Voyage Of The Villainess

"Iris, where are Lady Malaya and Rein, and why aren't they with you?" Dorris inquired. Her worried expression was visible all over her face as her eyes flickered with concern.

"She vanished when she ran after Hyun Jae," Iris said, taking a deep breath and picking up her breath.

Iris shifted her gaze down the ship. The white mist stalled on the island's grounds. "Rein went ahead to find her, and he vanished in the mist as well."

"Milady disappeared!" Iris saw Dorris planned to jump on the ship but she was able to stop her.

"Tss! Can you calm down first? You really are master and servant." Iris sighed. "Don't be so reckless."

"I have a plan! I can just teleport back to the ship so easily if something goes wrong. I need to find them. Milady needs my help right now." Dorris said as she tried to yank Iris' grip to her right hand. But Iris' grip was too strong for her to remove.

"It seems I can't stop you." Iris sighed. "Then let me go with you too, it's better if you have someone with you."

"Alright, that sounds good." Dorris agreed. That's when Iris let go of Dorris.

"And one more thing," Iris turned to Elred. "You should accompany us well."

"I'm already going to ask about that." Elred said. 

"Then let's go." Iris said then she turned this time to Rhyme and looked at him up and down. "And you..."

Rhyme gulped as he waited for Iris' words. Though Iris was just looking at him. He perceived those stares as a glare.

"Though, I don't particularly trust you and you look useless and clutz..."

'Ouch.' Rhyme felt some part of his heart were slowly shattering at Iris' sharp words. 

"It seems you are good at handling and managing the whole ship." Iris tapped his shoulders which made him even more tense. "We trust you on that one good thing. Protect Bituins until I get our reckless captain back here on the ship. Is that clear to you?"

*Badump!* Rhyme gazed down. He couldn't help but admire Iris' way of words. She would shatter once heart at first but she would rebuild it to become much firmer.

'She- she trusts me?' Rhyme felt so emotional right now. 'No one really hasn't said those words to me in my entire life' He flashed a genuine smile. 

"Yes I will..." But as soon as he finished with his inner monologue and looked up once again, he was met with an empty space. 

"Ah they left already." Rhyme smile faltered. "And I didn't even notice it haha." He combed his hair with his fingers. 

Rhyme inhaled the cold air and went to the railing of the ship. He looked at the island covered in mist now. "I hope all of you will come back safe and sound." He clutched his chest. "I promise to look after this entire ship." 

"Excuse me? May I ask if this is the ship Lady Malaya used to come here?" 

Rhyme suddenly stiffened when he heard an unfamiliar mild and cold male voice behind him.

When he looked behind, he saw a youth clad in light green tunic. He had lustrous green hair and his golden eyes looked at Rhyme with interest.

"Who-who are you?" Rhyme said with great worry. "How do you know our captain's name?!"

"I see, so she's your captain." He said without any expression written on his face.

Rhyme covered his mouth realizing the things that he shouldn't have blurted out.

"Ah. How rude of me to not introduce myself. I'm Oliver." Oliver said with an unreadable expression on his face. "And don't worry, me and your precious captain are acquaintances. I just need to settle some things with her until then..."

Rhyme looked left and right when two cloaked people appeared on both sides.

"Can I ask you to come with us?" Oliver asked. More like it sounded as a demand to Rhyme.

'No Rhyme I just promised earlier that I will protect the ship. I can't go with them.' Rhyme stepped back as the two people neared him. What should I do?'

"It's nice meeting you Oliver but I apologize, I can't go with you!" Rhyme was quite surprised that he didn't stutter this time. From his back he brought out two pouches.

The two cloaked people became alerted as Rhyme threw it to Oliver. "Protect Milord!" the other one shouted in panic as he ran in front of Oliver.

The pouch exploded with powder as soon as it hit the cloaked person instead of Oliver. White smoke started to spread around.

Rhyme used this chance to hide inside the ship. Though the whole place was covered with mist, there was also another thing that the others were not aware of. He had a very sharp vision and his glasses were just for disguise that no one truly knew about him.

Why he had this, it was something that he couldn't tell anyone right now. Rhyme threw his shoe in the water as he went deep inside the ship's chambers.

["Go,You should go with them." Nicholas tapped his shoulders.

"Pardon Sir?" Rhyme asked if what he said was right.

"They will surely need someone who will fix their ship from time to time. And since you are also one of the people who builds the ship with me, You're the only one that I can entrust you with this."

"Sir..."

"Do you still remember the time when you first worked here? I ask you this question 'why do you want to work at my shipyard.' Do you still remember anything?"

"..." Rhyme remained silent and tried to remember everything.

"And you answered you want to try different things in order to find what you are meant to do." Nicholas smiled as he patted Rhyme's shoulders. "I think you can also search that with them so why don't you try? I know you can grow with them, this is your opportunity to explore."]

Rhyme heeded Nicholas' words back then. Since he came here, people have been entrusting him with a lot of things which had never happened in his life. It was scary but having a responsibility where others depend on you, it was not a bad thing for Rhyme. Since now he felt like he was not completely a burden nor useless person now.

Rhyme clutched his chest as he stopped in the lowest part of the ship. 'I have a gut feeling that if they get me, things will only worsen. I need to hide myself as soon as I can for the sake of the ship and also to find what I'm meant to do.' . He pressed a block on the end wall of the ship and it began to open without making any noise.

'Captain was truly amazing to come up with such a design on the ship. And there are still other hidden rooms besides this that only I and captain, ah probably Sir Rein would probably also know. I can hide in this place for a while.'

'They're already here!' He immediately entered the secret room when he heard approaching footsteps in the floor above him.

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