The Munchkin Princess Wants to Run Away – Chapter 3

Author: isuzuuy

“Do as you wish, Duke. I don’t have any particular requests.”

“Are you sure I can do whatever I want?”

“Wasn’t it you who told me not to expect anything from you?”

Had she made a mistake?

He seemed to be probing her for something, but she had no information to work with and couldn’t even begin to guess what was going on. It was frustrating.

Ivanna tried not to tense her jaw.

‘So she doesn’t know.’

Cedric was certain of it as he watched the princess drink her tea, pretending to be perfectly composed in front of him.

Her eyes were moving keenly, trying to read something from his expression.

Cedric took a sip of the tea the maid had brought and immediately set the cup down.

Marriage involved matters between two families. Even the patterns on clothing and a single piece of jewelry carried meaning and power.

The wedding attire had been covered in the imperial family’s crest and colors.

And yet, the very person who was supposed to wear it knew nothing about it.

“If you want wedding attire embroidered with gold thread and the imperial crest, I will arrange it that way.”

Only then did Cedric see the bewilderment in her sky-blue eyes as she looked at him. A strange sense of satisfaction welled up inside him.

As expected, the princess had known nothing about this.

“There seems to have been some kind of misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?”

The situation was far more serious than he had anticipated.

Ivanna responded calmly for the moment, but her heart pounded at the sight of Cedric’s lips curling into a chilly smile.

‘They really are using me until the very end.’

Even as she was about to leave, the imperial family continued to give her nothing but disappointment and pain.

But she had no time to wallow in her feelings.

Ivanna had to make it clear to the Duke that this was not her fault. After all, she would be living in his residence from now on.

She was the one who needed to make a good impression now.

“Did you meet with Her Majesty the Empress in person?”

“Yes.”

At his firm, unhesitating answer, Ivanna pressed her lips tightly together.

It was hollowing.

Even when she wanted to see her own mother, she had to submit a request for an audience and wait endlessly. Yet this man had been able to meet her at once.

She had thought she had grown accustomed to the pain, but her heart still felt as though it were being squeezed tightly.

“What did she say she would do?”

The princess’s voice wavered ever so slightly. Cedric could tell that something had stirred her emotions.

However, that was none of his concern.

“She said that because you were physically weak and had never experienced the world, you were inexperienced, and asked me to be understanding.”

At Cedric’s reply, Ivanna tightened her gaze.

It had been the same that day.

She still clearly remembered the stinging pain on the back of her hand when it had been roughly struck away after she asked why she could no longer see anything.

“This will never happen again. Please change the wedding attire according to your wishes, Duke.”

Was her voice trembling? Were tears gathering in her eyes?

Ivanna bowed her head, suppressing every part of herself so that she would not show him any weakness.

He was her contractual partner, not someone who would understand her.

Having to apologize endlessly to others was something she had grown accustomed to ever since the day of the divine power ceremony.

It was infuriating and unfair, but to them, she would always be the one at fault. That was why Ivanna had to obediently endure whatever was imposed upon her.

“I didn’t expect a problem like this to arise during the wedding preparations either, so let’s agree that neither of us is at fault.”

At the Duke’s cold words, drawing a clear line between them, Ivanna had no choice but to lift the corners of her mouth into a smile.

“I’ll be careful not to bring shame upon the ducal household.”

“As I told you before, I expect nothing beyond what is stipulated in the contract.”

Leaving only those words behind, the Duke offered a polite farewell and left the drawing room.

The moment the door closed, Ivanna, who had barely managed to maintain her composure, bit down hard on her lip.

He seemed to have no expectations of her whatsoever. Well, considering that a problem had already arisen before they were even married, it was understandable.

Ivanna felt a dull ache in her chest.

They would be living together for the rest of their lives—or at least for several decades, according to the contract.

Her hopes that he might at least treat her with courtesy due to a wife, even if he couldn’t be affectionate, had been shattered to pieces.

“Honestly! What kind of person is he? What has Her Highness the Princess even done wrong?!”

Anthony, who had been serving them so quietly that he was practically invisible, burst out in indignation.

Ivanna hurriedly summoned her divine power and covered the drawing room with water.

“Ah! I’m sorry. That obnoxious Duke didn’t hear me, did he?”

“Anthony, the Duke isn’t at fault. Mother was simply checking whether I still had any use for her until the very end.”

“It won’t be easy at the ducal household either, then.”

At Anthony’s reaction, Ivanna gave a dry smile.

“Still, they won’t mistreat me. The Emperor must have promised a tremendous price in exchange for getting rid of me.”

Even though she was a daughter who had passed the age for marriage, she was still a member of the imperial family. They must have exchanged everything both sides wanted.

That was why the Duke had agreed to the marriage without complaint.

In return, he probably drew up a separate contract because he couldn’t bear the thought of the princess entering his household and throwing her weight around. He wanted her to live as though she were dead.

“Anthony, go find out what the wedding attire was like.”

Coming to her senses, Ivanna ordered Anthony to gather information. Even though the matter had already been settled, she still needed to understand the situation.

Anthony was friendly with the maids from the other palaces and often managed to obtain information from them.

“I’ll be right back. Ack! I worked so hard to make that tea, and he barely even drank any of it!”

Anthony continued cursing the Duke right up until the moment he carried the tray out.

“Are you all right?”

After Anthony left, Solar, who had been quietly observing the situation, asked her.

His expression was unusual for someone who rarely showed his emotions.

“Lady Ivanna, are you really going to go through with this marriage?”

“Otherwise, should I spend the rest of my life running away? I’m not a criminal.”

Ivanna firmly shook her head.

“I don’t want to become a propaganda tool for the imperial family. I will never divorce him.”

Just as they had abandoned her, she would abandon her family as well. Ivanna gripped her teacup tightly.

There was no God.

No, there was, but he wasn’t on her side. If He was going to grant her divine power, He should have given it to the ten-year-old Ivanna. Then she wouldn’t have been abandoned by her family.

But both God and her family had abandoned her.

Ivanna Snow Windsor, who had failed to receive divine power, was of no use to the imperial family.

Seventeen.

On the day of her coming-of-age ceremony, which she celebrated modestly with Solar and Anthony, divine power appeared before her eyes.

“We must inform them immediately that you’ve received divine power!”

Anthony exclaimed with joy, but Ivanna had to shake her head.

She couldn’t trust the divine power God had granted her so late. How was she supposed to use it without even knowing what it was?

Besides, she had no desire to help the family that had abandoned her.

She had been desperate to survive, so she used her divine power to escape the imperial palace. Even now, however, the lingering uneasiness had never gone away.

“I agree with Your Highness, but if you live with Duke Reynold, you may end up getting hurt even more than you are now.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t expect anything from him.”

At her firm response, Solar nodded as though he had no choice.

“Instead, I’ll make preparations through the merchant company. If things come to that, we’ll simply disappear.”

The merchant company Solar was referring to was one she had established after receiving her divine power and leaving the imperial palace.

Her first possession—or rather, her first possession in a very, very long time.

She didn’t want the imperial family to discover the existence of the merchant company either. She didn’t want anyone to take away something precious to her.

“I’ll leave that to you, Solar. There’s no chance my power will be discovered, is there?”

As she let out a faint sigh, Solar gave her a sympathetic smile.

Even after seeing his smile, Ivanna said nothing more.

If she continued living quietly as she had been, there shouldn’t be any major problems at the ducal household either.

The person who had told her to keep quiet was the Duke himself, so he wouldn’t deliberately come looking for her just to make trouble.

Ivanna quietly gazed out the window as she waited for the information Anthony would bring back.

Meanwhile, Cedric, leaving the princess’s palace, furrowed his brow slightly.

‘It’s even worse than I expected.’

The building was excessively old.

The person getting married couldn’t even choose her own wedding attire.

He had expected the situation to be bad to some extent, but there was something almost bizarre about the way the princess was being ignored within the imperial family.

“Will this be all right?”

“Is there a problem?”

Cedric paused briefly at Marcel’s question as the aide followed behind him.

“It seems Her Highness doesn’t know anything about what’s going on. What if she throws a tantrum during the wedding?”

“That won’t happen.”

Cedric firmly shook his head. She was a woman who didn’t even know what was happening to her.

“You can’t judge someone based on their face alone, you know.”

Marcel spoke as he recalled the princess’s delicate appearance.

“It’ll be fine, so don’t worry about it. Have the new wedding attire designed.”

“Pardon? Me?!”

Marcel asked in astonishment.

“Of course. You’re my one and only aide. Who else would do it?”