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Chapter 13
“Your watcher is back, huh?”
Anthony said with a face on the verge of tears.
“It can’t be helped. It was bound to happen anyway.”
If she told the two of them that their outings, overnight stays, and even the trading guild had all been discovered, they would undoubtedly demand they run away immediately.
After all, Anthony had a rather radical and impatient streak.
He couldn’t stand being trapped in anxious and unreasonable situations. In fact, it was Anthony who had fought the administrative officials the most.
It got to the point where, whenever budget execution dates approached, the administrative officials would take vacations just to avoid having their hair pulled out in stress.
Well, I can’t pull the Duke’s hair out, can I?
Though impossible, she briefly imagined the Duke going bald.
That look probably would have suited him well, too. The image of the Duke’s upright figure from yesterday refused to leave her mind.
A person’s appearance isn’t everything.
Ivanna shook her head to forcefully brush the thought away.
“Since an escort has been assigned, it would be best to genuinely refrain from going outside for a while.”
“I’ll make sure to slip in and out frequently just like before.”
Sola nodded, indicating he understood.
“Ah, all the good old days are gone.”
“Just bear with it a little longer. Even if you can’t visit the trading guild, wandering around outside the mansion should be fine, right?”
Now that a watcher had been attached, she’d have to be even more careful about using her divine power from now on.
There was no helping it. Signaling the two of them toward the door, Ivanna withdrew her divine power.
If no sound was heard from inside for a prolonged period, they might start thinking it was suspicious.
“Visiting the territory in a fortnight? Isn’t notifying us of the schedule so abruptly a bit too much?”
Anthony grumbled, complaining that suddenly dropping the escort appointment and the travel itinerary was going too far.
His voice was loud enough for the escort standing outside to hear.
The butler hadn’t just brought Ethan; he had even delivered the schedule for the visit to the ducal territory.
“Since we decided to visit the territory whenever he has free time after the marriage, it can’t be helped.”
Ivanna found herself defending the Duke without realizing it, offering an awkward smile.
Given that they happened to run into each other yesterday, he must have brought up the scheduling matter then.
He’s a busy man, after all.
Didn’t he lack even the spare time to care about someone in the next room? Ivanna pouted.
“Would you like some more tea?”
Holding a teapot in one hand, Anthony maintained a slouching posture while speaking in an elegant voice, causing everyone to struggle to hold back their laughter.
“Please do.”
Suppressing her laughter, Ivanna replied demurely and traced words in the air using water.
[Pass along the schedule for our departure to the territory to Elisa.]
Confirming the command, Sola rose from his seat.
“It’s going to be a long journey. I should prepare the necessary items.”
“I’ll leave it in your capable hands.”
Having naturally created an excuse to go outside, Sola slipped out of the room. They wouldn’t go as far as assigning someone to shadow her personal servant, after all.
If the Duke, who already knew her movements, had planted people inside the trading guild, there was nothing she could do about that.
Letting out a faint sigh, Ivanna straightened her posture. If Ethan was a high-ranking knight who had reached the level of a Sword Master, he would be sensitive enough to pick up even the tiniest sound.
After all, a Sword Master’s senses were razor-sharp.
Since she had no way of knowing the exact radius of his perception, Ivanna had no choice but to fix her posture properly.
* * *
He talks… way too much!!
A few days later, Ivanna sat on the reception room sofa, pouring strength into her collapsing lower back.
“And that is how I managed to defeat everyone else and get selected as the escort for the Im—no, the Duchess.”
“You must possess the finest skills in the knight order, Sir Ethan.”
“Of course! Hahaha. I’m probably the strongest in the knight order right after His Grace.”
At the voice filled with pride, Ivanna forced the corners of her lips upward.
This was already the seventh time she was hearing a variation of the same story.
Standing behind the knight, Anthony wore a look that suggested he was dying of sheer boredom.
The origin of this situation was very simple.
A few days after Ethan was appointed as her escort, two additional guards were deployed. Among the guards was even Sola’s older brother, Stefan.
Ethan took the day shift while the other guards took turns on the night shift.
Since they only moved between the reception room and the bedroom, inviting Ethan inside out of a sense of guilt for making him stand guard at the door had been a mistake.
She should have just stayed comfortably inside her room.
She made that decision after being told that Ethan and the others would protect her all the way along the road to the ducal territory, too.
Anthony had opposed it, but Sola had been in favor.
The journey involved inspecting the ducal territory without using teleportation magic circles.
Therefore, making a good impression on her escort—even if not treating him like a friend—seemed like the wisest judgment.
“Just how long are we supposed to listen to this?”
When Ethan’s tales of valor showed no sign of ending, Anthony asked in a low voice from behind with a face on the verge of tears.
Ivanna couldn’t bring herself to cut off Ethan’s chatter.
In truth, it was actually entertaining.
Up until now, her entire circle of conversation consisted of Anthony, Sola, and Elisa.
Before meeting Elisa, she had spoken with others for the sake of the trading guild contracts.
However, those were strictly business-related conversations. Once she entrusted the trading guild to Elisa, her own role was limited to processing documents.
It was all to ensure the existence of the Princess never came to light.
If things were going to turn out like this, she never wanted to be a princess in the first place.
“Does that mean Sir Ethan is the captain of the knight order?”
“Pardon?”
Listening to Ethan’s spirited rambling, Ivanna asked her very first question.
“Ah, I’m not the captain of the knight order.”
“Didn’t you say your skills are the most outstanding in the knight order?”
Wasn’t the person with the best skills supposed to become the captain? Ethan didn’t look like he had a massive age gap with her, either.
“Well, yes, but I’m a bit too young for that. Hahaha.”
Seeing the Princess’s face devoid of any intention to mock him, Ethan scratched the back of his head and laughed.
She’s enjoying my stories way more than I expected.
He swallowed a groan inwardly.
He had purposely been recycling the same stories for days, yet the Princess didn’t look bored in the slightest.
Unless imperial family members received special training to listen even to boring stories with delight, it was impossible to keep such sparkling eyes throughout an entire conversation.
Ethan decided to admit that his chest was pricking with guilt. The Princess was completely different from the rumors circulating in high society.
The stories babbled by people claiming they used to serve the Princess in her childhood and the tales spun by gossips might all be complete lies.
While one couldn’t judge a person solely by their listening etiquette, he could at least tell that the Princess was not someone who looked down on others.
“You must be sick of hearing the same old stories by now. Shall I tell you about the time I was dispatched to the Tritan border instead?”
At his words, Ivanna’s eyes widened into circles.
“The Duchy’s knight order gets dispatched to the border as well? That’s my first time hearing of this.”
“Not frequently, but the knight orders of each noble house are sent out on rotation.”
Ivanna pricked up her ears at the unfamiliar piece of news.
Ethan scratched his cheek at the sight of the Princess leaning slightly forward.
It was common knowledge to anyone, yet the Princess showed interest as if even a trivial matter was brand new to her.
“When did you visit the border?”
“Ah, I just returned yesterday. I completed my assigned mission as an escort and finally got to return.”
Yesterday? Cedric’s words stating that her escort was already pre-assigned turned out to be true.
“I apologize for being a little late in returning because I was dispatched to another region.”
Ethan shrugged and chuckled playfully. Seeing that display, Anthony twisted his face into a grimace of absolute disgust.
At the stark contrast between the two, Ivanna barely managed to swallow her laughter. To think he had just returned from the border. There was something she urgently needed to ask Ethan.
“Sir Ethan must truly be a man of exceptional capability, then.”
“That I am!”
“Yet the border should be quiet these days. It must be terribly boring for knights with nothing to do.”
Ivanna deliberately asked as if she were a sheltered young noblewoman who knew nothing, phrasing it as though nothing could possibly be wrong in the peaceful imperial borderlands.
“Hardly. The border has been looking quite ominous lately.”
“A war is going to break out, you say?”
“Who knows about that?”
At Ethan’s sly wink, Ivanna covered her mouth with her hand. To think the intelligence predicting a war was actually true.
Though she had anticipated it, the reality was far more severe than she thought.
“Is that true? I feel like you shouldn’t be sharing such important matters with me. Stop joking around.”
Ivanna deliberately stiffened her expression and spoke.
“What reason would I possibly have to lie to the Duchess?”
Faced with Ethan’s casual demeanor, Ivanna put strength into her eyes and glared at him.
“You’re just trying to tease me because I don’t know anything.”
She purposefully bit down hard on her lower lip. And subtly mixed in a bit of acting.
I hope I look as poignant and pitiful as possible.
Ivanna lowered her gaze modestly.
“Why on earth would I do such a thing?!”
Flustered by the subdued, downcast face of the Princess, Ethan waved his hands frantically. He had no idea that Ivanna was connected to the trading guild.
To think there are genuinely signs of an impending war!
Ivanna began to think that the mineral smuggling might not be a simple misdemeanor after all.
Is Tritan preparing for war?
