“My Prince, you can’t…”
“Later.”
Kairen started walking again, and Cassandra followed, realizing that they were headed outside of the Imperial Palace. As it was much warmer there, a bit too hot for her. Cassandra tried to stay in his shadow to shield herself from the sun.
As soon as they reached the outer gardens, a bunch of young women suddenly approached them. They all had green dresses on and harbored fake smiles.
“Your Highness! Are you going outside? Do you need help?”
“We can accompany you, if you’d like!”
Cassandra was outraged by the women’s smutty intentions. What was this? Didn’t they usually fear the War God? And they were all blatantly ignoring her in their efforts to seduce him! Had they no shame at all? However, Kairen resolutely ignored them. Maybe for the first time though, Cassandra felt utterly annoyed. Had they become servants of the Imperial Palace just to try and seduce one of the Princes? Didn’t they fear for their lives?
“Your Highness! Wouldn’t you like another woman to warm your bed?”
Suddenly, Kairen stopped and turned to the young woman who had spoken. She was pretty with shiny hair and big lustful eyes, but Kairen’s eyes reflected back nothing but annoyance.
She didn’t realize this and assumed a seductive posture, showing off her curves. Cassandra looked elsewhere as she couldn’t bear to watch this kind of scheming.
“...Out of our way.”
“Eh?”
“I said, get out of our way.”
The woman looked a bit shocked, but kept insisting, trying to use her physical charms.
“B...but don’t you think I’m pretty? And I’m very experienced, too…”
Before she could add anything else, Kairen shoved her to the side with enough force to send her tumbling to the floor, falling flat on her ass. None of the other women moved to help her, they were all petrified by the Prince’s deathly glare.
Kairen resumed walking, not even bothering to look at them any longer. Cassandra followed in his steps silently. The servants didn’t dare to add a word either, especially after a dark shadow suddenly flew over them. Krai landed behind Cassandra, toddling to her until its head could be by the Concubine’s side. The dragon’s arrival had scared away all the nearby servants, but it made Cassandra smile. Krai softly growled while waddling by her side, following them outside the Imperial Palace’s domain.
The Palace itself was so vast that it took quite a while to leave it. Once they walked past the large walls though, the City sprawled out in front of them.
Cassandra took a deep breath. It had been so long since she had been in the City! Not much had changed over the last few months, of course, as she recognized most of the streets and shops. What was different was the way people looked at her though. This was the first time she could walk with her head held high. Before, she would get looks of disgust, people chasing her away like vermin. Now, the women were covetous of her, while the men lusted over her. All of them were careful to look down if the Prince or his Dragon came near though and Krai growled often, warning people not to come too close, forcing a clear path to open up in front of them, obviously disliking crowds. Now, those people were the ones averting their eyes and being careful. It was a vastly different experience.
“Where are we going, My Lord?”
“To the Slave Market.”
Cassandra was speechless. Really? Now? But indeed, after a few more steps, she started to recognize the direction they were headed. Was he really going to take care of her slave status, now?
“How do you know where it is, My Lord?”
“I used to run away from the Palace and come to the City.”
“Really?”
Was he a mischievous child growing up? Cassandra couldn’t keep herself from smiling, imagining a young Kairen playfully running through the streets.
“C...Cassie?”
Cassandra turned around. Hidden in the crowd, a pair of young slaves were looking at her with shocked eyes. She recognized them instantly.
“Ethen? Mira?” she called out to them.
They nodded, and the people around the slaves stepped back. The two were younger than Cassandra. Ethen was fourteen years old, and Mira was just eleven. After a brief hesitation, they walked up to her and Cassandra hugged them as soon as they were within reach.
