“Hey…”

Arnold frowned and quickly withdrew his hand from Rishe.

Nonetheless, he caressed the bandage on her neck and looked down at her sullenly. It was a very unusual expression, one that clearly reflected confusion.

“Are you still hurting somewhere?”

“No, that’s not it…”

She promptly denied, but her voice sounded tremulous and shaky. She pressed the back of her hand against her eyes, but the tears kept flowing.

Look down at the drops that came one after another, Arnold spoke in bewilderment, “Why are you crying then?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

Rishe herself was greatly perplexed. She wanted to hide it, but it didn’t work.

She hadn’t cried in front of anyone since she could remember.

“It’s because you’re just too kind.”

“…?”

Rishe had long noticed that.

Some knights who have survived from dangerous battlefields had means to fight with no regard for their lives.

She asked them why, and they told her that it was a punishment for surviving.

They felt guilty that they were the only ones who survived while their friends died, so they continued to stand on the battlefield, thinking that they had to make amends for it.

But there was no such thing as a survival sin.

“Your Highness, you were so young and did nothing wrong…”

“…”

However, Arnold’s behavior seemed like it.

When bandits attacked them before, he commanded the knights to back off and drew his sword alone.

It was all about trying to be on the front lines on the battlefield, like the Ciutena battle that Fritz talked about, or his confrontation with Rishe in her sixth life.

What if that was his way of atoning for his sins?

Perhaps, since he was a kid…

Just the thought of it made Rishe want to cry.

The back of her eyes were burning, and she felt terribly distressed. Arnold could tell that it wasn’t due to pain.

“…Don’t rub your eyes too much.”

“Uh-h…”

Arnold grasped her hand when she stammered.

Her vision disappeared, and she could see the world in a blur. With each blink, everything became clearer and clearer, and then quickly turned hazy again.

It was then that Arnold appeared on the screen, with a disconcerted expression on his face.

“Hey…”

Arnold asked with a frown while brushing Rishe’s tears with his finger.

“…How can I get you to stop crying?”

“~~~~”

When he asked, she cried even harder. Upon seeing this, Arnold saw this, he let out a reproachful voice.

“Rishe…”

“Because-because…”

He only cared about her. He didn’t care about himself.

The feeling that the matter was beyond her control simmered with the heat of the poison.

Because of it, she blurted something out beyond her comprehension.

“Ah, head.”

“Head?”

“I’d like to pet Your Highness Arnold’s head.”

The wrinkles on Arnold’s brow deepened in response.

“You know…”

She realized that it was an outlandish request. To deal with an adult male, it was a misguided wish no matter which angle you looked at it.

But right now, she really wanted to stroke Arnold’s head.

She couldn’t reach him when he was a child, but she wanted to touch Arnold right in front of me.

Thus, she looked up at him pleadingly.

“Your Highness…”

“…………”

Arnold sighed deeply and kneeled on her bed.

A creak sounded, followed by the rustling of the sheets.

With hands flanking Rishe’s face, Arnold looked down at Rishe as if he were enveloping her directly above.

Their distance shortened. In this way, Rishe could touch him.

With a slightly hushed voice, he yielded to Rishe’s demand.

“Suit yourself.”

“O-Okay…”

Sob-sob, she stretched her hand and slowly touched Arnold’s head.

It felt strange. Arnold looked unaccustomed to it, but Rishe wasn’t any better.

Even so, she gently stroked his black hair.

Arnold’s lightly tousled hair was surprisingly soft to the touch.

For some reason, she found it irresistible, and then tears welled up in her eyes once more.

“Hm~~”

“…Hey.”

Arnold looked like he wanted to say something different. Rishe knew she was annoying him, but she couldn’t help it.

“Rishe.”

“I’m sorry.”

“…Damn.”

Arnold, who had been covering her, bent down and gently laid his forehead against Rishe’s. Their bangs tangled together and rustled.

And then he closed his eyes.

“Please, no more crying.”

The pleading words were spun in a strained voice.

“Seeing you crying makes me feel like losing my head…”

“…”

It was rare to see Arnold barely managing to do something, too.

Rishe hurriedly tried to cease crying. In the end, however, she ended up weeping like a child.

She had never been allowed to cry in front of her parents, so this was a new experience for her.

Arnold was of course perturbed, but he still brushed her tears until she fell asleep, exhausted from crying.