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

“Ugh, sure.”

“Of course, we conduct our research beforehand. So far, I haven’t experienced any of my troops retreating because of bow interference.”

As far as Rishe knew, only the eastern continent respected archers. Top-notch wielders didn’t come along very often if their skills weren’t given due credit.

Arnold, who had been an opponent in her knightly life, was totally dismissive of a bow threat. From the standpoint of an intruder, she would have hoped that he would have at least been vigilant.

“Suppose the castle is the battlefield and you’re already at a disadvantage as the defender, what would you do then?”

“…If the opposing general is you, I’d deliberately leave holes in the line of defense and pretend that there are unprotected areas.”

“Ho. Are you going to invite the enemy in?”

“That way, Your Highness won’t be alarmed and won’t be foolish enough to attack, right? If the battle evolves into a siege, it’ll be the end of the world. My top priority is ‘never to be perceived as inferior’. That’s why I’ll act like I’m waiting for you, not running away, and stand before Your Highness with aplomb!”

“Ha. Interesting.”

Amidst fluffy and dancing fireflies, Arnold propped his elbows on the balcony railing and continued, “The key is to increase the bulk of the army. The southern side of this castle is the hardest to defend, so how will you make up for it?”

“I’d have to take advantage of the environment. For example, manipulate tricks—”

Nevertheless, Arnold came up with strategies effortlessly.

Whenever Rishe contrived and designed a strategy, he instantly broke them. Looking at the beautiful glows, Rishe got frustrated and asked Arnold, “…Do you have a fountain of inexhaustible strategy Your Highness?”

“It sounds good when you put it that way. Tactics are built on the premise of ‘weaknesses’ in humans.”

“Weaknesses…”

“Even in a siege, where it’s likely to be devastating, it’s easy to exploit the weaknesses. For example, if you capture the country’s women and children and kill them savagely in front of the city walls, the enemy soldiers may open the gates themselves and even come to your aid… I can think of countless ideas like that in my head.”

Rishe blinked once.

She couldn’t see any emotion on his profile while he was watching fireflies. So she asked, “You hate wars, don’t you?”

“…”

Arnold glanced at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Normally, others would entertain the opposite impression.”

“Really? But I don’t think a warmonger would have that look on their face.”

He smiled at that, but he still had a bitter look on his face.

A firefly softly approached and Rishe followed it with her gaze. The large grain of light twinkled and illuminated Arnold’s hair and eyes.

Ah~

A sparkling stardust reflected off in his eyes.

His clear sea-blue eyes were staring straight at her. Rishe couldn’t help but gasp, getting more enamored by Arnold’s eyes than the fireflies flitting splendidly around.

“You have really, beautiful eyes ……”

“…”

The words, which came out unconsciously, seemed to touch something in Arnold.

When he gently lowered his eyes, the length of his eyelashes stood out. Arnold looked at her and responded, “–These eyes are the same color as my father.”

“!”

The sound of his voice, though clearly audible, had a somewhat croaky ring to it.