Page 59 of The War God’s Favorite

“I’m a slave, also. I’ve worked all my life, I’m not used to lazing around all day, and spending money, or giving orders.”

“Then do something else.”

“Why not the Red Room?”

“Cassandra,” he said with an angry tone. “I’m not letting you go. Do you know how many diseases are there? All the men there carry those diseases. If you go there, you’ll get infected and sick too.”

She was stunned. She hadn’t even thought of that, she hadn’t thought of…herself. But Kairen had. He had seen what normal people would think, why everyone was so surprised to see a concubine among the sick and injured.

Normal people would prioritize their own health, but Cassandra never learned to think like that. Like any slave, she wasn’t used to putting her security first. From her own character, she just thought of helping others.

“You were worried…for me,” she muttered.

“I don’t want you there. If you get white fever or something…”

Cassandra pulled the blanket, and suddenly showed the little scars that were on her hip. There were eight little cuts, perfectly aligned, and were all the same size and shape. Kairen frowned, wondering what kind of weapon could do this.

“White fever, yellow fever, grey skin plague, the nine days disease, swamps sickness, black tongue plague, Samsah, and infection of Krah,” she enumerated, showing each of the little scars. “I got all of those when I was a child.”

Kairen frowned. Those were very common and deadly diseases that common people could die from, except the two last ones he had never even heard of.

“What do you mean, you got them all?”

“Back in the village where I came from, all the children are infected with each of those diseases when we reach a certain age. It’s a dangerous technique our healers practiced, with a one in three chance of survival. But if we do survive, we never get any of those diseases again as an adult.”

The Prince looked at her scars again, speechless. This was such a strange technique! To have the children pass this kind of deathly test, with that low rate of survival. But the diseases Cassandra had mentioned were the most common ones, and the main causes of natural death in the Dragon Empire.

He often forgot that Cassandra wasn’t born there in the first place.

“In your…village?”

“Yes, my Lord. The Rain Tribe I was born in had…advanced healing techniques, compared to here, I think.”

Kairen stayed silent for a while. Cassandra had mentioned her long lost younger sister, but aside from the fact that she wasn’t born in the Dragon Empire, he knew very few things about her. To be precise, he didn’t care. All of her past as a slave was something that made him angry, if anything.

She covered her hip again, hoping this little explanation would have made him more inclined to let her take care of others, but Kairen was still frowning.

“But you can still get infections, and other diseases.”

“I can take care of myself. I promise, I’ll be careful.”

Truthfully, Cassandra knew perfectly well she was still in great danger by doing this. The germs contained in the Red Room were probably different from the common diseases. She wasn’t totally invulnerable, and her body wasn’t even used to cold environments in the first place. It was still unknown how she would resist things like a common cold or fever.

However, she was still stubborn about doing this. She would have done it even if she hadn’t been vaccinated by her Tribe, but that’s nothing the Prince needed to know.

Seeing Kairen was still frowning and silent, Cassandra bit her lip, and leaned a bit closer.

“My Lord, please. I can’t help you with matters of war, and I will go crazy with nothing to do all day.”

“You can accompany me.”

“I will only hinder you and be useless. It’s the same...”

She was really hoping he would agree, but he could be so stubborn at times. After a while, she saw him stare at her collar, lost in his thoughts. What was he thinking now? Cassandra waited in silence, as she couldn’t think of any other ideas to persuade him.

After a while, Kairen sighed and got up.

“I want you back before sunset. And you stay with the Imperial Servant at all times.”

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