Page 249 of The War God’s Favorite

Ironically, one of the soldiers even smiled at Missandra, though his eyes were focused a bit lower. Cassandra had a little fright, but to her surprise, her younger sister even had the guts to wink at the soldier! She kept her head low, trying to pray silently until they were inside and away from the soldiers. All the girls smiled at each other.

“I can’t believe we got in that easily,” whispered Cassandra.

“That’s because the Imperial Family isn’t actually in danger all of the time,” sighed one of the girls. “You know, the danger usually comes from the inside. They poison each other and find excuses to murder each other more efficiently than any assassin out there. Aside from that, they have dragons! Like, those creatures are terrifying!”

Cassandra and Missandra exchanged glances. The dragon they had been living with over the past few days wasn’t exactly terrifying, though they did understand the girls’ concern. They probably didn’t picture Kian eating meat buns while saying that.

“I don’t even think they ever bother to hire assassins,” added the other with a nod. “You know, sometimes those women scare me more than the dragons themselves. A single tantrum and they can have you tortured or killed!”

As the girls kept nodding and agreeing, Cassandra realized this was the reality for them. She had always been protected by Kairen, his dragon, and his family. But for any servant working in the Imperial Palace, they were risking their lives every day. This should never be considered normal. It does explain the large turnover and high salaries, though.

After reaching one of the servants’ resting rooms, Missandra and Cassandra parted from the girls, thanking them for their help in getting to this point. Somehow, Cassandra felt like they were entering the part of their plan where everything could go downhill very fast.

Walking with trays of food, as if they had been asked to deliver them somewhere, they tried to find their way through the corridors. The sisters had previously agreed to not go anywhere near Lady Kareen’s apartments, or Kairen’s, or Shareen’s, as they would be very likely watched. Those would be the first places Vrehan would expect her to hide, so they had to avoid those aisles at all costs. Another thing Cassandra was worried about were the Concubines.

Though there weren’t a lot of Princesses hanging around, the Concubines were often going from one place to another, chatting with each other in the gardens and wandering around. Cassandra was afraid one of them would recognize her if they crossed paths, and this was bound to happen. She made sure to keep her head down, hoping her appearance and green dress would do the trick. Moreover, as Missandra had reminded her, even Cassandra’s body shape had changed a lot over the past few weeks. The only thing that may give her away was her green eyes, and she kept them down while they walked.

It worked. Despite a few frights on the way, Cassandra made sure to walk behind her sister and thankfully none of the Concubines they crossed paths with had recognized her. Most of the women didn’t even spare them a glance, they were used to the servants getting out of their way.

The Imperial Palace was so vast, it took some time to get to their first destination. Prince Sephir’s apartments.

Despite Missandra’s warnings, Cassandra just couldn’t come here without checking what had happened to the First Prince or his Concubines and children. Besides, if she had any allies left between these walls, it would most likely be those women. She vaguely remembered the configuration of the First Prince’s apartments, and the sisters moved quickly.

The atmosphere was heart-wrenching in there. Some of the women were still silently crying and mourning the death of the Prince, but at least, most of them seemed safe, the children also. Cassandra was extremely careful while moving around. She wasn’t sure where the two Concubines she was looking for resided exactly, so Missandra eventually asked another servant they met, pretending she was new in the Imperial Palace.

Once they found their rooms, Cassandra knocked, a bit afraid. To their surprise, a little girl in a purple dress came to open the door. She was four or five years old at best.

“Silena, don’t just... Oh, by the Great Dragon!”

The young Concubine ran to them and pulled the sisters inside before hurriedly closing the door. Then, she turned around, completely stunned.

“What are you doing here?” she whispered.

She had obviously recognized Cassandra, so she put down the tray on a table. They were alone, too, and the room was now closed, despite Missandra sending regular glances towards the other openings.

Lady Chiara walked to Cassandra, staring at her as if she had seen a ghost, looking on the verge of tears.

“By the Great Dragon, Lady Cassandra, I can’t believe you’re here,” she whispered.

“Are you alright?” asked Cassandra, as the young woman seemed completely in shock.

The young Concubine immediately shook her head, looking horrified, and about to cry.

“You shouldn’t have come here! The Second Prince wants to kill you.”

“Noted,” said Missandra, rolling her eyes.

“No, no, this is serious!” insisted Chiara. “He... he said you poisoned my Lord.”

“What happened?” asked Cassandra, hoping she would calm down a little bit to explain.

The young Concubine shook her head and fell onto her knees. Her daughter immediately ran into her arms to hug her, and she held her child, crying silently.

“I’m not sure. It all happened so fast! Everything was just as usual, and one evening, I heard people yelling, screaming... The other Concubines kept saying our Lord had died. Prince Vrehan came out of his room, all of sudden, dragging Lady Berissa by her hair, calling her a murderer! He yelled to everyone that he had caught her poisoning his brother with something the white witch had given her! Everyone started screaming, we knew Lady Berissa was innocent, but...his dragon...he killed her there, and... They said my Lord was dead.”

The poor Concubine was bawling her eyes out in front of them. Cassandra exchanged a look with Missandra, horrified. What had Vrehan done? How could he push all the blame on Berissa and kill her without a proper trial, or even any decent proof!

“How could the Emperor let that happen?” said Cassandra, shocked.

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