The War God’s Favorite novel Chapter 116

#116 The Old Emperor
Cassandra was rendered speechless. What was that young woman doing locked here? She had a chain around her ankle, too… She looked absolutely terrorized. Her eyes were opened wide while staring at Cassandra, and she was curling up the further away from her she could, shivering like an injured animal.
Cassandra gently stepped closer, while Missandra and Opheus were left in awe at the doorstep. The young woman curled up even more, obviously afraid of her. In her appearance, she was somewhat reminding Cassandra of herself, months ago. She was very skinny except for her womb, and her lower lip was cut. Her body bore traces of old bruises, scars, and everything in her attitude screamed fear. Her long black hair was strangely short in some places as if someone had randomly cut it, and some of those strands were still lying on the ground. She was wearing a worn-out green dress, too.
“Who is that…?” Muttered Missandra, turning to Opheus.
The Prince shook his head. He had no idea, or wasn’t sure, but all three of them could see that the young woman had features of the Imperial Family. It was very unsettling to notice that, with her current state. Cassandra took a deep breath, and got closer, being careful not to scare her. That woman was obviously traumatized, not used to seeing strangers, and she didn’t want to scare her.
“Hinue, what are you doing…” Whispered Missandra, a bit worried.
“We can’t leave that poor woman here,” replied Cassandra.
She looked for the chain, but it was closed with a lock on that woman’s ankle.
“Mie, give me the key from earlier.”
Gently, Cassandra approached the key from that woman’s ankle. Each of her movements was extremely gentle, clearly letting that poor girl see what she was about to do. That unknown woman hadn’t uttered a single word so far, and Cassandra suspected that she wouldn’t. Her quiet wailing was the only sounds they had heard from her, and she was shivering non-stop, unable to avert her eyes one second. It was as if they had locked eyes and neither of them could look away.
Cassandra tried the key on the lock, but it didn’t match. She frowned, upset.
“This isn’t going to work…”
“Let me see,” said Missandra, walking up to her with a sigh.
Her younger sister stared at the lock for a while, and turned to Opheus after a minute.
“Can I borrow your earring?”
The Prince seemed confused at her request, but handed it to her. Under their eyes, Missandra started fidgeting and trying to force the lock with it. Cassandra didn’t know if she should have been surprised at her younger sister’s skill, but she was scared to ask how in the world she had picked that one up.
After a few seconds, they heard a click, and the iron ring fell on the bed.
“You little thief,” chuckled Opheus.
As soon as he had talked, though, the young woman suddenly whimpered, staring at him like he was absolutely terrifying, and curled up even more on one end of her bed. Cassandra’s heart broke a little witnessing this, and she turned to Opheus.
“Your Highness, would you mind… stepping outside a little bit? You’re… scaring her.”
For a few seconds, Prince Opheus made an offended look, but that woman’s pitiful attitude was not something he could ignore. He eventually rolled his eyes over and backed away a little. Cassandra waited until he was completely out of sight, and gently rubbed the poor woman’s ankle.
“It’s alright… We won’t hurt you,’ she whispered.
“Hinue, what do we do?”
Cassandra hesitated. She could never leave that woman here in her state. She was obviously malnourished and mistreated by whoever had locked her up in there. Cassandra had a faint idea of her identity, too, but either it would be confirmed later or not wasn’t her priority for now. She took a deep breath and turned to Missandra.
“Take her to Lady Mariana, she will know what to do.”
“What? But you…”
“I will keep going with prince Opheus to find the Emperor. Missandra, we can’t leave that poor woman here. Moreover, she is already dressed as a servant, and chances are high the Imperial Guards will have no idea who she is either. Grab the tray outside, and you can walk out with her and pretend you two were just bringing out some food for one of the concubines here. They won’t worry about someone going out if they never saw you coming in, and if anything happens, Lady Mariana will be around to vouch for you.”
Missandra hesitated, glancing at the woman. Would that plan work? That poor woman looked barely able to understand what was going on. Cassandra insisted.
“Missandra, please. We can’t leave her like that. It might be her only chance to ever escape that place and whatever they did to her; You know I can’t leave someone in need, and she is pregnant, too.”
Missandra sighed.
“Fine, fine. Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to take her out of here, and to Lady Mariana… God, Hinue, I hope we are not going to get ourselves killed for being too nice once again… Be careful, please. Even that Prince just killed a grandma without feeling the slightest sorry about it.”
Cassandra smiled faintly to her. She had a heavy heart about letting Missandra leave here with that woman, but on the other hand, she would probably be safer out of Prince Vrehan’s apartments, with Lady Mariana. If anything happened here, at least Missandra would have higher chances to survive. She had the wits to make it out by herself, and Cassandra highly doubted many people in here would even recognize her as her younger sister.
“So?” Asked Prince Opheus as soon as she stepped out of that room. “I already hid the body in another one of the rooms, who actually was a storage room this time.”
“Missandra will take care of… whoever this is. We should find the Emperor quickly, someone will notice that old servant’s disappearance sooner or later.”
Opheus frowned a bit for a second, surprised by her decision to part ways with her younger sister, but he eventually nodded. With one last look at the room where Missandra was left with the pregnant woman, they both got on their way, still trying to be as discreet as possible.
“Do you really have no idea who that woman was?” Whispered Cassandra.
“No… I mean maybe, but… to be honest, I might not like the answer.”
She nodded. No matter how they looked at it, if Prince Opheus couldn’t recognize a young woman that looked so much like him and his siblings, something was definitely off and wrong about it. Moreover, if that young woman really was a member of the Imperial Family, for her to be locked up like this couldn’t mean anything good. The fact that she was locked up in Vrehan’s apartments was a big clue, and Cassandra clearly remembered the story about that missing sister of his, but… that pregnancy was a heavy mystery, too. She hadn’t said a word, but Cassandra had immediately thought about that abortion potion Phetra had asked for, and she was sure Missandra had caught on that too. 2
Cassandra’s thoughts couldn’t spend too much time on that matter, though. She and the fourth Prince were still looking for his father, and they had no idea how far or close he could be. They finally arrived at the end of the forbidden area, Opheus putting an arm out to stop her before they turned a corner.
“Guards,” he whispered.
Cassandra could hear them. The private militia of the second prince was most likely guarding the area, just as they had suspected. She frowned. How to get past them? They wouldn’t be fooled as easily as the Imperial Guards, and they were out of decoys…
Next to her, Opheus took a deep breath in, shaking his head.
“This is the moment where I know I’m going to regret this,” he sighed.
Glancing at Cassandra, he brought his index to his lips, indicating for her to remain there and quiet, and suddenly stepped out, his hands on his hips.
Cassandra gasped, but covered her mouth and waited, listening to what was happening just a few steps away.
“You!” Exclaimed the Prince. “Go and get me some eighteen-month refined jujubes!”
“Ju… Your Highness, no one is supposed to enter the second Prince’s residence while he is…”
“How dare you talk back!” Yelled Orpheus, his voice going a little higher-pitched. “I gave you an order! Or do you think you can disobey an Imperial Prince!”
“That’s not it, your Highness, but His Highness the second prince ordered us to…”
“Oh, so now you think I’m not worth the trouble? Because I’m only the fourth? Is that what you are saying? I am not a real Prince, perhaps? I don’t deserve obedience? You think anyone in my brother’s household is allowed to disrespect me? Are you talking for Vrehan in ignoring me? Is that what your master told you? The second is better than the fourth so you can just ignore him? Hm? What do I do to get some respect around here! Ah, poor me! I don’t even deserve to be obeyed by my older brother’s men! All of this because I was the fourth born only? Is that how my brothers are showing their consideration? Shall I go tell this dear mother of mine how her beloved son is disrespected? Huh?”
Despite the current situation, Cassandra had to repress a chuckle. The fourth Prince might deserve a prize for his acting skill. Opheus was talking non-stop, pressuring them relentlessly and she could hear all the men getting flustered by the sudden threat. The poor guards started talking all at once as soon as Opheus gave them a chance to, making a little ruckus. She mostly heard them begging Opheus to keep his mother out of this. She waited a bit more, but he wasn’t done.
“Really? Aren’t you just standing there for nothing then! What is there even to guard when he isn’t there! You are so busy you can’t even obey me? This prince is hungry and you are all letting me starve! Where is it? There is no damn servant in this Palace, and all I can find is you useless people!”
“W-we have to guard, though, y-your Highness…”
“Guard what? Walls, perhaps? Three concubines sipping tea? What do you think I’m going to do with those women anyway!” 3
The flustered guards seemed at a loss for words, mumbling something Cassandra couldn’t understand again. Opheus wasn’t letting them much space left to protest, as they probably couldn’t talk about the Emperor either. The guards were obviously at a loss on what to do without risking to offend an Imperial Prince. They most likely feared there would be retribution later if they didn’t obey him.
“We… we will send someone, your Highness….”
“You better hurry! I want eighteen month-dried jujubes, a full bottle of wine, three red apples…” 2
The list went on and on, and Cassandra did not even know what half of his requests were about. Was he making up some of those on purpose? With the list being so long, the guards would have no choice but to send a lot of people to gather up all the items. Did that mean Vrehan had really left no servant in his aisle? That made it easier for them, but also didn’t mean anything good for the Emperor…
After a while, she heard some of the men leaving. She had no idea how many there were initially, but Opheus’ long list was obviously meant to reduce there number. He kept scolding for a while, and Cassandra was getting nervous. He was never going to be able to get rid of all of those men, there were at least half a dozen… 2
“You two,” said the Prince.
Cassandra froze. There were only two men left?
“What are you doing?”
“We will wait with you for the others to return, your Highness. We have to stay behind to follow the second Prince’s orders to guard this place.”
“I see… I didn’t know my brother was so adamant about guarding this place. Why are you two here instead of patrolling around, anyway?”
…We were given orders to stay here specifically.”
“I see…”
She suddenly heard a loud noise, and closed her eyes by reflex. Cassandra recognized the sounds of a fight and, for a few seconds, she pondered about checking if Opheus was alright. However, if she came out too soon, she risked getting them both killed. Not knowing what was happening just a few steps away was frightening. For the next few seconds, Cassandra stood there and listened. Then, she clearly heard two weights hitting the floor.
“You can come out.”
She let out a little sigh of relief. When Cassandra stepped out of her hiding, the two guards were dead at Opheus’ feet, their throats sliced open in a little puddle of blood that was growing. She was disgusted but impressed. Those two men were imperial guards, but he had gotten rid of both of them within a minute. The Prince didn’t drop a pearl of sweat either, while the two men were obviously in a bad shape. 2
“Let’s hurry,” said Opheus, not commenting on what had just happened. “We probably don’t have long until the others come back…”
Cassandra nodded. She carefully walked past both bodies, but they had nowhere to actually hide them. They had no time to find a good hiding place either.
Opheus pushed a door that was on their left, letting her walk in first. It was a very large bedroom, with what was most likely a large bed hidden by curtains at one end. Cassandra almost ran there, but Opheus caught her wrist before she lifted the curtain. Gently pushing her behind him, he lifted it first. A wave of relief appeared on his face.
The old Emperor was lying there, looking very pale, but his eyes were open and staring at the two of them.
“Your Highness!”
“Father…” whispered Opheus behind her.
Cassandra was astonished. How could he have lost so much weight in such a short time!
“White Lily…” whispered the Emperor.
For the first time, his appearance was matching his age, but he looked very sick. Cassandra could tell he had high fever without even touching him, and the bony hand he raised was even thinner than hers. He grabbed her hand, shaking his head.
“Your Highness, what happened?”
“Vrehan did this to you?”
“You… Your son…”
Cassandra was astonished. He was asking about Kassian now? What was going on?
“He is born, your Highness, he is fine. But please, tell me what they did to you? Did they make you eat something?”
“Good…” whispered the Emperor with a smile.
Cassandra was devastated. He couldn’t even seem to hear her questions, the poor man looked so weakened. He was nothing like the mighty Emperor she had seen just a few weeks ago. All this time, she had prayed for him to be alive. She had hoped to be able to save the Emperor, but he was already on the brink of death!