplomacy with the Western Continent brings little benefit right now. Perhaps it could be of use later, but I have plenty of priorities ahead of it.”
“In other words... you find it troubleso.”
She recalled what Harriet’s Head Lady-in-Waiting had said:
That it was the Sigwell princess’s role to secure friendship between Fabrania and Galkhein—her king’s long-cherished desire.
“Still, the Western Continent is all small states. If we must deal with one, it would be Fabrania, since it leads their alliance.”
Which ant that, to Arnold, even Sigwell was beneath Fabrania in importance.
“...From Galkhein’s view, they’re all small countries. But to the other Western states, Fabrania must be an overwhelming power they cannot oppose.”
“Yes, most likely.”
Rishe still had one unresolved doubt.
(I don’t know why His Highness Arnold proposed to , a duke’s daughter from a weak country. And similarly...)
She recalled the hunter’s-life future.
(What benefit does Fabrania gain from a political marriage with Sigwell? I can’t see it at all.)
That incongruity left her uneasy, frowning.
(Lady Harriet accepts her political marriage as duty—that’s natural. Until Prince Dietrich broke our engagent, I too believed it was my obligation to fulfill such a role.)
But when she lived as a rchant, pursuing her own life was so joyful that she devoted herself wholly to each day.
So much so that in all those lives, she never even considered marriage.
(But this ti is different.)
When she lifted her face, her eyes t Arnold’s as he gazed down at her.
“—...”
This man was to beco her husband.
At that thought, the words he once said resurfaced.
‘You need not prepare yourself to be my wife.’
“...!”
Her chest throbbed again, and she disguised it with a small exhale.
“Your Highness Arnold. ...I know it’s sudden, but I already have another request.”
“What is it? Say it.”
“I want to check a certain record from the exchange office.”
Arnold gave her a surprised look.
Rishe pulled the basket toward her °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° and drew out a rolled-up docunt tube.
“In return, let report sothing to you.”
“...This is—”
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