Voyage Of The Villainess

Malaya looked with decisiveness at the whirlpool they were approaching. The time when they had their strategy meeting at the island came to her mind.

"The game of life must go on," she smirked.

***

"When we got closer and entered the first stage of Red Current. Remember that everything that has magic will be rendered useless." Malaya said. "It is crucial and will be hard to cross the area, without relying on magic but this is what we must do."

"There will be three main key factors that will be used to cross the whirlpools. First is the  Bituins itself, I have Sir Nicholas already designed it to a more suitable ship that won't get destroyed and be swayed by whirlpools. The second will be the navigation of the flow of the wind and the water, which is a very suitable job for Rhyme?"

"Me?" Rhyme pointed to himself.

"Yes, you. I believe with your keen eyesight and from what I heard with Sir Nicholas, is that you have quite an experience in navigating ships, so you will be the perfect navigator for us. Please help us navigate all the way through the whirlpools."

Rhyme couldn't refute when Malaya continued to barrage her with words of expectation.

"I will try my best." Rhyme said.

"Better be, if you make one wrong move, it will be the death for all of us." Malaya laughed light-heartedly.

Rhyme froze as his mind had only one thought. 'Death of everyone? What did I even agree to?'

Iris seeing Rhyme crestfallen face, just shook her head. "You only increase the pressure on him. "So what's the third key factor?" 

Malaya looked to all of them. "The third factor is, is all of you." A grin formed on her lips. "Use all your strength to paddling really hard."

"Huh? But there are only six of us plus Rhyme?" Iris looked at Malaya as if she was joking,

"Don't worry about that, there are fourteen paddles in the Bituins attached at the second deck. There are four huge paddles in the front, which are connected to the steering wheel. Then another four that were on the back as well, that is connected in the back."

"The only thing that requires man powers are the six paddles in the middle," Malaya explained with all smiles.

"Are kidding me? Why just not make it all connected to the steering wheel."

"Well actually about that, I can't really do that since it will exhaust more power of the ship if all of it were connected to one main source. Plus, I'm just being careful that if some of the engines might be broken, then we can rely on another source of power to move the ship. So I look forward to your hard work guys! I know we can do this!" Malaya cheerfully said.

***

Back to the current situation, each of them was now stationed in their own place for paddling that was located at the second deck of the ship. Since Malaya foresee that the Bituin's own engines might not be strong enough to push through the whirlpools, they needed another external force.

"Rhyme we are ready of your command!" Malaya screamed as she held one of the paddles on the left side. 

Rhyme who was on the first deck took a huge deep breath. Then he looked at the whirlpools ahead. 'Okay, Rhyme! I believe in you! I can do this!' He muttered to himself.

His eyes went to the flow of the water, then feel the flow of the wind as well. The Bituins were now getting closed to the first whirlpool. 1, 2, 3...

"We are going to the left!" Rhyme screamed. His voice echoed through the opening of the pipe that was near him. Then it went on to the other ends of the pipes where the position of the paddles was located. He maneuvered the steering wheel to the left. And Malaya and the others used all their force to paddle.

"Aish!" Iris rowed the boat hard.  "We can use the sails!" She retorted.

"We can't do that!" Malaya screamed back. "If there was a slight change in the wind or another strong force that goes beyond our wanted direction, it will be difficult for us to control the ship!"

"We are heading now the second whirlpool! To the right!" Rhyme screamed echoed through the pipes once again. And all of them rowed the boat with all of their sheer strength.

"Malaya, I swear! After all of this, you must give us something!" Iris screamed.

"This is so fun!" Hyun Jae said in delight. "We can do it, everyone!'

And everyone became silent hearing her remarks. 

'She is really the female lead. Such positive outlook in life.'

Both Iris and Malaya thought. Malaya also laughed. "It's really fun!"

"You're all insane!' Iris screamed more as she rowed the ship once more.

Malaya was also grinning from ear to ear. Then from the window, she saw the whirlpools. 'Who would have thought that crossing these whirlpools has a different feeling now.'

Malaya tightened the grip on the paddle when she remembered how Jules fell helplessly and drowned in one of these whirlpools. Then she exerted more force now. 'Big brother Jules, I'm sorry to be back again here when you sacrificed your life just to get me out of here.'

"Last one everyone!" Rhyme screamed. "Full force ahead!" Rhyme maneuvered the steering wheel with all the force he had.

"Aye!" Everyone screamed as they paddled to the last whirlpool. With all their strength, they tightened the grip on the paddles, fought the heaviness of the water, and rowed.

"We-we finally make it through!" Rhyme screamed in delight. "Everyone we passed the first stage!" 

And the loud cheers of everyone echoed through the pipes.

Malaya looked at her numb hands with a smile. "But Jules, if you can see me, I finally made it out the whirlpools. And become stronger now, because you save me that day." Amidst the celebration, Malaya went back to her room. Then on one of her drawers, she picks out two bottles that had white calla petals.

She went up towards the upper deck. When she spotted Rein, she reached the other bottle towards him.

"This is flowers for brother Jules." Rein was a bit startled at first, then accept the bottles.

"Yes, Milady."

Malaya then poured the white petals towards the red sea. "I finally able to give you flowers, Jules." 

Rein also did the same. "Young master." He said as he gripped the bottle in his hand looking at the red sea. 

Everyone remained silent as they watched Malaya and Rein.. The silence was the best thing they could give for them.