The War God’s Favorite
Chapter 25
The Eight Scars
She was awake for a while, but unwilling to move. Cassandra just didn’t want to come to the moment when they would have to face last night’s issue again. She was still at a loss about the Prince’s violent reaction. Why was he so against it? He hadn’t given any reason for his sudden anger from the previous night. Cassandra was afraid it would be the same all over again that morning, and didn’t dare to say a word.
“How’s your arm?”
His deep, low voice surprised her. Cassandra looked up, finally meeting the Prince’s eyes. The black irises seemed free from all anger, making her feel a bit better.
“I’m fine.”
“You have bruises.”
How did he know? Cassandra was still covered by the fur cloak, and held against him. Had he peeked while she was still asleep? And if so, how long had he been awake?
Cassandra shook her head slowly, and leaned a bit closer to his chest.
“It’s nothing. I’m fine.”
She meant it. Cassandra had experienced injuries that were much worse than bruises, and she couldn’t even feel them at the moment. She knew it probably looked worse than it really was because of her pale skin.
Yet, Kairen seemed unhappy. He sat up and left the bed without a word, apparently just to get himself something to drink. Cassandra sat up as well, covering her chest with the fur blanket, concerned. She observed him for a while, but the Prince stayed silent, avoiding her gaze until she couldn’t take it anymore.
“My Lord, can we talk?”
“What?”
“About last night. Please.”
Kairen sighed, suddenly putting his cup down.
“I didn’t mean to.”
“What?” asked Cassandra, confused.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you. It wasn’t my intention.”
She stared at him, completely caught off guard. Is that why he was so silent? Sometimes the Prince had such a strange way of thinking, she just couldn’t guess what was going on. His silence wasn’t from anger, but guilt? But it was just an accident! She had fallen as a result of him being a bit too rough, but… She didn’t think he was responsible for that. Plus, she was still a slave, and him a Prince! Even if he had slapped her, any other Prince wouldn’t have felt anything about that.
“I know. I’m not upset about that,” she said in a soft voice.
“Aren’t you afraid of me?”
“No! Sometimes you scare me a little, that’s true, but not now, not when we are talking calmly like this.”
She watched him release a sigh, and felt her heart warm up a little. Is that what he was truly concerned about? That she would be really scared of him? Cassandra felt her heart melting a bit more for her strange War God, who could act like a normal man at times.
kiss. He grabbed her hair very gently and kissed her some more. For a while, it seemed like all the frustration and uneasiness from their dispute was washed away in that instant, with that long kiss.
They parted slowly, still sitting close to each other. Cassandra hesitated a while, but she wanted to ask him while things were still calm between them.
“What were you so angry about? Last night?”
“Because you won’t listen.”
“The Red Room. Why don’t you want me to go there?”
Kairen frowned and turned to her, with a silent anger.
“Why would I want you there? Why do you want to go?”
“I only mean to help your men. The sick, the injured. I can’t stand doing nothing, My Lord. This isn’t how I’m used to living.”
“You’re my concubine.”
“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.”