“You…Your Highnesses, can this humble man ask wh…what has caused your anger?” he stammered awkwardly, glancing at the large opening.
“You,” said Shareen, visibly out of patience. She steadily pointed her sword at the man’s chin. “Tell us if you bought a girl that looked like this concubine, years ago. She may have gone by the name Mie.”
The man only took a quick glance at Cassandra, very eager to answer.
“Y…yes, Your Highness! I remember her, but she isn’t here! We…we sold that girl three months later, we couldn’t keep her! She had bitten the customers and hit the owner.”
“Really?” said Shareen, turning to Cassandra with an admiring look. “Damn, Cassie, it sounds like your sis took all the fiery side and didn’t leave you any, did she?”
“Where did she go next?” asked Cassandra, ignoring her.
“I…I think the Master sold her to another brothel, a few streets down, but I know that place ended up selling her too. Five weeks later, the same thing happened.”
Cassandra sighed. Missandra really didn’t make things easy for them…though she was a bit happy that her younger sister had tried to resist her fate. She just hoped she hadn’t run into more trouble by doing so.
For the next hour, the same scenarios repeated over and over again. Each time they asked a new brothel, they got similar stories. It appeared Missandra only ever stayed in any of the brothels for a few weeks to a few months. She’d end up injuring a customer or worker, and consequently would be sold again. Even Shareen was impressed.
“I hope she didn’t get treated too badly and punished for all of this,” said Cassandra as they walked their way to the next brothel.
“Oh, she probably was,” replied the Princess. “However, the brothel owners are careful not to scar or permanently injure their merchandise. She probably got cold showers or was starved. Things like that. I’m starting to get very curious though, she must be a real beauty if people kept buying her despite her reputation.”
Cassandra had the same feeling. Every brothel that Missandra had been to, no matter how short, clearly remembered her as soon as they saw Cassandra. How much longer would it take to find her? As they were about to enter yet another brothel, Shareen suddenly stopped, her eyes elsewhere with a glare.
“Shareen?”
“Wait, it’s…”
The Imperial Princess was staring in another direction, towards two women who were quietly chatting. Cassandra didn’t recognize either of them. One of them, judging by her clothes, was a prostitute. While the other woman was distinguishably younger, fourteen or fifteen years old at the most. The most intriguing thing was the green dress the second one was wearing.
To her surprise, Shareen suddenly rushed to those women who hadn’t seen her coming and grabbed the younger girl’s wrist. She screamed in fright. When Cassandra arrived at the scene, the prostitute woman had fled the scene, but the girl caught by Shareen looked petrified. The Princess, however, looked like a feline who had just caught her prey.
“I wonder what you’re doing here, Valeria.”
Cassandra wondered if she was an Imperial Servant for Shareen, but that didn’t seem to be right. The girl was shivering from head to toe, holding on to a little glass potion in her hand. She was avoiding Shareen’s eyes, completely terrified.
“Who is this?” asked Cassandra, feeling lost.
“This? This is one of my younger siblings, Valeria, Twenty-Fifth Imperial Princess. Care to explain what the hell you’re doing in this place wearing this outfit, little sister?”
Like a rabbit caught in a trap, the young Valeria didn’t dare move a muscle. It was the first time Cassandra witnessed a member of the Imperial Family looking this scared. Was it because of Shareen? She couldn’t be one of Kareen’s children, so who was her concubine mother? A girl her age and her rank definitely had no reason to be there, especially alone and in a servant’s outfit. It looked like she had snuck out of the Palace in disguise.
“Valeria, talk,” insisted Shareen.
However, the young woman stayed completely mute and petrified by fear. Annoyed, Shareen ripped the little bottle out of her hands and passed it to Cassandra.
“Aren’t you good with plants and potions? What is that?”
The girl was on the verge of tears.
“Let me go,” she begged, trying to pull away from Shareen’s tight grip.
Cassandra reluctantly opened the bottle. She didn’t like doing this, but if Shareen was asking she had no choice. A quick little sniff made her grimace, nausea jolted to her stomach causing her to almost drop it. Dahlia immediately took it from her. Just like Cassandra, she sniffed it and then applied a bit to her pinky to get a little taste.
“Dahlia don’t! It could be poisoned,” said Cassandra, worried.
“It is fine, My Lady. I have been trained to identify poisons. This is no such thing. I can taste green orchid, pudding grass, nutmeg, sea squill, twin-leaved gamophilia…”
The more she listed, the paler Cassandra became, understanding what the vial contained. Shareen noticed.
