Chapter 25: 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.

Kairen slowly walked back to the bed, sitting next to her, and Cassandra made the first move by giving

him a little

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.”

Cassandra’s face lit up, and she immediately got up as well.

“Really?”

Kairen nodded. He was a bit unhappy, but he didn’t add anything after that, confirming Cassandra’s

hopes.

“Thank you, My Lord.”

“Kairen.”

She suddenly stopped moving, speechless. The Prince turned to her, walking in her direction again,

and put his arms around her. Cassandra couldn’t react, still taken back by what she thought he meant.

“M…My lord?”

“Kairen. No more My Lord or My Prince. Call me by my name when we are alone.” &

Cassandra turned red then white immediately, completely shook. Oh, could she call him by his first

name? He was an Imperial Prince, not even his own siblings were all allowed to call him simply by his

name! Yet, he wanted her, a mere concubine and slave, to call him that! That felt even more intimate

than anything they had done before!

“I…I can’t possibly…just…”

“Kairen. Say it.”

She shook her head, torn between confusion and surprise. She didn’t even understand that strange

feeling of fear in her stomach, like it was something deeply forbidden. Cassandra felt like the sky would

open and kill her on the spot if she dared to say his name. She had always been the one with a deep,

solid vision of the walls between them; between an Imperial Prince and a slave. She shouldn’t even

have been able to look him in the eye, or stand in his presence, if things had been normal between

them!

But Kairen kept ignoring everything his own Empire had established as normal. He took a slave as his

concubine, let her express her thoughts and desires, respected her choices, and now, he even wanted

her to use his first name!

“Cassandra.”

“1…I can’t!”

She was almost more scared of that than anything else. As if the Imperial Guards would come in at any

moment and kill her if she dared to cross that line. It was like the most unthinkable thing for a slave to

call her master by his first name! She was so overwhelmed, her hands were shaking.

She kept shaking her head.

“I can’t do that, I can’t. It’s not… You’re my master.”

“I don’t care.”

“I care! I’m not… You can’t have me call you that, like I’m an equal to you. I’m not!”

That’s what she had been told for the last ten years. She was a slave, a nobody who stood at the

bottom of society. She didn’t deserve comfort, warmth, nothing. She was treated worse than livestock,

like a shadow who lived to do her chores and suffer in silence.

She had almost forgotten that, in the bliss she had experienced with the Prince.

Kairen had made her forget what it meant to be a slave. But Cassandra couldn’t completely forget, and

now, it was all coming back to her. She felt her throat become sore, and her eyes teary, from just

remembering. Before, she could endure it, because it was normal for her, because she was used to

ignoring her own pain. She had learned to close her eyes, let her body become numb and endure it.

However, things changed when she was allowed comfort again. Kairen had given her all that, so much

and so fast that she had barely taken the time to adapt. The warm blankets, the tasty food, the

gentleness. It had replaced the cold ground, scraps, and pain, so fast. But it was still there, like a scary

voice, a monster lurking at the back of her mind. Like the scars on her skin, the collar on her neck. It

was heavy and painful.

Kairen, seeing her distress, silently embraced her in his arms, waiting for Cassandra to calm down. He

couldn’t understand what she had gone through, but he saw what it did to her. She had never panicked

like that before.

“Fine… I’ll wait.”

With those words, like she had been given a bit of rest, Cassandra nodded and calmed down in a few

minutes. Meanwhile, Kairen was glaring at her collar. That damn thing had to come off, and soon!