The Munchkin Princess Wants to Run Away Chapter 5

‘Surely, no maid would be audacious enough to steal the Duchess’s wedding gifts.’

The only valuable things in her room were the wedding gifts she had received on her wedding day.

The gifts the Duke had given her were still sitting in their boxes in the dressing room. Anthony checked on them from time to time, so even if a problem arose, she had nothing to worry about.

She received a thousand gold coins a month just by sitting around in her room, so there was no reason to feel disappointed about not having any maids.

“I suppose I should have asked to get married sooner.”

She thought it might have been nice to have a fiancé at a younger age. At the very least, she wouldn’t have let the fiancé of an entire family starve to death.

If that had happened, she wouldn’t have had to sneak out of the imperial palace and establish a merchant company because she had no money.

Thanks to that, she had experienced true freedom, but she was also rather content with enjoying the comfort of doing absolutely nothing, just as she was now.

“On another note, the amount of ore we import from Tritan has increased.”

Solar, who had been reviewing the documents, raised his head and spoke with a weary sigh.

“Really? Looks like they’re preparing for war. I heard the second prince over there has quite the ambition.”

Ivanna thought of the Kingdom of Tritan, which bordered the empire to the east.

She had heard that the eldest prince was no pushover either, so it seemed the struggle for the throne was about to begin in earnest.

“We should adjust our food deliveries. And hold on to as many weapons as we can.”

Whoever emerged victorious from the civil war would naturally turn their swords outward to stabilize the kingdom.

“In any case, we need the empire to remain safe if we want to live in peace, too.”

“Lady Ivanna, speaking of food, what would you like us to prepare for dinner?”

At Anthony’s sudden question, Ivanna tilted her head.

They had only just begun their afternoon tea. It was far too early to be thinking about dinner.

“Hmm? I’m fine with anything.”

“How about meat? Young lamb, perhaps?”

In response to Ivanna’s answer, Anthony made his suggestion with a resolute expression.

“Lamb? The chef is so good at cooking that lamb sounds fine, too.”

“Right!? I overheard them in the kitchen saying that the Duke received some high-quality lamb as a tribute today.”

Once Ivanna gave her approval, Anthony excitedly rattled off the information he had gathered.

“Don’t you ever get tired of eating meat every day?”

Solar clicked his tongue at Anthony’s beaming face, prompting Anthony to ask with a puzzled expression,

“How could anyone ever get tired of meat?”

Knock, knock.

Just as Solar let out a faint sigh at Anthony’s reply, a sudden knock sounded at the door.

The three exchanged glances.

Anthony rose from his seat and headed for the door, while Solar placed the other cups, excluding Ivanna’s, on a tray and covered them with a lid.

‘Who could it be?’

Ivanna straightened her posture and looked toward the door.

“Open it.”

It had been a full fifteen days since anyone had come to see her after the wedding.

At Ivanna’s permission, Anthony carefully opened the door.

As it swung open, Howard, the butler, who had been standing tall and upright, bowed at the waist in greeting.

“What brings you here?”

Ivanna had no choice but to let him into her room.

After greeting her respectfully, the butler quickly surveyed the room with a puzzled expression before explaining the purpose of his visit.

“The Duke has sent over the documents for your allowance. Once you approve them this time, the allowance will be deposited into the designated account every month.”

Ivanna accepted the documents the butler had respectfully offered and examined the budget for her allowance.

Flip.

The paper listed the allowance amount and the account she had designated at the Imperial Bank, just as stipulated in the original contract.

It also stated that the allowance would increase every year.

“I’ve reviewed it. Tell him he may proceed as planned.”

At her gesture, Solar brought her a pen. Ivanna signed her name on the line at the bottom and returned the documents to the butler.

“I’ll submit these for approval as they are. Also, my master said that you may use his study.”

At the butler’s unexpected follow-up, Ivanna’s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly.

She had been told to live as though she didn’t exist, so she had stayed cooped up in her room. What was he plotting now?

“Wouldn’t it be rather stifling to remain in your room all the time?”

The butler was subtly informing her that she could expand the range of places she frequented.

“Please convey my gratitude to the Duke.”

In truth, she wasn’t particularly grateful.

The Duke’s offer amounted to little more than giving her another place to hide besides her bedroom.

Until now, whenever the servants came to clean, all she could do was move back and forth between the drawing room and her bedroom to stay out of their way.

“The garden is beautiful as well, so it should be a pleasant place to take a walk.”

Is he telling me to take a look around because I’ll never be able to touch any of it again? Ivanna thought cynically as she nodded.

“I’m still adjusting, so I’ll take things slowly. Do I also need the Duke’s permission to come and go from the estate?”

“Of course not. However, I would appreciate it if you could wait until your escort has been appointed.”

The butler replied gently, explaining that an escort would be selected soon.

“After that, you’ll be free to come and go as you please.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. If there’s nothing else, you may leave.”

Having gotten what she wanted, Ivanna dismissed the butler. He hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“It seems your personal maids aren’t here. Have they perhaps committed some discourtesy?”

“No. I heard the great cleaning had begun, so I ordered them to help with the work.”

Ivanna lied because she didn’t want to give up the comfort of having no maids around. The butler soon left after greeting her with a relieved expression.

“It’s a relief that he doesn’t seem intent on keeping you locked up forever.”

“Even so, I still don’t have an escort.”

Anthony, who had closed the door, shook his head at Solar’s somewhat relieved remark.

“Now that the maids are starting to disappear, our position will grow more precarious.”

Anthony was right.

The Duke had said she could leave once an escort was appointed. If he refused to approve one, she might end up trapped in the estate forever.

In fact, it would be more convenient without an escort. She had always wandered around the imperial palace alone. That was the only way she could secretly conceal her identity and slip out of the palace with ease.

It would be the same here.

“When will they appoint an escort? I want to go out right away.”

At Ivanna’s words, Solar and Anthony nodded.

“Have the servants been ignoring you?”

“They act as though we don’t even exist.”

Anthony answered with a hearty laugh at her question, which she had asked just in case. The two of them were being thoroughly ignored at the ducal estate.

It was as if everyone had decided to reserve all their attention for the princess alone.

Thanks to that, the two of them could move around the ducal estate without interference from anyone else and thoroughly familiarize themselves with its inner workings.

“And yet, they grant every request we make. You have no idea how convenient that is.”

At the imperial palace, they had to fight tooth and nail with the people in charge just to get anything. At least at the ducal estate, they didn’t have to go through that trouble.

“Your allowance will start coming in today, so I’ll raise both your salaries first.”

“We’re already being paid more than enough.”

Solar shook his head, but Ivanna had made up her mind about this long ago, back when the marriage contract was still being negotiated.

At the imperial palace, the two of them had been paid less than peanuts.

So after establishing her merchant company, the first thing Ivanna had done was take care of their salaries and bonuses.

“No. I already told you I’d pay you properly.”

“At this rate, we might end up richer than you, Your Highness.”

At Solar’s refusal, Anthony also waved his hands in protest.

“You served me for practically no pay. Let me repay you, too.”

The more money, the better. That was why she hadn’t refused when the Duke offered to provide her with a generous allowance.

“Take as much as you can while I’m still able to give it to you.”

“With all the money piled up in the merchant company, you could spend the rest of your life using it.”

Solar shook his head.

“I don’t remember raising you to be like this, Your Highness. Why on earth do you love money so much?”

At Solar’s teasing remark, which came out like a sigh, Ivanna burst into laughter. Then she stopped laughing and spoke.

“Solar, I never want to go through the same thing again.”

Ivanna had lived in the most miserable circumstances in the wealthiest place in the world.

If the two people standing before her hadn’t been there, she might have starved to death before receiving her divine power.

It had been a blow to her pride, but God had granted her divine power at the very moment she needed it most.

On the day of her coming-of-age ceremony, when she turned seventeen.

At the celebration held in her honor, all she had to eat was a bowl of watery soup that Anthony and Solar had secretly stolen for her.

After her last meal, Ivanna had thought she might die at any moment.

But suddenly, swirling water and a cluster of sparkling lights appeared before her eyes.

For the first time in her life, Ivanna had wanted to grab God by the collar.

‘Why did it have to be now of all times?’