Page 275 of The War God’s Favorite

Cassandra didn’t have time to wonder any more, as she heard the crack of the whip dangerously close behind her. She accelerated despite the pain in her back and legs. The strain from all the running and climbing was starting to take its toll on her body, but she ignored it, only focusing on the lake, and running faster than the two princes.

“What are you doing!?”

She ignored them. Her feet were already in the water as she tried to scrutinize the surface of the lake. She walked in, but she couldn’t see much. With the sunlight reflecting on the surface, it was too deep and too dark to see anything past a couple of meters beneath the surface. How deep was the lake? While singing her song those weeks ago she had stayed where she could just sit with the water at her waist. Now, she had to go as far as she could.

The familiar feeling of water enveloping her legs gave her some more strength and she tore the edges of her dress so she could walk and then swim more comfortably. The whip cracked again, just breaking the surface of the water next to her. He had just barely missed, but he was close enough to hit her.

“Don’t kill her!” shouted Vrehan. “We need her alive!”

Ironically, the Second Prince may have saved her life. Lephys kept trying to get a hold of her, but the Prince apparently wasn’t good at gauging his own strength. Either he was too heavy with it and violently slashed the water, or too light and he missed her completely. Cassandra kept going, half-swimming now. She knew the Dragon Princes wouldn’t follow her into the water, but everything was going to depend on how long she could stay beneath the surface.

She took several deep breaths, and when her lungs felt full, she finally dove in. As she hurried deeper in the lake, she heard the echo of the whip breaking the surface above her. Cassandra needed to get far enough away so they couldn’t reach her.

She had no idea where she was going. It took her eyes a long minute to adjust to the water before she was finally able to see clearly. As she had suspected, it was indeed significantly deeper than it looked from the surface. She couldn’t tell how much exactly, but she kept going deeper. As she dove, Cassandra couldn’t help but silently pray the air she had stored would last as long as she needed. As she swam past various fish, she thought how eerie it was - being submerged in this underwater world with everything going on above. It was likely no one from the Imperial Family had ever bothered to try swimming in the lake as none of the fish looked bothered by her presence, like she posed no real threat.

Cassandra kept going deeper. Her composition was different from the Dragon Empire’s people. Her legs could paddle for a long time without becoming too tired, and her eyes weren’t troubled by the water. Her body could handle the pressure, and her lungs could retain air for a long time.

Hence, she continued past what any other person around could withstand. What had the Emperor hoped she would find in that lake? Was this even the right lake he had mentioned? It was too late to wonder and worry about it now. As she got farther away from the surface, she was soon surrounded by darkness. As she soon realized, the light wasn’t the only thing that was slowly disappearing. There were less and less fish too. Why? She would have thought all those underwater creatures would enjoy the calmness in the lower levels of the lake, but instead, all the little fish stayed closer to the surface, as if they were too scared to go further and the few that dared venture lower didn’t stay long, quickly turning around. Cassandra hesitated. Should she still go down after witnessing that? What were the depths of the lake hiding.

She glanced upwards. It felt strangely calm down here compared to what was waiting for her on the surface, though she had no choice anyway. The danger was surely much more grave up there.

The young concubine kept going down, her eyes now struggling to see anything. She had a strange feeling. As if something was looking at her, lurking in the darkness. Something dangerous.

Cassandra was starting to feel a little unwell. The air in her lungs was slowly running out, and she was becoming tired. Her body was resenting all the vigorous exercise from the day, and the water pressure was compounding her discomfort. She couldn’t give-up yet. She had to spend as much time as she could searching underwater and, even if she couldn’t find anything down there, she needed to delay her return to the surface as long as possible.

Suddenly, something quickly swam past her. She froze. It was big. Very big. It had what seemed like a long body, something much longer than any underwater creature she had ever heard of. A giant snake, maybe?

Fear was starting to claw at the back of her mind, and not being able to see anything was making it even more terrifying. If a beast did decide to attack her, she was completely defenseless. She had left Opheus’ earring in his brother’s neck to delay his healing process, and she had given her dagger to Missandra before they left for the Palace. As her younger sister was a better fighter, she was the better choice to hold the weapon, in case they found themselves in such a situation, but she hadn’t even thought of taking it back when they parted ways. Though she probably wouldn’t have anyway, she was now regretting that. She had nothing to defend herself with.

The creature moved next to her again, and a loud sound resonated like an echo in the water. Cassandra’s eyes grew larger. Was that...a growl? It was higher-pitched than a dragon’s, but it was still so similar to Krai’s! It couldn’t be, could it? Suddenly, the strange growl echoed out again as she turned towards its origin, squinting her eyes to try and locate the creature’s exact position. If it could see her, why hadn’t it attacked yet? Was that thing what the fish were afraid of? Cassandra focused on the water’s movements around her, trying to figure out where the creature would swim to next. It ought to be massive judging by the growl it made. A crazy theory was growing in the back of her mind, but it seemed absolutely impossible.

Two big white lights suddenly appeared in the darkness. Cassandra had to cover her mouth so as not to scream and lose more of her precious air. The lights were big, like diamonds, and they were... eyes. A pair of reptilian eyes. The two eyes grew closer, and Cassandra tried to swim away by reflex. Judging from the size of them, whatever creature they belonged to had to be enormous! If that thing decided it wanted to hunt her, she was already dead.

However, the eyes didn’t appear menacing. In fact, as they slowly grew closer, there was no animosity in them at all. Cassandra froze, though her heart was beating like crazy. What was that thing? She decided to stop and let it approach. She couldn’t go far or fast enough to flee it anyway. If she was going to die, better make it quick.

A giant snout gradually appeared below the white eyes. It was covered in scales and Cassandra thought they might be dark grey, but they really could have been any color. In this darkness, she couldn’t tell. A large snout protruded out and sniffed her, the creature’s head slowly coming into view as it continued approaching her. Cassandra was speechless! It was impossible, but she couldn’t make this up - it was definitely a dragon’s head.

The head was a bit leaner than any dragon she had seen, and there were no little horns on the side of its face or on its head, only two long ones, cascading back down from the top of its head, though one of them was broken. The cheeks were a bit rounder too, and Cassandra noticed the wide and long holes along the neck as the creature turned its head slightly. Could those be gills?

The creature circled around her, clearly assessing her. Cassandra wondered if she could even call it a dragon, but regardless, she was fascinated by the creature. The face was clearly that of a dragon, but its body was different from those she knew. It was leaner, with shorter limbs and, more importantly, the joints of those limbs had large fans. The creature was slithering it’s body slowly and meticulously to move itself. Cassandra was amazed. From what she observed of them, those had to be like fins. There were several on its back too, and the tail of the dragon had a similar shape, as well. This seemed so impossible, she wondered if she hadn’t lost consciousness already and was perhaps hallucinating it all. But, the creature next to her was very real. It kept swimming in circles around her, never taking its eyes off her and growled again. Cassandra wondered if this was it. If she was going to be killed by such an unbelievable creature. Was this what the King wanted her to find?

Cassandra didn’t have much air left in her lungs. She was slowly suffocating and her head was starting to spin a bit. She glanced towards the surface. What should she do? It was already a miracle that this dragon-like being hadn’t attacked her by now! Such a magnificent creature...

Cassandra had no more oxygen left, she opened her mouth slightly, feeling too tired to fight anymore. The creature slowly swam closer to her, and she somehow managed some strength to extend her arm. The dragon, if it even was one, slid past her, letting her fingers slide across its skin. It was incredibly cold.. contrary to Krai’s warmth. Cassandra chuckled, her brain finding that information funny.

She couldn’t hold on anymore. She wanted to close her eyes. One last growl resonated through the waters before she lost consciousness.

Chapter24

As if Kassian had understood his father, the little baby had a very serious frown on and was holding on to the little plushie’s tail fiercely. Despite the overall situation, Kairen’s heart warmed up a little at that sight. The child was indeed his son...brave and strong, like his parents. He held him for a while as if trying to learn all of his son’s features by heart. Kairen had never been interested in children, but Kassian was different. He was truly a part of both of his parents.

Kairen remembered how impatient Cassandra had been to finally see their son and hold him. She only had one week with her baby, while Kairen had lost the entire first week of his newborn’s life. Fate truly was too horrible sometimes. He hugged his baby gently. He had never been trained to carry a baby, but somehow, all the right movements came to him naturally, as if his instincts were guiding him. Kassian didn’t seem upset being carried in his father’s strong and sturdy arms. The baby was actually engrossed with his plushie, though he was barely able to hold on to it. With his little mouth forming O’s, he looked like he was sizing up the plushie. His expression was quite amusing.

Kairen couldn’t help but recognize some of Cassandra’s features there - his little nose, the shape of his eyes. Even his irises had hints of green in them, and his skin was just a shade lighter than his fathers, but not nearly as light as his mother’s.

“Oh by the Gods!”

Lady Kareen had just arrived behind him and was staring at the baby, her eyes filled with emotions. The Imperial Concubine’s heart melted at the sight of the newborn in Kairen’s arms. She seemed at a loss for words, and just gently caressed the baby’s hands for a few seconds. From Kairen’s arms, the baby squealed in excitement upon seeing a new face. She kept smiling gently at him, but Kairen’s mind was elsewhere.

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