The Munchkin Princess Wants to Run Away - Chapter 10

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

“Phew.”
The moment she realized she was alone, her shoulders relaxed.
“I heard before that hardly anyone comes to the floor where the Library is, except for the Duke himself.”
Anthony steadied Ivanna, who’d clapped a hand over her mouth in surprise. The Duke was far too busy to spend much time confined to the Estate.
“Thank goodness.”
Climbing one flight higher, Ivanna exhaled softly. Even speaking above a whisper in the Estate felt like it might draw unwanted attention.
If this had been the Imperial Palace itself, she could have moved about with far more ease—but with the Duke’s chambers right next door, she’d had to use her Authority to dampen sound at every turn.
The hypocrisy of being told to keep quiet while being given a room directly adjacent to his was not lost on her.
True, she rarely crossed paths with the Duke, who was occupied with matters of state; yet even in the corridors, she was forced to hold her breath and maintain composure, just in case.
There were conveniences to this arrangement, yet it felt like confinement in a cage far narrower than the Imperial City itself. Still, unlike the Palace, the door here remained open—a small mercy she could endure.
As long as the Duke did not demand a divorce, she need not return to the Imperial Palace.
Just as the Marriage Contract stipulated, she desired nothing from him.
So long as he did not break his vow, neither would she.
‘I will give nothing to those who abandoned me.’
She owed Justin her gratitude, yet the marriage had settled that debt well enough.
The tears she’d shed over the items he’d sent as charity had been brief, fleeting things.
Better to have let me die. Better to have abandoned me outright.
Bitterness and hatred toward her family layered upon Ivanna’s heart in thick, suffocating strata—resentment she could never voice, never even confront.
The smile vanished from Ivanna’s face.
The moment the Library door closed and Ivanna’s figure disappeared, a vast shadow form materialized in the corridor.
‘So she knows how to smile like that.’
A man with rose-colored hair and ash-gray eyes stood motionless, his gaze fixed on the empty corridor, lost in thought.
He had seen that face once before in the Crown Princess’s quarters. It seemed the Crown Princess showed her true self only when no one was watching.
The clear, rising laughter echoed through Cedric’s mind.
A drought had been settling over the Fiefdom for some time now.
He’d sought out the Library to clear his head when no solution presented itself—and had been on the verge of leaving when—
From the floor below came the sound of bright, unguarded laughter.
The Crown Princess.
The woman who always tensed in his presence, whose face grew rigid—laughing without restraint like this.
Cedric found his hand closing the door again without conscious thought. There was no reason to hide in his own Estate.
Yet he could not bring himself to open it again.
The conversation between the Crown Princess and her Lady’s Maid, heard from his place of concealment, seemed to contradict the laughter itself.
How could she laugh like that while enduring torment? Cedric could not fathom the Crown Princess’s reaction.
Had what she’d told him before been true, then? That she was defying his orders?
Cedric’s brow furrowed. None of the reports he’d received had contained any such information.
“I heard the Lady’s Maid in charge had removed some of the staff causing trouble. It seems the matter wasn’t properly resolved.”
He should have verified instead of assuming it was handled. This time, he would set things right.
Not for her sake.
He did not demand absolute loyalty from his servants, but he could not overlook disobedience to orders from above.
The large frame moved without sound.
Upon reaching the Office, Cedric spoke.
“Bring me the reports on the Crown Princess.”
The empty room suddenly filled with the flutter of a thick sheaf of documents and a black shadow form that dropped before his feet. The shadow bowed low.
Thwack.
Cedric’s hand flipped roughly through the pages.
[Imperial Calendar 2432, Third Month, Fifteenth Day
Morning – warm vegetable soup, salad, bread. Lunch – one sandwich. Evening – salad, one portion of lamb steak.
…….
Imperial Calendar 2432, Third Month, Twentieth Day
Breakfast – soup with two meat scraps. Lunch – one potato. Evening – one cold piece of meat, one slice of bread.]
As Cedric read, his eyes grew darker. The Crown Princess’s complaint about her meals had been truthful.
“Why didn’t you report the Crown Princess’s circumstances until now?”
“I judged there to be no personal hardship, given that the Crown Princess’s attendant procures food from outside.”
Cedric fell silent at the shadow’s answer. He had no excuse to offer the Crown Princess now.
In the early days of the marriage, the shadow’s and the Steward’s reports had aligned.
After that, weekly shadow reports on the Crown Princess had come in, but he’d assumed they matched the Steward’s account and never examined them closely.
He’d been buried under other pressing matters and had not prioritized the Crown Princess. There was simply too much else demanding his attention.
According to the contract, the Crown Princess had caused no trouble and remained perfectly compliant.
A low sigh escaped from Cedric’s lips.
“How did the princess manage to slip out of the Reynold Estate?”
“She disguised herself as a servant and escaped through a secret door used by the household staff.”
A sharp breath.
Only now did Cedric grasp that the Reynold Estate harbored far more than one or two problems.
“Leave all the reports on the princess. Every last one.”
The shadow figure withdrew a stack of documents from the Magic Pouch and spread them across the desk, then bowed and vanished.
He consumed every report in a single sitting.
Cedric rang the bell at once, summoning the butler. There was business to settle before he could make amends to the princess.
“My lord? Is there something you require?”
“Howard. Dismiss every servant in this Estate and hire new staff. You won’t escape responsibility either.”
The head butler Howard, who had hurried to the Duke’s summons, blinked.
“E-everyone, sir? Myself as well?!”
“Yes. There’s no purpose in employing people who work in my household yet refuse to follow orders.”
At the Duke’s frigid tone, Howard swallowed hard.
“My sincerest apologies. Whatever the matter, I shall take immediate action to rectify it.”
Howard bowed deeply, his frame trembling before the Duke’s cutting presence.
“Don’t make me repeat myself.”
……
He couldn’t fathom what had provoked the Duke’s displeasure. No warning had reached him beforehand.
“I have fallen short. I shall dismiss all the servants at once and recruit replacements.”
The butler ceased his protests immediately. Someone had clearly displeased the Duke.
No—more than displeased; someone had broken principle, and now his own neck hung in the balance.
A bolt from nowhere for a man who had devoted his life to the Reynold household. Yet his first priority was to avoid further antagonizing the Duke.
“Summon Agnes.”
“Yes. I shall attend to it at once.”
The young Duke of Reynold was rational and precise. It was this very quality that had elevated House of Reynold to its current station.
He had no use for limbs that refused to obey.
There was no shortage of those eager to forge ties with House of Reynold, second in power only to the Imperial throne.
Even a man who had served the household for decades could be cast aside.
Watching the Duke’s receding form, Howard swallowed once more.
‘Agnes won’t take this lying down.’
At the thought of the firestorm about to engulf the Estate, Howard shut his eyes tight.
* * *
‘Should never have admitted such an unsuitable woman from the start.’
The Head Lady’s Maid Agnes, having rushed into the Duke’s Office, lowered her eyes in a pose of deference while her thoughts churned.
She had anticipated why the Duke had summoned her.
The princess’s maids had come seeking her out more than once, after all. Which was why she’d turned a blind eye a few times and reprimanded the maids several times over.
She harbored no personal resentment toward the princess. The problem was simply that the princess served no purpose to the household.
The marriage had brought considerable gain to House of Reynold, but that was only to be expected.
Among the nobility, marriage was an exchange of mutual interest.
The princess, as Mistress of the House, had engaged in no social activities or endeavors that might benefit the family.
Weak constitution or not, she ought to have fulfilled at least the minimum duties of her station.
Precisely for this reason, Agnes had cautioned the maids while paying little attention to the new Mistress.
She had been quite content with a princess who understood her place.
There was no room in this household for a powerless duchess.
She had hoped for a quiet life, but the maids had to go and blunder.
“I apologize for the lapse in oversight.”
Agnes bit her lip and bowed to the Duke. A useless princess must not catch the Duke’s eye.
That was why she had issued even stricter warnings to her subordinates.
To think they would damage the family’s interests—she had no intention of letting the matter slide easily either.
“If you could identify those who treated the princess disrespectfully……”
“Agnes.”
Agnes, absorbed in damage control, stiffened at the Duke’s summons.
The quiet rebuke made her bite her lip hard. There was no room for negotiation now.
One misstep in her words here, and she herself would be in danger.
“Did you interpret my instruction to ensure the princess lived quietly and comfortably as optional?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————