Lottie's Ship Wish

CHAPTER 2

“Line up!” A shout immediately caused the children around the small dirty house to line up straightly, facing their master who was the distributor of the illegal drugs the kids sell and deliver privately.

‘Augh. That piggy is here again,’ Lottie scowled inside her brain but careful not to show it on her face. She kept reminding herself she should be used to it by now because every single day, their old fat boss showed up to collect the earnings and leave them with nothing for themselves. However, just looking at his greasy face and some stains of steak sauce on the corner of his lips ticked her off greatly.

While they were risking their lives to sell illegal drugs, their boss just collects them and fattened himself up with it but the children? Only moldy bread and if lucky, cold soup.

Even if they want to leave that horrible place, they couldn’t. Where could a child go with no money, position or at least guardians? Their end would be slaves for sure if they try to escape with no plan for the future.

Lottie’s place right now was the worst place to be transmigrated, truthfully speaking. She even cried nonstop as toddler when she realized who she was in the story and the events that would happen to her.

“Fight of the Blessed,” the new hit novel of her time at the Philippines. She re-read them every time she’s stressed so it was safe to say she memorized the turn of events and the lore behind it.

The reason why it was called Fight of the Blessed because the heroes of the story came from the ancestors or so called blessed who had powers granted by the world guardian deity. Their powers were granted for the sake of defeating the corrupted: the humans who sold their soul to the darkness to achieve powers and reign over the land.

The important characters like Lottie’s father: Anthony was born blessed or born with power and also the villain Beatrice Codington while male lead: the crown prince Ethelson was born ordinary even though he came from the direct lineage of one of the heroes.

The whole story revolved how Ethelson persevere to end the war between Blessed and Corrupted regardless of his power status together with the female lead Euphemia who took care of him in the war. In the end he won and was deemed the savior of the new era.

But who cares about them? Lottie didn’t care about them at all. Not one a bit. She was entirely focused on the villain Beatrice and her father Anthony on the original story. They were her favorite characters.

Their pain and suffering touched her heart so badly, she was even joyful to the point she got over from the fact she transmigrated in a worst possible situation because now, she had a chance to meet them face to face.

That was the reason why Lottie lied towards her customers about delivery fee. There’s no delivery fee, she just took them for herself and save them up so she could leave and meet them. Oh, not just to meet them but also to pair them up because since the day Lottie read their one and only interaction in the book, she became a shipper of the two.

She couldn’t wait to hug the 2nd ML or her father from the heartache of not being chosen by the female lead even he was ready to sacrifice his life for her and of course, Beatrice who turned crazy out of desperation for love then pair them up so they could heal each others’ wounded heart by another romantic love.

‘Mwehehe just wait for me, my AnthonyxBeatrice will sail!’ Lottie giggled maniacally, clearly lost on her thoughts.

“L-Lottie…”

She snapped back to the reality when a small hand touched her arm. She looked beside her and saw her one and only friend Lance, staring at her with scared face.

“T-The ma-master…” he whispered with a stutter which made Lottie confused but a towering shadow in front of her made her realize what he was talking about.

“Seems like you had a good day.”

Lottie immediately looked up and the face of her fatty boss welcomed her.

‘CRAP!’

“N-no sir. I w-was just happy to see you,” that was a lie. She would never be happy to see that oily face of her boss.

The master smirked at her which made her stomach turned out of disgust. She noticed some steak left overs on his teeth.

“Really?” The man held out his hand in front of her. “Give me the money, little girl.”

Without complain, like she always did, Lottie gave the pouch of money she collected today. The moment, her boss got his hand on the pouch, he hummed as he looked at it. Clearly pleased with the amount she gathered.

“I must say, you are our best seller on the group. You always bring me more coins than the other children,” he complimented her however, Lottie is not happy nor fazed by any of his pleasantries.

“Thank you, sir.” However, she must play the part of an obedient child so she can survive another day.

The master hummed again and started to walk towards another children. Him leaving made the tension from Lottie’s body subside but when she was about to sigh out of relief, the boss made a quick turn to her and gripped at her small, frail arms.

“A-Aww!”

She cried in pain and everyone even her friend Lance called her out of shock but was halted out of fear of their master.

“You think you’re smart, don’t you?” The fatty old master said, gritting on his teeth.

“W-What are you say—”

Lottie was about to say something but the boss took her robe out of her body and ripped the small vest of her clothes which where she hid the small pouch of delivery fees she asked from the clients.

The reveal of her little secret made her eyes wide and everyone on the room gasped while the boss made a bigger smirk.

“What’s this? Stealing money from me, you little thief?”

“N-No…I—”

“Search her room! See if there are other coins she’s hiding,”

“NO!” Lottie tried struggle free from his grip but it was all in vain. Her strength had no way to win against his gigantic hands.

As she continued to struggle, the master’s other servants started to look at her space and bed on their small shared room.

It didn’t even take long for them to find her hidden box under the wooden floor where she kept her savings. Its discovery made her blood ran cold and her heart beat faster.

“That’s mine!” She shouted on top of her lungs hoping that the servants would took pity of her but it didn’t work. They gave the box to their old fatty master and he shook it, trying to estimate the amount of coins inside.

“You sneaky little brat. You gathered a lot, huh?”

“Let me go! That’s mine! I worked for it!” Even though Lottie knew it’s vain to fight back, she still tried. She was not going to stay put and let that fat guy took her hard earned savings for her beloved ship.

She didn’t ask for help, after all, the other children were still kids, weak and young to fight and help.

“Tsk!” Annoyed by her antics, the fat master slapped her using her box on his other hand. The weight of the box thanks to the coins it contained and his strength pushed Lottie’s body to the ground as tremendous numbing pain travelled across her body.

It took a moment for her to realize her face was still in one piece and on her head but the boss and his servants were already leaving the premises.

“N-No…give i-it back…” Lottie tried to crawl towards them and at least grip the hem of his coat but she couldn’t, not with throbbing pain on her small malnourished body.

“L-L-Lottie!” The last thing she see were the kids running towards her before everything turned black.