Voyage Of The Villainess

Malaya didn\'t speak anything when Dorris entered the room. 

\'It seemed I was always put into unconsciousness. I don\'t know how many times I have been in this situation.\'

"Milady are you alright?" Dorris asked, her face full of worry and concern.

"I\'m fine," Malaya replied with a sigh. "What happened?" 

"Milady, Elred forced the ring out of your hands but he couldn\'t. Instead, it suddenly disappeared and you passed out."

"I see."

"The illusion was also gone with that and we are now back at the normal route towards Hellarez. And I think this might belong to you, Milady." Dorris reached out the single tarot card of The Fool to Malaya.

Malaya just gave a slight nod as she get the card. 

\'Hah.\' She just stared at it for a while. \'What did I even reveal the true form of my ship for?\'

Malaya reversed the card and started chanting. 

"Hide thy truth to the fool." The card illuminate brightly and cards started to come out from it and got plastered on the boat. The once steel interior and exterior changed into the wood.

"Milady! This is..."

"Bituins real form will only cause a commotion that\'s why it was better to conceal her like this," Malaya explained which earn a nod from Dorris.

"So our sleeping princess is awake." The door opened once again. "Ah right, how can this heavy peasant be at the mere presence of her highness?" Iris said emphasizing the word heavy. She was carrying a basket containing apples.

"Iris," Malaya smiled wryly. \'She surely holds a grudge isn\'t she?\'

"This princess doesn\'t mind such peasant like you," Malaya replied. "And as a good ruler to her subjects, I could give you some advice on healthy diet lifestyles."

The once light expression of Iris turned into a frown. She picked up one of the apples and threw it at Malaya.

"Hey!" Malaya caught the apple swiftly.

"Don\'t throw food like that, hahaha."

"I didn\'t throw it," Iris said as she walked beside Dorris. "It\'s my new way of giving things that I just discovered right now. Here." Iris reached the basket Dorris which the latter accepted.

"Go feed that to your lady. She\'s too skinny." Iris said as she walked back to the door.

"Hey, I\'m not skinny!" Malaya retorted. "It\'s called being sexy hahaha."

"Yeah, whatever." Iris walked out of the door leaving Malaya and Dorris in silence. Ah no, Malaya was still laughing when her stomach growled.

"Milady! I\'ll get you some food now!" Dorris said as she started panicking. Malaya just hold her right hand to keep her still.

"It\'s alright, Dorris," Malaya said as she stood up. She felt wobbly for a few moments but it disappeared sometime. 

"This would suffice." She then 

"I\'ll go outside to see things as well."

"About that Milady," Dorris paused for a bit. "We finally reached the Hellarez."

"Huh?"

Malaya stood up she went outside. As soon as she reached the deck, her line of sight caught the dark island in front of them.

\'Just how long am I unconscious? Is that why I feel so wobbly and tired?\'

"Milady!"

"Lady Malaya!"

"Captain!"

Rein, Elred, and Rhyme greeted Malaya as soon as she came out. 

"Hah." Rein let out a sigh of relief. "You\'re awake. Are you feeling better now, Milady?! I\'ll go prepare some nice food today." 

"Hmm..." Malaya just simply didn\'t respond and watched as Rein walked away with hurried footsteps. \'If someone asked her she was alright again... Nevermind.\'

"How long since I am unconscious this time?" 

"Almost two weeks now," Iris said as she walked towards her with an annoyed expression.

"Milady, every day she has been bringing you new apples," Dorris whispered.

"Really?" Malaya glanced back to Iris.

"We can\'t have our captain dying anytime now is it?" Iris crossed her arms as she turned her gaze to the horizons.

"Don\'t worry. I\'ll try to prevent myself from fainting again." Malaya said, apologetic to everyone. \'Though I can\'t really control it. But darn all those situations.\'

"By the way, where\'s Maru?" Malaya asked as she remembered there was another man on board their ship.

"He is in his room. Comtemplating about life." Iris simply stated. 

"I see..." Malaya replied.

"We have been around in front of this island. We didn\'t venture in and wait until you\'re awake." Iris leaned on the railings of the ship with one arm supporting the weight of her body. "You said it would be your stepping stone for crossing the Red Current."

"Yes, this would be one of my stepping stones to..."

*Growl* Malaya stomach\'s once again growled.

"Let\'s have lunch first, everyone!" Rein called out.

"That would be indeed a better idea." Malaya sighed as she started to walk towards Rein. He already set a table for everyone to eat too.

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Extra Scene:

Two weeks ago.

"Lady Malaya!" Elred being the nearest, rushed when he saw that dark smoke was starting to envelop Malaya.

He tried to remove the ring from her grasp. But the ring seemed stuck to her hand. 

"Lady Malaya! Let go of it!" When he turned to face Malaya, she was in dazed as if she was not hearing something.

"Mi-milady!" Rein slumped down on his knees when the illusion barrier he cast was getting destroyed.

"Milady!" Elred gestured for Dorris to not come near them or she might also get infected by the curse of this unknown ring.

"Always." Iris angry voice echoed. "There are always things suddenly happening when I just temporarily turned away."

She took a bigger stride towards Malaya, carrying a huge bucket containing water.

"Wait!" Elred tried to stop Iris.

"Snap out of it!" She screamed and with all her force splashed the water towards Malaya.

Elred also got afflicted as the water splashed directly to his face. But he felt all of the sudden, the discharge of dark magic from the ring was dissipating.

Malaya\'s body slowly fell and Elred caught her swiftly.

"There. Problem solve." Iris said and at the same time, Rein felt that the illusion magic entrapping them was also diminishing.

His gaze laced with worry at the unconscious girl in his arms. 

"Hey!" 

Back to the present situation...

There were some things that Dorris purposely omitted like how Iris splashed water to Malaya or how Elred carried her back to her room when she was unconscious. And Dorris didn\'t understand, why she needed not to tell this to Malaya.

"Eat more, Dorris," Iris said as she patted Dorris almost making the latter cough up all her food.

"Yes, you should eat more," Elred said as he put more cabbage on Dorris\' plate. He was smiling at her nonchalantly.

\'These two are weird.\' Dorris thought as she drank a glass of water.

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