7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! Vol. 2

ループ7回目の悪役令嬢は、元敵国で自由気ままな花嫁生活を満喫する (Manga) #2

by Hinoki Kino (Artist), Touko Amekawa (Original Story), Wan☆Hachipisu (Character Design)

KEEP YOUR HANDMAIDENS CLOSE, AND YOUR ENEMIES CLOSER

Every time Rishe turns twenty, she dies and is reincarnated to the day her engagement is broken off. This time around, she winds up the fiancee of the man who killed her in her previous life: the crown prince of the Galkhein Empire, Arnold! Knowing from her past lives that Galkhein is on the path to war, Rishe is determined to prevent it. She starts by turning the royal villa into a training ground…for handmaidens! Will her unorthodox plans be enough to keep disaster at bay?

Genres: Manga, Romance, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Comics, Young Adult

184 pages, Paperback

First published November 25, 2021

About the author

木乃ひのき

Reviews

[Lindsey (Books for Christian Girls) · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the few things that's been able to keep my attention lately. Personally, I really enjoyed this first manga volume and plan to continue the series and possibly read the light novels. The younger brother is giving slight orange flags, but we'll see how that goes.

I honestly didn't pay attention to content, but I do recall a 'd*mn', 'hell', and God's name misused once between both manga volumes.

[sil ♡ the book voyagers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loving loving this story! I need to watch the anime adaptation ASAP now.

[Natalie H · Rating 4 out of 5]

December 2023
Kindle edition
Manga

...I may have to disable the one click buy. As much as I like Rishe, she does have that perfectionist vibe to her and the naïve pacifist thing feels off somehow. She's trying to live her best live and roping in others from her previous life. Arnold still has the I know something you don't know vibe going on and then there's the little brother. Yandere? Brother complex? I have no idea yet. Sleeping on the new gardening patch though for an intro, lol. Tully seems like a fun character. The little stories excerpts at the end are sweet. Fave bit though is the little bonus strips.

[Danny_reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐

This is such a fun and fluffy series.

I enjoy all the characters and the art style is gorgeous.

[Kirsten Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 stars. Kind of love this, easy and fun read !

[nandini]

THOSE LAST FEW PANELS OMG AAAAA

[cvtherin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love how Rishe is determined to do nothing in this life and proceeds to do the exact opposite, lol. Bless. This girl just wants to sleep.

[Of Butterflies & Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series continues to be a fun, fluffy, comfort read. It can be a little wordy at times where there's a bit more telling than showing, but it's not a constant thing that's bothering me or derailing me from the story or the characters themselves. I would like a bit more characterization from Arnold as the series goes forward, for example, is he really in love with Rishe or is something else going on?

[Azbaqiyah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plot - 5 🌟
Character - 5 🌟
Writing Style - 5 🌟
World Building - 5 🌟
Art - 5 🌟
Cover - 5 🌟

Overall - 5 🌟

[Cindy ✩☽♔ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love our OTP 💕

They’re both gorgeous and interesting. I never know what you expect of them.

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm having fun reading this series. It's so interesting! I'm excited to keep reading and see what Rishe plans or does next. And I hope to understand Arnold more as time goes on 🤓

[MAG Scrittrice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anche questo mi è piaciuto molto! Anche se lei ha 15 anni, grazie alle vite passate è molto matura e intelligente. Lui è ancora tutto da scoprire.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fun still. Enjoying the budding romance a lot.

[stella (^_−)−☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

i have sm screenshots. everytime an AAAHHOMG scene happens: 📸

[Sheepy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second volume keeps up the very strong start! So much so that it's 1am, and im going to start the next volume! Who needs sleep when there is manga to read!

[Billie Flaming · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOOOOVE this series. Love it. I love Rishe and how she’s compelled to help those around her. I love Arnold and how quietly he cares. I like the maids and the guards and Tully is a laugh.

[Hisgirl85 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. I still haven't caught up with the first light novel I read, but I'm enjoying this. I thinknwith the next manga volume I'll match where I was with the light novel.

[Laura A. Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

VIDEO REVIEW HERE: https://youtu.be/8noCtJJ-_rQ

"Just as Diana said, once you learn something you don't forget it. You can use the skills you learn for the rest of your life. Even if you end up living a different life, they'll still be useful to you."

Okay, I am SO glad I kept reading this series because this volume was VERY good!!

I felt extremely emotionally invested, especially with that HUGE cliffhanger of an ending!! I am SO thankful to know I have volume three on hand and went ahead and ordered volume four so it could be here in the next few days!

While I really really enjoyed the entire volume, hands down my favorite part was the scenes about the maids and Rishe choosing new handmaidens. The way she handled things honestly brought tears to my eyes and had me internally cheering for how incredible Rishe is as a heroine.

However, my heart broke when she started to open up to Arnold and share her inner feelings that she herself hadn't even been realizing was feeling. She is a very multi-layered character who is not consistently upbeat, which usually is a character I LOVE reading about, but it makes this story refreshing in that regard. I also know other heroines who are business savvy, but Rishe really is on a whole other level (and I don't mean that in a way to bash other heroines because I LOVE Aileen from I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss and feel she is business savvy too!). She is very calculating and absolutely loved that while she might have had a "sneak out" chapter, she completely respected Arnold's wishes to not get close to his brother. Even when she could gain more information, she still didn't take the opportunity.

One of my favorite parts is Arnold and Rishe's growing relationship, specifically how he just watches her when they are together. In one of the scenes, it was like they were an everyday couple and not one of nobility. She did her hair, cooked, and they talked. It was a really really nice moment and I love how despite their titles, they don't seem to have this grand sweeping romance. That's not to say they didn't have some swoonwrothy romantic moments and I wasn't totally squealing because I VERY much was and VERY much here for more of it!! EEEEEPPPP!

Lastly, I will just say that I LOVED Mr. Tully!! I really hope we see more of him in the next volume!

Again, I'm very glad I gave this series a second chance and I am EAGERLY looking forward to the next volume! Too bad I need to do some chores before I can start it! UGH! LOL!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume 2: (Chapters 6-10) + Bonus Story

KEEP YOUR HANDMAIDENS CLOSE, AND YOUR ENEMIES CLOSER~!

Every time Rishe turns twenty, she dies and is reincarnated to the day her engagement is broken off. This time around, she winds up the fiancée of the man who killed her in her previous life: the crown prince of the Galkhein Empire, Arnold!

Knowing from her past lives that Galkhein is on the path to war, Rishe is determined to prevent it. She starts by turning the royal villa into a training ground… for handmaidens! Will her unorthodox plans be enough to keep disaster at bay? [x]

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest, it's a little tiring to be going through this story this many times in such close succession. Do other people struggle with that? Manga adaptations of light novels seems like a pretty common thing in Japan, but maybe the manga tends to come out later in its original language, whereas the English licenses snapped them both up at the same time?

I think I want to get through the rest of the manga I have on hand, then move to the light novels, since it is nice to have the visuals as a little bonus, but the light novel itself was, at least in volume 1, more satisfying as a complete story. It looks like it takes a little over three volumes of manga to cover a single volume of the light novel, so I'll have lots of new material to look forward to in the novels.

This volume ended with one of my favorite scenes, where Arnold and Rishe reveal a little of their insecurities to each other (and then kiss for the first time). The part I find fascinating is Rishe's fear that she's not actually going through her life on a time loop - that she died for real the first time, and everything since then has simply been her afterlife imagination.

That honestly sounds kind of horrifying, but Rishe has this vibrant, optimistic personality that is so captivating - to readers and to Arnold. It doesn't really matter whether she's alive or dead, or whether she will be dead again in the near future. That is to say, she cares very deeply about living - she's fighting with everything in her to last more than five years this time, by doing everything in her power to prevent Arnold's war - but whether she succeeds isn't the truly important part. She just wants to live every second of her life to the fullest.

I still don't know that much about Arnold, even after experiencing this story for the third time in its third format. How much of Prince Theodore's stories about his brother's cruelty are true? Arnold doesn't want Rishe to have false ideas of his own heroism, but he does have a kinder heart than he'd like to reveal, and the faces of those he's killed in battle still haunt him. Rishe's would have, in the timeline that she either wiped out or branched off from by dying again and starting over.

I honestly find this whole plotline a little confusing, but I'm looking forward to getting to a point where I can actually move forward in it and learn more, rather than rehashing more of the same scenes. Still, it is nice to have the manga as sort of a visual reference, although I think I'll be more likely to reread the novels in future and simply flip through the manga to look at the pictures.

[Enairolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Après avoir dévoré le premier tome, je me suis empressée de dévorer le second. autant profiter de l’avoir sous la main pour ne pas le laisser traîner dans ma PAL plus longtemps! J’avais énormément aimé le premier tome et le second est dans la même lignée. Je sens que ce manga va de plus en plus me plaire au fur et à mesure que j’avance dans la découverte des tomes. J’aime tellement ce genre de manga, je passe un excellent moment et j’oublie tout ce qui existe autour de moi pendant que je suis plongé dedans!

Dans ce second tome, pour empêcher Arnold de déclencher une guerre d’invasion dans le futur et pour enfin profiter d’une longue vie tranquille, elle décide de commencer par changer ce qu’elle peut autour d’elle. Se servant de son expérience passée, Rishe met au point une méthode d’apprentissage révolutionnaire. Elle prévoit aussi d’entrer en contact avec Tully, son ancien maître en commerce, mais… ?!

Qu’est ce que j’ai aimé ce tome encore une fois. j’ai l’impression que plus je vais avancer et plus je vais adorer cette histoire. Rishe me fait beaucoup rire, elle ne fait rien comme tout le monde. Elle travaille au champ, elle escalade les murs pour partir la nuit, bref, elle ne se comporte pas forcément toujours comme une jeune dame doit le faire et c’est ça que j’aime avec elle. Ici elle va retrouver une tête qu’elle a bien connue, son ancien maître en commerce, Tully. J’ai beaucoup aimé ce qu’elle a fait pour toutes les servantes, on voit que Rishe a vraiment un grand coeur et aime aider les autres. Elle va mettre en place un apprentissage pour que les servantes puissent apprendre à lire et à écrire, je trouve ça tellement chouette. On découvre le petite frère d’Arnold dans ce tome ci. Et le moins que l’on puisse dire c’est que ce personnage est très mystérieux. Je me demande qui il est vraiment, il cache quelque chose mais on ne sait pas vraiment encore quoi.. J’espère en apprendre plus sur lui par la suite parce que je suis très intriguée par Théodore..

Un second tome dans la lignée du premier. L’histoire suit son cours, on continue de suivre Rishe dans sa nouvelle vie. C’est un manga que j’affectionne énormément en tout cas, je regrette juste d’avoir mis autant de temps à le sortir de ma PAL tant cette histoire est tout simplement géniale. L’univers, l’intrigue, les personnages, tout est bien construit et c’est très plaisant. Il me tarde de lire la suite en tout cas!

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I walked into Barnes & Noble, saw this, and decided I'd try it. A strong first volume does not mean it is a strong series. When I finished this volume, I bought it and the third one, ordered the rest of them, and am strongly considering getting the light novels.

Starting at the ball that concluded the first volume, the second volume introduces the tutorial mode, so to speak, of Rishe's life in Galkhein. Several threads introduced in the first volume, such as the conflict of the young maids eager to enter Rishe's personal service, the black-haired boy watching Rishe and Arnold at the ball, and the introduction of Kaine Tully, are expanded upon and built up into the plot itself. Two main themes are expanded upon, which were originally hinted at in the first volume but are explicitly spelled out here. The first, that Arnold values Rishe's freedom as much as Rishe herself, is spelled out explicitly as they have an amiable conversation regarding one of Rishe's goals in attempting to get Kaine Tully and his trading company as her ally. The second is that Rishe is in many ways attempting to rebuild all of her past friendships not only because she loves all these people who have loved her, taught her, and indulged her, but because she realizes that they are the only way she can stop the future where her betrothed, the nearly-invincible Arnold Hein, drowns the world in blood. The catch, of course, is that all of her teachers are masters at their trades when she only reached journeyman level before her death. Rishe is awesome, but she recognizes that as good as she is, her teachers still hold the upper hand on her in pure skill in their crafts.

Rishe continues to be an eminently charming heroine. She gets her hands dirty (literally!), but she has also demonstrated that she has not forgotten her parents always meant her to be a queen. Her very first scheme reflects that training as she applies what she herself learned as a maid to create an innovation suitable for a crown princess by turning her villa into a school for training maids. However, she's not perfect - as I mentioned, Kaine Tully outmaneuvers her, and when she manages to garner her first teacher's interest, she begins to stress as to what to do to accomplish her goals. Also, Rishe can't cook a tasty meal to save her life; her idea of a good meal is a bunch of medicinal herbs brewed into a nutritious soup, with a salted potato as a side dish.

The art continues to be charming, with the chibi insets used to emphasize emotions such as joy, frustration, and dismay in a humorous manner. Not to understate Kino-sensei's skill here - she is clearly a master at conveying emotion, as can be seen at the climax of this volume. I won't spoil it, but last chapter is probably one of the most emotionally intense confrontations I've seen depicted in a manga. I wouldn't call it a fight between Arnold and Rishe, but more like a clash of emotion leading them to understand each other a little better. I really want to see it in the light novel, that's how fantastic it was!

Strong recommendation, folks, stick with this series!

[kuristina- tabreez · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s like the two of them understand each other on deeper levels by their own means. Even though Rishe has a lot of history to aide her understanding, Arnold possesses a lot of experience within his short lifetime as well. Both of their experiences allow them to see one another for who they are and what they stand for, even though neither understands the other’s motives or thoughts.
This deep connection yet near-total mystery mixes for powerful chemistry between Rishe and Arnold, resulting in what feels like a deep romance. This might be Rishe’s most romantic life, out of all seven (or eight, if you count her original life in her original world).
The art is absolutely stunning and mesmerizing and the story is quite good. I also admire the costume design and I absolutely adore character design. I simply cannot get enough of Rishe, Arnold, or Theodore. Even the handmaidens are amazingly appealing to the eye. I intend to read the novels but I can only hope that they’re extremely descriptive because I don’t know how I’ll cope without gazing upon Hinoki Kino’s art (which reminds me of a blend of Jun Mochizuki’s works and Seraph of the End— some of my favorites).

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questo volume abbiamo Rishe che vuole un po' rivoluzionare il castello.
Infatti dovrai scegliere le sua cameriere e diventa una di loro per capire chi puo fare a caso suo.
infatti poi le cameriere quando ce gono raduta per essere scelte rimangono un po' in shock perché scoprono che Rishe era stata con loro tutto il tempo.
Inoltre Rishe ricerca un mercante di una sua vita precendente ed ha un udienza con lui, parlano ma alla fine lui dice di no ma la sera si incontrano in una bottega e gli lancia una sfida.
Inoltre Rishe sta anche cercando di sapere qual'e la vera natura del principe Arnold.
Rishe incontra anche il fratellino minore di Arnold ovvero Theodore.
devo dire che anche questo secondo volume mi,e molto piaciuto e non vedo l'ora di continuare a leggere i prossimo.
voglio sapere come si sviluppera la storia di Rishe e il principe Arnold!

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

We made it to the chapel scene and perhaps the first time Prince Arnold tells Rishe start opening up to each other. They really do have an odd way of communicating at times, but it seems to work for both of them, especially with their positions and secrets. Not sure what to think of Prince Arnold liking Rishe's medicinal herb soup, but maybe that has more to do with both of them appreciating things that are nutritious rather than prioritizing taste. It certainly gave Oliver some food for thought when he heard about it, let alone that Prince Arnold willingly took a break with Rishe. Rishe certainly isn't your average girl at this stage, but that's really probably why she fits so well given her wider range of knowledge and abilities.

[Naty H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing Manga serie. The designs, the characters, the story, everything is so good. Arnold’s character is such a mystery that makes you fall in love of him. The fact Rishe is so lively but so so intelligent and empower of her on life and decisions is an extra bonus that impulse me to continue reading stories like this. It left behind the female characters that are super vulnerable to bring back stories of women that accomplish their own goals and dreams and that help others to grow and develop themselves. Also, the main male character in this manga is so powerful that doesn’t need to turn off the dreams of the female character to bright. Arnold is decided, strong, romantic, a 90% green flag.

Fully recommend it

[Sandee is Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am going through this manga faster than i thought i would be. one thing that stood out for me the most was how likeable the main character is. she is fierce and strong willed. she is not the type to cry on a corner because of how hard everything has been going for her. she thinks of a way to figure out how she can improve her life in each time loop. i love her so much! the romance, oh god, it's so cute and adorable. i can't wait for it to go further and see how things turn out for them. i'm reading the third volume asap.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

this continues to be amazing...rishe is such an interesting character and I love how she continues to use her experience in all her previous lives in combination with her wits. I like how she's training her handmaidens and teaching them to read. arnold is such a mystery...but that kiss at the end....!!!! that two page spread was glorious!!

I just like how this so far has still kept me guessing and is moving at a solid pace. definitely picking up the next one!!

[Laïni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume was so pleasing to read ! It's a well-paced and carefully crafted story with the added benefit of having pretty drawings.

I'm usually quite hesitant to give 5 stars reviews, but this checks all the boxes. The setting is nice, the drawings are beautiful, the characters are likeable and the pace is engaging. It feels good to read a good book !


Thank you very much to the team involved in the creation of this manga !

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want her to succeed! Whatever it is that she's up to, I'm on her team.

In this manga, we meet Arnold's brother (Theodore). I rather enjoy her interactions with him, as she kept putting him in his place!

We also meet the head of the Aria Trading Company (whom she knows from her previous life). I do wish this volume resolved the part about the Aria Trading Company. It felt unfinished without that resolution.

Aside from that little bit, I loved this volume!