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

“Their four younger sisters aren’t even in the Royal City. The next time the family will have a chance to get together will have to be at His Highness Arnold’s wedding.”

“Speaking of which, how about his fiancée? Hey, newbie!”

“Yes, what is it?”

Rishe looked up as the conversation shifted.

“You look unfamiliar. You’re a maid to the remote palace, aren’t you? I’ve been worried when I heard that they recruited a bunch of newbies, but it looks like things are going pretty well. I’ve been told that those kids, who are almost amateurs, are rapidly becoming more and more proficient at their jobs.”

“!”

Rishe was happy, knowing that the hard-working maids were being praised.

“Yes, Diana-senpai and the others are teaching us meticulously, and everyone is absorbing everything steadily. It’s wonderful to see how they’ve come up with a lot of ideas unique to the Royal Palace.”

For the first few days, Rishe tagged along in teaching them the ropes, but once the maids swallowed the methods perfectly, they worked much more efficiently than she had expected.

They’ve been able to deal with the choice of where to keep things and tools aided by Diana’s posters and maps posted in various places.

The maids were also learning their letters little by little by themselves, which they’ve made into an enriching afternoon study.

The maidservants who were assigned to the teaching department had their own specialties: Some excelled at verbal explanations; some transcribed things down well. They each had their own specialties, including those who perfected scolding and motivating others.

They discussed and determined their roles among their peers and assisted Rishe.

At this juncture, Rishe merely would spend two hours a day teaching the newcomers their job, and in a little while, she could leave them completely to their trainers.

Once all of the maidservants have learned their jobs and the remote palace is all cleaned up, I can bring Arnold Hein to the palace. This will allow me to physically distance him from the current Emperor for a bit…

From what I’ve heard, although Arnold lives in the main castle, he may not have much contact with his father emperor.

But so long as the reason behind him murdering his father remains unknown, I think it’s best to keep them apart.

“It’s nice to hear about those kids, but how is Lady Rishe? Come to think of it, I heard a rumor that His Highness Prince Arnold went to the palace last night.”

How did you know?!

Though they were a good target for gossip, the information network of the maidservants has always amazed her. Not just in Garkhain Castle, but all of the maidservants that Rishe had been involved with in the past six lifetimes were well-informed of the events that took place in the places they served.

“Yup, I was very sleepy last night so I went to bed early. But I’m sure His Highness Arnold hadn’t met with her either.”

“Nah, what a bummer.”

“If you have any juicy gossip about them, be sure to share it with me. Every time I go home, my daughter begs me for updates.”

“His Highness Arnold is getting married, so all the young girls in the castle are discussing it.”

“Ara, it’s not just the young girls, we do too!”

Surrounded by girls laughing hilariously at that, Rishe felt awkward and so innocently washed the sheets, so that her identity wouldn’t be suspected.

***

After collecting intelligence called laundry, Rishe returned to her room through the balcony, and washed off her dyed her with the warm water she brought back with her.

This time, she walked out of the door and headed to the field again with the knights escorting her down the hallway.

With a hoe, she plowed the soil that Theodore had leveled and then checked the condition of the soil. The soil had acclimatized faster than she had expected, so she changed plans and began to sow the seeds.

She pricked the soil up to the second line of her index finger, sowed two seeds in each of the holes she made, and covered the top gently with fluffy soil.

Next, she fetched water, watered them, ,keeping in mind that the amount of water should be just enough to lightly moisten them.

The knights offered to help her with the watering process, but since she couldn’t give them tasks outside their jurisdiction, she politely declined this time as well.

“Lady Rishe, what kind of crops are you growing in the field?”

“It’s a medicinal herb. This time of year, it should sprout in a few days.”

They returned to the remote palace while having such conversations. While outwardly behaving in a relaxed manner, inwardly, Rishe was very impatient.

It’s getting late. I have to bathe to get rid of the mud, and come up with a business plan that will convince the Chairman while at it. I heard there’s a library in the Royal City, so I’ll have to go there and get a better insight of the population structure of the capital. The ratio of men to women, the age range, the number of shops there is, and I also must gather more information about His Highness Theodore.

The more she thought, the more she realized she had endless things to do.

Diana has also asked me to review the materials they’ve created, and then there’s the preparations for the wedding. I’ve also got to get moving on the counter-measures to the state guests. And then…

“Rishe-sama?”

“Ah, by all means…”

Rishe climbed up the stairs to her room with a distant look in her eyes. She couldn’t afford to succumb.

I’m going to laze around once this is over! Absolutely! Everything is for goofing off and sleeping in till past noon everyday, and a longer life in the future. I don’t want to die at the age of 20 this time around. So…