Page 245 of The War God’s Favorite

“I’m sorry, things got...hectic.”

Cassandra went on to explain everything that had happened to her since the last time she had come here to free the slaves, and Kairen had killed her previous mistress. It was a lot from when she had left the Palace, and Missandra helped her fill some blanks as well. Both sisters were also trying to eat while talking, as the sight of cooked food made them realize just how hungry they really were. With all the stress, Cassandra hadn’t realized how tired she felt, either.

Once she was done, both for explanations and eating, she turned to Yasora, worried.

“What about the letter?”

“Oh, right. Give me a minute.”

She left and came back, handing to Cassandra the letter she had mentioned earlier.

“I didn’t open it, as it was addressed to you. Just like I said, this letter arrived the next morning after that man had come by, delivered by a messenger bird. The previous man warned us we’d better…welcome you properly, and also make sure you stay safe. “

Missandra and Cassandra exchanged a glance.

“Definitely one of Lady Kareen’s spies,” said Missandra.

“Probably,” agreed her older sister, opening the letter right away.

Cassandra read the lines so fast that she had to go over a second time before handing them to Missandra.

In this letter, Evin was true to himself, hoping Cassandra was alright as well as giving her a detailed report on the situation in the Northern Army Camp. He wrote how he had persuaded Shareen to bring him back with her to the Diamond Castle, and described their current situation up to the time he had sent this letter. Which was written and sent in a hurry. She let out a sigh of relief, though she wished it contained some better news.

“So, Lady Shareen is at least back at the Diamond Palace with Prince Anour,” reiterated Missandra.

“However, they still had no news of my Lord when that letter was sent. What is going on?”

Cassandra couldn’t hide how worried she was for Kairen.

She was indeed happy about Shareen’s return to the Diamond Palace, thankful for Lady Kareen to have an extra ally by her side. The Mother-Daughter duo was so strong, they had actually chased away the Second Prince. She didn’t care much about Phetra’s fate, but Cassandra was worried to know where that treacherous Brother of hers had gone. Did he follow the fake leads to the North? They hadn’t heard anything about the Second Prince’s army on the way here, but this could have been because moving his army was a slow process. Maybe he was only a couple of days behind.

Missandra gently put a hand on her older sister’s leg, feeling her worry. She then turned to Yasora.

“How is the situation here? We heard some bad rumors about the Emperor on our way here.”

The middle-aged woman sighed and nodded, grabbing one layer of her dress with a sour expression.

“I fear it is all true. The rumors have been all over the streets for a couple of days now. The Old Emperor has become very sick. We don’t know what’s going on in the Palace, the security was increased so suddenly and there was a big ruckus. They tried to prevent people from coming in or out, which made people even more suspicious. Some Ministers and Scholars were even executed publicly, people are terrified!”

Cassandra was livid. How could so much happen in a single week? Just because Sephir had died. Now, the Emperor was supposedly near death as well… people being executed… that sounded like someone was purging. Her heart sank. What if Kairen didn’t come back in time to stop his brother? She exchanged a look with Missandra. Her younger sister didn’t look worried, but angry.

“That rat face probably put his plan in motion as soon as your man was sent to war,” Missandra said. “What a snake.”

“So no one has been able to enter the Palace since then?” asked Cassandra. “What about the Fourth and Fifth Princes?”

“I haven’t heard anything about those two.”

Cassandra bit her lower lip. That meant the Fifth Prince Lephys and Fourth Prince Opheus were probably still inside the Imperial Palace. The problem was, she had no idea if they would side with their Second Brother or Kairen. Cassandra had only met the two of them very briefly. Lephys didn’t give her a good impression at all, and she couldn’t even remember seeing Opheus aside from his presence during the Red Moon Festival. He was known to be very secretive and avoided his father’s banquets almost as much as Kairen and Shareen. Could he be a potential ally? She couldn’t approach either of them without being sure.

“What about the battlefront?” she asked, her throat a bit tight. “Tell me you have news?”

Yasora seemed to hesitate for a few seconds and nodded.

“I do, but… it is not much better. The last thing we heard came from some soldiers, yesterday. Ethen went to buy some groceries and heard them. Apparently, they said the War God was ambushed in the last city, and the fight isn’t going too well. I honestly don’t know if that’s true, but...the Eastern Empire had dragons.”

Cassandra was shocked. Dragons? How could the Eastern Empire have dragons when none of their people had Dragon Blood! Were those dragons captured? Or conveniently given to them by a certain Prince. Cassandra tried to remember.

“Vrehan has two sons, but he wouldn’t send his own sons’ dragons to war,” she muttered.

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