Voyage of the Villainess

Chapter 107 – Volume 3.30 Conviction

The Demon King's Awakening Following the defeat of the villainous Malaya. Hyun Jae and her companions set out on their adventure to prevent the forces of evil from wreaking havoc on the world.

These young courageous heroes battled valiantly, giving the people hope.

Malaya remembered those passages from the novel once again. Currently, she had taken a seat at a long table. And, as usual, the crown prince and Theo were both glaring at her. They were sitting in opposing directions. And Hyun Jae was in the center, preventing any fights from breaking out.

"This is the whole village of Or found in the Northern part of Hellarez."

Malaya glanced at the map drawn by both Lila and Lorn. And it obviously looked like drawn by a child.

"I'm the one who colors this, what do you think big sis?" Lila looked at Malaya with sparkling eyes. Waiting for Malaya's response.

"It absolutely looks like a cra…" Before the crown prince could even finish his sentence, Malaya threw her Trinity. 

*Boogsh!*

Her Trinity hit the wall nearly cutting the beautiful face of the prince. Though some of his hair were also cut. The prince looked with fright at the weapon plunged deeply into the wall.

"How dare you!" The prince was now fuming with anger once again as a sharp blade of ice started to erupt from his hands.

"Your highness." Hyun Jae soft voice resounded. Then she glanced at Malaya. "Malaya.."

"I apologize." Malaya casually said. "I accidentally slip my Trinity out of my hands."

"That is no accident! You are clearly trying to kill me!"

Malaya stood up.

"Malaya…" Hyun Jae wanted to stop her, but she knew she couldn't do anything with whatever Malaya intended to do. 

Malaya walked to the crown prince. She pulled her Trinity that was stuck on the wall.

"Your highness. You are more powerful than me, how can a mere magicless person like me can kill you?" Malaya said with calmness as she walked back to her seat.

The prince could only grit his teeth. Since he came here and got betrayed by his brother and now he couldn't count anymore how he had been humiliated like this. But it seemed none of these people were paying attention to him.

Even Hyun Jae… He was just trying to protect Hyun Jae from Malaya who might harbor a malicious plan for her. Since they came here on this island, Hyun Jae was so good and forgiving that she just let herself be led by that vicious woman like this.

The crown prince stood up. If he did something to Malaya, Hyun Jae would be upset with him. Hyun Jae might have thought that she was getting along now with Malaya. Which the prince couldn't accept.

'Just wait, I'll have a chance to show Hyun Jae your true colors.' The prince simply walked out of the room.

And the person in the crown prince's mind didn't even pay single attention to him.

Malaya was focused now patting Lila's head. "This map looks absolutely lovely." She said with her usual carefree smile as if there was no commotion that happened before.

"Really?" Lila's eyes sparkled even more.

"Yes. Both of you did a good job."

"Yey!" Lila cheered in delight while Lorn simply glanced away looking a bit bashful.

'Adorable.' Malaya simply giggled at the sight of these two children. 'Now I really miss Vivo and Vivian. I hope those two were doing fine.'

"Alright you two, you should go to sleep now. We will talk the rest here from now." Malaya glanced to Lorn.

Lorn nodded his head in understanding as he pulled Lila with her.

"Goodnight, big sis!" Lila said as she yawned.

"Goodnight!" Malaya replied back. 

When the two kids were finally upstairs.

Malaya glanced back to the map. Thought it was quite vague but at least she could have a general idea of what the village would look like. And base on the number of buildings in the drawing it seemed not a simple small village either.

"What are we going to do, Malaya?"

{"What are we going to do, Oliver?"}

Malaya couldn't believe it when she heard the same lines in the story that Hyun Jae used to ask Oliver, when they were planning to save many people, villages, and fights.

Theo merely stared at Malaya, saying nothing. He was the most reserved member of Hyun Jae's entourage. In the story, he was known to talk in chunks of eight words at a time. And every member of the Saintess party made fun of him for it.

'Well I guess, I should be thankful for his quietness. Though his eyes glaring could already tell all his contempt to me without saying anything.'

Back to the main topic, Malaya thought everything about Oliver. Then she glanced back at Hyun Jae.

"Hyun Jae, you're aware that Oliver might also be in this village and our enemy now, right?"

Hyun Jae's eyes blazed with pain. "I-I don't think Oliver would betray us like that; he must have valid reasons, or he was pushed to do all of that unwillingly."

Malaya sighed inwardly after hearing Hyun Jae's response. "Hyun Jae." Her voice laced with seriousness. "He shot you with an arrow and almost got you killed. If it's not for Kayden, then you are already dead by now."

Theo's eyes widened with what he heard. This was his first time hearing that Hyun Jae got almost killed. He clenched his fist. As a knight, he swore to protect her with his life but at this moment… he felt that he was a total failure.

The two girls oblivious to Theo's inner turmoil continued their talk.

Malaya saw how Hyun Jae pursed her lips not able to find anything to refute. But Malaya could see the conflict in her eyes. Hyun Jae was still refusing to believe that Oliver would really do something like that to her intentionally.

Well, she knew the feeling too since it also happened with Dorris as well. It was really painful and hard when a person you considered an ally or friend or even family, hurt you just like that without knowing the reason. And Hyun Jae was facing the same situation now.

"Hyun Jae, look at me," Malaya instructed. And Hyun Jae slowly raised her head to look back at Malaya.

"What is the reason why you were brought to this world?"

"To defeat the demon king." Hyun Jae meekly answered.

'Such a heavy task lie upon the shoulders of the female lead. No. Right now, in front of me, Hyun Jae is just a simple fourteen years old child. But this is her fate.'

"Do you really wish to defeat the demon king? Are you not afraid of him?"

"I'm not afraid of him." Hyun Jae said as she looked at Malaya with determination. "This world has already given me a lot. This is the least I could do for them. And I have my friends whom I can rely upon."

'As expected… A very female lead-like answer.'

"Why are you asking me such things about the demon lord right now?"

It seemed she was still not aware of it. "Hyun Jae. Those cloaked people belong to the cult of the demon lord."

Hyun Jae gasped at what she had heard. And she was even more shocked by Malaya's following words.

"And right now, they are all serving under Oliver. Which will be the future demon lord whom you need to defeat. Now Hyun Jae, are you still willing to go to that village, and defeat Oliver, the future demon king?"

'Hyun Jae. I apologize, but the storyline was no longer running as it should. In this fight, where your life as the protagonist is now in danger, the first step to survive is, I need to know how strong your desire is to complete this duty that fate has set for you. Plus…'

Malaya shifted her gaze to the map drawn by Lorn for her. 'There is something else I need to confirm too about that child.'