Voyage Of The Villainess

Malaya's eyes opened wide when she heard scampering noises down the tree where she was resting. It was already late at night, and there was no sight of the moon in the sky. Yet it was still bright due to the billions of stars sparkling above. It was peaceful and calming where she could only hear the trees facing and swaying along with each other because of the wind.

But Malaya couldn't enjoy any of this scenery right now. The wind's breeze sent more chills to her as all her senses heightened to their maximum state. She was observing every bit of her surroundings with her eyes that already got accustomed to the dark.

A strong breeze of wind blew and Malaya held firmer to the trunk of the tree she was resting at. But at the same time, her eyes narrowed when she smelled again that familiar smell of blood from the morning. 'That smell,' she became more alert when she squinted her eyes and focused more on her hearing. Don't get her wrong, the smell of blood was just strangely strong and anyone could notice it right away.

"Young mistress," 

Malaya heard a male's voice.

"You've done a good job at doing that, here's your pay." 

This time a female's voice resounded. But it was strangely familiar to Malaya as well. 

'That voice where did I hear that?' 

{"Hi, My name is Kiana, it's nice to meet you. And I would love to be friends with you if that's alright. Blue lady?"}

'Kiana huh, I can feel there is something fishy here.' Malaya's eyes narrowed more. 'What is she doing here in the middle of the woods and in the middle of the night? Are they here looking for me as well?  Tss why all of the sudden they become aggressive at me. I truly do not understand.'

Malaya silently observed the two suspicious people below and listened to their conversations. And the two, who were oblivious that Malaya was above them continued their conversation.

"Young mistress," The man in the mask, looked at the pouch that Kiana gave him. And his eyes sparkled seeing its contents. 

"You did a pretty good job today. Expect that we will call you again if we need you to do something." Kiana turned around and started walking away but before she could go far, that man held his hands. 

"Young mistress! Please wait!" 

"Why are you touching me?!" Kiana screamed in fury. "Get your hand off of me!" 

"Apologies, mistress!" The man was frightened and he dropped to the ground. He kept kowtowing as he repeated the words 'I'm sorry and please forgive me.' 

"Hmph," Kiana calmed down. "Do you need anything else?" She asked in a much calmer voice.

"Young- young mi-mistress, when will I-I be a-able to live in the village?" The men said in a trembling voice.

"This is all you want to say? How many times did I tell you to stop asking me that nonsense question, huh?" Kiana said in an annoyed voice. Then she walked towards the man and suddenly stepped on his head. "Hey! Listen carefully. You are nothing but someone abandoned in the forest by their parents in some unknown tribe. Do you really think it will be easy for you to earn your place in the village? Be grateful that I and Milady found you before you starved yourself to death when you're just a child." She put more force on her right foot as she pressed the man's cheeks on the ground. "Your parents abandoned you because you are useless. An unwanted dog like you just needs to do what the order has given them to do. Do you understand that?" 

"Ye-yes, young mistress." The man said with difficulty.

"Tsk. Stop wasting my time again by asking that question repeatedly and tell you the reason repeatedly why living in the village is not meant for you." Kiana retracted her foot. "Anyway, I will let you slide since you've done your job well of knocking out that old lady. Too bad she didn't die completely. But it's alright since she would never wake again. Now, it's only a matter of time before those outsiders will be executed.'

"Yo-young mistress is tru-truly amazing." The man said as he didn't dare to raise his head.

Kiana gave one look of disdain to the man below her before she started going away. But then she paused when something came to her mind. "Ah, one more thing. Now that I think about it," a wicked grin formed her lips. "There is now a golden chance for you to be able to live in the village. If you truly want to be part of the village you must be valuable for all of us first.  "

The man's ears perked at Kiana's words. He was excited to hear whatever Kiana was going to say.

"That woman with the blue hair had escaped around in this forest. If you are able to bring her dead or alive back, both Milady and the villagers will surely be delighted with your deed."

"Tha-thank you, young mistress! Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. I promise I will prove to all of you how valuable I can be for you." The man kowtowed with joy with the sudden words of Kiana. "I will bring her to the village at all costs!"

"Alright! Good. Now we both agree to that agreement. I think you must start to make a better plan for your next action and bring the woman who has blue hair alive or not." Kiana walked again. "I'm looking forward to your good results."

When Kiana was no longer in sight, the man stood up and removed the mask he was wearing. His silver eyes glinted in the dark as he looked at his surroundings. "I will never let it slide in my hand because I finally have the chance to be accepted in the village. I just need to find that woman that the young mistress mentioned." There was a delight and excitement in his voice. "I-I will never live alone by myself again. I can now socialize and talk to others as long as I want. And be a normal human being."

{"Hello! How are you? It's nice to meet you! Good weather we have today!"} 

He suddenly remembered the woman with the same description that the mistress mentioned. He already met her this morning. 'Wait, that woman earlier in the morning Is that possibly her?'

"Yes, it can only be her. Now that I'm familiar with blue hair it would be easy for me to find her. I should look out for her now." The man started walking. But before he could move, he felt someone's presence above him! It was too late for him to move when he was pinned down on the ground.

"Hello! Nice to see you again," Malaya greeted with all smiles. "The weather is really good today, noh?"

"You!" The man tried to struggle to get away from Malaya, but Malaya put more pressure on her hold causing him to move hard. The woman he was looking at was just right above him all this time. "If you want to make everything easy. Just come silently with me!"

"I don't want to,"  Malaya said in a childish tone. "Besides, if I do that, they will kill me." Malaya put some more pressure that caused him to close his eyes because of the pain. 

"That's not my problem! Let go of me!" The man yelled as he struggled even more.  Malaya stuffed a cloth inside his mouth to shut him up.

"Apologies, but I can't let go of you either. There are some things that I need to know. Let's have a talk after you calm down a bit, alright?" Malaya said as she hit the nape of the man. And right away, the man lost consciousness. That's when Malaya finally let go of him.

"Well," Malaya stood up as she started pulling the man with her. "Who knows that I'll be trapped with some conspiracies without my knowledge. Ah," she released a deep breath. "This is too troublesome." Then she glanced down at the unconscious man. Since it was dark, the face of the man was still not clearly visible to her. "Well, I guess, I need to do some interrogation first. To know what the sh*t is happening. But after all, everything has now begun to make sense to me. At least I'm not innocent about this anymore."

"For a snake hiding beneath the guise of a cute and lively bright girl. Whatever your reason, you chose the wrong opponent." A sinister grin escaped Malaya's lips. "Since I'm getting bored with all these errands, good thing that you brought me in some interesting game to play, dear Kiana." She glanced up into the dark sky. "I will show you how to play this game properly." 

Her light aquamarine eyes glinted with unknown malicious intent. However, she didn't see the huge stone behind her as she stepped back. She tripped and stumbled on the ground. 

*Boogsh!*

"Aish, this. What a mood breaker." She immediately stood up as she rubbed her aching butt. "Well never mind, let's find a place where I can hide with this man. Tomorrow will be another hectic day for me.." Malaya grabbed the arms of the unknown man and pulled him once again.