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Chapter 18
Once the moisture dries up a bit, it’ll be much easier to haul the dirt.
Stepping away from the site, Ivanna secretly evaporated the moisture embedded in the dirt piles little by little, away from everyone’s eyes.
“Huh? Doesn’t the dirt feel way lighter than before?”
“The sunshine’s good today, so maybe it’s already drying up.”
Resuming their shoveling, the people felt pleased by the inexplicably lighter earth, attributing it to the warm weather drying out the water.
“…She seems to be a much warmer person than I thought.”
Those who had begun working paused their silent shoveling and spoke sheepishly.
“I was so happy about the rain falling that I didn’t even notice my hand was scraped up.”
The villager who had injured his hand spoke, unable to hide the rising corners of his mouth.
“I thought she’d look down on commoners like us.”
“Ahem, well, she is a princess after all.”
The gazes of the people watching the Princess—who was now so far away she was barely visible—had completely transformed before anyone realized it.
“Lady Ivanna, your shoes got completely ruined.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
Yet Ivanna, walking along briskly, had no idea about the change that had taken place among the people at the site.
She had been so happy to finally get a nice pair of shoes made for once.
Seeing Anthony’s tearful face, Ethan secretly let a smile slip.
While the Princess walked boldly without caring a bit about the mud, the maid following behind was at her wits’ end, which he found quite amusing.
Ivanna, who was walking ahead, suddenly paused her steps, turned around, and spoke.
“Working hard all day must be exhausting. Is there no hearty food that the villagers could eat?”
“What brings you here, My Lady?”
Ivanna’s steps came to a halt as she was pondering ways to commend the villagers for their hard work.
Catching sight of the Duke, Anthony shrank back with a tense face.
“I heard a landslide occurred because it rained heavily through the night.”
I promised to stay put yesterday—did he get upset because I came out?
Ivanna answered while forcing the corners of her lips upward.
She certainly couldn’t tell him that she had accidentally unleashed more rain than expected due to misusing her divine power.
“I was worried, so…”
The Duke was looking down at her with a menacing expression. Ivanna’s head dropped downward. The smile she had seen earlier felt like a dream, leaving not even a faint trace behind.
“I understand that you are concerned about the schedule being delayed. However, the ground in this area has weakened due to the rain, making it dangerous.”
Though it was a bit troublesome, Cedric explained his reason for calling the Princess to a stop.
He could have simply told her to go back, yet seeing her eyebrows droop low as she anxiously read his face made his words trail on longer.
Hadn’t there been that awkward situation this morning as well?
When he opened his eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to roughly pull away from the frail body leaning against him.
Ever since then, the contract had not left his mind.
Guarantee the Princess’s safety.
That one minor clause was holding onto his ankles and dragging him down. It was only natural for the Crown Prince and the Emperor to use the Princess’s safety as collateral.
After all, the Princess’s body looked excessively weak.
Since this was his first time making a contract using a person as the trade item, he felt a heightened sense of vigilance to be even more careful.
The moment he stepped out of the tent, he had attached three more shadows, so he was confident that even if another landslide occurred, he and the Princess would unconditionally survive.
Even so, seeing the Princess out at a dangerous site bothered him. Cedric let out a faint sigh.
“It is dangerous, so please return to the tent. I shall order meal preparations to be made.”
“Ah, speaking of meals!”
At the Duke’s words, Ivanna raised her head abruptly. Then she added cautiously,
“Would it be alright if I shared my portion of the food supplies with the villagers who worked so hard clearing the landslide?”
“I must refuse. The surrounding area is dangerous, so do not step outside the tent.”
The Duke refused flatly, as if it weren’t even worth considering.
Ivanna’s mouth parted slightly, but she nodded her head without being able to say anything further.
Then, she turned around and headed straight back to the tent.
Returning to the tent, Anthony carefully observed Ivanna as she sat on a chair.
To think their rare attempt at a conversation had failed. She tilted her head at her master’s usual, unreadable expression.
At times, the Princess wore a face that made it impossible to fathom her inner thoughts.
“I’ll go prepare the meal.”
Unable to endure the awkward atmosphere, Anthony fled outside. Left alone, Ivanna let out a faint breath.
Che. I was just trying to change perceptions of the Duchess a little bit.
It was a failure.
She had tried it because the Duke had smiled this morning, but it seemed laughing and sharing food were two entirely separate matters.
It was obvious that the drought in the territories further ahead would be even more severe.
She even found herself thinking, ‘Should I release food supplies through the trading guild here instead?’ That way, the name of the Dandelion Trading Guild would at least become known.
In truth, just as the Duke said, sharing a duchess’s meals with commoners was practically a meaningless gesture.
Even so, Ivanna wanted to share her portion of food with commoners, even if it meant pretending to be a sheltered princess ignorant of the world.
While the fact that she was an inadequate princess couldn’t be changed, she could at least become a tender-hearted, benevolent duchess.
It would be nice if she could hear people say that she had become somewhat useful after becoming the Duchess.
If her divine power were ever exposed someday, she hoped that a good reputation would serve as her shield.
I didn’t think the Duke would easily grant something like this anyway.
Still, she hadn’t expected him to be quite this firm. It didn’t seem like he was completely indifferent, either. If he were, there would be no reason for him to care so much about her safety.
Drying her hair yesterday and catching her this morning were both unexpected occurrences, too.
Even if it was a relationship bound strictly by contract, couldn’t they still become friendly or show goodwill? Why on earth was he acting like that, then!
Ivanna couldn’t predict what standard Cedric operated on.
Judging by how he kept bringing up the contract, it seemed to be connected to that somehow.
Ivanna let out a long breath.
Although she had drawn up a contract promising to live quietly, she had absolutely no desire to live with bated breath until the day she died.
When the right time came.
That is, around the time Justin succeeded to the throne, wouldn’t the deal between the Duchy and the Imperial Family come to an end?
She didn’t know how much the Imperial Family had invested in her marriage, but Elisa had said that contracts between noble families usually lasted around 10 to 15 years.
By then, the Imperial Family would have lost interest in her anyway, and the Duke would be getting older and in need of an heir.
When that time came, she wanted to divorce the Duke and vanish without a trace.
The dream of living an entirely different life under a completely different name.
The marriage she had chosen solely for the purpose of escaping the Imperial Family was, as expected, not the least bit happy.
To think she had assumed he might extend goodwill to her just because he showed a slightly more relaxed side this morning.
What a grand dream.
Swallowing a bitter sneer, Ivanna forced down the meal Anthony had brought her.
* * *
“They say rain has fallen in the neighboring regions as well.”
The moment the path destroyed by the landslide became passable again, Marcel dispatched a messenger to the other villages.
Listening to his report, Cedric looked up at the sky. He couldn’t tell what sudden whim the heavens had taken.
He was simply grateful.
“The territories we are visiting next won’t need to worry about water for a while, then.”
“A fair number of territories had repaired their waterways and reservoirs in advance, after all.”
Glancing at the Duke’s reaction, Marcel recalled another piece of report detail.
“Additionally, regarding the rain, there are rumors circulating asking whether it might be the divine power of royalty.”
“The divine power of royalty?”
At the unexpected words, Cedric twitched an eyebrow.
“Yes. It seems there are those claiming that rain fell because the Duchess visited the territory.”
“The Princess did not receive divine power.”
At the Duke’s tone, which deemed it not even worth reconsidering, Marcel nodded his head.
He was well aware of that fact as well.
However, it seemed the minds of commoners, who desperately wanted to attach meaning even to trivial occurrences, thought otherwise.
To top it off, there were even claims that the heavens, moved by Duke Reynolds taking in the pitiful Princess, had granted them rain.
Should I report this properly?
It was still just a story floating around a small village.
Nevertheless, Marcel believed it was a topic that both the Duke and the Imperial Family would find quite bothersome.
“Manage the rumors so they do not reach the ears of royalty.”
Divine power, of all things. It was a preposterous rumor. Had the Princess possessed divine power, she would have lived receiving far better treatment than she did now.
Cedric looked at the villagers with a pitying gaze, recalling the Princess who had asked if they could share food with them.
In the ducal territory, relief goods were already being regularly delivered to surrounding territories as it was.
If they released extra food beyond the standard support exclusively to this village, they would have to provide additional support to other villages as well.
Their resources were limited, and their journey had only just begun.
There was no telling how often it would rain, and just because rain fell didn’t mean crops would grow right away, either.
Cedric stopped the train of thought he was following. No matter how deeply he pondered it, there was no immediate solution.
It was not a light drought that could be resolved by a single night’s rain.
Even at the temple, the High Priest and the Saintess were seeking divine revelations day and night. Yet not a single response had come from God.
If rain failed to fall any longer, the entire continent might end up facing ruin as things stood.
