Voyage Of The Villainess

{"Hey! I brought you some berries and medicine!"

"Where did you...*cough *cough...get this?"

"It doesn\'t matter, you should eat this now, so you would be better."}

Dorris once again opened her eyes. Both a sensation of hurt and fear filled her heart for some reason. For such a feeling to occur, her mind was completely confused. "When that Callan guy said those words, those strange things kept appearing in my mind."

"But that voice laced with worry and care," 

"Why-why am I feeling this way?" Dorris clutched her chest. There was this sensation swirling inside that she couldn\'t explain with words. She never felt like this before.

She clenched her fist, her nails almost digging to her flesh. "What kind of black magic did they do to me?" Adding to her frustration was the sensational throbbing of her head. She slowly rose to her bed. With her body, although it was not hurting anymore, it felt strangely tired. She leaned on the headboard of the bed. \'This time, I couldn\'t let them whisk that strange powder to me again.\' 

Dorris glanced at her foot that had a chain on it. \'If only this thing was not here, I would be able to escape here easily. Lady Malaya, knowing her, must be worried about me now.\'

Dorris let out a small chuckle. "She is the only person I know who would risk her life for a mere maid like me." 

Dorris closed her eyes. Memories from four years ago flashed through her mind. 

{"From now on, you will be my new personal maid." A girl who looked the same age as she flashed a bright smile. Her beautiful hair like the ocean seemed to glow along with her bright expression. "I\'m Malaya. Please take care of me now." She said as she bowed down her head at her.}

A smile grace from Dorris\' lips. "She is really strange since the first time I met her, and the fact for a noble lady to bow down to her maid was something unheard of."

Like how the sunny days have suddenly loomed with dark clouds, Dorris\' smiling face turned gloomy. "Since when I started living with them, my life changed for the better unlike when I was in the orphanage at the..."

\'Orphanage? Where is the orphanage located?\'

{\'Someday, when we grow up, I\'m going to provide you with any food you want."

"And we will eat until all our stomachs burst out!"

"Hahaha! Then we will surely die if our stomach bursts out!"}

Dorris clutched her head when unfamiliar blurred images of people stuck in her mind. "Those people..." She gritted her teeth. 

"I have enough of their tricks!" She touched the metal chain on her foot. "I must get out of here at all costs! There are so many things Milady needs to do right now!"

Dorris tried to remove the chain, but the metal was like claws, grasping her ankle hard. "When I met Milady, all I caused was nothing but trouble! I couldn\'t let that happen all over again this time. She glanced around, looking for anything useful that could help her escape. Unlike before, the room was not dark anymore.

There were three balls of fire in the middle of the ceiling that lit up the whole room. At the same time, it emitted a warm sensation so as not to make the room temperature too chilly for her. 

Dorris stood up and walked as silently as before to not make any sounds and accidentally alert anyone from before that she had been awakened. She slowly walked towards the fire but...

*Clang!*

She couldn\'t reach it. The chains were not long enough to be able to reach the fire. She tried to reach it with her hands, but it was all futile. Her gaze continued to shift to other parts of the room.

"Anything...Please just anything that I could use." 

And as her gaze went back to her bed, particularly to the table beside it, her line of sight caught the glass of water above it. \'Is that glass there before?\' She started inching closer to it. When she held it, a cold sensation touched her palm. She just stared at it for a moment, thinking of how she could use this thing. Then she glanced back at the chain in her foot. A sudden and frightening thought crossed her mind. 

"This is the only way I could escape here." Her gaze contorted with determination. She raised the glass she was holding and smashed it on the table. A small shard of glass grazed her hand, but Dorris completely ignored it as she picked the largest shard on the floor.

"Hurry!" 

"She must have been awakened now!" Dorris glanced up to the door when she heard voices and footsteps seemingly approaching it. One of the voices was the voice of the one who brought her here.

"I have no time now!" She immediately raised the shard she was holding in the air. \'If I can\'t remove this chain, I\'ll just cut down my foot and teleport out of here!\' And without a moment of hesitation, she aimed to strike it down towards her ankle, fully intending to cut it down.

---⚓⚓⚓---

Thunder resounded and lightning protruded. The vendors on the streets of Aravan were now busy fixing their tents, preparing for the threatening dark clouds that were now starting to cover the once clear sky.

Amidst the busy movements of the people, three figures stood still in front of a shop that was closed.

"It seems the old man closed his shop earlier today as well," Iris said as she continued to glance around. "Old man! It\'s me, Iris!" She tried to call out but only silence answered her along with the sounds of the rustling of wind here and there.

"Do you really know where she is?" Malaya started to finally lose her cool. Although she did say to herself before that she hoped to meet Iris once again, this was not the right time for that. 

"Of course!" Iris casually replied with a grin that reached her eyes. "I saw her carried by a man covered with some mummy man here. And the old man selling in this store said that guy was his brother."

"What?! You clearly saw Dorris here!" Malaya held Iris\' neck. "And you did nothing even though you\'re so close to her!" She said, her voice laced with anger.

Iris rolled her eyes as she yanked Malaya\'s hands away from her. 

"What kind of connection do I have with her to help her anyway?" Iris sarcastically remarks. 

"She\'s my friend!" Malaya\'s voice mixed with the thunder that suddenly resounded.

"Hah." Iris scoffed. "Your friend? What are you to me to care for your friend? I just came because of the reward that you said you\'d give to me. If you think you owe me my life because I was saved by you, you are mistaken." Iris almond eyes\' peered at Malaya\'s conflicted and angered gaze at her.

"Remember that if not for those letters, you write. The rebellion wouldn\'t lose in the first place and Baru wouldn\'t have to die!"

"Those letters were not my fault. It is you, who starts the rebellion in the first place." Malaya said coldly.

Hearing her words, a surge of anger rose more to Iris\' chest, but she held herself to stop saying anything more.

"Tsk. Don\'t be too full of yourself just because you know some things." Iris released a deep breath to calm herself. "There is a certain place in my mind where they brought her. I\'ll confirm it first.  For the time being, you should clean yourselves up and have a little rest to clear your head." 

Iris took a sideways glance at Rein who remained quiet all the time before she completely turned her back away from them. "Meet me here at midnight. Don\'t be too worried, from what I see they don\'t have any intent to kill them."

She said with no emotions laced to her tone and started to walk away. A white monkey jumped to her shoulders. \'Tsk. That girl seems to be the typical annoying righteous pushover in those reincarnated stories. If I\'m not broke and lazy, I don\'t have any reason to deal with her. She said she\'s Gina\'s student.\'

\'Hah. Like a teacher, like a student.. They are both annoying.\'