A week had passed, and Aris arrived at Eddenvilla and told the coachman to bring her to the port. She checked the body of the saint, and she still looked like someone asleep rather than dead.

Since the body didn’t rot, she decided to carry her in her arms. People looked at her, but they didn’t think or speculate on anything weird because of it. They thought the woman in her arms was sick and asleep.

Aris walked to the dock and saw Matthias talking to his crew. She didn’t want to call him or speak with him, but thankfully, his crew poked him and signaled him to turn around. When he turned around, he was startled by her, who stood right behind him with a body in her arms.

“Uh… yes?” Matthias gulped nervously and looked at the woman in Aris’s arms.

“I need a ship now,” Aris said coldly. “I want you to be aboard and take me to the sea. Also, bring the casket in the carriage.”

Although Matthias was busy, he didn’t decline and nodded without asking her where to go. He told his crew to prepare the ship and escorted her to the ship as he kept glancing at the woman in her arms.

They sailed immediately, and as soon as they reached the open sea, Matthias went to the lower deck where Aris was. He watched Aris put the woman in a casket that looked like an old coffin. He didn’t want to speculate, but seeing the woman in the casket, he knew that she was dead rather than sleeping.

“Bring me to an island, somewhere far where no humans would go there or have no reason to go there,” Aris said without turning around to look at Matthias.

“I know an island, the most isolated island,d and it’s quite small as well. However, there’s one… slight… problem…” Matthias scratched the wooden pillar and released a nervous chuckle. “It’s surrounded by sea beasts…”

“Perfect. We go there,” Aris answered as she closed the casket.

Matthias scratched his head, and the way Aris and Rasmus spoke was similar, terrifyingly similar. He couldn’t protest because he knew that she didn’t care about his worries.

“It might take a few days even with this turbine, and…” Matthias paused to clear his throat. “Lady Aris, you’ll take care of the sea beast, right?” He asked nervously and quietly.

Aris responded with a simple hum and went to a room to enjoy the view of the sea.

…

The journey was smooth without any issues, but then they saw a few patrolling ships, Marines ships. Matthias was anxious, but he remembered that he was no longer a pirate and neither of his crew. However, it was never a good sign to meet with the marines.

“We might have a problem, Lady Aris,” Matthias approached Aris, who was leaning against the railing. “If you can, Lady Aris, we shouldn’t make any problems with them because it might affect our business, and we don’t want this to cause problems for Rasmus.”

“I know,” Aris nodded and looked at the marine ships that were approaching. “You do you.”

As the marine ship anchored beside Matthias’s ship, they pulled the plank and boarded his ship. Aris was there, watching the marines board the ships and looking around.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen… and lady…” The marine captain smiled at them. “I must apologize for boarding your ship, but I’m curious why a shipping company taking this route where it leads to nowhere,” he narrowed his eyes as he looked at Matthias.

Matthias was about to open his mouth, but then Aris pushed herself from the railing and walked toward the marine captain.

“I requested them to take me here,” Aris answered. “I rented the whole ship for myself, that’s why there’s nobody else here but myself,” she explained.

The captain looked at Aris’s white hair and he looked a bit intimidated by her height and white hair because it was an uncommon combination.

“I see, may I see it? Just to make sure there’s nothing illegal here,” the captain smiled at Aris.

“No, I’m afraid you can’t. It’s personal and I don’t want anyone to look at it,” Aris shook her head and answered without hesitation.

The captain looked at his knights and it was a signal for them to be on guard. The moment the knights put their hands on the handle of their swords, Matthias and his crew noticed that and they became anxious.

“My apology, but we have to search the whole deck. It’s the law and we want to make sure that nothing suspicious is passing and entering the sea. We are only doing our job, that’s all,” the captain said with a serious expression as he stared into Aris’s eyes.

“Still, I can’t,” Aris shook her head and began to show a cold expression.

Matthias looked at Aris and tried to communicate with his eyes that she shouldn’t make any scene as he had warned before. However, knowing the cargo was a dead body, he couldn’t do anything to convince the knights to not check it.

“We don’t want to use force here, lady, but if you resist, we have no other choice—” Before the captain could finish his sentence, he felt a sting on his right cheek. Matthias and the others looked at him with weird looks.

The captain brushed his cheek with his fingers and it stung again. When he looked at his fingertips, he saw blood on them and rubbed them until he realized it was his blood. He didn’t know what had happened, but then he stared at Aris and narrowed his eyes.

The moment the captain raised his hand to signal the knights to search the ship, Aris sighed and looked down.

“It’s a dead body…” Aris muttered with her eyes closed. “She was someone important to me, and it was her request to be buried in an isolated place,” she added.

The captain clenched his fist, signaling the knights to stop moving.

“May I see her?” The captain asked.

“Follow me,” Aris said as she walked toward the stairs.

The captain and one of the knights followed Aris to the lower deck with Matthias. Matthias tried to convince them that it was really the case and he didn’t know what to tell them without making it look suspicious.

Aris stood beside the casket and showed it to the captain. The captain furrowed his brows when he saw the cross engraved on the casket. He then looked at Aris, asking if it was okay for him to open the casket. The moment Aris gave a nod, he slowly opened the casket and saw the pale woman that looked like sleeping so soundly.

He was shocked by how peaceful the woman was, and he carefully reached for the woman’s wrist. He noticed how cold her body was and saw there was no sign of wounds or poisoning, he wondered what had happened to her.

“If I may ask, how did she die?” The captain looked at Aris.

“Nobody knows, but she knew… she knew that her time was close and last night she died in her sleep. The reason why she requested to be buried away from everyone in an isolated place was that she didn’t want to be examined. I’m only here to fulfill her wish as a friend, to be buried somewhere where nobody knows,” Aris answered as she looked at the woman with a sorrowful expression.

The captain nodded and had had enough of looking at the woman. He closed the casket slowly and noticed that the woman might be a priest or even higher like a cardinal. Religious people tend to get revelations, and this was the saddest story so far.

“Please, don’t tell anyone about this and let her rest in peace and be left alone,” Aris stared at the captain with a serious expression.

“Of course. I must apologize for not respecting her wish and also for pushing my boundaries,” the captain nodded as he got up. “We are done here, and we will let you pass,” he added.

“Thank you,” Aris nodded.

As soon as the knights unboarded the ship, Matthias pulled the anchor and continued their journey. Everyone sighed in relief while Aris continued to enjoy the scenery of the vast blue sea.

“I didn’t know you could act, Lady Aris. Thank you for not making a scene,” Matthias grinned widely as he scratched the back of his head.

“Keep an eye on the sea and make sure nobody is following us. This is an important task that Rasmus gave me,” Aris responded as she rested her cheek on her hand.

“We will keep our eyes wide open,” Matthias nodded and ordered his crew to keep an eye out.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep