Voyage of the Villainess

Chapter 5 – Marquess, We Meet Again

The gate to the mansion was partially open to the left. However, it was broad enough to allow a small carriage to pass through. There were no guards in sight, as though the site had been vacated.

Dorris rested her hand on the gate's somewhat damp metal. Then she tightened her grip on the metal bars to support her shaking body.

"Where has milady gone?" Dorris broke into tears as they approached the Marquess' front gate. No matter where they searched, Malaya was nowhere to be found. She couldn't sense her presence anywhere in the vicinity. "Please don't tell me she's still in jail!" Her voice became more concerned with each passing second. Unwanted negative thoughts were now flashing inside her mind.

Rein's expression was strained. 'This can't be….the dungeon reinforcements had already come.'

"Perhaps we should take a look back!" Dorris yelled. She was panting severely at this point. Sweat was running down her brow as she supported herself with the gate's pillars. Rein gave her a skeptical look.

"You've already performed teleportation twice in a row." Rein asserted. "It's using up a lot of your lifa, and you'll still need to use it later." Rein then pulled a talisman from his robes. "I'll be the one to go back and search for our Lady,"

Rein was about to rip the talisman…

"Sup?" Malaya appeared behind them, smiling.

"Milady!" Dorris screamed. "Where have you been? Are you alright?" She hurried towards Malaya to ascertain her condition.

Malaya gave them a lush grin. "I was just swept away somewhere else, but I was fortunate I had some sort of talisman on me." Then she tapped Dorris' shoulders. "You can calm down now, don't overwork yourself more." Malaya noticed the tired look on Dorris' face.

"Is that it?" Rein scrutinized Malaya with his perceptive hazel eyes.

"Yeah," Malaya said, her grin unwavering. 'They don't need to know that I transferred and ended up meeting the last boss of the novel. To begin with, they have no inkling about him yet. Kayden has no idea of who I am either.'

"Was it all my fault? I should have been more cautious while utilizing the array!" Dorris cried.

"No. Your spell is perfect." Malaya sought to console Dorris.

"How did you find out about that, my lady? You don't even have any magic! You can't possibly sense any magic. It's really all my fault. Wahhh."

Malaya felt a knife struck her in the chest. 'Ah, this kid, can she get much blunter than that? And how she can still chatter about so many things despite her state.' But that's right, in a world where magic exists, Malaya was born without it. Since she arrived in this world, Malaya depended on talismans, other magical artifacts, her companions, and her understanding of the novel up until this point. This is also the second reason why she wanted to travel this world. To gain her own magic; the forgotten tenth class of magic.

"Ahhh!" They all turned to look as they heard cries coming from within the mansion.

Malaya adjusted her hood and began walking to the Marquess' mansion's front entrance. She shoved the door open, and what she saw next made her want to cheer. Inside the mansion, another hunk for her eyes to feast on was creating mayhem. But, unfortunately, there was no time to squander for the time being.

"Milady, they are already heading this way," Dorris whispered. 'I already consume so much time from that encounter with Kayden. Any moment they will be here. We should wrap things now.'

"Ah, what a wreck," Malaya grinned at the sight in front of her.

"This is enough, Sir Nicholas; that man will be apprehended shortly by someone. We have fulfilled our end of the agreement; all the girls are now free." Malaya gave a short nod as she placed her right palm on her left chest. "Thank you for providing us with a diversion."

"I see…so you've already done your part, then I'll finish this now," Nicholas said as he lowered his arms, causing all the cards to descend down in an instant.

In defense, the Marquess closed his eyes and crossed his claws. But after a few moments of silence, he felt nothing. He gradually opened his eyes. All of the cards did not strike him; instead, they landed on the ground, forming a perfect circle and in the center, he stood.

The Marquess collapsed on the ground, sweating profusely. He felt like half of his life had already passed him by. 'Just who are these people?' He couldn't help but tremble.

"Aw, you frightened the poor old man," Malaya remarked, her voice tinged with pleasure, "Though I truly wanted to impart more lessons about this man." She could still recall how this man damaged her book when she was on the market.

—⚓⚓⚓—

"Is that book more intriguing than me, young lady?" The Marquess grabbed her book and tossed it on the ground. A carriage passed them at the precise moment and rolled its wheel to the book.

"You're young and lovely; become my mistress, and I'll give you everything!" The Marquess glanced at her with a nasty expression.

It was already her intention to attract the marquess' attention and be imprisoned. According to her intel, anyone who rejects the marquess' proposals to be his mistress would be charged with theft and imprisoned. But still…

"Ah, he has done it." When Malaya saw her book torn into bits, a demon within her awoke.

The marquess took a surprise sharp uppercut. Malaya was about to kick his most prized possession, but a knight was able to protect it. The knight's shield, on the other hand, received a sharp-sounding cracking noise. The marquess' next generation would be gone if the knight was even a second late.

They both grew blue at the sight of the shield. "This-this ungrateful wench dragged her to prison in an instant!" The Marquess yelled as he moved a few steps away.

The knights dragged Malaya towards the jail for the simple reason of assaulting the pig head marquess.

—⚓⚓⚓—

'Seriously, just reminiscing about it made my blood boil.' Malaya's smile grew ominous looking at the fallen state of the marquess. 'Who would believe that this man, was once a general and part of that tiger clan? He looked like more of a pig now.'

"Marquess Gridon, I apologize for this harsh treatment," Malaya said derisively to the marquess. She walked up to him and bent down on his level.

'This scent!' The Marquess was surprised. It was the scent of the ungrateful wench who punched him two days ago.

"Marquess, we meet again." Malaya gave him a sickly-sweet smile.