Chapter 70: Chapter 70

The Wedding Plan

Cassandra fell into a deep slumber, exhausted by the whole day. She had a dreamless night, a

peaceful one, surrounded by the right warmth and soft scents of verbena. Several pots of that plant had

been put in their room to help her sleep better.

Kairen, too, made sure to position his arms in the most comfortable position for her before getting to

sleep himself. He was even more cautious than usual, as his Concubine recently struggled to get a

good night’s sleep, and often woke up to her nausea.

That next morning, Cassandra slept as much as she needed. No one dared to bother her, and, when

she woke up by herself, felt refreshed after a good night’s sleep. Her body was a bit sore, but nothing

unbearable. She stretched a bit, sitting up to confirm she was alone. The Prince’s side of the bed was

cold… How long had she slept? She could hear the music outside, the festivities still going on. The

sunlight made her feel like it was quite late in the morning, too.

She grabbed her robe and walked to the window, glancing down. Indeed, she could see the lake and

the garden around, flooded with people again. Did some not sleep at all? She was too far and too high

to recognize anyone, though.

“Lady Cassandra! Did you sleep well?”

Dahlia had just walked in, carrying a new dress for her. Two other servants girls entered right behind

her, with hot water and oils. They started preparing her a bath, immediately surrounding the room with

a refreshing citrus smell.

“I did, thank you. I slept late, didn’t I?”

“His Highness insisted we let you sleep, my Lady. It’s almost midday now! But Imperial Concubine

Kareen said she wants to have late breakfast with you.”

“She’s been waiting for me!” Realized Cassandra, a bit embarrassed.

“She knows you were sleeping, my lady, she said she was fine with waiting as long as you got a good

rest. His Highness the third prince agreed to it too, and insisted we wait for you to wake up.”

“My Lord is with his mother?” Asked Cassandra, while undressing to get into her bath quickly. –

“Yes, my Lady, Princess Shareen, and Lady Missandra as well.”

Cassandra felt a bit embarrassed at the thought of everyone waiting for her. Moreover, they weren’t

even attending the Celebrations but having breakfast at Lady Kareen’s apartments? She wondered if

Shareen was still implicitly banned from there, or Kareen was the one who refused to go again. Both

Mother and Daughter definitely shared the same fiery blood…

As she didn’t want to keep anyone waiting much longer, Cassandra asked the servants to help her

hurry to get ready, after a quick bath. She let Dahlia pick the jewelry for her, put on her tiara and walked

out quickly. Only Dahlia followed her, as the two young servants stayed behind to clean up the room.

For once, Cassandra was grateful to be spared of her usual nausea. She hurried to Kareen’s

apartments, not running but still unwilling to walk slowly. She got there a few minutes later, and walked

in, as she knew Kareen didn’t for her to be announced.

It was a large room, with the panels on one side open on a large garden for them to admire and the

sunshine to come in. However, unlike the warm sunlight, the atmosphere was icy inside. She walked up

to the large table, were Kareen, Shareen, Kairen, and Missandra were all seating and strangely quiet.

To her surprise, the young Prince Anour was seating with them too, those he had obviously just arrived,

his plate and cup empty clean.

They all raised their heads when she came in, but Cassandra noticed both Missandra and Kairen were

unhappy, and Kareen ignoring them, drinking her tea. Shareen rolled her eyes.

“Finally!”

“Good Morning!” Said Anoud, apparently the only one not sulking or pissed.

“Sorry, I’m late…” muttered Cassandra, confused about what was going on.

Kareen stood up to walk to her, gently smiling and taking her hand.

“It’s fine, my dear, every pregnant woman needs a good night’s sleep. I’m glad you rested, you look

better than last night. Now, come. You must be hungry.”

Indeed, she was. Her baby and his dragon stomach were already starving, and the large display of

food on the table made it worse. She sat next to the Imperial Concubine, greeting everyone while she

was served some of her favorite lemon tea.

“What is going on…?” She finally dared to ask.

“Oh, well,” said Shareen, that dearest brother of mine is fighting with Mother and your just as stubborn

sister. For the record, I’m on their side as well. It’s been like that for over an hour so I do hope you can

talk some sense into him.”

“A fight? About what?” Asked Anour, curious.

“Their wedding.”

Cassandra was speechless. Their wedding? He had talked about it to his family and Missandra? She

suddenly remembered, she said she wanted his mother’s approval… Yet, she hadn’t really thought he

would go ahead and ask her straight-out! It wasn’t exactly a breakfast topic… Anour too, had his mouth

open, visibly shocked. He was about to say something, but Kareen gestured for him to be quiet and

eat, like a child.

Cassandra sighed, putting down her cup.

“I guess you didn’t answer what my Lord wanted to hear?” She asked Kareen.

“Of course not. But you don’t seem too surprised by that, dear. You already knew I’d be against it, didn’t

you?”

Cassandra sighed, glancing at the War God’s furious expression. He was quiet and still, but she could

tell he wasn’t furious. He had his frown on, and his dark eyes were glaring at anything nearby. This was

going to be a complicated one…

“If something happens to me,” Cassandra said, “my Lord won’t have any chance for another child.”

“Finally, someone with some sense in here!” Said Shareen. “Kairen, let her lead your army next time,

this one knows how to think!”

Her words were met with another deathly glare from her brother, but of course, she wasn’t one to be so

easily scared by him, crossing her arms with a proud expression.

“Kairen, stop being a child and listen to Cassie,” said Kareen.

“I won’t marry another woman,” he growled.

“We are not asking you too, you stubborn child! Just to wait until you two have several children. Do you

need me to remind you what happened to Anour’s mother?”

The sixth prince immediately nodded, looking resolute. Indeed, his mother had died in childbirth… If it

wasn’t for Kareen, he probably wouldn’t even have reached his teenage years.

“I’ll protect Cassandra.”

Seeing his stubborn expression, she stood up and walked to him, taking his face into her hands, having

him look at her. She knew he couldn’t resist her long. She gently brushed his beard with her fingers.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you to protect me,” she said softly. “But anything can happen in the next four

months. So many people are against me having this baby. Even if there weren’t any external threats,

this is my first child. I could die in childbirth, face complications. Those things happen, even with all my

medicinal knowledge.”

“Cassandra is only eighteen,” added Kareen. “She is still young, and not as resistant as us.” 3

Talking about her possible death wasn’t anything comforting for Cassandra, but she needed him to

understand. If something went wrong, during this pregnancy or later on, she didn’t want her Prince to

lose his opportunity to become the Emperor because of her.

“Still… I won’t want any other than you,” he growled.

“You can’t think like that,” Cassandra replied. “You could make a great Emperor… If you have a son.”

“I only want the children you’ll bear.”

She sighed. He was truly too stubborn. Shareen let out a long sigh of exasperation.

“Do you two have to be so cheesy and mushy for breakfast, seriously? We are still there!”

“I’m against it, too!”

Everyone turned to Missandra, surprised to hear her speak.

“Can someone remind me who is she?” Asked Anour, confused. “She looks like Lady Cassandra…”

“Her younger sister.”

“You had a younger sister?” He exclaims, his eyes wide open in surprise. “How come I didn’t know! It

was you at the celebrations yesterday, right!”

“Anour, it’s a secret,” said Kareen with her serious expression.

“Yes, but…”

“A secret.”

He opened his mouth again, but seeing his adoptive mother’s glare, he shut it close again, and

nodded. Cassandra couldn’t help but chuckle at their little interaction. Kareen was obviously a good

mother to her children, no matter how strict she could be.

After a few seconds, Missandra crossed her arms.

“I am still against it. And I don’t understand your weird ways, anyway. The Dragon people are strange.

One man can marry as many women as he wants, but women can’t? And this whole wife/concubine

statuses thing, too! This is just…”

“Missandra, calm down,” said Cassandra.

“Wait, I’m curious,” says Shareen. “You girls are from a different country, after all, tell us about it.”

“It’s not a Country,” replied Missandra. “We don’t own the land or anything but ourselves. You people

see a square of land and declare it’s yours. It’s ridiculous!” (5

Cassandra was waiting for Shareen to get mad, but actually, she only looked genuinely surprised.

Kareen, too, was rubbing her chin with her finger, looking interested. She grabbed her tea.

“Tell us more, child. I’m curious, too. None of us ever heard of others… cultures or tribes beside the

Eastern Republic and the Northern Barbarians…”

Missandra seemed surprise to hear her being interested, and sat down, a bit perplexed. She glanced at

Cassandra, unsure, but seeing her older sister gives her a little nod, she proceeded to speak, blushing

a bit. For once, she looked shyer than Cassandra, and her real age.

“W… Well I was only seven, so I don’t remember many things… But I know we only lived in the

swamps, and in our shacks…”

“Shacks? Not real houses?”

“The soil was too uneven for stones like here, it would get muddy and moldy in no time,” explained

Cassandra, who remembered it better. “We used special types of woods, and grew creepers around it.

“Us children played all day in the rivers, catching fishes and swimming and diving,” said Missandra,

smiling.

“You were the best at catching fishes,” noted Cassandra with the same smile.

“You were the best swimmer! My sister dived very deep and she could stay the longest underwater. So

many kids were always following her around and trying to imitate her. I was the proudest since you

were my sister…”

Missandra blushed a bit after saying that, and Cassandra was touched. Indeed, she remembered the

cheeky six or seven-year-old Missandra, always following right behind her, playing around and going

on adventures in the swamps. She wasn’t afraid to get dirty or climb the mangroves.

“You mentioned your mother taught you about herbs?” Said Kareen.

“Everyone in our tribe knew about all the basic herbs… We cooked most of them, but we would use

them for hygiene, medicine, cleaning… Most of our knowledge was based on what the elders

transmitted to us. It was our main resource.”

“Our Grandfather was the chief of the village, as the eldest of the adults,” explained Missandra. “Mother

was the best doctor. She taught my sister a lot, and the other children who were old enough, too.”

“You kept making everyone eat tingling leaves once you discovered their effect,” chuckled Cassandra.

“You even put it in Paba’s tea when he was nagging you…”

The sisters laughed at the memory, making everyone else chuckle too.

“Paba?” Repeated Kareen. “I noticed you two can talk in that strange language. What is it?”

“Our mother tongue,” explained Cassandra. it doesn’t really have a name. Paba means grandpa.”

“You call each other Linue et Hinue too,” said Shareen.

“It’s little sister and big sister. We can use to address other girls even if they are not from their family

though, as long as we are close.

“Interesting…”

“How do you say, husband?” Asked Kairen.

Everyone was surprised to hear him speak. Missandra immediately frowned.

“We don’t say it,” she said. “And we don’t get married to men who take lots of concubines!”

“Missandra,” sighed Cassandra.

The little sister pouted, crossing her arms, visibly unhappy. Cassandra turned back to her prince.

“We don’t really have a word for “Husband” since we don’t get married like you… We do have a union

ceremony, though. Partners call each other Almien.”

“Almien?”

“It means who is mine,” sighed Missandra. “You can do that with only one person, though!”

“It means who is mine,” sighed Missandra. “You can do that with only one person, though!”

“So lovers do this?”

“It’s not just lovers, but people who promise to unite their lives forever. You cannot change or take

another one after!”

“Missandra, I think they understood,” said Cassandra. “Anyway, it’s…”

“Let’s do that.”

She turned to Kairen, confused.

“Do that?”

“You and me, let’s do that thing from your tribe. Almien.”