The Munchkin Princess Wants to Run Away - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“I shall reduce the salaries of all staff and set things right.”
Agnes pivoted quickly, changing her approach.
The servants of the duchy were people of fierce loyalty and considerable pride in serving House Reynold.
This much would make them understand the message.
“Those who fail to carry out their master’s orders have no place here.”
Cedric shook his head at Agnes’s discomfited expression.
A single small action could become the seed of disorder. The Imperial Court was watching for any opportunity to bring down House Reynold.
Cedric had no intention of letting this matter pass unaddressed.
“Howard. Investigate what happened to the princess thoroughly.”
“I receive your command.”
Howard caught Agnes’s eye with a subtle glance, silently telling her to remain still.
He could not bear to see her caught in the crossfire and suffer for it as well.
Cedric was not a difficult master to serve.
But neither was he lenient. He was not a man who tolerated mistakes for long.
No—having failed to recognize the mistake at all, she had simply missed her chance to correct it.
“I shall see to removing all those involved.”
Agnes, reading the situation carefully, understood that the matter had slipped from her hands. In such moments, there was only one answer: bow your head and accept it.
“That the princess has become the lady of this duchy does not erase the fact that she carries royal blood.”
Cedric’s composed voice resonated through the study.
Yes, I instructed her to live quietly within the household, but that was never meant as license to disrespect her.
“Nor does her intention to keep a low profile within the family diminish the authority of the duchess.”
Those of royal blood possessed inherent authority by their very existence.
Though the princess had been mocked for lacking granted powers, she had not lost the grace and nobility that were her birthright.
“Those dismissed today will receive no letter of recommendation from me. This is the price of treating orders lightly.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Agnes now grasped the measure of her own failure.
She had thought of it as merely a contract, but the duke was attending to the princess’s welfare far more carefully than she had realized.
Her assumption that mere courtesy would suffice had been a grave miscalculation.
“I shall recruit new staff to oversee all aspects of the princess’s daily life.”
Returning to her private study after the conversation ended, Agnes immediately summoned her maidservants and began interrogating them about everything that had transpired.
The maidservants had not even informed her that the knight assigned to protect the princess had been delayed in returning from another assignment.
Within days, more than a hundred servants had been dismissed from House Reynold.
Among them were numerous kitchen staff and maidservants.
Unease rippled through the servant quarters.
Upon learning that the duke’s concern for the duchess had not entirely ceased, the remaining servants began to conduct themselves with renewed caution.
“Insulting royal blood? This was hardly a matter to be resolved by dismissal alone.”
Cedric clicked his tongue at the report Howard brought. For more than a month, she had received not even basic meals—only thin soup at each course.
The remaining servants, terrified that sparks might land on them as well, had honestly confessed what the dismissed ones had done.
Cedric reviewed the princess’s diet—nothing but watery soup at every meal—and clicked his tongue again.
“Howard, is House Reynold impoverished?”
Agnes and Howard bowed their heads at their master’s grave question.
They had cautioned the servants to exercise restraint, but they had not anticipated such severity in the transgression.
“No, my lord.”
“The mistress goes hungry while the servants dine. In a house like this.”
At the duke’s frigid words, neither of them could raise their head.
“You two shall also see your salaries reduced for half a year.”
“We are grateful for your lenience.”
Howard bowed deeply. Agnes’s hands clenched into fists.
She had thought a simple warning would suffice, never imagining she would act so far beyond her station.
The weight of her own negligence pressed upon her painfully.
She could not fathom why the princess had not brought this matter directly to the duke herself.
“I shall go to the princess, confess my transgression, and beg her forgiveness.”
“See that you do.”
With this, both of them would henceforth approach the princess with proper vigilance.
Cedric believed he had now resolved everything within his power to address.
* * *
“I am thoroughly despised.”
Ivanna walked through the garden, exhaling softly.
It had been a long time since she had encountered such sharp enmity and outright rejection.
Somehow the Duke learned of her problem, and servants were dismissed en masse.
The dismissed servants resented it, but dismissal was preferable to death for insulting the Imperial Lineage.
She’d thought the matter would end there, but among those who remained, fear of the Duchess took root alongside resentment at losing colleagues.
They came to believe that innocent people had suffered because of the useless, nominal Duchess.
‘Perhaps it would be better to be openly cursed, like at the Imperial Palace.’
Now no one looked at her. She could read only malice in their eyes.
Complete erasure.
It was what she’d wanted, but not like this.
“Perhaps I should tell him I’m leaving the residence.”
In truth, she was already living as though she’d gone.
Meals came complete again as they had before, but she felt an unmistakable carelessness in them.
It wasn’t only she who sensed it—Sola and Anthony felt it too.
After that, Ivanna spent nearly every day at the Merchant Guild under the pretense of outings.
Afraid that disappearing entirely would invite talk, she returned to the residence occasionally to walk in the Garden or lock herself away in the Study.
The House Reynold Residence she found after several days felt suffocating and cold.
“What do you mean, leaving?”
A cry escaped her.
Lost in thought, she started at the sudden question, her body swaying.
“Be careful.”
A firm hand steadied her wavering form. Ivanna quickly regained her composure, aware of the warm touch supporting her.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, yes.”
Ivanna nodded at Cedric, who had appeared before her, her expression bewildered.
What was he doing here?
It was the first time she’d encountered the Duke during a walk.
“What did you mean about leaving the residence?”
Cedric pressed the question once she’d steadied herself, his tone probing.
“No!”
Ivanna shook her head quickly at his words.
If she said she wanted to live elsewhere, she had no idea what this man—obsessed with contracts—might do.
“The city is simply so entertaining that I wish to visit more often!”
The words rose to her throat—that she wanted to live outside—but never crossed her lips.
The Duchess bound by contract shouldn’t speak of living abroad.
“The guard I’ve assigned hasn’t completed his duties yet, so please be patient. He’ll return soon.”
Cedric’s demeanor softened slightly as he watched the Princess gauge his reaction.
He was certain she wasn’t attempting to breach the contract.
Even with her treatment in shambles, she’d said nothing to him about it.
He’d already learned through his Shadows’ reports that she frequently went out.
She likely thought herself unguarded, but the Duke’s Shadows watched over her.
According to the Shadows’ reports, she visited the same Merchant Guild each time—one that had recently been flagged in a report regarding smuggling operations.
Nearly every day, and on some days, she hadn’t returned to the residence at all.
Cedric found himself unable to say anything about the Princess’s transgression. Even a man who prized principle harbored some conscience.
“Is it merely curiosity?”
“Yes. I’ve never left the Imperial Court before.”
Ivanna relaxed, having searched his expression for displeasure.
Of course—he couldn’t possibly know she’d been living outside all this time.
The Duke, bound by contract and now her only family, remained indifferent to her.
Ivanna no longer wished to continue such a life.
Accepting marriage to the Duke had been the first move toward change. The first leap to escape the Imperial Court and reality.
Anticipating his indifference, she was now carving out an escape route.
She couldn’t return to the Imperial Court, so she couldn’t sever ties completely, but she wanted to live as strangers, as the contract stipulated.
That’s why she couldn’t give him cause for concern. She had to remain quiet, hidden, so he’d continue to ignore her affairs.
“Is there a place you’re particularly fond of?”
The sudden question made her breath catch.
‘Surely he hasn’t already stationed someone to test me?’
The suspicion that surfaced pricked at her heart.
Now that she thought of it, he was the man who’d chosen her guard and postponed the appointment because of that guard’s duties.
Given the contract, that was strange.
A man who spoke of contracts would certainly have considered her safety.
How had she dismissed that so carelessly all this time!
Ivanna’s lips were dry as she realized, too late, the mistake she had made.

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