Voyage Of The Villainess

"Of course, you will be compensated well after our dinner." The third prince said with calmness. "And I apologized for doing something like this." Then he gestured towards one of the knights. The knight opened the door of the room they were in and three maids carrying a new set of meals entered. While there were other three as well who got all the food that was spiked by something.

\'What a waste of food.\' Malaya eyed the foods that the maids brought out.

"These foods are all alright now." The third prince now smiled at them as he began eating, showing to them that the foods were alright now. "As we eat, I would like to discuss the reason why I invited you to dinner."

Malaya then picked one bread as well. "Then please tell us, your highness on what we could do for you?"

"I wanted to ask, what will you do with all the slaves that you bought?"

\'I see. As I expected, it is one of his reasons why he called us.\'

"I will use them well," Malaya said, maintaining her calm smile as well. "Since I am their master now, I plan to let them do some tasks that would be befitting to slaves such them."

Malaya\'s eyes narrowed when a crack started to appear in the Prince\'s calm facade.

"I am planning to go on an expedition and from what I heard, the roads in some places are quite dangerous due to some rebels. I wanted to use them as well as body shields so that I and my cargo would be safe."

\'Anger. His eyes held anger now.\' Malaya continued to observe the prince\'s reactions and continued spouting nonsense again.

"What else do you think I will use them for, your highness." Malaya smiled evilly. "They are just mere slaves whose lives are only worth with some coins."

"Lady Malaya." The third prince was no longer smiling. "If you will, can I buy that slave back to you? I will double the price,"

\'They are indeed some high-ranking nobles. But as expected they are nobles who have the filthy blood of stepping on those who are lower than them.\' The prince clenched his fist.

"Are you certain about that, your highness?" Oliver asked this time. "Are you certain that you will triple the price? The royal family might go bankrupt."

"I will any pay the price for those slaves you bought."

"Three diamonds, the purest quality. That is the total amount I use to buy those slaves." Malaya said. This time the prince\'s eyes widened.

"Diamonds?!" That was probably what was in his mind right now.

"Can you double the amount for that?" Malaya asked. However, Malaya saw that his hand was already gone to the sword beside him. She could only grin inside her mind.

"May I ask, your highness, why are you so eager to buy the slaves that my sister bought?" This time all the eyes turned to the sweet Hyun Jae who finally spoke.

\'Sister? Ah right, that is our disguise.\' Malaya waited for the prince\'s response. Malaya retracted from the sword. 

"I wanted to free those slaves." The prince said. "No matter what their status is, a slave is still a human. That is why I wanted to free them."

\'The third prince Muyang, Kija of the Baslon Kingdom. To think that his sly manner earlier would be diminished by the mere mention and ridicule of slaves. I guess, he was not as still as sly as that one.\' Malaya glanced at Oliver who gave her a questioning look.

"What noble thoughts you have, your highness..." But Malaya was not yet done to infuriate the prince.

"Geez sister. Stop already annoying Prince Kija." Malaya looked at Hyun Jae. 

She gave Hyun Jae a look, \'Eh, why do you need to ruin my fun?\' Hyun Jae just shook her head.

"I apologize, your highness for the words my sister said. She didn\'t mention any of that. You see, when someone tried to play pranks against her and to the people she cares about, she could not help herself but tease the other party in a way that they would never forget." When Hyun Jae read the last sentences of her words, her voice became quite dark. But she still had a sweet smile on her face that would think that they might just have been hallucinating. "So you should refrain from doing such pranks in the future. And sister, please refrain from lying as well. I hate it when people think that you are a bad person." 

\'Where did my sweet and kind Hyun Jae become this scary?\' Malaya dared not to speak. But Malaya just smiled helplessly after the room went silent within a minute. Then she faced the prince once again.

"Prince, I am jesting." Malaya started acting casually now which confused the prince. However, from what Lady Hyun Jae said, it seemed she was just instigating him with words for what he did earlier to them.

"These people are really something. Are they not afraid that with their actions, and with my status I could kill them for disrespecting a royal?" Malaya grinned. "That is what are you thinking right now, Prince? But I don\'t believe you would do something like that."

The prince looked completely surprised at what Malaya had said. It was as close to what he was thinking right now. However, that was just thinking. She was right, he would never do something such as abusing his power.

"What do you think, that I would not punish you?" The prince asked. His anger completely subsided now.

"One, since you are someone who was willing to free slaves at any price, then it means you are someone who would be careful enough to abuse his power. Second, you still owe us earlier."

\'She really held a grudge. And her manner of speech also changed a little bit to being more casual now.\'

"Back on the topic, from the contract I made to someone, I intended to free those slaves as well. My friends and I are people who don\'t intend to stay in one place. So having additional slaves as servants would be inconvenient for us." Malaya said with honesty this time.

"I see then if you intend to free them. I don\'t have any problem now." Prince Kija said. "That was all I wanted to ask and the reason why I invited you here."

"I see." Malaya grinned. "That means this ends the dinner\'s agenda. Now that it is over, I would like to ask for our compensation."

"You may ask what you want. As long as it doesn\'t cause harm to anyone and within my power, I would give and grant it." The third prince, Kija said.

"Don\'t worry, the compensation that I would like to ask for is not something that is hard for you. You see, I\'m looking for people. May I ask, if his highness could give us a helping hand in finding them?"

"Looking for people?" Prince Kija asked.

"They are my friends who got separated from me when we arrived on this continent. Would that compensation be that hard to do?" Malaya asked.

"No. I can certainly do that." The prince replied. "Do you have portraits of them?"

"No, I don\'t." Malaya said. 

"Then I can ask someone to draw their portrait as you describe their appearance." 

"It would be fine. Thank you, your highness. I am really worried about those people." Malaya smiled this time with more sincerity which made the prince a bit flustered. But then he immediately composed himself. \'How can she have so many faces? But the last one...\'

Oliver who saw the Prince\'s reaction couldn\'t help but laugh inside him. \'You better hurry and find us Kayden. It seems some wolf has started to get smitten by your beloved. As someone who owes a debt for letting me stay in your room, there is nothing much I could do right now but to be on guard around these dense ladies from wolves lurking around.\'

"Then please meet with me again tomorrow at this inn at noon. I would bring the artist here."

"Very well." Malaya stood up. "Then I guess, we could leave now, your highness."

"Thank you for your time, Sir Oliver, Lady Hyun Jae, and Lady Malaya."

The three gave one last bow before leaving. When the prince was the only one left, his knight that was behind stepped in.

"Do we still need to secretly follow them, your highness?" He asked.

"No need." The third prince said. "I already know what kind of people they are."

---⚓⚓⚓---

Malaya stretched her hands. "Ah, it\'s been so long that I need to act like a noble." 

"Being a noble is already natural with you, Malaya." Hyun Jae said with cheerfulness. "Whether you are acting or not, everyone would still treat you as a noble."

"Well, I\'m trying to be more of a carefree person," Malaya said, then she brought out a teleportation talisman in her bag. Then she handed the other two talismans to Oliver and Hyun Jae.

"Rather than carefree, he is more like a troublesome person," Oliver muttered under his breath, which earned him an unexpected kick on his right knee. He gritted his teeth to not let out a painful sound and glared at Malaya. She acted like nothing happened and was now casually talking to Hyun Jae.

"Let\'s go now," Malaya said with a smile.. "Rhyme must be waiting for us."