Chapter 42: Chapter 42

The Concubine’s Residence

“Who dares to…!” the man yelled, furious.

Cassandra had just walked into the room, wearing her red dress, staring at him with disgust. The young

man was barely older than her, by a couple of years. He was half-naked in his bedroom, wearing just a

bathrobe, and two young women by his side. Cassandra talked to them first.

“Leave us, please.”

Her calm and composed tone contrasted strangely with the group of slaves behind her. After some

hesitation, the women were about to leave, but their Master suddenly grabbed them by the hair, making

them both cry out in pain.

“Where do you think you’re going?! You wenches! Who is your Master?!”

“Let them go!”

“Why?” he asked. “Why should I obey you, slave? Huh? Where did you steal that dress! You little slut,

do you think I don’t recognize you? You were one of my father’s slaves! I’ll whip you a hundred times

for running away!”

“I said, let them go!”

Right after she yelled, a large growl was heard from above. Except for Cassandra, everyone in the

room was suddenly terrified, looking up at the roof.

“W…w…what was that?”

Too surprised, the young Master had let go of one of the women, who ran out of the room screeching.

His grip was still tight on the other woman’s hair, though, and the woman was quietly weeping,

obviously scared.

Since it seemed quiet upstairs for a moment, the man, trying to appear more confident, stood up to

face Cassandra with a disgusted look painted on his face.

“How dare you walk in here and give me orders, you damn slut! You think you can tell me what to do?

How about this?!”

Before Cassandra could do anything, he threw the woman on the floor. He brutally kicked her in the

stomach several times. Her screams and the violence of the scene made everyone take a step back;

everyone except Cassandra. Despite her own disgust at the man, she suddenly grabbed her shoe and

threw it at him.

She wasn’t aiming to hurt him, but to divert him so he would stop. Her shoe violently hit his temple

making him stumble back away from his victim. The woman was crying loudly, holding her waist in

pain. Cassandra walked up to her, checking on her, genuinely worried. She didn’t recognize this young

woman, but she was also a slave.

“Are you okay?”

“The…the Master…” cried the girl, but her words didn’t make any sense.

“How dare you injure your Master! I’ll have you whipped, burned, and killed!”

Cassandra had enough. Ignoring him, she helped the girl get up.

“Where do you think you’re…!”

Just when the man was about to hit them both, Cassandra took one of her hairpins out, and held it like

a weapon, aimed right at him. She didn’t attack, but with her stance and the speed of his hand, the man

impaled himself right on it.

Shocked, he saw blood dripping, the needle in the middle of his hand, and took a few seconds to

understand what had just happened. Cassandra let go of the hairpin, as he started screaming in pain.

Cassandra felt no sympathy for him. After what he had done to so many slaves, for all those years, she

didn’t have it in her heart to give him any pity. He certainly didn’t deserve any.

She was about to escort the woman outside, when another loud growl was heard. Understanding it

came from above them, half of the slaves present ran out. Cassandra sighed, taking cover on the side.

A few seconds later, the room’s roof was completely torn away. With its gigantic claws fighting to get rid

of the wood, Krai kept eyeing her from the hole just created, impatient.

“Krai, stop it! I said to wait!” She sighed

Whether it didn’t want to listen or didn’t understand, the dragon kept digging, making a big mess of

what had just been a room seconds before. Cassandra had to sidestep to avoid the falling debris. A

few feet away from her, the man had completely forgotten about his pain, staring at the huge black

Dragon, in utter shock.

“Th… The… Thir… Third Pr… Prince’s…”

“His name is Krai,” said Cassandra. “And if you move or scream again, you will be his lunch.”

With that threat, she finally left the room, unharmed, helping the terrorized slave who was clinging to

her, mumbling.

“The ma… Master will kill me… He’ll whip me…”

“Don’t worry, he won’t do anything to you.”

Cassandra walked her to the inner court, where the other slaves ran to take care of the young woman,

giving her some clothes and checking her injury. Behind Cassandra, Krai noticed she was out, and

stepped down to follow her, completely forgetting all about the building it had just destroyed. The slaves

were still frightened by the dragon, but watching it happily growl at Cassandra and rub its snout against

her arm, was definitely a unique sight.

“How many slaves are there?”

“About sixty,” said Ethen. “And about as many servants.”

Cassandra sighed a bit. She had hoped it’d be less.She was about to turn to walk out and ask for

Kairen’s permission, when she stopped. She remembered his words, right before she walked in here.

She should do this on her own this time. No more asking for permission. Taking a deep breath, she

turned again, facing the crowd in the outer garden.

“I’m on my way to the Slave Market, to get this thing off my neck. I…I am an Imperial Concubine, now.

If you want to follow me, I can do the same for you.”

“Where will we go next?” asked one of the middle-aged women.

“I can offer you jobs…but not to everyone. Some will have to find work on their own. I only need about

twenty people to accompany me back to the Onyx Castle.”

A lot of people were hesitating. It was disheartening to Cassandra, but she easily understood them.

Most of these people had spent their whole lives working in this place. In the outside world, they had no

idea of what they’d become. Even if it was a different person holding it, they would always fear the whip

of another Master.

Suddenly, someone banged on the door behind her.

“You wench!!! You shall die by the…!”

chomp 9

Cassandra turned to look at what the odd sound was. Behind her, Krai froze like a dog caught doing

something

wrong. The dragon turned its red eyes to the side, obviously to avoid hers. The inert leg hanging out

from its maw was a dead give-away, though. (13)

“Krai…”

The Black Dragon turned its head away, pretending not to hear. Behind her, all the slaves were silently

horrified. Did that dragon just…? Someone in the group loudly threw up, while Krai was trying to chew

slowly, as if Cassandra couldn’t see it. There was only one shoe left on the ground. 8

She sighed. She didn’t think the dragon would really eat him…

“Did your dragon eat the Master?” Innocently asked Mira.

“We’re all dead,” whispered one of the men. “They won’t forgive this… The family… They will kill her

and kill us for this…”

Cassandra turned to him, annoyed.

“This is an Imperial Dragon! No one will do anything to you anymore, I promise!”

“You’ll just sell us to the next Master! What do you care, now that you’re one of them?”

“Cassie won’t do that!” yelled Mira, running to her side. “She is our friend!”

Most of the young people nodded in agreement. To them, Cassandra had been like an older sister,

silent and helpful most of the time. Even if she had been gone for months, they remembered her

gentleness that no one else had shown them after she had left. Ethen, along with a few young slaves,

confidently walked over to her side as well.

“Nowhere can be worse than here anyway,” growled the woman from before, joining them.

After that woman spoke, a few others came along. Cassandra knew most of them, but they had barely

interacted before. That woman was known as Yasora, one of the slaves that worked in the kitchens.

The ones staying behind were all staring at her with defiant looks, either doubtful or scared of the

Dragon.

Cassandra sighed.

“Fine. We can…”

“Cassandra.”

She turned around. Kairen, impatiently, had arrived inside. As he came to her side, a few people

stepped away, too afraid of an Imperial Family member. Though he didn’t wear any purple clothing,

they could tell who he was just by the scales left on his skin, his armor, and his behavior.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, glancing at the people present.

“Are you done yet?” he asked in a cold voice.

“Yes but…some cannot leave.”

Kairen stayed silent for a while. His eyes were looking over at the residence, its buildings and all. He

stopped where Krai had made a mess, glaring at his Dragon, but the black beast once again looked

away.

“Just keep it,” he eventually said.

“Keep it? You mean this place?”

Kairen nodded.

“You hate the Imperial Palace anyway.”

Is that what he meant for her to keep…this whole residence? Indeed, its last owner had died, but…this

was way

too big for her to keep! She hesitated, looking at the slaves and servants who had all gathered.

One of the old maids stepped forward, bowing lowly.

“We will take care of it for you, Lady Cassandra. If…if you can do as promised, we will happily work for

you. This residence will welcome you anytime.”

It was an odd feeling, having her former colleagues be at her service now. Cassandra sighed. She

wasn’t really happy with this situation, but indeed, it would be much better for them this way. With an

Imperial Family member’s protection, they didn’t risk anything. No one would dare to raise questions

about the place’s ownership

either, the Black Dragon that had wrecked some of it would be enough of an explanation.

“Are we done now?” asked Kairen, visibly bored.

Cassandra nodded, feeling a bit better. She wanted to hurry to the Slave Market. A lot of people were

coming with them too. Though it was probably the place she hated the most, it was also where she

could hope to find a clue about what had happened to her younger sister.