The Munchkin Princess Wants to Run Away - Chapter 6

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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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“That won’t happen again.”
Sola shook her head firmly.
“You’ve grown rich thanks to the princess who built up the Merchant Guild through sheer grit, so stop nagging me, Sola.”
Anthony gave his shoulder a light pat.
“I’m giving it to you anyway, so just take it without argument.”
“Understood.”
At Ivanna’s stubbornness, the two men smiled with the resigned air of those who knew better than to resist.
“That said, I’m getting restless. There’s no harm in stepping out now, is there?”
Anthony, who had spent the whole week cooped up in his room, asked carefully, testing the waters.
He was uneasy without guards—wondering if they were even allowed to leave.
“There’s no one searching for me right now, but I haven’t completely escaped their notice yet. Better to be cautious.”
She’d been promised guards would be assigned soon, but she had no idea when that would happen. The maids kept trickling back too, appearing now and then to check on her.
True freedom was still a distant thing.
Besides, once guards were in place, every trip in and out using the Duke’s Mansion carriage would leave a record.
She needed to find a way to slip past any escorts when the time came.
Even that austere Imperial Palace had its gaps and loopholes; surely this place would too.
Part of her wanted to tell them to come only when needed, and to spend her time at the Merchant Guild instead.
The Duke had ordered her to keep quiet, but asking permission to live outside the mansion altogether would be difficult.
He didn’t trust her, and a married woman living separately was hardly conventional.
Ivanna pictured the Duke’s expressionless face and let the thought go.
Instead, she chose to focus on the one fact that mattered: she’d gained freedom without responsibility or obligation. Just that was enough to make her spirits soar.
* * *
“It appears Her Highness is settling in well at the mansion.”
Howard, the master of the household, brought forward the reports he had compiled from the maids over the past month.
There was pride and affection in his gaze as he watched Cedric calmly review the documents.
“But you truly have no intention of seeking out the Duchess?”
“What more is there to need from a marriage that’s merely a contract?”
At his cold reply, a flicker of regret crossed Howard’s eyes. The previous Duke and Duchess had started with a contract as well, but nothing like this.
The couple who had borne a prodigy of the age had retired to the Territory to enjoy their remaining years the moment Cedric came of age, and they lived in peaceful contentment there now.
“But husband and wife are still husband and wife, even if it began as a contract.”
“I have no wish to be drawn into the Succession Dispute. If an Heir becomes necessary, I’ll arrange for one.”
“Children don’t simply appear. You should help Her Highness settle into the Duke’s Household.”
Howard made no effort to hide his exasperation.
He had hoped that as Cedric grew, he would come to understand various emotions, but it had not come to pass.
The Duke had been affectionate and innocent in childhood, but as he matured, he became rigid and rational in a way that set him apart from his parents.
That was why Howard had been among those who welcomed the Duke’s marriage.
Even if it was a Contract Marriage, he’d harbored the hope that having a wife might change something about him.
“That’s not in the contract.”
Cedric rejected the notion out of hand.
Howard swallowed his retort.
The princess had seemed fragile when he first saw her at the wedding, yet her eyes held a resolute light.
The same had been true when she came to collect documents last time.
Though she had scarcely left her rooms since the marriage, her spirit was far from broken.
The characteristic arrogance of royalty—
And the elegance and refinement possessed by the highborn were unmistakably present.
‘There’s been no real problem yet, but how long she’ll remain this quiet is anyone’s guess.’
For now she was careful, watching the Duke’s mood, but later she might show her true colors.
So Howard continued to caution the servants, ensuring no grounds for complaint could be found.
Once Cedric had finished his business, he rose from his seat.
“Are you going out, sir?”
“I’ll be visiting the Merchant Guild.”
“Ah, the last time Her Highness asked about going out, I mentioned that guards would be assigned soon, but……”
“Nothing’s been decided yet, so leave it as is.”
In truth, it mattered little to Cedric where the princess wandered, so long as she didn’t injure herself or bring shame on the Duke’s Household.
He had already assigned one of his own secret knights to watch her.
“Unless it concerns Her Highness’s safety, there’s no need to report every trifle to me.”
With that, Cedric left the study at once.
A report had come up from the Merchant Guild under the Duke’s control that could not be overlooked.
Weapon Export, no less.
The export of minerals and weapons to foreign nations was strictly managed by the state.
Yet traces were found of an enormous quantity of minerals—numbers that should never have appeared anywhere—slipping across the border.
Ordinarily, a merchant guild representative would be sent to report, but the situation was grave enough that he decided to move himself rather than wait for intermediaries.
And so, rarely, he set out for the Merchant Guild directly. He preferred to handle important matters with his own hands.
Cedric pushed thoughts of the princess from his mind and made swift for the town.
* * *
“Ugh, I’m starving. How can they keep serving the same pitiful scraps?”
It had been a week now of meager meals. Ivanna stirred her thin soup in listless circles.
“I told you this would happen. They claimed supplies were exhausted, and now they serve us nothing but spoiled leftovers.”
Anthony shook his head in disgust.
The attending maids who had kept watch, even in pairs, seemed to have vanished as if by prior agreement.
They brought no meals, and when one ventured to the kitchen, what was offered looked fit only for servants or slaves—garbage masquerading as food.
“The steward and the head maid don’t seem to know anything about it?”
“No, sir. When I sought them out and mentioned our needs, they looked entirely ignorant of the matter.”
Anthony held his tongue as Ivanna wished, saying nothing of their predicament.
They had learned through bitter experience that speaking up only made their own position more precarious.
“We can’t go on like this forever, though.”
Sola spoke quietly, noting how much thinner Ivanna’s arms had grown since arriving at the Duke’s Household.
“We’ve held out this long, haven’t we?”
Ivanna smiled wryly, aware of his gaze.
“Yes. It is not right that you should go hungry, my lady.”
He bit back the impulse to march directly to the steward’s quarters, just as Anthony clearly wished to do.
“I’d say we’ve borne this indignity long enough.”
“Agreed.”
Ivanna rose from her seat with a wry smile. In truth, she was already dressed in the plain, shabby garments of a common woman.
“Let’s go.”
And so Ivanna slipped through the narrow gap that Sola and Anthony had found, escaping the Duke’s Mansion.
In her wake, the Duke’s shadow followed quietly.
“Miss? Would you care for a skewer as well?”
“Yes. And a beverage, please.”
When Cedric dismounted in the town square, heading for the Merchant Guild, a voice that seemed vaguely familiar brushed against his ear.
He turned to find a hooded figure standing behind him.
‘The princess?’
A small face peeked out from within the hood, then vanished just as quickly.
The princess’s eyes, a brilliant sky-blue, sparkled as she nibbled at the skewer her attendant had handed her.
Her mouth was so delicate that with each small bite, only the tiniest morsel disappeared—like a bird pecking at grain.
Each time she turned her head, her flushed cheeks flashed in and out of sight within the hood’s shadow.
He had instructed her to remain at the mansion until her escort was arranged. How had she come to be in town?
Cedric stopped walking and studied the princess.
“Would you like to try the pastry shop over there? It’s new—quite the rage, I hear.”
Behind the cheerful maid’s voice, he caught sight of the princess nodding softly in agreement.
Her cheeks, flushed like ripened fruit, seemed unrelated to any distress. It was merely that her usually pallid face had taken on a pleasant color.
Yet venturing outside the mansion without an escort remained troublesome.
Cedric confirmed the presence of shadows moving around her.
Then he stepped forward, approaching the princess from behind, and spoke to her.
“How did you come to leave the mansion?”
The steward would never have granted permission. Cedric’s eyes drifted to the beverage and skewer in Ivanna’s hands.
A sharp intake of breath.
Ivanna’s body went rigid, the first proper meal she’d enjoyed in days suddenly fraught with tension.
The two figures beside her stiffened just the same.
The Duke’s voice—low and measured—was not something one easily forgot.
Gulp.
Gulp.
‘I won’t let them take it!’
Even as Ivanna shrank beneath his cold gaze, she refused to lower the skewer, shoving it instead into her mouth.
“What exactly are you doing?”
The Duke’s bewildered question hung in the air, but Ivanna only swallowed harder, forcing down the meat.
“Easy now. Drink some of your beverage while you eat, my lady.”
Cedric exhaled a quiet sigh, pressing his fingers to his temple before gesturing toward the drink in Ivanna’s other hand.
A gulp.
“Ah. I feel like I might actually live.”
Ivanna let out an inadvertent sigh of relief, then watched Cedric warily, as though she’d committed some crime.

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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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