Home/I was reincarnated as a mermaid, but I ended up imprinting the shadowy Grand Duke/ch 9

Chapter 9: Life Never Goes According to Plan (8)

"What?"

He said he was going to check if I'm his mermaid, and this is what he does?!

I looked at the grand duke, who had buried his face in my neck, completely baffled.

Looking down, I could see his black hair, and the skin where his breath touched was incredibly ticklish.

I struggled hard, but he showed no signs of letting go.

"How long are you going to keep this up?!"

Bound and unable to move, dangling from the grand duke's hand, I trembled.

"Just a little longer."

"No, I said why?!"

Then, as if reaching the peak of my fear, he buried his face in my neck again and began to inhale deeply.

"Hah."

The moment his sharp nose touched my exposed collarbone, it felt like my neck was burning.

What the hell is this crazy bastard doing?!

My eyes wide, I flapped my fins fiercely in the air.

"Ah! Can't you see this?!!"

"Moving around like that will only make your wound worse."

"I'm moving because of you!"

"That's unfortunate."

Then, after a long moment of inhaling, the grand duke raised his head with a satisfied smile.

I flinched, looking at him.

I'd never seen that expression on him before. It felt dangerous...

Yes, his gray eyes looking at me felt like spiderwebs trying to ensnare me.

I honestly avoided his gaze.

"All that shouting, and now you've gone quiet?"

...Then don't look at me with those eyes.

I grumbled internally.

Then he brushed the back of my neck and whispered to me.

"It's certain. You're mine."

The lips touching the tip of my ear were so ticklish I thought I'd go crazy.

He was a truly strange man.

---

Most of the cruel rumors surrounding the grand duke were actually orchestrated by the former emperor, a tyrant.

When a prolonged drought struck, foreign forces invaded the empire, and he was sent to the battlefield at a young age, witnessing all kinds of horrors, and of course, he didn't survive unscathed...

Grand Duke Dain Blueford looked down with a cold expression at the naval officer who had collapsed at his feet in the bloodstained cabin.

He was a face he'd seen often—never would have thought he'd be the one to stab him in the back.

"Ha, having to guard against my own men even on the battlefield."

He let out a bitter, incredulous laugh and ran his hand through his hair.

Had he been a spy for the imperial family from the beginning? In the dead officer's hand was a pouch bearing the imperial crest.

The white powder inside had long since been scattered all over the grand duke's body.

"This is..."

He looked down at himself with displeasure.

It had happened in an instant while he'd let his guard down. In the dead of night, in his own bedchamber.

He knew the Bluefords' immense power was being watched, but he never imagined they would attack their own ally on a battlefield where they were fighting for the nation's fate.

It was his own foolish mistake—not doubting the emperor until the very end.

"Tch."

He grabbed his own throat, irritated by the suffocating air that tightened around it.

Every time he breathed, it felt like he was shoving his face into a chimney, with thick dust particles scraping his throat.

His throat burned as if inhaling blazing smoke, and the suffocating sensation made him gasp for air, but...

It wasn't enough.

The feeling of his throat burning overwhelmed him.

The cause was surely this unknown white powder.

He quickly ran out of the cabin to wash the white powder off his body, passing by the stunned sailors who stared at his bloodied appearance.

He splashed water from a barrel all over himself.

"Splash!"

Even as the cold water hit him, he convulsed and collapsed on the spot, his skin feeling as if it were being scraped by thorns all over.

"Grand Duke! Are you alright?!"

His adjutant, Greig, rushed to his side, but it didn't improve much.

Enduring the pain, he poured water over himself to wash away all the white powder covering his body.

The white powder on him was gone, but the pain remained.

"....."

The air was still unpleasant, and the water stung.

He stared at the water stains he'd washed off, as if unconvinced.

The cabin floor was stained with a mess of white powder and hastily splashed water.

"What is this?"

As his adjutant reached out, the grand duke knocked his hand away and warned.

"Don't touch it. Be careful never to come into contact with it. Pour water over it and wash it all out to sea."

"Understood."

And from that day on, Dain's life was plunged into ruin.

The very elements that made up the world—water and air—began to curse him.

He fought through the pain and led the war against the foreign forces to a successful end, but even after the war, no one knew how to break his curse.

He had no choice but to comply with the tyrant's unreasonable demands, using the curse as leverage, until the emperor's lies were exposed and he finally cut off the tyrant's head.

And so, in every aspect of his daily life—

Breathing, drinking water, eating food, even sleeping—the terrible curse dug into his flesh, causing him constant agony.

Click.

Dain Blueford left the room where the mermaid was and walked to the bow of the ship.

The night sky was dark, clouded with no stars in sight, as if a storm was about to roll in—just like that day.

Dain sat down heavily on the deck, closed his eyes, and took a small breath.

The acrid sensation, like inhaling smoke, pierced from his throat to the depths of his lungs.

"Unpleasant."

He grimaced. Even though it was a sensation that had tormented him his entire life, he still couldn't get used to it.

Perhaps it was because he had tasted what it was like for the pain to disappear.

To shake off the unpleasant feeling, he thought of his mermaid, who was probably fuming with anger in the room right now.

"...She certainly is interesting."

The real-time transmission of emotions was still unfamiliar, but it wasn't unpleasant.

It was fascinating how her mood could change so rapidly in such a short time.

And though he didn't know the exact reason, whenever he touched that blue-haired mermaid, the pain would wash away.

Even being near her had some effect, but it was incomparable to direct contact.

It had been the same when they first met in the water. That was why he had desperately searched for her to confirm that fact once more.

And the moment he caught the mermaid and confirmed it, it became even clearer.

"Certain."

The answer to the curse he had been searching for his entire life—it lay with that mermaid.

Dain smiled with satisfaction, took out a flask from his pocket, and poured water over his hand.

The moment the water touched him, a sensation of stinging thorns scraping across his skin ran through him.

But instead of grimacing in pain, he began to smile brightly, like a man filled with ecstasy.

"See? It's different."

Dain thought of his little mermaid, who had just been throwing water at him in anger.

How long had it been since touching water wasn't painful?

"It feels like it's been well over ten years."

The image of the small creature, grumbling about leaving, passed through his mind.

"Let you go? I can't do that."

How could I possibly let you go, now that I have you in my hands.

He ran his hand through his wet hair.

Of course, this was also the work of his little mermaid.

"Hah."

The cool scent of the sea clinging to his fingertips was so refreshing.

He brought the back of his hand to his face, inhaling the lingering traces of the sea, and let out a satisfied sigh.

It was the moment when blue paint began to spread across his world, which had been filled with gray.

He looked up at the cloud-filled sky and hummed pleasantly.

"The scent of the sea is wonderful."

It had been over ten years.

A decade spent longing for the end of this wretched curse.

"I guess there's no such thing as dying from this."

Even when he had cut off the former emperor's head, he hadn't felt this exhilarated.

The trace of his mermaid left on the back of his hand was satisfying. The lingering scent on his skin was especially refreshing.

"See? You're my mermaid."

And how could I possibly let you go?

"What should I do?"

To keep that audacious mermaid, who kept trying to escape, by his side.

"Should I shower her with gold and jewels, or turn the entire mansion into a swimming pool?"

If that would make her stay by his side, he would do anything.

He had absolutely no intention of letting his mermaid go.

"I should find out what she likes."

Since she'd shown interest in chefs and patissiers, she probably liked food.

He'd heard that feeding animals the wrong thing could cause problems.

It was a pleasant dilemma.

"...What do mermaids eat?"

---

"......"

What is this?

I stared at the plate before me, completely baffled.

"What's wrong?"

The grand duke tilted his head, looking at me as if there was no problem.

Back   Next