7th Time Loop

Rishe has the standard “otome villainess” backstory but the real catch is she's stuck in a time loop. Every life, she's pursued a different vocation and acquired different expertise but she always dies young. This time she bumps into a hot broody guy and he's the future evil emperor responsible, more or less, for every previous death.

It's fun seeing Rishe surprise others with her wide skill set and she doesn't come off as overpowered. Even her future knowledge doesn't include details of the political landscape leading up to the evil emperor's rise to power.

The art is gorgeous and in every flashback to previous lives Rishe has different outfits to drive home how different her paths were. Backgrounds feel alive and architecture is very pretty and realistic.

I've been looking forward to read this book for quite a while, especially since I really liked the web novel version. It doesn't disappoint. It has everything I like, including a smart main character and a shady male lead who knows her worth. Despite what the title says, however, this isn't a villainess story. Rishe is the daughter of a duke and the story does start with her getting dumped by her fiancé, who happens to be the crown prince, but she's never done anything that would brand her as a villainess. She is shrewd, though.

As the title suggests, this is Rishe's seventh loop. It began with her getting her engagement broken at the age of 15. From there, she would walk on various branches of her life and gain various skills before she inevitably died at the age of 20. Then she'd get thrown back to where it started, at the party when her fiancé dumped her for another woman. She's been doing this for six times, and now her seventh attempt at life leads her to meet Arnold, the crown prince of a military nation and the very person who always caused her death in her previous six lives. Since Arnold seems to be interested enough in her to propose, Rishe decides to make the most out of it by marrying him so she can enjoy a laid-back palace life without having to do any work.

If only it was that easy LOL.

Rishe is a smart main character. Maybe it's due to all the experience from her previous lives, but she's quick-witted and catches onto things really fast. Despite her initial objective to have an easy (and hopefully long) life, she quickly figures out that stopping Arnold from waging war might be the key to her survival. This leads to all sorts of royal family politics, which we only get a glimpse of in this first volume. Arnold hasn't revealed his hand yet, but he has a lot of faith in Rishe's capabilities. The romance progresses naturally, with both parties still keeping secrets from one another.

I liked this one a lot. The writing and characterization are great, the story is compelling, and the female side characters are handled well. Even the one who stole Rishe's ex-fiancé from her. It's far more common to see female side characters getting punished and then tossed aside for being bitchy, but that is not the case here. Instead, they are given depth and I find that commendable.

Now to wait for the next volume in November.