As soon as she entered the Gardens, all the women stopped talking, their eyes on her. Some were showing curiosity, others were defiant or hateful. Cassandra did her best not to betray her emotions and walk to the middle of the place with her basket.
“Did you get lost?” asked one of the concubines with a naughty tone.
“Shall we bow to her?”
“I’d rather drown in the lake than ever bow to a slave!”
Cassandra took a deep breath and put the basket down. Some of the concubines who had remained silent, frowned. What was she planning?
“You…Why are your hands this color?”
One of the young concubines was pointing at Cassandra’s blue fingertips and nails. Turning to the young woman, she showed it better, raising her hands to show them.
“This? I got a little infection. A wild snake ventured into my room last night.”
Most concubines knew this snake was probably not simply wandering on its own in her bedroom, but of course, they all remained silent. They either thought she was too stupid to realize, or too smart to say it out loud.
“Luckily, His Highness caught it,” said Cassandra. “But…this type of snake’s skin can be extremely dangerous when it’s an impregnated female. The scales contain some of its venom, only in smaller portions. Just touching it can provoke someone’s death within a few days.”
One of the concubines giggled.
“Are you going to die? With those blue fingers?”
“This? Oh, no. Luckily, since we caught the snake, I managed to make an antidote in time. It made my fingertips blue from crushing the scales to make a broth with some medical herbs. I was lucky, though. While it will kill instantly with a bite, if you touch its skin, most victims would die in their sleep within a few days. The poison spreads slowly through the finger’s crevasses, making them more and more tired until they won’t wake up.”
“This is ridiculous! I’ve never heard of such a way of dying!” said one of the other women.
“I’m not surprised, this is a rare snake,” said Cassandra. “Back where I come from, we call it the sleep thief. Because the victim will feel more and more sleepy until they can’t stop sleeping and slowly die in their sleep.”
The women started gossiping between themselves, wondering if it was true. Cassandra took the basket back and slowly walked over to one side, washing away her hands in the little river that crossed the garden. She did her best to ignore all the eyes on her. It was a bet, but she knew she could find the culprit this way if everything went according to her plan. She wasn’t proud of it, but she knew she had to be a bit like Kareen. Unforgiving.
Chapter9
When Cassandra felt she had stayed in their sight for long enough, she took her basket back and left without adding a word. Ignoring all the stares on her, she only went a bit further away, into another garden, with a wider sample of vegetation and an artificial lake and fountain. There, she dipped her bare feet in the shallow water, humming calmly.
Her plan was so simple, yet she wondered if it’d work. Most of the concubines had watched when she washed her hands and saw the blue marks that wouldn’t go away. Of course, it was on purpose. Cassandra had washed laundry countless times before. She knew what colorants were the hardest to wash away, especially without any kind of soap. If she wanted, she could have gotten rid of it, but this was all part of her plan.
First, have the concubines and Princesses believe her story. Even if they didn’t believe her at first, the odd blue colour she couldn’t seem to wash off her fingers and nails should have planted a seed of doubt in their minds. That was all she needed. Just a little bit of doubt, ignorance mixed with a bit of fear, and time for it to grow inside a narrow mind.
As she rested on her own by the lake, she was surprised to see three young women come to her side. She frowned a bit. Those women seemed to be sneering between themselves while glancing her way. Two of them had a red dress and only the one walking ahead had a pink one. She had seen those women before. All of them were among the Fifth Prince’s concubines. How many did he have exactly?
“Concubine Cassandra, do you mind if we accompany you for a bit?”
Cassandra shook her head. Since those women were on the same level as her, she didn’t have to show any extra politeness, but she shouldn’t be too rude either. Kareen had already scolded her many times for acting too submissive when she didn’t need to, and Cassandra was diligently trying to apply her advice even more now that she was accounted for as a high-ranked concubine.
“We were worried you’d feel unwelcome over there, with such a crowd. It must be suffocating to face so many women at the same time,” said the one in a pink dress.
“It’s fine,” simply replied Cassandra.
She was wary of those women. She had no idea why they would want anything to do with her, the newly brought concubine. If it was merely out of curiosity, it would be fine. All three of them sat within a reasonable distance of her but, judging from the places they took, it was obvious the one with a pink dress was the leader of the trio.
“It is such a blessing to finally see a Concubine to the Third Prince. His Highness must be delighted to have you.”
Cassandra couldn’t help but wonder if her pregnancy was known to everyone yet. Unlike some of the other women, she wasn’t exposing her baby bump. Back in the previous garden, some of the concubines were so proud of their pregnancies, they were showing off their big bellies. On the contrary, Cassandra wasn’t exposing as much skin. Her dress was fully covering her stomach, protecting it from the sun and obvious stares. Not all the concubines had been there at the feast last night, but Cassandra knew the chances were high that the news of her bearing the War God’s child had probably spread already.
“Thanks.”
She didn’t want to get too friendly with other concubines. None of them could have been there by mistake. You couldn’t stay a Prince’s concubine, residing in the Imperial Palace, if you couldn’t take care of yourself first. No woman in this place was as innocent as they looked.
