Voyage of the Villainess

Chapter 78 – Volume 3.1 Troubled Black Cat

Two weeks later at the border town of Taleba…

"There she is!" 

"Catch her!"

"Sh*t! How did they find me?"

"U-u-ah-ah!" A white monkey holding three bananas was pointing in her direction.

"That traitor!"Iris started to run. But as she turned to a corner. The smiling Rein was already there blocking her way along with Elred who was stretching his limbs.

"Crap!" Iris started to back away but then Dorris and Malaya were already there. Even when she thought jumping up, cards were blocking the air.

"I'm completely cornered."

"Yes, you are," Malaya said as she inched closer. "Now speak. You have been avoiding us for a week now."

To all of you, who were confused about what on earth was happening. It happened a week ago when Rein reported about the talking black cat who collapsed. When Iris heard this, she immediately ran away, telling them she forgot to get something in the inn.

Though the said black cat was still unconscious, more like sleeping peacefully, since Malaya had nothing to do with her life while waiting for her ship to be completely repaired, she decided to get all the answers from the orange girl head, named Iris.

And that led to the current situation…

"Sir Nicholas, why are you also joining this farce?" Iris said as she glared at the man who block her pathway upwards. "You should focus on repairing the ship."

"I'm already done," Nicholas said nonchalantly. "And I also got money tracking you." '

'This money craze bastard.' Iris clenched her fist. 'Just who in the world made you like that, they should suffer…Ah right, I wrote him like that.'

"But to even pay for his services for trivial things like this, you surely bored with your life." She said looking straight at Malaya.

Malaya simply shrugged her shoulders. "Well, if you have money, you should use it wisely, to make life too difficult for you," a grin forming her lips.

The three of them started to corner Iris in a corner. They were staring cautiously at her.

"I know that I'm not a good person," Iris started to act crocodile tears. "But those stares of untrust still hurts me. I still have feelings you know."

"Cut the tears, you look like a duck," Malaya said with a grin that Iris wanted to remove the most now. "That won't work on us."

"Tsk." Iris crossed her arms as she leaned on the wall. "Alright, I will speak, you don't have to look at me like that." 

"It all started during that one sunny day," Iris began her storytelling.

"Um, will you skip forward a bit…" Malaya said which earned her a glare from Iris. "Kidding, go on." 

Iris rolled her eyes, but she proceeded nonetheless. "I was planning to go to the shipyard when he appeared." 

"Who appeared?" Dorris' asked.

"Well, Kayden," Iris said.

"Ah, I see…" Malaya, Dorris, and Rein nodded their head simultaneously in understanding. At this point, none of them seemed surprised at Iris' remarks. Since that guy really loved to appear out of nowhere. After Rein brought back Dorris from Charrio, he already forgot about the other prisoner that was with him. 

'Well, I guess he is fairing well.' Rein thought.

"So what is the connection of the cat to him?" Malaya asked.

"I'm already getting there," Iris said getting impatient with all the questions pressed to her. "Kayden suddenly grabbed my arm, telling me to come with him but then something unexpected happened."

All the people listening waited for anticipation at Iris' next words. "What?" Dorris looked at her with sparkling eyes.

"With a puff sound and white smoke, he turned into a cat," Iris said ending everything.

"What? That's all?" Malaya exclaimed in surprise. "Then why do you need to hide and avoid us when you could simply tell us like that." 

"Well, It's not my fault that you would overreact like that," Iris shrugged. 

"I've wasted money just for that," Malaya mumbled which was heard by the people beside her.

"I'm going back now." Nicholas flew away with his cards before Malaya could change her mind and demand him to return her money. "By the way, come to the harbor tomorrow!" He shouted before he vanished completely from their sight.

"We should return as well," Malaya said. "Ah, since we are talking about the cat, I'm going to check how is it doing now." And without saying anything, Dorris started to chant for the magic circle. And they all teleported right away, to the inn.

—⚓⚓⚓—

Back at the dungeon, Kayden endured being maltreated by her stepmother. All he could do was to remain quiet while that sharp whip, lashed to his bare skin. He wouldn't give that woman any satisfaction from getting any reaction from him.

But then one day, a strange person appeared. He was wary at first, but it turned out into amusement in the end when the mysterious girl with light aquamarine eyes, healed all his wounds all of the sudden. Then disappeared in the end.

But then another strange woman appeared, her playful eyes fixed on him. But Kayden recognized that this woman was unlike anyone else. Despite her childish and mischievous appearance, she had a far more intimidating and frightening presence.

"Do you want to escape here?" she asked, a sly grin on her face. "You see, seeing the same things over and over is boring, so I decided to spice things up for a while," she chuckled. "I couldn't wait to see those gods' priceless expressions when they found out about this…" the mysterious girl mumbled, but Kayden could still hear her.

He didn't even get to respond when he found himself getting sucked out by some void. 

"Go look for Iris in the Taleba Colosseum, she would be able to help you with whatever you want!" That's the last thing he heard before he disappeared.

Then he appeared in some dark forest, the chains that bound him for almost seven years of his life were all gone now. 

"I'm free." Those words felt strangely different from his mouth, no matter how he long for it. Then he remembered that strange woman's last words…

'The one thing I want…' his heart grew cold. 'The one thing I want is to kill that woman with the very curse she put unto me,' dark lifa emerged from his hands and enveloped him.

As Kayden met Iris, he didn't expect to meet the other girl who healed him. Every time, he finally found out about that woman who ruined his life, she was always there. The girl with light aquamarine eyes. 

At Taleba and even at Aravan she was always there. But Kayden completely ignored these coincidences and strived to fulfill his goal no matter what.

He went to see Iris for the second time since that malice escaped from his hands. He was clueless again on where to find that witch.

But, just as he was about to speak to her, he heard in his mind the voice of the girl who had freed him from the dungeon. 'Do you have nothing else to do but look for her? I guess I'll have to make things more interesting for myself.'

Kayden opened up his eyes with a jolt. He had this frightening dream that he become a cat!

"He's awake!" He heard multiple voices.

And once again, red ruby eyes glued to light aquamarine eyes. 

"Well hello there," Malaya said with a wide smile.. "It seems you got yourself in some real trouble this time."