Chapter 10
Their attention naturally shifted toward the small path beyond the quiet front courtyard.
Several officials, dressed in robes that clearly marked them as anything but ordinary, were slowly making their way down the path.
A beat later, Cindy realized they weren’t simply passing by the Second Princess’s palace.
They were coming here on official business.
She hurried inside the building.
Leading the group was a man with neatly braided blue hair hanging over one shoulder.
As soon as he stepped into the garden and spotted Princess Katrina, he bowed respectfully.
Kitty casually waved one hand in greeting.
Before long, Garnet, Lady Sara, the head cook, and several servants came rushing out of the building after hearing Cindy’s report.
“S-Sir Gideon! What brings you here…?”
Rubbing her hands together nervously, Garnet couldn’t stop watching the braided-haired man’s expression.
Her reaction was anything but normal.
Curious, Kitty quietly observed him.
“I pay my respects to Her Highness Princess Katrina.”
“My name is Gideon. By order of His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Second Prince, I have been assigned to audit the Second Princess’s palace.”
Ah… so that’s why.
Sir Gideon simply smiled brightly, as though it were no big deal.
*
While the others searched every corner of the palace, Sir Gideon remained with Katrina, the mistress of the residence.
Watching him calmly drink the utterly flavorless herbal tea without changing his expression, Kitty nodded.
“Hmm… Things have gotten a little better lately.”
“But I still wish there were more tasty snacks.”
“So…”
“You’re somewhat dissatisfied with the food?”
“Well… I guess you could put it that way.”
A faint smile appeared on Gideon’s lips.
The little princess never lost her composure.
Just then, one of the men accompanying Gideon approached carrying a thick bundle of documents.
As if he’d been waiting for this moment, Gideon accepted the file and carefully spread it open before the young princess.
“Your Highness, can you see how different the palace’s accounting records are from the actual purchase records?”
Kitty blinked twice.
The white parts were paper.
The black parts were numbers.
Seeing that the young mistress of the palace didn’t understand a single thing, Gideon kindly explained.
“In other words…”
“The budget allocated to Your Highness’s palace has been misused all this time.”
“They reported to us that the money was spent on food supplies and repairs for the palace.”
“But in reality, it was paid to fake merchant companies that don’t even exist.”
“And instead, the palace was stocked with rotting carrots and cabbages like these.”
Kitty thought for a moment before asking,
“Did Garnet spend it?”
“Well…”
“That will have to be investigated.”
That was his official answer.
But the truth was obvious.
Embezzlement on this scale couldn’t have happened without the head maid, who oversaw everything in the palace.
To begin with, Garnet had already caused numerous problems while serving in the main palace before she was practically exiled to the Second Princess’s residence.
And yet she’d continued pulling the same schemes here.
It would be difficult for her to leave this affair unscathed.
Katrina frowned thoughtfully.
Then she asked another question.
“So… there was actually a lot more money?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Most of the budget assigned to this palace has been spent on things completely unrelated to your daily life.”
“We’ll correct those mistakes.”
“I believe your life will become much more comfortable from now on.”
“Oh…”
Excitement made Kitty’s fingers and toes wiggle.
“Cake!”
“Can I bake cakes and cookies every single day?”
Gideon had been quietly looking at the child’s bare feet, exposed to the cold without proper socks or shoes.
Somewhat bewildered, he repeated,
“Every… single day?”
Her face remained expressionless behind her large glasses.
But the eager “Yes!” in her voice was impossible to miss.
If she had been the daughter of an ordinary noble family with a townhouse in the capital, such a request wouldn’t have been unreasonable.
But Gideon couldn’t immediately promise what she wanted.
Flour.
Sugar.
Yeast.
Butter.
Milk.
The ingredients needed for cakes and pastries were all expensive luxuries.
He had come on behalf of Prince Evan to improve Princess Katrina’s living conditions as much as possible.
But he also couldn’t completely ignore Emperor Theodore.
The tyrannical emperor, who had ordered the Second Princess’s budget eliminated entirely, had shut himself away and abandoned affairs of state for the moment.
Taking advantage of that opportunity, Prince Evan had dispatched Gideon and his trusted people to quietly resolve several sensitive matters.
However…
No one knew when the emperor might emerge from seclusion and begin examining issues such as the princess’s budget.
Gideon intended to improve her circumstances.
Still, securing enough money to let her bake cakes and cookies every day would probably be impossible.
“Well…”
“If Your Highness occasionally invites girls your own age for tea…”
“We should at least be able to prepare cakes and pastries for those occasions.”
“Not every day?”
It was difficult to tell such an expectant child “no” outright.
“…If you eat cake and sweets every single day, you’ll suffer from cavities later.”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m a Saintess!”
Gideon fell silent.
He had only been trying to comfort her indirectly.
Even after her pitifully weak holy power had become public knowledge and earned her nothing but ridicule…
She still believed with absolute certainty that she was the Saintess.
How could anyone not feel sorry for her?
Was her wish really so unreasonable?
She had lost her mother less than a month ago.
In the end…
Gideon’s resolve softened.
“Very well.”
“But if you want cake and cookies every single day…”
“You’ll have to give up something else.”
“Give up…?”
The moment she heard she could have cake every day, Kitty’s black eyes sparkled brightly behind her thick glasses.
Gideon deliberately adopted a stern tone.
“Yes.”
“The budget is limited.”
“You may have to make do with fewer warm clothes or blankets.”
“Or the palace might not be repaired immediately when something breaks…”
“…Would you still choose cake and cookies every single day?”
He hadn’t even finished speaking.
Kitty nodded vigorously.
“Yes!”
“I’ll give those up.”
*
Thud.
Thud.
Bundles of luggage were tossed into the courtyard of the humble Second Princess’s palace.
It wasn’t just Garnet’s belongings.
Lady Sara, whose wounds from the whipping had only recently healed enough for her to walk again…
The head cook…
Even the servants and maids who had barely made an impression…
Their belongings were all piled neatly in the courtyard.
The dozen or so palace servants could only huddle together and whisper in shock.
The Second Princess’s palace might have been the worst assignment imaginable.
Even so…
Working in the imperial palace came with enormous benefits.
Compared to the lives of ordinary commoners outside the palace, they enjoyed comfortable lodging and meals.
Their wages were secure and never delayed.
And although serving the neglected Second Princess rarely brought rewards, servants in other palaces sometimes received discarded jewelry or out-of-fashion dresses from nobles.
Now…
They faced the possibility of losing all of that.
Garnet, Lady Sara, the head cook, and the strongest servants tried desperately to stop the workers carrying out their belongings.
It was useless.
Watching helplessly as her possessions rolled across the ground, Garnet trembled with frustration.
Then she spotted Princess Katrina approaching leisurely, accompanied by Sir Gideon and Cindy.
She immediately rushed over.
“Your Highness!”
“How could you do this to us?”
Kitty slowly looked toward the piles of luggage.
She understood.
Losing a stable job overnight would naturally make them unhappy.
But she had her own reasons.
Shrugging lightly, the little princess calmly explained why they were all being dismissed.
“There’s no money.”
It was a simple answer—
one that directly pointed to the head maid who had squandered the palace’s budget and ruined its management all this time.
