Page 238 of The War God’s Favorite

“Anything new?” asked Cassandra, watching her sister empty the contents of the bag.

“Well, first I’ve got more diapers for the little Prince because I can’t believe how many times a day we have to wash those, and I’ve even started feeling sorry for those poor river fish. Also, more food. Oh, and I found your favorite berries. Some dry meat for the little carnivore.”

“Do we still have enough money?”

“Yeah, don’t worry,Hinue. I’m making sure we get a good deal on everything. Plus, the stuff we sold was worth a lot. I’ve never carried so much money on myself before, it makes me happy to spend and get rid of some of it. We’ll definitely have enough until we reach the Capital, especially if we keep going at this rate.”

Cassandra nodded. The girls had left the Diamond Palace almost a week ago now, and they were finally close to the Capital, despite having walked slower than anticipated. It was mostly her fault, though. Even if Missandra helped her carry Kassian, Cassandra was exhausted after giving birth and she couldn’t move as fast as she had hoped during those first few days. Moreover, there had been news of soldiers looking for her much sooner than she had counted on. Vrehan had left some of his soldiers in two of the towns he had come through before the Diamond Palace, but thankfully, no one seemed to recognize Missandra. However, this forced them to walk even further away from the towns, and though they tried to see as few as possible, pausing for each of Missandra’s supplies runs was just adding further delays to their trip.

“Plus, your little sister is really good at getting discounts,” Missandra added with a wink.

Cassandra sighed. The truth was, Missandra was very pretty and she was very good at using her charms, but she still couldn’t help but worry about her methods used to get discounts. She knew there was nothing wrong with flirting with the merchants a little, but she was afraid she’d overdo it and have to fend off one of those men by herself.

“Don’t get into trouble, Mie...”

“Don’t worry, I can handle myself. I’m used to it, remember? Plus, those townsfolk are nothing close to the Imperial Family, I can defend myself just fine. Anyway, it’s their mistake for being morons.”

Suddenly, Kian’s tail started wagging again, its eyes riveted on Missandra’s bag. She noticed and sighed.

“Well, he definitely smelled the dry meat. Damn it, I thought I had wrapped it up enough this time! He’s worse than a dog, and he’s not even tamed yet”

“He’s a Baby Dragon,” chuckled Cassandra. “I don’t think there’s any way to tame him.”

She put her hand on Kian’s back, scratching those silver scales to distract and prevent the little dragon from pouncing on the bag.

“Well, at least he knows how to listen to his mother. Also,Hinue...I heard some weird stuff while I was in town.”

Cassandra frowned. Missandra’s expression looked somber. What had happened? Could it be about Vrehan? Or the Emperor? Getting news as they travelled through the forest, while avoiding main roads, made getting information much harder even though they tried to ask at each town Missandra stopped in - they just hadn’t heard much. The information wasn’t travelling into the little towns as fast as it did between the bigger cities, and most townsfolk didn’t pay much attention to the news from the Capital either, unless it involved their taxes.

Missandra sat in front of her, her face a bit scrunched, as Cassandra laid Kassian down and put her top back on.

“Some guy at one of the stands was saying that the Capital is getting ready to crown a new Emperor. They said the old one is dying.”

Cassandra’s heart sank. Dying? The Old Emperor? Kairen’s father? What had happened? This was worse than bad news. She had been hoping that the Emperor would grant her refuge inside the castle and protect her from Vrehan, but now, if he was dying? Cassandra bit her lip, unsure of her next steps now and heavy with worry.

“Did they say anything else?” she asked.

“Not really. The guy at the shop heard it from his brother’s wife, who heard it from her cousin who knew a soldier’s sister, blah blah blah, and so on. You know, the modern way of getting information around here. I don’t really know if it’s reliable, but it sure sounds fishy.”

“It really does,” whispered Cassandra.

This was too much to just be gossip. The Emperor was perfectly fine and healthy a few weeks ago, so what could have happened since then? Cassandra couldn’t believe this was only some coincidence. Kairen being sent to the battlefront, the First Prince Sephir’s unexpected death. This was too much all at once, and a bit too convenient for the Second Prince.

Missandra bit at her fingernail, looking worried as well.

“Are you sure we should keep heading to the Capital? If something really did happen to the Emperor, it changes things, right? You wouldn’t be protected at all.”

Cassandra was trying hard to decide on which way to go. Indeed, if anything had happened to the Emperor, the Imperial Palace wouldn’t be safe for her anymore. She wasn’t sure Kairen would get there before she did, and if she arrived just as the Palace had a new owner, she might not survive this time. Cassandra wasn’t losing sight of the fact that the Second Prince also had a dragon; his dragon was the third largest in the Empire, after Glahad and Krai. She had escaped him once, but Cassandra wasn’t in any hurry to face them again. Her injury from it was carefully wrapped in some bandages, but she wouldn’t forget about the pain of it so soon.

“Hinue?” Missandra called out to her gently.

“Let’s keep going. For now, we don’t have anything confirmed. As you said, those may only be rumors. We can always confirm them once we reach the Capital without going to the Imperial Palace directly.”

Missandra frowned, unsure about the plan. She wasn’t fond of the idea of going back to the Capital to begin with, but now, this could be more deadly than they had originally thought. She was going to go along with her older sister’s decisions in any case, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that everything was not going to be as Cassandra hoped.

“The Emperor is definitely still alive,” said Cassandra.

“How do you know?”

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