Chapter 06
‘What the heck, why is he acting like that all of a sudden?’
I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the sailors who had stepped in to help me and ended up running laps around the deck as punishment.
‘I already knew he had a bad temper, but still…’
There’s got to be a limit!
If your rotten personality completely cancels out your handsome looks, that’s a problem. But either way, the duke was my employer while I was on this ship, the Belletine, so I had no choice but to put up with him.
Swallowing my complaints, I prepared a steamed fish dish and offered it to the duke.
The same kind of days went on like that. Cooking once a day was harder than I had imagined.
On stormy days when the wind howled and the waves crashed, my seasickness got so much worse that I couldn’t catch a single thing.
One time, I barely managed to pull up a handful of anchovies and made a soup with them. What did the duke say then?
‘Oh, is this a ten-gold-coin anchovy? This is far too precious to put in my mouth.’
Even I had to admit I was being shameless. Once, I burned the squid I’d caught into a charred lump.
‘Why don’t you take a break today?’
The duke sighed, glancing at the burnt squid, then at me. But I grit my teeth.
‘Hmph, are you planning to say it’s a breach of contract later and make me pay double?’
So I stubbornly kept making seafood dishes every day and bringing them to him. Thanks to that, I was in the kitchen more often than the actual chef of the Belletine.
That morning too, after throwing up to start the day, I headed to the galley.
The ship’s chef spotted me and approached.
“Did you sleep well last night? The ship was rocking quite a bit.”
“Good morning, Chef.”
He glanced around to make sure the duke wasn’t nearby, then slipped some seasickness medicine into my pocket.
“Here’s your dose for today.”
“Oh, thank you so much!”
Word had spread that the three idiot sailors who tried to help me had ended up running laps on deck, so now whenever the crew ran into me, they kept glancing around nervously, wary of the duke.
He really should let me get along with the sailors — otherwise I was going to get ostracized!
Luckily, there were still people like the chef who secretly looked out for me.
“I heard you were hired on as a cook despite being a civilian. No wonder you’re having such a hard time, tsk tsk.”
He clicked his tongue at my pale face.
“Thanks to you, Chef, I’ve managed to hold out this long. You always help me with the cooking, and the seasickness medicine you gave me yesterday really worked.”
“I’m glad it was useful.”
He smiled proudly.
“But, Chef.”
There was something I’d been wondering, so I carefully asked him.
“This ship… when will we arrive at the Empire?”
“The Empire?”
“I get so seasick, I just want to set foot on land as soon as possible. I heard we’re sailing at full speed — are we still far from arriving?”
“Um… Gianna. I think you might be mistaken.”
The chef gave me a very troubled look.
“This ship isn’t headed for the Empire.”
“What? Then where are we going?”
I gaped at him like a startled fish.
“We’re on our way to the Kingdom of Tian. You didn’t know?”
“The Kingdom of Tian…?”
That was when I finally realized my fatal mistake.
‘You idiot! You boarded without even checking the destination?’
I had just assumed the duke, after finishing his tour of his fief, was returning to the Astrian Empire. But no — his destination wasn’t the Empire, but the Kingdom of Tian.
‘So he’s stopping by Tian before heading back to the Empire? Doesn’t that mean my contract gets extended too?’
I screamed inwardly.
Sure, if the contract is extended, I’ll earn more money. Fine.
But that wasn’t the real problem.
“We’re going to another island?”
The Kingdom of Tian was… an island nation.
‘Why did it have to be now, right when the original story is about to start?’
I couldn’t say “the original story” out loud to the chef, so I just screamed silently in my head.
The novel I’d co-written with Choi Dahye was called Song of the Sad Sea.
It begins with the princess of Tian falling in love at first sight with the duke. She pursues him relentlessly, and in the end, succeeds in marrying Duke Rupellen.
‘Of all times, why now?’
My will to live dropped like a stone.
Honestly speaking, the duke was jaw-droppingly handsome. Looking at his face almost made me forget his atrocious temper.
With his golden hair shining in the sun as he gave orders to the crew — Rupellen Duke was exactly my type. But once your favorite starts a romance, the desire to fangirl just evaporates.
Once he and the princess began their love story, I wouldn’t be able to look at his face for healing anymore.
But the bigger problem was… islands, again!
I had just escaped from one tiny island, only to be shipped off to another island nation.
‘Good grief, what cursed fate is this? Do I have the spirit of some restless island ghost clinging to me?’
Everywhere I went — islands, islands, islands.
I slumped onto the galley floor, staring blankly at the pot.
“Gianna, are you all right? Is it seasickness again? You suddenly look very pale.”
The chef peered at me with concern.
I quickly lifted my head, forcing a smile and shaking off my gloomy expression.
“Oh, I’m fine. I was just… lost in thought for a moment.”
“You’re a mage, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I suppose so?”
The sailors had already seen me catch squid and fish with a flick of magic, so they all knew. I held up my hand, letting a thin stream of magic light flicker above it.
“If this isn’t magic, what else could it be?”
“In that case, you don’t really need to go to the Astrian Empire. The Kingdom of Tian also has plenty of work for mages.”
The chef must have assumed I was worried about finding employment in the Empire.
In Astria, mages were treated exceptionally well. But only if they graduated from the Imperial Magic Academy.
“You can find mage jobs in Tian too. And there’s no requirement to graduate from an academy.”
“Oh, really?”
“If you like, I can arrange a position for you right away. Think about it — someone who gets this seasick, are you really going to keep sailing back to the Empire?”
‘Hmm, he’s not wrong…’
But my real problem wasn’t employment. It was escaping islands.
No matter how big or developed Tian was, an island was still an island.
Even if someone handed me a sprawling mansion for free, I’d refuse if it was on an island.
Because islands were cages without bars — and living there, I’d always be like a dog tied up on a leash.
“Thank you for the kind offer. I’ll think about it.”
I smiled, grateful for his goodwill. But maybe he sensed my polite refusal, because his attitude turned unexpectedly forceful.
“Gianna, this isn’t something to think about. How long will you let the duke drag you along in this kind of contract life?”
“…What?”
“Since boarding the Belletine, you’ve been suffering every single day. Cooking daily is no easy job, and on top of that, you get terrible seasickness.”
He rattled on without pausing for breath.
“There’s no need to return to the Empire. Once we reach Tian, demand the duke terminate your contract immediately and settle there. I told you, I’ll help.”
Something felt off. Why was he being so pushy? At first, I thought he was just showing kindness because of my pitiful situation. After all, I really was a mess.
“Gianna, you grew up on an island, so you don’t know this, but this is an incredible opportunity. Do you know how much it costs to graduate from the Magic Academy? Not all mages are treated equally. In the Empire, a mage without an academy diploma is no different from a commoner.”
I blinked as I listened to him pour out words like a waterfall.
“The moment we arrive in Tian, demand your release from the contract. Then go to the place I recommend. You won’t regret it.”
It sounded helpful, but his tone crossed a line.
Like he was subtly saying: You’re just a naive bumpkin from some backwater island, so you’d better listen to me. There was even a faint condescension, as if I’d be lost without his guidance.
‘Wait a second… isn’t this basically gaslighting?’
It was a mix of exaggerated kindness and veiled coercion.
I was about to draw a sharp line with him — but then I changed my mind.
