“Your Grace, are you heading off to war?”
Kyle, the knight captain, asked with a look of exasperation. Calix’s expression was far too grim and resolute for the occasion. He stood in the middle of a snow-lashed forest, sword leveled like a general zeroing in on an enemy commander’s throat.
“Quiet. It’s coming.”
Calix murmured low. From a distance, he felt the ground tremble. It was one of the North’s great beasts — a Snow Boar, a massive tusked creature of the snowfields, built with enormous horns and thick hide. The house-sized boar was barreling through the snow straight toward them.
“GROARRR!”
In an ordinary hunt, you’d hurl a spear or loose an arrow. But Calix was not ordinary.
Elian had said it. The cut had to have the right balance of fat and lean meat.
The only word in Calix’s mind was samgyeopsal. He leveled his sword horizontally. Blue aura flowed along the blade, sharpening into a focused sword energy that shot forward.
Slash―!
With a bone-chilling cutting sound, the charging boar’s vital point was struck with surgical precision. Before the blood could even spray, Calix extended his hand.
“Freeze.”
Whoosh―!
The boar’s massive body was engulfed in ice crystals in an instant. Flash-frozen before rigor mortis could set in — preserving the quality of the meat at its absolute peak. It was, in every sense, magic employed in the service of fine dining.
“…Wow.”
The knights couldn’t close their mouths. This is the man who used to casually freeze ogres and shatter them to pieces — and now he’s showing this level of delicate precision over a single pig.
“Kyle. Listen carefully. Don’t damage the belly meat.”
Calix sheathed his sword and gave the order. His mind had been occupied, from the moment they’d set out, with the image of golden-brown grilled meat that Elian had described.
***
At that same moment, at the greenhouse.
“Alright, time for your meal, too.”
Elian stood at the edge of the vegetable rows, watering can in hand. Barely an hour had passed since the seeds were sown, but the soil was already stirring. The secret: fertilizer Elian had purchased from the System Shop at considerable cost, and the residual mana from the Grand Duke still infused in the pipes.
[Item Used: Ultra-Rapid Growth Fertilizer (500 BP)]
― Effect: Accelerates plant growth speed by 100x.
― Note: High-density mana-infused water required.
“Grow, grow, grow!”
Elian poured the mana-infused water over the soil. What unfolded next was almost unbelievable.
Pop, pop, push―!
Pale green sprouts broke through the earth, and in real time, stems thickened and leaves spread wide. As if someone had fast-forwarded months of footage, lettuce and spinach were exploding with growth before their eyes.
“Eek! Wh-what is that!”
“It’s magic! Our Lord has summoned a forest spirit!”
The domain residents watching from outside the greenhouse stumbled backward in alarm. Vegetables growing in winter was already miraculous enough — but watching lettuce the size of cabbages shooting up right before their eyes was enough to make a person faint.
“Hans! Bring the baskets! Time to harvest!”
Elian called out, snapping off crisp lettuce leaves one by one. White sap beaded from the stems — the very picture of premium, organic produce.
“This precious thing… green leaves, in winter….”
Hans received the lettuce with trembling hands, handling it as though it were a gemstone. Elian smiled, deeply satisfied. Now all they needed was the meat. The final piece of a perfect feast was falling into place.
***
A little later. By the time dusk crept in, the domain square was alive with a festival air. A great bonfire blazed, and boar meat sizzled and spat on wide flat stones laid over the flames.
Sizzle―.
Fat popped and hissed, and the rich, savory smell drifted through the air. The domain’s residents, who had known nothing but hunger, couldn’t tear their eyes away from the grill, swallowing hard.
“Eat up! Tonight, we eat until we can’t move!”
At Elian’s rallying cry, the feast began. People grabbed at the meat with barely restrained urgency. But Elian was different. He picked up a single perfect piece — a golden-ratio cut of crispy fat and tender meat — and spread open a wide, hand-sized leaf of lettuce.
“Your Grace, watch. This is what I call a ‘wrap’ — the thing that’s going to carry us through the North’s winter.”
Calix stared fixedly at Elian’s hands. Atop the green leaf sat golden-brown meat, along with the red paste Elian called ssamjang and a slice of roasted garlic.
“Now — open wide.”
Elian brought the wrap toward Calix’s lips. In an instant, the raucous square fell silent as if doused with cold water. Knights mid-chew froze. Residents mid-pour stopped still. Every eye turned to the two of them.
This is the Grand Duke. The suspicious, iron-willed ruler of the North — the man who, so the stories went, refused even cups of wine from the Emperor himself out of fear of poison. Would a man like that accept food from someone else’s bare hands?
“Are you not going to eat it? My arm’s getting tired. If you don’t want it, I’ll just eat it mysel—”
Elian made a show of reluctantly pulling his hand back. And Calix reflexively shot out and caught Elian’s wrist.
“Who said I wasn’t eating it.”
Calix pulled Elian’s hand toward his own mouth. And without a single moment of hesitation, he took the wrap — deep enough that the tips of Elian’s fingers brushed his lips.
He chewed, cheeks full. And as he did, he didn’t neglect the small detail of running the tip of his tongue lightly over the ssamjang left on Elian’s fingertips.
“…!”
Silence. Then the next moment, the square erupted in frantic whispering.
“Oh my — did you see that? Did you see that?”
“The Grand Duke licked our Lord’s fingers! That’s basically an indirect kiss!”
The domain women clapped their hands over their mouths and shrieked.
“Did you see those eyes? Absolutely dripping. They said last night was that passionate — turns out it wasn’t an exaggeration.”
“Does that mean our Lord is going to be the lady of the North now?”
“Obviously! Look at the Grand Duke eating out of his hand like a tame lamb. Those two have already gone all the way.”
Among the residents, Elian had already been elevated to something all but equivalent to the Grand Duchess.
“Hooray! Our Lord has completely won over the Grand Duke!”
“Our domain is as good as under the Grand Duke’s direct protection now! We’ll never starve again!”
People tore into their meat and raised their cups. To them, the romance between these two was no idle love affair — it was a watershed event directly tied to the domain’s survival.
The shock was just as great among the Black Lion Knights.
“Captain….”
Cedric, the Grand Duke’s direct adjutant, muttered with a dazed expression.
“His Grace… ate food given by someone else. Without even checking for poison.”
“…Indeed.”
Kyle, the knight captain, gave a grave nod.
“I think we’d better start preparing formal attire. The Black Lion crest on the invitations, I’d say.”
“Who officiates the ceremony?”
“Do we bring in His Holiness?”
The knights were already drafting the wedding order of events. The misunderstanding was snowballing rapidly. It was the beginning of a nationwide misconception — one that everyone except the two people involved seemed to be in on.
“…It’s good.”
Swallow. Calix’s eyes widened after he swallowed the wrap. The richness of the meat, the crisp freshness of the vegetable, the sharp bite of roasted garlic — all in harmony. It was a sensory shock unlike anything he had ever experienced in his life. He pulled the corner of his mouth up with undisguised satisfaction and looked at Elian.
“Not bad.”
In that instant, Elian’s heart dropped straight to his stomach.
…What.
He had only ever seen that face expressionless or frowning — but a smile that unguarded, that open, was a first. Lit by the firelight, it had devastating impact. His heart began to pound. He felt heat rush to his face.
Why — why is this happening? Is this arrhythmia?
Or had he eaten too much meat and spiked his blood pressure? He could almost swear he heard the crowd chanting “Kiss him! Kiss him!” around him — though surely that was just his imagination. Elian quickly turned away and cleared his throat. That was dangerous. That face was hazardous to his heart.
“R-right? Now that you’ve had a taste, you can wrap them yourself from here. You do have hands, after all.”
Elian slid the lettuce basket toward Calix. Calix’s smile vanished instantly.
“….”
He said nothing. He simply fixed Elian and the lettuce basket with an extremely cool, pointed stare, alternating between the two. The silent pressure was unmistakable: Why are you suddenly refusing to wrap them for me? And behind it, the unmistakable stubbornness of: If you’re not the one wrapping it, I’m not eating it.
“…Ha ha.”
Elian laughed awkwardly and picked up the lettuce again. Fine. You win. What power does a debtor have against a creditor.
I am a machine. I am a wrap-making machine.
Elian mechanically layered meat and garlic onto the leaf.
“Here you go. Two cloves of garlic in this one.”
“Mm.”
Only then did Calix open his mouth with a satisfied expression and accept it. The Grand Duke, eating like a baby bird being fed — then mimicking Elian’s technique and attempting to wrap one himself, before holding it up to Elian’s mouth in return. The Lord, mechanically producing wraps on autopilot, occasionally receiving one himself. It was a peculiar scene — but to everyone watching, it looked like nothing more than an insufferably sweet couple feeding each other.
***
The night deepened. The domain residents, full and content, drifted back to their warm Ondol rooms. The knights scattered to their quarters. Crackle, crackle. The shadows of the two men sitting side by side before the dying bonfire stretched long across the ground.
“Since you awakened your ability.”
Calix spoke quietly, eyes fixed on the flames.
“This domain that was dead… feels like a festival every day.”
The North had always been grey. A land where only cold, hunger, and silence breathed. But now there was laughter, the smell of food, and life in people’s faces. All of it — a miracle made by one small lord named Elian.
“It’s only the beginning.”
Elian brushed the remaining lettuce from his hands and answered lightly.
“Now that everyone’s warm and fed — it’s time to work.”
“Work?”
“Yes. We’ve eaten, so now we earn our keep.”
Elian’s eyes gleamed toward the darkness beyond the domain’s edge — toward the broken, snow-blocked roads.
“Your Grace, tomorrow you’re going to help me clear the roads. Once the roads are open, we can trade. Once we can trade, we can make money.”
Calix let out a short, helpless laugh. Just when it seemed the mood might turn romantic, this man brought up work. And yet, strangely — that shamelessness wasn’t unwelcome.
“Very well. If that’s what my Lord wants.”
Calix shifted, and his heavy head settled against Elian’s shoulder with a quiet thud.
“…?!”
Elian went completely rigid.
Why is he doing this all of a sudden? Is he drunk? Or just sleepy?
He debated pushing him off — but Calix had already settled in as if he owned the place, eyes drifting closed with perfect ease.
“Roads, mountains. I’ll clear them all.”
The low voice resonated close to his ear. Elian glanced sideways down at the crown of Calix’s head resting on his shoulder. This man was clearly the one holding all the power in their arrangement — so why did he keep acting like he was the one clinging on?
Why does this man keep doing this to me?
It was uncomfortable. It was heavy. But somehow — he couldn’t bring himself to push him away.
He glanced around. The domain residents were watching the two of them with warm, knowing smiles, whispering amongst themselves. Their eyes held the look of people watching a pair of newlyweds, which only deepened Elian’s embarrassment.
Elian tucked in his awkwardly hovering hand, expression tangled and complicated, and stared into the crackling bonfire.
The domain’s residents were full and warm — but for their Lord, it was a North winter night filled with nothing but question marks.
