EFLOB 04

The Grand Duke ordered the men, who had been dismantling the barracks to return to the ship, to put everything back.

“Change of plans! Departure is postponed. Put the barracks back up.”

The people who had been sweating bullets carrying tents around obediently went back to where they started at the Grand Duke’s single command.

Satisfied, the Grand Duke called over a sailor who had been preparing for departure.

“You there. Go down to the ship’s hold and bring up some white wine to the barracks. Not just a bottle or two—bring a whole case.”

It looked like he planned to pair wine with the octopus dish. He even knew that seafood went best with white wine.

“And you—haenyeo.”

“…Yes?”

I looked up from the contract I’d been carefully reading, puzzled by the strange title.

“Me? I’m not a haenyeo.”

“Ah, right.”

The Grand Duke gave a faint laugh.

A sculpted face, pale blond hair, and now even a dazzling smile—he looked like something celestial.

I found myself staring at that smile, slack-jawed, until the Grand Duke leaned a little closer and asked,

“Have you finished reading the contract?”

“Yes. But… are you really going to pay me ten gold coins a day?”

What if the voyage ends up being longer than expected?

What if he can’t afford my wages and goes bankrupt?

“Why, do you want more? Is it not enough?”

“N-no, that’s not it! I just… there’s no chance of you going bankrupt paying me, right, Your Grace?”

“You’re treating my fortune like I run some hole-in-the-wall shop.”

The Duke crushed my useless worries in an instant.

“Don’t worry about that. Worry instead about what kind of seafood dish you’ll serve me. Now, sign here.”

He handed me a quill. The moment I took it, I froze.

‘This is… a Contract Quill!’

The Contract Quill was enchanted—any contract signed with it could never be nullified.

‘All this for a mere seafood supply contract? He’s serious about this.’

In the original story, this quill was said to be outrageously expensive—worth dozens of times more than the wages I was about to receive.

‘Well, fine by me! Passing this up would be stupid.’

Blinded by the promise of gold, I signed the spot he indicated without hesitation.

「Jiana Hertin.」

“Good.”

The Grand Duke smiled wickedly at the sight of my name beneath the contract, then added his signature above it.

“Well, that settles our relationship. You said you’d make a dish called tang, right? I’ll be waiting.”

His expectant eyes sparkled at me, and I answered with confidence.

“Don’t worry. You’ll taste the best dish you’ve ever had in your life.”

At the time, I had no idea what consequences that contract would bring.

The distance between this small island and the Astoria Empire’s mainland was enormous.

Even with the Grand Duke’s state-of-the-art ship, sailing at full speed, it would take ten days to reach the Empire.

That was why the islanders lived self-sufficiently, avoiding contact with the mainland.

‘Right, they said traveling back and forth costs more in fuel than it’s worth.’

On this isolated island, Jiana had lived twenty years without knowing she was a mage. Someone would have had to tell her, “You’re a mage!” for her to realize it.

But there wasn’t a single person on the island who knew what magic even was. To them, Jiana was just “that girl with some special knack for digging clams.”

‘How does someone waste magic just on digging clams?’

With a little thought, the possibilities would’ve been endless.

As soon as I got used to my powers, I used magic to haul up octopuses. And not just octopuses—when winter came, I’d be able to pick oysters off the rocks too.

With bait tied to a magical thread, I could even fish. And if I refined the spell into something like a net?

‘I could haul up schools of fish all at once!’

That thought alone put me in a good mood.

As soon as we reached the Empire, I’d register at a magic academy.

Mages were rare and valuable—I’d be rolling in money in no time.

Humming to myself, I cleaned the octopus I’d caught earlier. Nearby, a pot of fiery red broth was bubbling vigorously.

“All finished, Your Grace!”

I set the pot of steaming red yeonpotang (octopus soup) in front of the Grand Duke.

The spicy aroma of chili and garlic wafted from the dish, making it irresistible.

“This is the tang you spoke of?”

“Yes. It’s called yeonpotang. Once you taste it, you’ll be hooked.”

“Hm. My little haenyeo has a talent for moving hellfire into a pot, I see.”

Once again, he called me haenyeo.

At first, I’d laughed it off, but hearing it again and again was starting to grate on me.

And really, calling my cooking “hellfire”?

‘You’re drooling already. Don’t think I can’t see it.’

I forced a smile and pushed a plate toward him.

“Haha, it may look fiery, but it tastes amazing.”

“And I won’t have my insides burn to ashes if I eat it?”

It wasn’t my pot that was burning with hellfire—it was his damn mouth.

How could he be so irritating?

In my mind, I imagined smacking his lips with a raw octopus.

“Well then, let’s see.”

His eyes sparkled as he pulled a piece of octopus from the soup and ate. If only I had ramen noodles to toss in there—it would’ve been divine.

But alas, ramen didn’t exist in this world.

‘He’s not even offering me a taste. Just eating it all himself.’

I’d caught ten octopuses, and I loved them too.

But the Grand Duke ignored my hungry glances, shoveling the octopus into his mouth without pause.

“Why are you staring like that?”

“Haha, it’s nothing. You just seem to be enjoying it so much.”

“You’re better than I expected. I like it.”

He stroked his chin with satisfaction, then poured himself a glass of white wine.

“As expected, nothing pairs with seafood better than white wine.”

Wrong. Yeonpotang calls for soju.

He downed the glass in one go, then began slurping the soup in earnest.

‘That appetite… where have I seen it before?’

Watching him smack his lips reminded me of Choi Dahye, my best friend, who adored seafood just as much.

We’d gone to countless restaurants together: grilled clams, seafood stew, yeonpotang, sashimi, sushi—you name it.

‘You love seafood so much, so why do you hate the ocean?’

Once, Dahye had asked me that. I told her:

‘Try being stuck on an island for a week when the ferry can’t sail because of a typhoon. See if the sea still looks pretty then. You’ll want to kill it.’

‘Why? I think I could last a month. It sounds romantic.’

Romantic, my ass. Survival comes before romance. Still, aside from that, we were good friends.

One day, while we were wasting time at a café reading webnovels, Dahye asked me:

‘Hey, want to try writing a novel together?’

‘Why all of a sudden?’

‘You’re always complaining there’s no male lead that fits your taste. Why not just make our own? Each of us writes the kind of guy we like.’

The idea tempted me. After all, I never found a male lead who was just right.

So I poured every bit of my taste into creating Nox Luppelen, the Grand Duke.

Well… at least the looks part.

And now, the hellmouth I had created with my own hands was polishing off the last octopus without offering me a single bite.

“Why are you staring like that? Want to catch me some more?”

Of course. Expecting him to share had been foolish.

Good looks meant nothing if the personality was rotten.

A man needed character.

As he stuffed himself in front of me, I realized a truth of life. And once he had scraped the pot clean, the Grand Duke gave his belly a satisfied pat.

“Haenyeo.”

“Yes, Your Grace?”

“I think we’ll have to delay departure.”

“What? But you said we’d leave tomorrow.”

I stared wide-eyed at him, almost pleading. I couldn’t wait to escape this wretched island, not even for a single extra day.

But his answer was nothing like what I hoped.

“I fear… I’ve come down with an illness.”