Voyage Of The Villainess

"We're here." Nicholas Grandez halted his footsteps when they reached the middle of the cave.

Malaya glanced around, but all she could see was an empty space. Sensing their confusion now, Nicholas tapped his crane against the soil to where he was standing.

The cave started to tremble.

"I knew it! This is just a trap!" Dorris angrily shouted by making assumptions so easily. Without any second guess, she immediately made a move. She raised her hand to start forming teleportation for the three of them. "Let's get out of here, Milady! Rein!"

"Dorris, stop! Just calm down, okay?" Malaya said in a bit almost shouted voice.

"But, Milady!"

Without explaining anything...

"Look!" Malaya pointed at something behind Nicholas. Dorris followed the direction to where her lady wanted for her to see. The already forming teleportation started to disappear.

"I need to hide the construction of this ship from everyone's eyes," Nicholas explained. "Or else everyone might get into trouble."

Behind him, a mast of a ship was starting to elevate. No, it was not elevating. They were already standing at the top of the huge ship. Nicholas raised his hands and several cards that were plastered in the ship flew to his grasp.

The environment around them was also beginning to change. The cave, which was previously they were in, had vanished. Instead, the pure blue sky and the profound chilled blue water appeared. The ship was already above the waters of the sea and the cold breeze of the wind immediately assaulted them.

Malaya couldn't help but be fascinated by the sight that was unfolding before her own eyes, they were completely back at the harbor as if that cave before never exists. Cards suddenly surrounded Malaya, including Rein and Dorris and the three of them flew. With his cards surrounding him, Nicholas flew along with them.

As they landed on the ship dockyard that wasn't there before, Nicholas started to speak with great enthusiasm. 

"Behold!" A proud grin escaped his face. "Isn't she beautiful? What do you think, dear customer?"

Malaya glanced forward. Her heartbeat was faster than ever because of the intense feeling she felt in the present moment.

'My last life. My past four years of preparation and patience going along with all the plot's crap...'

"Yes, she is indeed beautiful," Malaya with steady steps slowly trailed ahead of them.

In front of her was the huge ship, she longed to take her dream journey in the world. 

'This is it! I'm waiting for you for the longest of time and now I finally have you' Malaya thought

Dorris cast a glance at the massive ship in front of her. After living in Marina for over four years, she noticed that, in comparison to the massive naval ships she was used to seeing there, this one was smaller and constructed of identical wood. It featured two massive masts in the center and white sails at the very top. The only single distinguishing feature was a four-sided star-shaped insignia on the front of the ship.

"What's impressive about this?" Dorris blurted out. She had a hostile glare toward Nicholas and her face was contorted with rage. "It seems to be comparable in appearance to all of the ships I've seen so far. Is it possible that you deceived Milady?" Inwardly, she was seething because of Nicholas' presence.

Everybody just shut their mouth since they can feel the extreme disdain Dorris feels towards the shipbuilder. Well, except for the shipbuilder, who completely understand why the little lady was angry at him.

"Hahaha. Little missy. That is just the front." Nicholas grinned. "Your ladyship inspired me to construct a magnificent ship unlike anything else I have ever created before. And, on top of that..." he paused for a moment, looking directly at Dorris' eyes with seriousness.

"I have never deceived anyone when it comes to building ships."

Malaya patted both Dorris' shoulders.

"Don't worry too much, Dorris. Everything is exactly how I instructed him to build the ship. You will be able to see it shortly, Dorris." A wide grin formed on Malaya's face. She glanced back to the ship, completely satisfied with it.

"Go after him!" 

"Stop him!"

A fast wind passed Malaya, making her almost lose her balance... but she didn't have time to register what happened when the next thing she knew, Dorris' shrill scream rang.

"Ahhh!"

"Dorris!" Rein was the first one to react followed by Nicholas.

"The ship!" Nicholas screamed.

Though their concerns were different, they both jump up to get the guy who suddenly appeared and caused chaos. But a strong force of gust of wind surprised them. They weren't able to avoid it and hit them directly. It sent them flying a few meters away.

"Bring me down!" Dorris hit her assailant's back but it had no effect on him.

"Nesha. It's me, Callan." Dorris though confused by this guy calling her Nesha kept hitting his back with her bare fist. Tragically, the mysterious guy who introduced himself as Callan was not affected of her every bit of her attacks at the slightest bit. "You still have the temper as ever, Nesha," he said with a low chuckle.

"I'm not Nesha! And I don't know you! Stop talking nonsense and let go of me!" Callan's sense heightened when he felt that Dorris was going to summon her weapon. Before she could do that, he whisked a sleeping powder to her. "You need to take a sleep first, Nesha."

"It seems you are confused right now. It's alright, I'll take care of you from the rest here. I promise I will not let others take you again." A gentle smile came across his face that was covered with bandages.

Both mixtures of hurt and relief passed through his eyes. "We all thought you were already dead. Father would surely be glad to see you alive." He delicately brushed Dorris' hair using his left hand.

Malaya glanced up and saw Dorris completely unconscious. She was being carried on one shoulder by some boy who was covered with a lot of bandages. And they were situated at the very top-mast of the ship, one wrong move and they would directly fall.

Without saying anything, Malaya brought out her Trinity and a talisman.

Alerted that someone was looking at him intensely, Callan's attention shifted towards the person who remained in the dockyard. The said person was covered with a cloak and mask, making it for Callan to identify whether the said person was a girl or not. He could only feel a minuscule of lifa towards her but seeing her actions, he would never dare to let down his guard.

"Don't you ever try to do anything unnecessary or even follow me." He said. He pointed a knife at Dorris' neck. "Or she'll die.." His ashen eyes glinted under those bandages.