Chapter 30: Chapter 30

The training Grounds

As the large black dragon was eyeing the group, it lowered its head to Cassandra’s side, where she

gently scratched under its chin.

Krai was obviously glaring at the man, though. Could a dragon have understood his words? Was he

upset about the words used toward the Commander-in-Chief’s concubine just now? It couldn’t be,

right? The Captain swallowed slowly.

“If you do not wish to be healed, I suggest you see another doctor in the camp. But please don’t be so

noisy in front of the hospital or I’ll have you removed.”

“Re…removed?” said the Captain, though he had lost most of his voice.

Cassandra nodded, still scratching Krai’s maw. The dragon was chewing some snow, some of its back

still white. The men around the Captain, despite being impressed, tried to convince him again.

“The Lady of the Mountain is very skilled, Captain! She stitched the Lieutenant’s arm and now he is

fine! Please, Captain, at least let her examine you.”

As the Captain was still frowning and glaring at Cassandra, one of his men walked to her, pleading.

“Please, Lady Cassandra, our Captain is very stubborn, but he is a great soldier and like a father to

most of us! If he loses his leg, he will be sent back!”

“What happened?” finally asked Cassandra.

“He twisted his leg while training a while ago. We thought it might get better, but now it’s been two

weeks now, he can’t even walk, and the area is all black and blue!”

She sighed. This was probably only a muscle contusion, but if that man was this stubborn, he probably

hadn’t taken any rest for his leg to heal. Two of the men pulled up one of their Captain’s pant legs to

show her the large bruise that had spread up his thigh. The Captain immediately became red.

“You little scums! How dare you undress me like that! You’re all going to regret this!”

“How is it, Lady of the Mountain? Is it bad?”

“Don’t you touch me you vicious…!”

But before he could end his sentence, a loud, angry dragon growled at him. The men ran in all

directions, just before Krai’s paw landed on the Captain, pinning him on the ground. He lost all air in his

lungs in a funny expression, the beast crushing him to the ground.

“Hey, Krai, no. No, no, get your paw off. Here.”

Krai was still growling, but Cassandra’s calls managed to distract the dragon enough. She kept making

gestures until the red eyes looked her way instead of the Captain’s. Her voice was as gentle and calm

as usual, yet every man was shocked to see the dragon attracted to her like a moth to a flame. Krai

kept growling, unhappy, and the Captain was still being crushed under his humongous weight.

“Let go, come on. Come here,” said Cassandra, stepping away so the dragon would follow.

Eventually, Krai turned around, its paw finally lifting from the man’s body, who painfully tried to breathe

again.

“Good dragon,” said Cassandra. “Come here.”

While she was scratching and petting Krai, Evin rolled his eyes and walked to the soldiers, helping their

Captain up.

“You idiot. Insulting the Concubine in front of His Highness’ Dragon.”

“The dragon listens to the Lady of the Mountain!” said one of the men, impressed.

Evin clicked his tongue.

“His Highness’ Dragon listens to His Highness only. He just likes to act as Lady Cassandra’s

bodyguard…and pet, apparently.” ?

Even so, all the men were watching the scene of the young woman, standing in the snow to cuddle and

pet a dragon that was about a thousand times her size. Krai seemed to have already forgotten about

them, only focused on Cassandra.

At some point, she had the dragon walk away, though they had missed how she did that. Had she

thrown something away to play catch? That death machine just acted like a dog around this woman…

“You should have him rest and apply fresh snow on his injury. It will most likely heal by itself as long as

he doesn’t overdo it,” she said to the men.

“Thank you, Lady Cassandra!” said some of the men in unison.

“You better take him out of here, though. Next time, I can’t guarantee His Highness’ Dragon won’t bite

him on the first try.”

The men left swiftly, taking away the Captain who was still acting grumpy. Evin turned to Cassandra.

“You did a good job preventing His Highness’ Dragon from eating him.”

“Yes. Even dragons can get sick from rotten meat.”

Cassandra laughed. Sometimes, Evin really surprised her. Was he ironic or really trying to crack a

joke? Either way, it was amazing to see how his facial expression never changed one bit.

“The weather is getting worse. I suggest you go back now, Madam,” said Evin, looking at the sky.

“All right. Let me give some instructions to the men in the hospital and then we can go.”

Indeed, a few instructions were sufficient for the men to know what to do even if she was absent.

Cassandra had been surprised with how fast some of the younger soldiers were able to learn from her.

Many were very proactive and curious too, always asking questions and coming up with suggestions.

They obviously held her in high esteem, as she was always called “Lady Cassandra” or “Lady of the

Mountain” by the men. Some were coming daily, even for a few hours, just to learn more from her and

spread the knowledge about first aid around. She didn’t feel too bad about leaving the mountain a bit

earlier than usual that day, knowing she was leaving it in good hands.

Since the wind was too strong, Krai stayed on the ground, walking beside her, its huge body actually

shielding Cassandra from the snow during the whole trip back.

“This is going to be a storm,” said Evin.

“Are the storms bad here?”

“They can be, but the men only need to stay confined in their tents. If it lasts several days though, it can

be problematic.”

Cassandra nodded, and looked up. It was all grey and white in the sky. How long would this last? Evin

was probably right, as the snowfall was getting heavier. Snow was piling up on Krai’s back. As they

progressed in the camp, many men warned her to take cover, too. Cassandra was looking for the

Prince though, and was directed to one of the training grounds. Despite the name, it was in one of the

buildings.

A very large room, like an interior stadium, was conceived for men to train and attend meetings inside.

It could easily contain thousands of men and their steeds. There weren’t any horses when Cassandra

got there though, actually most of it was empty. On one side a group of men were practising

movements all together and on the other some were doing physical exercises. The center was the

busiest, twenty soldiers in full armor were all fighting against one man, Kairen, alone with two swords.

Immediately, Cassandra couldn’t help but worry about the obvious difference.

“Is this okay?”

“Probably not. I hope His Highness remembers it’s a pain to replace soldiers.”

Cassandra frowned. Was the Prince still at an advantage, despite the numbers? He didn’t even have

his armor on!

Yet, after a few minutes of observing the battle, she had no choice but to admit Evin was right. The

Prince had no need for armor. With his two swords, he effortlessly dismissed any attempt the soldiers

made to get to him. He didn’t even seem to get tired, or put any effort in. Each movement was perfect

and precise. Despite his broad frame, he moved with the agility and speed of a tiger. His muscles’ hard

at work were showing with each gesture, under his tan skin.

Cassandra couldn’t help but slowly start blushing after a while. The lines of his body were just dancing

perfectly, the Prince’s perfect form revealed. Cassandra felt a slight fever coming up inside. She could

have used some more of the snow.

She was just watching from the side, but Cassandra was hypnotized by the fight, as if it had been some

dance. Her heart fluttering with each of the Prince’s moves, she reacted to every action, fearing for him

when a soldier seemed to stand a chance, relieved when he pushed them back, excited when he

attacked himself.

As Cassandra didn’t bother him and stood silently, Kairen hadn’t noticed her entrance. Yet, the fight

was over after only a few minutes. Each of the twenty soldiers, no matter how good they were, ended

up butt or face in the sand, full of aches and muscle pains. Kairen was unscathered.

“How impressive,” whispered Cassandra.

“Of course. His Highness wasn’t named this Empire’s War God for nothing,” said Evin.

She couldn’t even hear Evin, her green eyes still stuck on her Prince. Kairen’s skin was barely

sweating despite all this exercise, but it was shiny and lustrous, making her blush even more. She

could vividly remember the feel of his skin under her fingers.

“Shall we go get His Highness?”

Just as Evin suggested that, Kairen’s eyes suddenly turned to them. Cassandra immediately blushed

even more from having his eyes on her. Just as the Prince turned to walk up to her, Cassandra saw

one of the soldiers aiming a knife at him.

“My Lord!” she yelled, a bit too late.

Though Kairen’s shoulder movement to dodge was near perfect, it was a second too late. The blade

scratched his shoulder, before falling on the ground. A vivid red line appeared on Kairen’s skin, before

he turned to the man who had done this. Cassandra’s heart was worried for a moment. Was he going

to kill the soldier? Or get mad for attacking from behind? And injuring a member of the Imperial Family?

But contrary to all her thoughts, Kairen talked to the man, calmly, something she couldn’t hear. They

exchanged words briefly.

“What’s going on?” she asked Evin, confused.

“That man managed to injure the War God. His Highness is asking for his name and unit, for him to be

rewarded.”

“Rewarded? Isn’t wounding the Imperial Family something to be punished?”

“Things are different on a training ground.”

Cassandra nodded. So it did seem. The Prince’s talk with the soldier was short, though. As soon as he

was done, he turned around and walked to Cassandra. She found herself unable to stop blushing again

as he came closer.

Once he faced her, as she was on some stairs that put her at the same height as him, he put his arm

around her waist and leaned in for a kiss. Despite Evin being there, Cassandra couldn’t resist him,

putting her hands on his chest to respond. His smell was even stronger after training, enticing her.

Their kiss lasted a while, as Kairen kept playing with her tongue, caressing her hair and holding her

close.

When they parted, Cassandra had to catch her breath a bit.

“Why are you so red?” he asked his concubine with a frown.

“I was…watching you,” she admitted, unable to answer any further.

“It made you like this?” he asked with a little smirk, his hand noticeably going down her back.

Cassandra felt ashamed that his hands were exciting her even more, and in the presence of Evin, too!

She was about to burn away if things kept going.

“My Prince, a winter storm is coming… Can we go back to our tent?” she asked shyly.

Kairen frowned a bit, turning to Evin, who nodded.Then, without adding a word, Kairen lifted

Cassandra, carrying her effortlessly against his shoulder. Since she knew there was no use in

protesting against this, Cassandra held on to him until Kairen brought her back to the tent, inside which

Evin didn’t follow.

Once inside, Kairen put her down, and she put her fur coat aside.

“My Lord, let me look at your injury, it…”

“It’s fine.”

But Cassandra didn’t listen and got on her toes to take a look at it. Immediately, she wondered if her

eyes were going crazy. Instead of the injury from earlier, on the Prince’s shoulder she could see a line

of… little black scales?

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