The Munchkin Princess Wants to Run Away Chapter 28

“His Grace really can’t take his eyes off his wife! Ha ha ha!”

They had already been staying at the baron’s estate for three days. They had planned a leisurely schedule since it had been a while since the duke had left the capital to visit his territory, but still.

Could His Grace have developed feelings for Her Highness the Princess?

Marcel found his own thoughts wavering at the baron’s words as the older man smiled contentedly beside him.

“Surely not. He’s simply being courteous.”

Marcel disagreed with the baron, dismissing the idea as unlikely.

“Tsk, tsk. If you keep following His Grace around, you might die an old bachelor. You should hurry up and get married yourself.”

“Why are you suddenly cursing me like that?!”

He was too busy with work to find time to marry, but he was also responsible for continuing his family line. Marcel glared at the baron, protesting that he was being far too harsh.

“What do you have eyes for if you can’t even tell the difference between courtesy and affection?”

After teasing Marcel to his heart’s content, the baron hurried off to send letters to the lords of the other ducal territories.

“Have we been out for too long?”

Ivanna glanced at Cedric, who was walking beside her.

“This much is fine. I recovered a while ago, so you can go back inside and attend to your work, Your Grace.”

It was true that the landslide had frightened her, but she was also perfectly fine physically.

The bodies and minds of members of the imperial family must have been extraordinarily resilient. Even looking at mountains or piles of dirt no longer bothered her.

Cedric had told the truth when he said he had prepared thoroughly. After waking up at the baron’s estate, Ivanna had looked for Solar and Anthony. Neither of them had been injured.

According to the two of them, a few people had bruises or minor cuts from the impact, but that was all.

‘That doesn’t make what he did right, though.’

After waking up at the baron’s estate, Ivanna had grown uncomfortable with how excessively attentive the duke had become about her health.

No matter how many times she told him she was fine, he insisted that something might happen, and his decision to keep monitoring her for a few more days had brought them to today.

One day, she could no longer stand it and asked him why he was doing this. His answer was that the contract required him to guarantee her safety.

He had also apologized for failing to inform her properly about the situation.

He seemed like the sort of person who had learned how to apologize only as a matter of etiquette, yet he admitted his mistakes and apologized without hesitation.

‘No! You’ve already done it, so what am I supposed to do now?!’

No matter how thoroughly he had prepared, she couldn’t accept the way he had handled things without telling anyone about the plan—not even Solar and Anthony, let alone her.

But after apologizing, he kept hovering around her, making it difficult to push him away outright.

As a result, the problem arose elsewhere.

‘At this rate, I’ll never get any time alone with Solar!’

“The territory is small, so I finished reviewing all the documents on the first day after we arrived. I don’t have much else to do, either.”

“Don’t you have documents from the ducal estate to review?”

There had to be documents arriving from the ducal estate every day! Ivanna waited for his answer with desperate hope.

“The administrators heard about the landslide and agreed to send only urgent documents. My father also suggested that I take a few days off and offered to handle the paperwork on my behalf.”

At the duke’s calm explanation, Ivanna’s mouth fell open.

She had documents she needed to receive from Solar, too. If Cedric kept sticking so close to her, when was she supposed to review them?

“Aren’t you going to inspect the territory?”

She brought it up, hoping to use the inspection as an excuse to get rid of the duke. Cedric, however, looked thoughtful.

“It seems the rain has been sufficient, so there should be no problem.”

“I-I see.”

The baron’s territory wouldn’t work, then. Elisa could handle anything truly urgent, so Ivanna had no choice but to give up.

There was no point fretting over something she couldn’t change.

“Would you like to go out and inspect the territory?”

Cedric asked after noticing the princess pressing her lips tightly together.

Over the past few days, he had noticed that whenever Ivanna had something serious to think about, she would lightly bite her lip.

“Would that be all right?”

“I have no objection to you accompanying me.”

Ivanna had grown frustrated with being confined to the baron’s small mansion, so she eagerly welcomed his offer.

They had barely spoken even while walking together, so there would be no need for much conversation during the inspection, either.

“I’ll make the necessary preparations for tomorrow.”

At the mention of staying in the baron’s territory for another day or more, Ivanna involuntarily drew a deep breath.

“Are you feeling confined?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I feel a little cooped up because the mansion is rather small, though I feel bad saying that about the baron.”

Cedric nodded at Ivanna’s awkward smile.

“I really have recovered, so you don’t need to delay our schedule because of me.”

If anything, Ivanna was the one who wanted to return to the capital as soon as possible. She was itching to visit the trading company.

Even if she couldn’t go in person, she wanted to review the documents.

Having tasted a freedom she had never experienced in the imperial palace, she felt as though her entire body was protesting against being cooped up.

“Is that so?”

“Yes. So, if you don’t mind, let’s inspect the territory today and move on to another one tomorrow.”

After thinking for a moment, Cedric eventually nodded. He could take care of all the remaining work that evening.

“Very well.”

At last, I can go out!

“I can walk around all afternoon, too.”

She had only walked around the garden for fifteen minutes. Back in the capital, Ivanna could easily spend three hours walking around.

Suppressing the cheer that nearly escaped her lips, she answered with deliberate elegance.

 

***

 

“It really is a small village.”

“It’s a territory with a population of fewer than two hundred people.”

Cedric frowned as Ivanna looked around the village.

A foul smell had been wafting from somewhere for a while now.

“Marcel.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Find the source of that smell.”

At the grave command, Ivanna’s expression also stiffened. Something seemed to be wrong with the water.

The strange odor Cedric had detected was the fishy stench of stagnant water.

Ivanna had often encountered a similar smell in the slums of the capital.

“It would be better to move somewhere else.”

As befitted such a small territory, there wasn’t much worth seeing. The baron stood behind the two of them, looking completely at a loss.

“The smell seems to be getting stronger.”

“I took extra care with sanitation because I was worried an epidemic might break out after the drought. What on earth could have happened…?”

Unable to bear it any longer, Ivanna covered her nose, and the baron trailed off.

“Your Grace. There’s a problem with the purification device.”

Marcel returned after walking around the village with the knights.

“Would you like to return to the mansion?”

“No. I’d like to see what’s happening, too.”

For once, the duke had given her a choice.

Noticing that he seemed reluctant both to take her along and to leave her behind, Ivanna answered quickly.

“Let’s go.”

Cedric hadn’t forgotten her complaints about feeling confined.

If it wasn’t anything too serious, he thought it might at least give her something interesting to occupy herself with.

“Oh dear…”

The closer they got to the reservoir where rainwater was collected, the more unbearable the stench became.

Ivanna frowned at the dark green algae and other debris floating on the water’s surface.

“Why wasn’t I informed when this problem arose?!”

The baron was so appalled by the situation that he shouted at his subordinate.

“We only discovered it this morning. We tried to repair it, but the situation has actually gotten worse.”

The baron’s mage greeted the duke before explaining what had happened.

“The purification device owned by the baron’s household is old and has broken down. We kept trying to repair it, but it’s now beyond use.”

Cedric rubbed his chin at the mage’s explanation. There was no way to purchase a new purification device immediately.

“It would be faster to inscribe an entirely new magic circle.”

Having already built a reservoir in the previous village, Cedric offered a straightforward solution.

The mages who had accompanied him were all high-ranking mages.

“There’s no way a purification device that was working perfectly would simply break down. Someone must have tampered with it.”

The baron looked flustered as he insisted that the device couldn’t have broken so easily.

“Drinking water is essential, isn’t it? I’ll help you resolve the problem with the purification device, so don’t worry.”

Constructing a magic circle was an expensive undertaking. Seeing the baron’s troubled expression, Ivanna could understand why he was so distressed.

‘I wonder if I could sell one of the trading company’s purification devices here.’

She recalled the product her trading company had developed.

Of course, it had been crude at first. Her original purpose had been to conceal her divine power.

However, after Elisa joined the company, they had continued developing the purification device until it had become quite practical.

Not only did it eliminate the need to draw a complicated purification magic circle across the entire area, but it also worked more efficiently.

All they had to do was inscribe a simpler circulation magic circle instead of a purification spell, then place the purification device on top. It produced cleaner water than other purification devices.

“If there’s a simpler method, would you be willing to give it a try?”

In the previous village, she hadn’t even been able to approach the reservoir, so she’d had no opportunity to make such a suggestion. This time, however, things were different.

Seizing her chance, Ivanna turned to Cedric, her eyes sparkling with excitement.