“Missandra, I’m...not sure those people you owe money to are alive anymore?”
Missandra lifted her focus from the bag, frowning.
“How is that?”
“When we were looking for you, Princess Shareen and I ran into a bunch of bandits...with tattoos. She and Krai kind of killed them all.”
Missandra seemed surprised for a moment before she looked lost in her thoughts, and then turned to Cassandra again.
“How many people do you think they killed?”
“Maybe about... twenty or thirty in total. I’m not sure.”
“Oh, that’s fine then. I pissed off way more people than that.”
Cassandra was speechless! Missandra laughed at her sister’s look of shock as she walked to the closest shop and bought some paper and ink to write a quick note. Then, her younger sister found a boy in the crowd and gave it to him, asking him to deliver it to the Red District in exchange for a bit of gold. The boy nodded and happily took it.
The two sisters watched him walk through the line, but Cassandra was still unsure about this plan.
“Is it fine if he just hands it to anyone in the Red District? Didn’t you have a name or something?”
Missandra smirked.
“I really pissed off a lot of people there.”
Cassandra nodded as she remembered the quite exhaustive list of establishments that kept a bitter memory of her younger sister, having visited each of them and listened to stories of Missandra’s mischief first hand.
“Trust me,” Missandra added. “If we don’t hear anything in the next hour, it only means that the boy kept the gold. But I can always send another one.”
So they waited. To Cassandra’s surprise, the answer wasn’t long to come. The sisters watched as an older woman stormed out through the gate carrying a bag and glaring intensely into the crowd seemingly looking for someone specific. Of course, Missandra was watching the whole scene from afar with a little smile on.
“Not a bad pick, I guess.”
They didn’t approach, instead waiting for the woman to spot them. When she finally spotted Missandra, she barreled their way, looking furious. While Cassandra was worried, Missandra was quietly waiting with a caustic smirk and crossed arms.
The woman was about twice their age and unusually muscular, with short black hair and tattoos on her face. She looked like a demon on a mission as she approached.
“You little bitch! I can’t believe you have the fucking balls to send me this crap!” she yelled, throwing the note at Missandra’s feet.
“Nice to see you again, Verna. I missed you, too.”
“Don’t give me that arrogant crap, Mie. I only came because you owe me some damn money, a fucking lot of it, and you paid that boy three gold coins! Three! Where is my money?!”
The woman reached for Missandra’s bag, but unfortunately for her, it was well guarded. As soon as her hand was within reach of it, Kian furiously tried to bite her, making her scream and quickly retract her hand. Missandra chuckled while the woman stared at the bag, her eyes wide in shock.
“What the fuck was that thing?”
“A personal security system,” Missandra laughed. “Now, before I give you anything, did you bring what I asked for?”
The woman scowled and tossed the bag at the girls.
“I did, you damn little... Yes, I do have it, but I want my money, you little brat!”
Ignoring her for a moment, Missandra crouched down to inspect the contents of the bag as Cassandra frowned behind her. To her surprise, her younger sister pulled out some little pots filled with what looked like makeup, two large circles of metal, and two white dresses.
“That’s...”
“My plan,” said Missandra with an apologetic smile. “I know it’s probably not a good memory for you, but we’re going to have to disguise ourselves as slaves to get in. The guards won’t spend too much time checking slaves when they’re focusing on looking for a Concubine.”
