Rihannan and Mary stepped foot out of the carriage and sauntered to the VIP check-in lane. Rihannan looked to Mary and gave a brief nod.
“Yes, Miss,” said Mary.
Mary shuffled the tickets from her trouser and passed it to the sailor whose eyes gawked in surprise looking at the ticket.
“Excuse me…M’lady…” The sailor ran out and called for the ship’s captain.
The captain arrived shortly.
“Pleased to meet you, M’lady. I expected the Count to be here to see you off. Thought I’d even get the chance to meet his noble presence too.”
The captain bowed, gracefully too, and reached out his hand. Rihannan smiled, picked up her dress, placed her hand on his palm, and entered the ship under his guide.
“I’m a bit surprised someone of your status would use a ferry instead,” the captain said.
“I wanted to leave the country without knowing eyes,” Rihannan replied bluntly.
Surprised, the captain coughed and said, “Ah, I see. Well, we’re glad to have you.”
His mind was full of questions, unable to comprehend why’d a young noble lady would leave her home country in secret, but no matter, he was content to serve a client of noble status.
He personally led Rihannan to the ship and led her to her cabin. It was small, but cleanly managed. She won’t have problems in the few days at sea sailing to Crichton.
“And this is your room, the best in the ship! If you’re feeling uncomfortable and need anything, please let me know immediately. I’ll be at your call.”
The captain bowed, a nominal greeting to a noble, and stepped aside. The maidservants and the crew loaded their luggage into the cabin.
Mary wore a curious look and pulled Rihannan’s hand.
“Miss, we still have time. Let’s go to the deck,” Mary said, the pitch of her voice slightly higher than normal.
“Mary, if I’m not wrong, you look more excited than I am.” Rihannan smiled.
“Oh, Miss,” Mary heaved, “I’ve never been to a ship before.”
Rihannan smiled lightly. Mary was more a child than she was. The duo walked to the ship’s deck and oversaw the vast ocean and the bustling port from below, trotting to the head of the ship thereafter.
At the head of the ship was a pointed bow and a golden statue facing towards the sea. It was a vivid statue of a bird whose wings looked like it’d spread any minute. The statue, it was a gargantuan behemoth that Rihannan needed to lean over the railings to catch a glimpse of the bird’s face. She had even touched its claws as support to balance herself.
“It’s Ataraxia, our ship’s guardian,” said a passing sailor.
Rihannan turned her head cutely and looked at the passing dark-skinned sailor with a startled look.
“Did you just say Ataraxia?” Rihannan asked curiously.
“Yes. This ship is called
The Ataraxia
. Didn’t you know?”
Rihannan shook her head in reply.
The dark-skinned sailor grinned, his pearly white teeth a stark contrast against his caramel skin tone.
“Well I’ll tell ya. If you touch the statue, you won’t be swept away by the raging sea, and you’ll return safely back to Arundell. Now that you’ve touched Ataraxia, you’ll be back in Arundell one day.”
“I have no intention of coming back to Arundell,” Rihannan said flatly.
“Oh, you don’t believe me, do you?” The sailor raised his brows. “Well, you’ll see.”
Then there was a loud booming voice from behind. It was the voice of another sailor warning the boarding passenger the ship was departing.
Soon after, the sails slowly spread out and became one with the wind. At the same time, the anchor that was once submerged under the sea slowly rose up. The ship, all set and ready to set sail, slowly moved away from the port and into the sea.
Meanwhile, Rihannan mused on the sailor’s words a while ago. His words was thoughtless but she could not help but continue to allow the words to pester her mind.
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Suddenly, she remembered what the Queen once said. Despite circumstantial evidence that she and Igor were not on good terms, Hertia firmly believed her son cared for Rihannan.
Hertia Cesca once said, “I know my son best. If he truly had no inkling feelings for you, he would not marry you. It’s in the nature of our Chrichton blood. He’ll never do anything he doesn’t want to do. He has a strong desire and obsession to do everything by his own will and thought. I, too, was strongly influenced by that blood and it’s the same for Igor.”
* * *
Due to issue with most KR novels’s source material, there exists many issues in itself like: inability to differentiate dialogues with inner thoughts, lack of transition from flashback to present, or indicating who the speaker is, the editing process was done liberally and polished heavily to maintain high quality without losing the original meaning. This chapter will be the new standard.