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

The moment she drew back, the wooden sword strike came from exactly where she imagined it would come from.

Arnold’s sword slid just barely past Rishe’s sword. If she hadn’t ducked as quickly as possible, her wooden sword would have been sent flying.

As things stand, breaking into my space, he should approach from above!…

Five years later, when she crossed swords with Arnold, he did the same move as he did just now. It was a blow that the knight Rishe received with a sword at hand.

She remembered that, but she could never stop him now. So she took another step, forcing herself to retreat.

Immediately after, Arnold’s sword tip grazed Rishe’s bangs.

“…!”

She knew he would stop me just in time, but the instinctive sense of danger made her sweat uncomfortably.

She lost her balance by evading with no room to spare and wobbled backwards a few steps.

The expression of Arnold, who stopped the blow precisely still, flickered a bit there.

“Didn’t you say that my swordsmanship is the strongest as far as you know?”

Rishe said to him earlier.

“But your move was that of someone who knows someone stronger than me… You were thinking about that guy while crossing swords with me, weren’t you?”

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“…”

Arnold had a provocative smile on his face, as if he was joking.

But his gaze was sharp, making Rishe grip her wooden sword again.

“I shouldn’t be jealous, but I’m getting jealous.”

“You must be kidding. Besides, the most powerful man I know is rightly Your Highness Arnold.”

Rishe asserted, looking straight at Arnold.

However, his point wasn’t entirely wrong. Because what Rishe had envisioned was Emperor Arnold Hein five years later.

— He was even stronger, more ruthless, and more overpowering than the current Prince.

Their entire Order was slaughtered by that man. He wasn’t the kind of person to say, “We don’t intend to harm you in any way.”

And now, she was now crossing swords with that man.

“Come on. Just hold your ground a little longer.”

Arnold smiled cheerfully.

His language was a bit less informal than usual, and seemed appropriate for his age – 19 years old.

She complied in kind. She hunched back and held her sword in position.

She took one or two steps and slowly closed the gap between them while measuring the distance.

Arnold also gripped his sword. And the moment their breathing overlapped, she stepped in at a stretch and swung her sword to the side.

She ducked in a flash. Her figure slipped past Arnold and she quickly spun around.

Similarly, he whirled around and parried that sword attack. Then the tip of Arnold’s sword struck Rishe’s sword hard.

“Huh~”

The wooden swords collided with each other above, and then quickly pulled back and exchanged once on the lower level, and from there, went overhead again. The sound of hard wood crashing into each other echoed and sent a tingling numbness to Rishe’s hands.

Arnold covered one of his eyes, and wasn’t supposed to be able to move one of his legs, but it didn’t feel like that at all.

Again!

She took half a step back, and swung her sword with all the force she could muster all at once.

Arnold withdrew. Rishe’s wooden sword cut the sky wide open, but she just plunged right in.

At that time, the only sensation that Arnold Hein had left me was the feeling of being scarred…!

Desperately clutching at the memory, she swung the final blow with all her strength. Arnold was caught off guard for a moment.

“―― ……”

But that was the end of it.

Rishe’s sword was sent flying with a single cleave wielded by Arnold.

“Ah!”

The sword that left her hand grazed the cheek of one of the knight guards who were watching them in amazement and hit the stone wall of the training grounds.

“Oopsy?!”

“Are you all right? A-Ah!”

Rishe tried to rush over to them, but she was drained of strength and just sat down on the ground.

“…Ha~Wa…”

“Impressive display.”

Arnold, whose breath wasn’t disturbed one tiny bit, looked down at her.

“I wasn’t going to move more than a step, but it seems, I’ve underestimated you.”

“I’m glad you’ve set some restrictions for yourself.”

“If it weren’t my opponent, I would have stayed on the same spot.”