The War God’s Favorite novel Chapter 45

 The Whipping
As she followed Kairen, Cassandra had a hard time calming down. Everything would be so different from the first time she had walked into the large hall of the Imperial Palace. Most importantly, she could hold her head high, and walk beside the Prince, instead of behind him. The War God had his arm around her waist as they entered, in a clearly protective stance.
“His Highness, Kairen the Third Prince, God of War of the Dragon Empire, and his Concubine,” someone announced loudly.
This was very ceremonial; all eyes were clearly on them as they walked in. This time, Cassandra could see all of their faces. First, she realized that the Imperial Concubine Mother wasn’t there. Had the Emperor failed to convince her to attend? Shareen, however, was sitting in her golden chair next to her brother’s.
Just like Cassandra remembered, each Imperial sibling had their own golden chair. The brothers’ were a bit bigger than their sisters. All of the Concubines, in red and pink dresses, were sitting down below them on the stairs in front of their respective Prince. She could guess all the servants were hidden in the shadows behind the golden chairs, but they were completely still and silent.
This time, there were no performers; perhaps they had come too early. In any case, Kairen took her to his golden chair. She sat right in-between his legs, where she could rest her arms and head on his knee. He immediately started stroking her back. She wasn’t the only woman touching her Prince, another Concubine had her back resting on the Fifth Prince’s leg, acting flirtatiously with him.
The Emperor wasn’t there yet, so Cassandra spent time observing the other Imperial Brothers. She had never noticed how similar yet different they all were. All of them had tanned skin and jet-black hair. The First Prince was the only one with long hair and a very quiet attitude. He wore a large purple tunic and only had two Concubines. The Second Prince had his hair very short. He wore a mean expression with his thin features, and he had a total of six Concubines, with half of them wearing red dresses. The fourth seat was empty, but in front of the fifth, there was a crowd. How many Concubines did the Fifth Prince have? She counted at least twenty in front of the young man, but the women kept chatting and moving, so she lost count. Finally, the brother she knew, Prince Anour greeted her with a little nod when their eyes met, and Cassandra did the same in return.
“So, this is your new woman, Brother.”
Cassandra recognized that woman. Princess Phetra, who was glaring at her. Didn’t she recognize her, though? It didn’t seem like she realized Cassandra was the slave she had already insulted a while ago.
All of the ten Princesses present were eyeing her, but Princess Phetra was the only one to speak. Cassandra turned her head to her, staring. She wasn’t afraid to look her in the eye anymore. Princess Phetra wasn’t the prettiest, but she had a very sexy body and a lot of jewelry to show.
She seemed to wait for an answer, but Kairen didn’t give a damn. He kept gently caressing Cassandra’s back with his fingers, looking elsewhere with a bored expression.
Such bad taste…” she said, clicking her tongue.
“Do you have advice to give, Sister?” asked the First Prince.
“Well, one with more curves, to begin with. Aren’t you supposed to try and have Heirs? How can you do that with such a scrawny woman?”
“That’s rich, coming from a childless slut,” said Shareen, with a smirk.
“How dare you!” roared Phetra, turning red.
As usual, Shareen wasn’t afraid to bicker with her sibling and turned to her with an obvious satisfied expression.
“What? Aren’t you the childless one giving advice to a pregnant woman? Oh, Phetra, really, why weren’t you born mute? You’re good with your tongue unless it’s for talking.”
For a second, Cassandra wondered if both women were going to have a catfight. To her surprise, the Second Prince glared at Princess Phetra, making her turn red and look down. Did she fear her own brother more than she feared Kairen?
“The Imperial Dragon Emperor has arrived!” suddenly someone announced.

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All bowed to the Emperor’s arrival, though it was quick. He walked to his throne, obviously a bit grumpy, and looked around to see who was there.
“Where’s this Fourth Son of mine?” he suddenly asked, staring at the empty chair.
“Brother Opheus is sick, Father,” said the Eldest Brother.
“Oh, he’s always sick of something. Anyway! I’m happy to see you all… all of you who came here. Shareen, daughter, come here to entertain your father. Bring in the performers!”
Immediately, a group of dancers appeared at the center of the hall, dancing together to a speedy rhythm. Cassandra didn’t feel like watching. She felt like a mouse in a nest of resting snakes. The Princes were talking to their Concubines, and the Princesses between themselves, but you can easily see that none of the siblings really got along.
The Second Prince was whispering to his sister, looking angry. Another sister had also taken part in the conversation. She seemed a bit older than them.
Cassandra realized. Anour was still a teenager, but the oldest Princess looked to be in her forties. How old was the Emperor, then? She whispered her question to Kairen.
“He is sixty-two this year.”
Sixty-two years old? The Emperor barely looked forty! How could one look so young at that age, when so many of his children were there! Cassandra was confused. Did that mean the Dragon Blood made them age slower? She had heard some of the previous Emperors had died after a hundred years, but… She thought it was all just legends…
“What about you? And your brothers?” she asked Kairen, now too curious.
She had always assumed he was no older than thirty, but…if the Emperor looked like that at over sixty, her Prince could even be forty year old!
“Sephir is thirty-five, Vrehan is thirty-two, Opheus is twenty-four or twenty-three, Lephys is twenty-one and Anour is fifteen. And I’m twenty-eight.”
Cassandra blushed uncontrollably. So, they had about a ten-year age difference. She had never thought about it. It wasn’t uncommon to see an age gap between men and their Concubines in this Empire, so she wasn’t too surprised. The concubine she used to serve was twenty years younger than her Master.
“What are you thinking?” he whispered.
Cassandra just shook her head and rested it on his knee. She was actually feeling quite safe, sitting so close to him. Kairen’s hand on her skin chased all of her worries away, even with all the glares she was getting.
The glares were not only from the Second Prince, but from some of the Concubines as well. Were those women jealous? It was an odd feeling, but Cassandra pretended not to see them or care. In the main area, Shareen was laughing with the Emperor, entertaining her father while chatting with him. It was obvious they had a real bond, even without Kareen in the picture.
“Cassandra.”
Kairen caught her attention as a servant was presenting them with a gold tray of food. Cassandra took a bite carefully, but all the food here was tested for poison. She could remember back when she was supposed to be the one to test it.
Suddenly, from across the room, a ruckus was heard. One of the Fifth Prince’s Concubines, while shifting her position, had mistakenly spilled some of her wine on one of the young Imperial Princess’ purple dresses. The Princess screeched like she was burnt to the third degree.
“You idiot! How dare you stain my dress!”
I…I am so sorry…” stuttered the Concubine, sounding terrified.
“Sorry? You’re sorry? Look at what you’ve done, you idiot!” The Princess kept yelling furiously.
The Fifth Prince Lephys glanced over briefly, frowning.
“It’s fine, Kiuna. It is just a wine stain. She’ll wash it later.”
“It’s not fine! I don’t want your stupid Concubine to stain my dress! Whip her! She should be punished!”
Everyone had gone silent, conflicted about the situation. It was just a stain… albeit a large one. However, who could say no to an Imperial Princess? The other Concubines were looking down or elsewhere, obviously scared to get involved.
Meanwhile, the young Princess kept screaming, her tantrum growing louder and louder until it caught the Emperor’s attention, who simply frowned.
“Kiuna, enough,” said her brother, visibly starting to get annoyed.
“I want that idiot Concubine whipped! She’ll get whipped a hundred times! No, a thousand times!”
“It is not the same.”
Cassandra’s calm voice from across the room took everyone by surprise. As they looked at her, the War God’s Concubine was strangely calm and unafraid to answer back. The Princess glared at her.
“What did you say?”
“If you whip someone ten times, the skin will be red and sting. If you whip her a hundred times, you’ll cut into the flesh, and she will bleed. But if you whip her a thousand times, you’ll open the wounds to the bone. There will be no more skin, only exposed, cut flesh, and lots of blood. No one survives after being whipped about five or six hundred times.” 1
Her sudden reality check had everyone silent for a few seconds. Cassandra’s cold but serious voice was very different from that of Princess Kiuna’s tantrum. She had no idea how to react. With Cassandra’s words, it was clear Kiuna had been speaking mindlessly, saying numbers out of anger. The crude depiction of the wound took her back to reality where she was merely toying with someone’s life over a wine stain.
It was even more striking that Cassandra knew what she was talking about. She was staring right at Princess Kiuna, unafraid and cold as ice.
“You… You…” said the Princess, out of words.
But who would dare to respond to a woman who was in the War God’s shadow? Kiuna was unsure, and all around her, the room’s atmosphere had changed. She looked stupid and childish.
“Enough, enough. Sit back, child, and shut up,” said the Emperor, frowning. “Aren’t you too old to act like this in front of your siblings? Huh? Don’t ruin our dinner.”
Princess Kiuna sat, looking down, visibly angry and upset. She didn’t dare to glare at Cassandra anymore. Kairen hadn’t said a word, but the murderous look in his eyes was enough of a warning.
“You. Child. Come here,” suddenly said the Emperor. A
Cassandra was surprised. Was he calling for her? To come to him, now? But he had barely looked at her before. She hesitated, but Kairen gently helped her up. The young Concubine took a deep breath, and walked to the Golden Throne, hesitant.
Behind him, she could clearly see the two ruby eyes, looking at her in the sea of gold scales.