Home/I was reincarnated as a mermaid, but I ended up imprinting the shadowy Grand Duke/ch 8

Chapter 8: Life Never Goes According to Plan (7)

The grand duke stood with his arms crossed, looking down at me with an annoyed expression.

"I can't seem to take my eyes off you for a second. You try to escape every chance you get."

"That's because you kidnapped me against my will!"

I thrashed inside the net and protested.

Then the grand duke looked down at me, trapped in the net, and asked me seriously.

"......"

"......"

"......"

Was he asking that sincerely?

I stared at him in disbelief, clutching my fading composure.

"Would you be happy about being held captive against your will?! Would you like it?!"

"I didn't hold you against your will. You jumped into my arms on your own."

"That only happened because you spent a whole month scouring the sea to catch me!"

And I don't have time to argue with you here!

To avoid the seafoam ending, I need to meet the main characters, and fast.

I glared at him fiercely.

"Hmm... I suppose that's a fair point. But you're caught now, so give up."

"......"

"What?"

I was speechless for a moment.

"You just put me in a pot! Aren't you trying to eat me?!"

"No."

"......"

At this point, it was pure stubbornness. I started rattling off all the rumors I'd heard about humans in the mermaid village.

"Human nobles catch rare creatures and put them on display!"

"I won't."

"You're going to hit me! Hurt me because I'm a mermaid!"

"I won't."

"No dissection? No experiments? No... are you going to put me in a circus?"

"...I can roughly guess what you're imagining, but no. No experiments, no dissection. If you want, I'll even write you a written oath."

He didn't seem to be listening, so I tried picking a fight.

"I don't like this room! It feels bad!"

"I'll give you a better one. A premium bathtub."

"It's too small too! Did you forget I used to live in the ocean?"

"I'll prepare one of ample size."

"If I stay with you, you'll just keep me locked up!"

"If you promise not to leave me, I'll consider it. If you're worried about being bored, just say the word. I'll put a theater troupe, painters, bards, dressmakers, jewelers—whatever you want—at your fingertips."

"...Can I have a chef too? A patissier?"

"Of course."

"...What about a carriage?"

Whoa! Wait a minute, pull yourself together, me!

I shook my head violently and slapped my cheeks to wake myself up.

'Wait, isn't this basically a real-life healing vacation where I just eat and play?'

I almost fell for it.

But the problem is, if I enjoy all of that, I'll end up as seafoam.

'It'd be a miracle if I don't get roasted alive or something while staying with that villainous grand duke.'

As I wrestled with my inner thoughts, the grand duke scooped me up.

"......!"

"Stay still. Your wound will open up."

And just like that, net and all, I was carried back to the room.

---

"Stay still. If you keep squirming, it'll be hard to treat."

"But it hurts!"

Currently, I'd been moved to the bed in the earlier room and was receiving his treatment.

I tried hard to move my tail and dodge his hands.

"If you leave it alone, it'll get worse."

He pressed down on my tail, removed the loosened bandages, and glared at me.

How can a person's eyes be so fierce?

"Do you think I'll be intimidated just because you glare at me?"

Of course I was intimidated, but I talked back to him defiantly, refusing to show it.

"It seems like you are."

Then the grand duke began observing me closely.

It was a gaze like he was studying something. It felt strange and a little unsettling. Like a mermaid's intuition.

Why did I feel like he was seeing right through me?

"What, what! Staring at me won't make anything come out!"

Then, suddenly close, he looked me over and said.

"...An interesting fish has been caught."

I was floored.

Is that really something to say with me right in front of you!?

"Interesting, my foot! You depraved human bastard!"

I summoned a stream of water. I was so angry I intended to splash him randomly.

The water droplets floating in the air were about to strike the back of his head when—

"Ah!"

The grand duke swiftly wrapped a bandage around my tail.

Naturally, the water droplets fell helplessly to the floor, and he smirked at me.

"If you're going to scream that much, you should have just stayed still from the beginning."

"......"

"Your wound opened up again... Don't you know that mermaids shouldn't move when they're injured?"

Pain or not, I should have just drenched him anyway.

I glared at him with my eyes.

"The treatment is done. Does it hurt?"

"Of course it hurts?!"

I turned my head away, turned my back to him, and squirmed to the edge of the bed to get away from him.

Then the grand duke, as if mocking me, scooped me up and plopped me back into the pot with a splash.

"......"

Damn it, my pride is hurt.

Still, being in the water was much more comfortable, so I guess I was a true mermaid at heart.

I quickly withdrew my tail that was sticking out and submerged it fully into the pot.

It annoyed me to keep calling it a "pot," but I couldn't think of anything else to call it.

I warily poked my head out and glared at the grand duke.

He laughed.

"Don't look at me so fiercely. We're going to be seeing a lot of each other from now on."

"We're not going to see each other a lot! I'm leaving this place!"

I'll escape this damned ship as soon as possible.

'Whether it's today or tomorrow!'

"Are you really going to leave?"

"Of course!"

"I see. If that's truly how you feel, then it's unfortunate."

He snapped his fingers in the air, and the door opened. The gray-haired man and a group of naval officers came flooding in.

"What, what?!"

Their coordinated movements, like a well-oiled machine, left me frozen in shock.

"Fix it properly! The Grand Duke is watching!"

"Sir!"

They nailed shut the window that had been so easy to open.

"Put locks on it too! Triple-lock it!"

They even added locking mechanisms to the door!

"Here you are, Grand Duke."

"Yes, good work."

And finally, they handed the grand duke a suspicious-looking rope and then all filed out again.

"What...?"

What was that all about?

It all happened so fast I couldn't even process it.

I stared at the grand duke with shaking eyes, demanding an explanation.

He smiled sweetly and explained.

"Well, it seems I underestimated a mermaid's abilities. You can control the waves. Ten guards were clearly not enough."

"....."

"Since your will to leave is so strong. I don't even know the full extent of your abilities yet, so what if you escape in the blink of an eye? It makes me uneasy, you see."

He approached me, holding the rope he'd received.

"Bear with it for a while. I'll untie you once your tail is fully healed. If you start another commotion and reopen your wound, it'll only hurt more, won't it?"

And he bound me, wickedly.

"...What is this!"

He wrapped me up so tightly I couldn't even move my arms.

I floundered in the pot and protested.

"Untie me!"

"No."

"I said untie me!"

"I'll untie you when you're better."

He calmly sat back down in his chair and began observing me again.

"Ahhh!!"

That made me even more annoyed, so I dove back into the pot.

And then, as if to prove my boiling anger, I released endless streams of bubbles.

"Oh my, it seems my mermaid is quite angry."

"Who's your mermaid!"

He really didn't listen.

'Just because my hands are tied, you think I can't use my power?!'

I decided I'd just tip over the pot and bring the seawater crashing down on him.

'I'll knock over the pot and splash all the water on that grand duke!'

Just as I was about to spring out from the pot where I'd been submerged—

In an instant, the grand duke's hand grabbed the back of my neck.

"Ah!"

That, that despicable bastard! How dirty, grabbing me by the scruff!

But whether I was angry or not, the grand duke didn't seem to care in the least, casually lifting me into the air with one hand.

"Really? Then let's check."

"Wh-what? Check what?"

"You said you were curious whether I'm your mermaid."

Then the grand duke began a strange act: he stretched his arm far out into the air, then brought me close to him again, repeating the motion.

"......What the hell?!!"

I'd never experienced this before, so I didn't have the words for it... but I'm not a dumbbell, what kind of crazy thing is this?!

I was confused, but I desperately clung to his arm to stay still.

I mean, when you're suspended in midair, it's only natural to try not to fall, right?

"You said you wouldn't hurt me?"

"I said I wouldn't hurt you. That's right."

"Then what do you call this if not hurting me?!"

It felt like being on a violent amusement park ride. I screamed three or four times, and just as I was starting to get motion sick, his movements mercifully stopped.

I glared at him resentfully. I would've been better off in a spin cycle dryer.

And after all that, the grand duke's lips were curling up as he looked at me?

"...What? What is your deal?"

Why are you smiling so ominously?

Motion sickness aside, I felt a very bad feeling about this.

'Will I ever escape?'

Then, a satisfied, languid sigh fell upon my ear.

"Ah!"

At the feeling of being caught by a predator, I instinctively held my breath.

This... crazy bastard.

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