7th Time Loop WN Vol. 6 Fan Translation

244

(He was faced with situations that forced him to kill his mother and newborn siblings...Yet he's blind to his cruel situation, and seems these acts his own sins.)

But from Rishe's perspective, it was undoubtedly an act of kindness.

"During my childhood, many days were filled with bloodshed," Arnold spoke slowly.

While Rishe struggles to steady her trembling voice, Arnold patiently waits for the words she struggles to articulate.

"Your image of marriage growing up..." she starts saying softly. His father conquered the world through war. In exchange for a temporary peace, he forced numerous brides to become his hostages, essentially war prizes. Having grown up amidst the cries of resentment from the murdered infants and the brides, Arnold has always faced that reality with his piercing blue eyes.

Rishe continued. "Yet you respect me as a person, not just a bride, and grant me freedom and hope... Is it to atone for what your father did?"

Arnold gently strokes Rishe's hair. "No, that's not it."

His fingers touch Rishe's ears and cheeks.

As Rishe, who had buried her face in Arnold's neck, looks up, their gazes meet. His sea-colored eyes have always gazed at Rishe with a profound serenity.

"I simply fell for you."

Arnold wraps his arms around Rishe's head from behind and pulls her close again.

"Your freedom..." The raspy voice murmuring by her ear sounds as beautiful as the soothing sound of waves from a seashell. "For your sake, I will pull all strings. Remember, I said I would grant your desires."

"..."

He always affirms Rishe's desired way of life as a matter of course. Amidst a life that must be difficult for him, Arnold cherishes what Rishe wants.

"...Even if it means opposing me..."

Whether when she denied an alliance with Coyolles or the attempt to kill the Archbishop in the Holy Land, Arnold restricted Rishe's actions.

(He's a strong and gentle person...)

Does Arnold still consider Rishe, who came to this country as a bride, as a tool to be used for his own purposes?

(...If I were to confess my love to him...)

Rishe quickly stifles the passing thought.

(No, I can't.)

Perhaps Arnold's mindset wouldn't change even then. Though it may become a heavy burden, obstructing his path, he would surely never stop.

"...I have only one wish." Rishe speaks quietly. "If, in the future... For example, when I turn twenty, if I were to lose my life..."

"Enough. I don't want to hear it." Arnold's voice interrupts Rishe's words.

His tone, refusing to hear what she says, is unusual for Arnold.

But Rishe doesn't relent. "I'm sorry." Despite Arnold's wish, she continues.

She knows all too well how fragile her own life is.

"...Even if I were to die."

He's the man who has been the reason for Rishe's death in all her previous lives. The pain of that direct encounter in the sixth life still lingers as she prays.

"In the next life, too, I want to be Your Highness Arnold's bride..."

"..."

Arnold's fingers, which had been combing through her coral-colored hair, pause as if catching his breath.

"...Even if my wish to survive in this life goes unfulfilled..."

Using the hand with the ring, Rishe takes Arnold's hand, tightly intertwining their fingers.

"...If I could continue repeating, instead of my life coming to an end here..."

In all her previous lives, Rishe had eagerly anticipated the many possibilities each return brought. Even if she lost the days she had accumulated and returned to the beginning, she felt that every aspect of the world before her was a choice.

But now, in her seventh life, Rishe desires only this one thing she's been given.

"...Even in the eighth life, ninth life, and tenth..."

She can't choose otherwise.

She doesn't even consider it a limitation.

"I always want to be by your side."

"Rishe..."

In any future life, Rishe wants to be with Arnold.

As she desires to hold his hand like this and offers her prayers, she repeats her plea.

"Please, Your Highness..."