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

“My apologies. Truth is, I had a bad hunch about this! You were so kind to that foolish princess, so it’s no wonder Harriet has grown so attached to you and confided in you.”

“……”

Raul rested his cheek on his knee and regarded Rishe with a grin.

“I had information about the forgery, just like you said. Not only did I know about the counterfeit money, but also about what Walter, King of Fabrania, had ordered Harriet’s knights to do.”

Sure enough, the royal family of Sigwell had ordered the “hunters” to investigate Fabrania.

But back in Rishe’s fifth life, she hadn’t heard of counterfeit money.

Raul probably never reported his findings to the royal family.

“Those knights were naturally under orders to keep others away from Harriet. Her brother, Curtis, is allowed to, because he can’t do anything after he finds out about the forgeries. As long as the Princess he offered to Fabrania was held hostage, the Sigwell royal family has no choice but to keep quiet.”

“Are you saying that Sigwell didn’t report the forgery because there was nothing the royal family could do about it?”

“I don’t know…Besides, I’ve got some other interesting orders.”

Raul said and held up two fingers next to his face.

“Keep an eye on Harriet’s behavior to ensure she uses the counterfeit money properly. Even if she pretended to have left the gold in her room, she couldn’t possibly miss it the second time.”

“…”

“And one more thing. It’s more important for the rest of the story.”

A sharp glint flickered in his red eyes.

“If Garkhain finds out about the counterfeit ―― then I’ll have to kill Harriet.”

“…!?”

Rishe and Oliver gasped at his words.

“Why would you want to kill Harriet-sama?”

“Of course, it wasn’t just to keep her mouth shut. Since you volunteered to guard Harriet, I’m sure you can guess why.”

Rishe frowned and said her conjecture.

“If Harriets-ama is killed in Garkhain territory, of course, Garkhain will be held responsible.”

“Exactly! Poor King Walter, who has lost his beloved fiancée, will grieve and denounce Garkhain. He may demand a huge sum of money as compensation for the…loss of his beloved fiancée, or he may even come after Garkhain to offer him a replacement bride.”

Even if that were to happen, it was unlikely that the emperor or Arnold would agree to it.

“――That’s very shallow of you.”

It was Oliver, standing beside Rishe, who murmured.

His voice sounded calm, but terribly cold. Raul gave a throaty chuckle in amusement.

“Well, no matter how much I talk about it, this is just a bunch of nonsense from the ‘Curtis’s imposter.’ I don’t think the international community will believe that the Fabranian royal family had plotted this ridiculous scheme.”

“Raul, you…”

Rishe was about to speak when she slowly covered her mouth with her right hand.

“Rishe-sama?”

Oliver asked stiffly.

Rishe didn’t reply, but covered her mouth and shut her eyes tightly.

“Oh, has the drug kicked in?”

“You, what did you give Rishe-sama to drink?”

Rishe felt a tingle in her cheek from the killing intent Oliver had unleashed.

“Oliver-sama.”

“!”

Rishe reached out and grabbed the jacket Oliver was wearing.

She could feel his surprise.

“You are about to lose consciousness. Your limbs are going to be numb, and you’re going to speak incoherently.”

“R-Raul, you…”

“By now, Harriet has been escorted out of the castle by Fabrania’s knights and Sigwell’s knights…in short my men.”

Raul merely shrugged in response to Rishe’s glare.

“Am I trying to rescue Harriet? You’ve overrated me. I was going to take Harriet’s head as a souvenir and move to Fabrania.”

“…Hiss.”

“While you and I were talking, you sent knights from Sigwell to guard Harriet from the knights of Fabrania, didn’t you? ―― But alas, I have betrayed Sigwell and am in league with Fabrania.”

Raul stood up and stretched himself.

Rishe took a shallow breath and clung to Raul with words.

“I knew it. The ghost the maids saw was…”

“That’s my man. If a suspicious person is seen in the castle, they’ll send all the city’s security to the castle, right? Thanks to you, there are hardly any knights from your side in Vinleys now.”

“……”

Raul exhaled briefly when he saw Rishe curling up tightly.

“You look very sick…I wonder if I can at least disrupt Arnold Hein’s movements with this.”

“Wait, you won’t escape from this room.”

“No way.”

Raul stuck out his tongue again.

But he didn’t head for the doorway to the corridor. Without hesitation, he walked over to the window, opened it and put his foot on the frame.

“That was fun, Sweetheart. If we ever meet again, I hope you’ll show me a pretty smile.”

“Raul!”

“Well then, bye-bye.”

With that, Raul jumped from the third floor window.

“Damn it ――”

Oliver clicked his tongue and knelt down in front of the slumped Rishe.

“Rishe-sama, Rishe-sama, how are you?”

“Yes, I’m fine!”

“!!”

Rishe raised her head up quickly and looked slyly at Oliver.

“Thank you for adapting to my performance. As I told you before, we’ll let Raul go a bit and then go after him.”

“B-But Rishe-sama…”

Oliver, clearly puzzled, looked at Rishe with a look of disbelief.

“Are you sure you’re alright? That man said he drugged you…”

“”Yes. I took the antidote beforehand in anticipation of what was to come.”

Rishe smiled and stood up, plucking the hem of her dress with a flutter.

She displayed no ill effects at all, so she hoped it helped prove to Oliver that she was perfectly alright.

I know exactly what Raul would use in a situation like this.

It was not just the method itself.

What kind of drugs you’ll need, and in what doses. When to trust and “pretend” something works, and what kind of traps to use.

For five years in my fifth life, I’ve learned how Raul hunts, closer than anyone.

Rishe told the dumbfounded Oliver.

“With my performance, Raul probably thinks I’m totally incapacitated…And so, His Highness Arnold’s response will be disrupted.”

Rishe deliberately drank the tea with the drug in order to catch him off guard.

Rishe took out a map from her purse and looked at the port town of Vinleys from a bird’s eye view.

“Oliver-sama, I have entrusted you with the placement of the knights, may I ask for details?”

“O-Of course…We have dispersed the knights that were unevenly distributed throughout the castle in the past few days. There are knights all over Vinleys, so if there is any suspicious activity, we can expect a smoke signal. Mark the starting point.”

“That’s great. With this number and location, we should be able to spot most of the anomalies.”

The current situation was contrary to what Raul had said, that priority was given to security inside the castle, and so the security in the city would be stretched thin.

This was all thanks to Oliver, who took Rishe’s reckless request and moved the knights on Arnold’s behalf.

“Thank you for believing in me, Oliver-sama.”

When Rishe bowed deeply to Oliver, he still seems dazed.

“Rishe-sama, you had already confirmed the absence of Her Highness Harriet before you spoke to that man, Raul, hadn’t you?”

Oliver was right.

As a matter of fact, as soon as Rishe found out about the forgery, she went to search Harriet’s room first.

Since it would be suspicious to approach through the door, she used a rope to climb down the wall from the window of their room on the fourth floor.

She confirmed that there was no sign of Harriet in the room on the third floor.

At that point, she switched her focus to rescuing Harriet, not protecting her.

In order to find out where Harriet was, they needed to let Raul go. Oliver, who helped her with that, asked Rishe.

“Was it your strategy when you asked that man to reinforce His Highness Harriet’s bodyguards to pretend that you are unaware of Her Highness’s kidnapping and let his guard down?”

“It’s more of a spell than a strategy. It’s more convenient for me to have him guarding an unoccupied room than to have his men present.”

Rishe smirked as she said this.

“You, you…”

“W-What is it?”

When Rishe blinked quizzically, Oliver smiled softly.

“Nothing. It’s just that I’m increasingly looking forward to your marriage to My Lord.”

“!?”

How in the world did the direction of the conversation shift to this?

Rishe was flustered inwardly, but on the surface, she tried to act like nothing had happened.

T/N: Way to go Rishe (*￣0￣*)ノ口