#110 The Sassy Prince
Missandra stayed quiet for a while, looking more and more livid. After a while, she glanced down at the
concubine that was still in the room with them and took a deep breath.
âI knew the situation was dire, but I didnât think it would be that bad that our best hope would rely on the
Emperorâs freaking Dragon! Hinue, we are talking about an actual dragon and not a cat-sized one like
Kian! I know the third Princeâs black Dragon is basically your pet, but this is another Dragon weâre
talking about, the Emperorâs! Iâm pretty sure the most dangerous creature in the Empire hasnât been
trained to do paw tricks!â
âDragons only mimic their ownersâ feelings. Krai is like that because of Kairenâs feelings for me. The
Emperor liked me too, youâve seen it. Heâs been nothing but nice andâ¦â
âHe is an Emperor! Who knows what that old man was thinking! Gifting you a tiara and some stupid
nickname . doesnât mean youâre his favorite daughter-in-law! I trust you, but I donât trust a pervert that
has taken dozens of concubines, got kids left and right while his favorite woman has to live in a
different castle to ensure her kidâs survival!â Cassandra sighed.
âI know this is the same refrain coming back again and again,â added Missandra. âBut I stand by my
words, I donât trust the old manâs dragon! We canât just walk in there and hope heâs going to become
our bodyguard! Thatâs a rather big bet and Iâm pretty sure weâre running out of extra lives just by
standing here!â
âDo you have a better idea, perhaps? We were going to see if the Emperor can be saved anyway,
Missandra. Perhaps Glahad wonât move a⦠claw to help us. At least itâs better than anything, right?â
âThis is us reducing our chances of getting killed by a dragonâs hair! And I know they donât have any!â
Next to them, the young concubine stood back up again, shaking her head. She grabbed Cassandraâs
hand, as she was trembling herself, looking at her right in her eyes.
âI heard the Imperial Dragonâs name, are you going to see the Emperor? Please, Lady Cassandra, you
have to save him!
Both sisters were flustered to see the young woman suddenly begging, but neither of them could react
to her new bust of tears, as she held on desperately to Cassandra, her lower lips trembling. She didnât
look anything like the elegant young woman Cassandra had met only a few days ago. This was just a
desperate girl, a mother begging her to save her and her child.
âPlease, youâre the Imperial Physician. You have to save his Highness! If the Emperor dies, I know he
will kill us! The second Prince will have us all exterminated, our children too!â
Against her leg, the young girl started crying too, echoing her poor motherâs distress. Cassandraâs
heart broke. This little girl was so young, and she had just lost her father. How many of those children
would have to grow without their father now? They were already all so terrorized already, but they were
now living in the fear of their uncle finishing the job⦠Cassandra turned to her sister again, a
determined expression in her eyes. Missandra couldnât say anything anymore, not when they were so
frantically begged like so. The younger sister kept shaking her head in disbelief, but she didnât voice
her opinion anymore.
âI⦠Iâll go see the Emperor, Lady Chiara. Stay here with your daughter, it will be safer. Do not tell
anyone youâve seen us, please?â
âOf course, Lady Cassandra. Please, be careful⦠Some of my Princeâs concubines are desperate. We
are not stupid, none of us think Lady Berissa would have ever tried to harm our Princeâ¦! Even some of
the Princesses are afraid!â
âWhat about the other Princes, by the way?â Asked Missandra.
âWe donât knowâ¦
Cassandra frowned. This was one thing she wished she could have resolved now. Not only they were
in such a den of wolves, but they couldnât even be sure who was their enemy or not⦠She nodded, and
gently retrieving her hand, she turned to Missandra.
âWe should go, now.â
After checking their appearance, making sure nothing had been undone, the sisters left Lady Chiara,
the heart a bit heavier than before. Cassandra couldnât get that little girlâs face off her mind and realized
that, somehow, she vaguely looked like her own son. Maybe it was because they were young, but
those two children still had the same grandfather. That child was Kairenâs niece. So many innocent
young lives were trapped here! The concubines were more or less circled in the Second Princeâs
residence. None of them had the means to leave, and they had no dragon to defend them either! With
Sire locked in the cells underground, those women were nothing but prey for Vrehan to play with!
âWe need to stop this,â muttered Cassandra, as they walked alone in a corridor.
âLetâs stay focus, we cannot make a mistake now,â whispered Missandra. âWeâre lucky no one has
recognized you yet, and that psycho isnât here⦠Now, where is the old man?
âThe Emperorâs quarters were behind the room used for the banquets.â
âWhy is this place so damn big!â
As they were about to turn left on a corridor, the sisters heard a ruckus, and stopped their steps at the
exact same time, both frowning. They listened for a few seconds, but the situation was rather heated.
âYou damn little bitches! Iâm so fed up with that crap! You sluts! Get the fuck out of my way, go back to
my pervert brother before I ruin my nails on your ugly faces! Uglies!â.
Cassandra and Missandra absolutely froze. Though they had their doubts, this masculine voice and the
mention of a pervert brother were enough clues to guess which character they had almost run into.
They waited to see if he was coming this way, but it didnât seem so, the sound of the manâs steps and
whoever was following him were
getting further away. Cassandra let out a silent sigh, while Missandra raised an eyebrow.
âWell, that explains why that one doesnât have kidsâ¦â she muttered.
âWhy?â Asked Cassandra, confused.
Missandra rolled her eyes.
âThat guy is definitely not into women⦠Trust me, Iâve seen a lot of guys like that in the Red District.
This one is definitely a man-player. Plus, the only person Iâve heard being sassier than that guy is Lady
Shareen, and that alone says a lot.â
âOhâ¦â
That did solve one mystery about the lack of descendants on the fourth Princeâs end⦠However, that
didnât give any insight into his position towards his brothers, though. Was he affected by Sephirâs
death? On Vrehanâs side, or uninterested? What of Prince Lephys? After what they had just heard,
Cassandra crossed out any thought she ever had of asking help from one of the other Princes. The
relationships between all the siblings were too complicated, she had no idea who could be trusted or
not at this point. Neither of the fourth or fifth Princes had seemed close to Kairen or even Sephir from
her experience⦠Nothing said they would agree with Vrehan becoming the Emperor either, though.
Waiting a bit for the path to clear, the sisters kept walking, until they finally arrived in the Banquet Hall.
It was desert at that time, and, most importantly, that area was completely unused at the moment. It
would have been suspect for two servants to walk in with food trays, so the two sisters had to act
quickly and not linger around.
Cassandra had already noticed that, when one of the Banquets was over, the Emperor left through a
door behind
his golden throne. The Emperorâs seat was so large and impressive that it seemed like a wall behind
him, but Cassandra clearly remembered seeing Glahad curled up in that space, between the actual
wall and his ownerâs seat. No one wanted to go anywhere near the Imperial Dragonâs favorite spot, but
she knew the doors to the Emperorâs apartments had to be behind that throne.
However, as soon as the sisters pretended to walk through the Banquet room, both noticed the men
guarding that door. They pretended to chat and leave the room, but as soon as the door was closed
behind them, Missandra shook her head.
âSo, no big dragon, but two guards. I wouldnât have been surprised if that psycho had put more men
than that. How are we supposed to get to the Old Man now!â
However, Cassandra wasnât listening to her. She was already staring away, at one of the windows more
precisely. She walked to the opening, and stuck her head out, looking down. Missandra frowned,
confused.
âHinue, what are you doingâ¦?â
âWhen my Prince had⦠Well, when he injured Princess Phetra, he threw her out of one of the banquet
roomâs windows. Lady Kareen had mentioned there were only three or so floors below, and sheâs right,
thereâs actually a roof. I can see it from here, and the building below goes all the way down the actual
Emperorâs apartmentsâ¦â
Her sister shook her head in disbelief. That was it. Her older sister had officially gone crazy! 1)
âIâm not breaking my ankles today to go save a dying old man,â said Missandra, coming next to her at
the window to check what was below.
Cassandra chuckled and pointed fingers.
âWe donât have to fall if we can climb⦠Just like I thought, the stones in the walls are very uneven.
Which means we could possibly climb laterally until we reach it. We would use the outside instead of
walking inside and past the guards.â
Missandra was astonished. This idea was easily taking the first place as the most dangerous idea her
sister had that day, and that was saying a lot! Moreover, they were good swimmers, but not good
climbers! Missandra was about to protest heavily, but for once, she didnât. Instead, she scrutinized the
wall Cassandra was thinking of climbing, with a frown.
Those were typical rock constructions of the Dragon Empire indeed: it was mostly uneven and, even
more interesting, the years and years of dragons trying to climb on the buildings had left some deep
marks on the wall, where the big claws had easily scratched off some of the stones, giving both sisters
even more spots to put their hands and feet on. Technically speaking, it wasnât impossible, and both
girls were in good shape, physically speaking⦠Missandra hesitated a second, sending a glance
towards the room. The guards didnât look the nice kind at all. That damn second prince had probably
chosen very carefully the dogs that would keep his fatherâs room. She really tried coming with another
idea to get rid of them, but Missandra was somewhat afraid someone would recognize her, she just
resembled Cassandra too much.
That climb in comparison, strangely didnât look as dangerous and crazy to try. They had the physical
condition for it, a stable and hidden path, and they even had the luxury of a rooftop below them to fall
on in case of failure. Of course, theyâd probably suffer major injuries like Phetra if they did fall, but at
least, the chances of survival were decent, given the situation.
Missandra did try to convince her sister to let her distract the guards while sheâd make the trip from the
outside, but Cassandraâs refusal was firm. No matter what, they had to stick together.
Checking the corridor was empty, Cassandra climbed out of the window to get outside, carefully
hanging on to the windowâs rail, and now she moved to the first target, a larger hole in the walls; She
had never liked the Imperial Palace, but that place was old enough to have many, many Dragonsâ
claws leaving their imprints on the walls. The indents in the stones gave her some easy spots to move
around, and sure enough, Cassandra made her way until she got more or less in the external walls of
the previous corridor. Biting her lower lip, Missandra watched her
sisterâs progress, but indeed, every place she rested her foot or hand on seemed stable. Not even a
spark of dust moved. Checking her surroundings, Missandra climbed out of the window too to follow
her.
Quickly and silently, the sisters moved around the external walls, keeping their heads below the
windows. The main danger would be that someone spotted them from another window. However, from
what they had seen so far, not many people were hanging around the premises. Hence, they kept
moving, climbing the wall sideways until their position was past the guards they had seen insight. There
were two problems, though. Cassandra had no idea how many rooms there were inside, their
configuration, or who would be inside. They would have to take a guess on which window to climb back
into, but they had to decide quickly. Climbing was a difficult exercise, and neither of them was very
experimented at it. Their arms were starting to get painful, their muscles aching. A pearl of sweat was
growing on Missandraâs forehead, threatening to take away some of the fake tan covering her. When
she finally found a position right under one of the windows she could stay in without too much strain,
Cassandra stopped, trying to listen to what was going on inside. Seemingly, nothing. The other side
seemed strangely quiet, though she couldnât tell if this was a good sign or not. She exchanged looks
with Missandra, who nodded. In any case, the longer they stayed there, the more risks they were taking
to be found by someone. They had to climb back inside.
Carefully, Cassandra climbed up, glancing inside. It looked like she had actually picked a bathroom
window! Luckily, that room was small, and with the door facing the window, she could immediately tell
that place was empty. With a sigh of relief, both sisters climbed inside, and finally, took a rest from their
aching muscles.
Missandra stretched with a grimace and even went to the little basin of water to drink. Their arms were
sore, but at least, they had made it inside the Emperorâs apartments. Cassandra, walking as quietly as
she could, went to put her ear against the door. It was complete silence on the other side⦠Very
carefully, the sisters came out of the bathroom. This was truly a strange atmosphere, almost like the
inside of a church. The aisle was beautiful, all made of marble and white stones, but it was as silent
and intimidating as a mausoleum. In such an environment, each step or breath the sisters took seemed
too noisy.
âAlright, now to find the Old Manâ¦â whispered Missandra.
Cassandra nodded, and they started walking down the corridor. They had no idea which door to push
and were terrified to run into someone that would give away their position. However, after a while, it
looked like this place was truly abandoned⦠They pushed many doors, each time to find an empty
room.
âAre you sure this is the Emperorâs apartments?â Asked Missandra, frowning. âThereâs nothing going on
there!â
âI donât understand,â muttered Cassandra. âIf heâs sick, the Emperor should definitely be kept in his
apartments!â
âThatâs the rule of the Imperial Palace? Well someone needs to learn them again, because the old man
isnât here! Cassandra, this place is completely empty! Thereâs not even a single servant, those two
idiots outside are guarding nothing but air!â
Cassandra shook her head in disbelief. Where was the Old Emperor, then? If he was sick, the Emperor
should be resting here in his quarters! Finally, the sisters turned to each other, Missandra shaking her
head.
âThat damn second Prince expected someone would come and he probably hid the old man
elsewhere!â
âBut where? Itâs the Emperor, he canât simply vanish this way!â
âWeâ¦â
A sudden movement was felt from somewhere behind Missandra. Both sisters froze. Something was
moving outside of the room they were in. They slowly turned around, and it was there, at the window.
One reptilian blue eye, surrounded by white scales. Staring right at them.