“It’s fine, Kiuna. It is just a wine stain. She’ll wash it later.”
“It’s not fine! I don’t want your stupid Concubine to stain my dress! Whip her! She should be punished!”
Everyone had gone silent, conflicted about the situation. It was just a stain… albeit a large one. However, who could say no to an Imperial Princess? The other Concubines were looking down or elsewhere, obviously scared to get involved.
Meanwhile, the young Princess kept screaming, her tantrum growing louder and louder until it caught the Emperor’s attention, who simply frowned.
“Kiuna, enough,” said her brother, visibly starting to get annoyed.
“I want that idiot Concubine whipped! She’ll get whipped a hundred times! No, a thousand times!”
“It is not the same.”
Cassandra’s calm voice from across the room took everyone by surprise. As they looked at her, the War God’s Concubine was strangely calm and unafraid to answer back. The Princess glared at her.
“What did you say?”
“If you whip someone ten times, the skin will be red and sting. If you whip her a hundred times, you’ll cut into the flesh, and she will bleed. But if you whip her a thousand times, you’ll open the wounds to the bone. There will be no more skin, only exposed, cut flesh, and lots of blood. No one survives after being whipped about five or six hundred times.”
Her sudden reality check had everyone silent for a few seconds. Cassandra’s cold but serious voice was very different from that of Princess Kiuna’s tantrum. She had no idea how to react. With Cassandra’s words, it was clear Kiuna had been speaking mindlessly, saying numbers out of anger. The crude depiction of the wound took her back to reality where she was merely toying with someone’s life over a wine stain.
It was even more striking that Cassandra knew what she was talking about. She was staring right at Princess Kiuna, unafraid and cold as ice.
“You… You…” said the Princess, out of words.
But who would dare to respond to a woman who was in the War God’s shadow? Kiuna was unsure, and all around her, the room’s atmosphere had changed. She looked stupid and childish.
“Enough, enough. Sit back, child, and shut up,” said the Emperor, frowning. “Aren’t you too old to act like this in front of your siblings? Huh? Don’t ruin our dinner.”
Princess Kiuna sat, looking down, visibly angry and upset. She didn’t dare to glare at Cassandra anymore. Kairen hadn’t said a word, but the murderous look in his eyes was enough of a warning.
“You. Child. Come here,” suddenly said the Emperor.
Cassandra was surprised. Was he calling for her? To come to him, now? But he had barely looked at her before. She hesitated, but Kairen gently helped her up. The young Concubine took a deep breath, and walked to the Golden Throne, hesitant. Behind him, she could clearly see the two ruby eyes, looking at her in the sea of gold scales.
Cassandra barely dared to look at the Emperor as she approached. To her, he was a much scarier being than the humongous golden Dragon behind him. Yet, the old man gently held his hand out until the Concubine placed her hand in his, with a light smile. She could tell there wasn’t any animosity in his dark eyes.
“There she is,” he said softly. “Aren’t you as white as a water lily?”
“So disgusting,” whispered someone from behind her, but the Emperor didn’t seem to hear it.
“What is your name?”
“Cassandra, Your Majesty.”
“And where are you from, child?”
“The Southern Rain Tribe, Your Highness.”
“I see. That explains a lot then.”
Explains a lot? Cassandra was a bit confused. Next to the Emperor, a servant stepped forward, showing them some letters. What is that? The Emperor didn’t look at it, and turned to Cassandra instead.
“I received some very interesting letters earlier today, children. From General Horogan from the East Army.”
Wasn’t that one of Kairen’s Generals? Cassandra had never greeted him in person, but she could remember the imposing man wearing armor with a beard. He had spoken with her Prince several times. Did he complain to the Emperor about a woman being at the camp? Or was there some issue due to the Prince’s absence?
“I was curious to hear about how my Son’s been doing as Commander-in-Chief,” said the Emperor. “Yet all I read were praises for the young woman he had brought with him. According to two of my most trusted Generals, along with seven of their Commanders, this Empire owes the lives of no less than two hundred of its soldiers to a young slave woman.”
