Chapter 130


    #130 The Monstrosities


    It felt strange, to fly back to the ce where everything had changed for her.


    Cassandra could feel her nervousness rise as the ck dragon flew towards the Imperial Arena. Was


    she scared to go back? Did she hate this ce? Surely a bit of both. It didn’t bring back good


    memories, except for the minute she had met Kairen. However, before that, there was death. The


    many, many people whose death she had witnessed. She could remember it all too well. Dozens of


    ves, running all directions and being violently killed by the six imperial dragons.


    Six Dragons, six Princes. Among them, the only one who had sealed her fate, Kairen. She still couldn’t


    really understand the forces that had saved her life that day. Was his feelings for her really something


    that strong that Krai had felt it before his master even had set his eyes on Cassandra? It sounded like


    something out of an ancient tale, and yet… For Cassandra, that was all it had taken to end years and


    years of suffering. She had wanted to die in that arena. Not for those people’s pleasure, just because


    being killed by a legendary beast was one way to end an insignificant existence.


    “Come on, Krai,” she whispered.


    She couldn’t ignore all the blood on the ck scales. Though he seemed fine flying, the ck dragon


    wasn’t as strong or as powerful as usual. He was tired from his fight, with Lephys’ dragon and the


    soldiers outside. How could those dragons considered as gods by her people simply be seen as


    weapons by the Empire…?


    Not only was she dreading going to the Arena, Cassandra had also left a part of her heart back inside


    the Pce. Kairen was still fighting, by the sounds, they hearding from inside the Hall. At least,


    she hung on to that hope. That the furious dragon growls were proof that neither was dead yet. She


    had no idea how long could a War God withstand against a dragon, and she was even scared to think


    about it. At least Princess Shareen was with


    him…


    Krai finally arrived above the Arena. Strangely, maybe because she was seeing it from above, that


    arena felt smaller than when she hade here, over a year ago now. Cassandra’s nervousness


    increased again as he started going down. She was basically unharmed, except for the adult Dragon


    that apanied her.


    Theynded softly in the middle of the arena, and Cassandra had to take a deep breath to chase the


    memories resurfacing. She kept her hand on Krai’s warm scales, bringing her somefort. She truly


    hated this ce, but she was sure the young dragons were there. Why had Vrehan subjected his own


    sister to this? What justified such a despicable, immoral thing has to rape his own blood…?


    A sudden movement caught her attention on the left, and Krai started growling as well. One of the


    heavy doors that led to the cells opened, revealing two dragons.


    Cassandra gasped. Those didn’t look like the usual dragons, though. More like creaturese out of a


    mix between a nightmare and a horrible mistake. The first one had half of its head missing, as if it had


    been melted down, and breathed heavily, it’s maw open and drooling. It was walking awkwardly, his


    front paws having a noticeable difference in size. The neck had a strange shape as well, and the scales


    were missing in some spots, exposing some horrible, brownish flesh. The second one wasn’t any


    better. It was the fattest yet shortest dragon Cassandra had ever seen, and its wings were obviously


    too small to support its weight. It had a strange arched back too, like a hunchback. Both dragons didn’t


    evene close to the beauty of a proper dragon-like Krai or the Water God. Those looked like they


    hade out of a children’s bad drawing of a dragon.


    “What are those…” She whispered.


    “Aren’t they amazing?” chuckled a voice behind the dragons.


    Cassandra stepped back. Vrehan appeared in the shadows,ing out slowly.


    His face bore the horrible injury she had inflicted him earlier, the flesh still ripped open in the middle of


    his face. It wasn’t bleeding anymore, but the reddish scales were obviously struggling to appear on


    such an irregr


    surface. The Second Prince looked like a reptile was trying to take over his face, and his left eye was


    behaving strangely too as if it couldn’t fix itself on one point. He was almost as scary as the monsters


    he had created.


    “You’re… crazy,” she whispered.


    It seemed like he had heard her because he broke into a burst of madughter that echoed throughout


    the Arena. Cassandra frowned,pletely lost by his crazy behavior. Next to her, Krai curled up


    around the young concubine, arching his back and growling in a warning for the two monsters not to


    approach them. The scary thing was, no matter how horrible they were to look at, those two things


    were still rather big. They had nothing topare to the little ones Cassandra had kept off before.


    Those dragons were about half or a third of Krai’s size, and unlike the ck dragon, they looked… up


    for a fight.


    She red at Vrehan. The second Prince was slowly walking her way, his mouth distorted with what


    should have been a smile.


    “You… the witch of some lost, meaningless tribe… You really should have died in this arena. Isn’t this


    ironic? We are about to set things straight. You’ll finally be dead as you should have been, and my


    brother will go back to being childless.


    Cassandra saw red at those words. The mere thought of that man touching one hair of her baby’s head


    was enough to turn this gentle woman into the fiercest of warriors. She was never going to step back,


    as long as she could stand between him and Kassian.


    Meanwhile, the dragons kept growling at each other, and Cassandra couldn’t help but nce at them


    again.


    “How could you do such a thing… She hissed. “To your own sister…”


    “My sisters?” Heughed. Do you know what my sisters are? My sisters are nothing but mistakes. They


    are useless things unless they serve me. That’s right, even ves are more useful than those things


    you call my sisters.’


    “How can you say such things… about your own family…


    “My family? The only woman that ever mattered was my mother, and even she was a crazy, crazy bitch


    of a kind. The only thing she did good in her life was keeping me alive. She gave birth to three


    daughters, and she loathed each. But for me? I was her son. Her only boy, the one she had to protect


    at all costs to ensure her own survival.”


    Cassandra suddenly remembered Shareen’s words. Their mother was a former prostitute… Phetra had


    gotten furious when Shareen had reminded her of that fact.


    The prince kept talking,ing closer and closer to him. He looked like he was strangely calm, or in


    some sort of trance. He had never been so scary to Cassandra. She wanted to run away, to not be


    trapped here with him. Yet, she knew she couldn’t. There was no one else left to hold him back from


    going to the Pce, or to Kassian. Opheus’ dragon was injured, and Cassandra knew he wouldn’t be


    able to match up to his older brother. He had to take care of Lephys, first. Kairen and Shareen were still


    stuck with the red dragon, and she hoped Anour was protecting Missandra,dy Kareen, Kassian and


    even the poor Phemera. It felt like the end. Finally, this feud wasing to an end. All the hatred that


    had stayed concealed wasing all out in the open, all the brothers taking sides and fighting each


    other.


    “What was it all worth, all this?” Said Cassandra, ncing at the monster dragons. “Your sisters, your


    children, even your father… Sacrificing everyone simply to be Emperor?”


    The second princeughed.


    “To be Emperor? To survive! My crazy mother went through hell for me to survive! Every single


    day, I had to see it. She killed servants that tried to harm me. She begged my father for attention,


    acting like the whore she was just in the tiny hope he’d give her another chance to gift him a son. My


    father was the worst of them all… you think I used my sisters? That man used my mother as a pawn, a


    mere toy between him and his favorite woman.”


    Cassandra frowned.


    She had mentioned it… Lady Kareen had talked about something like this. How the Emperor got closer


    to other women, even got engaged to them to try and get her attention. Cassandra had never thought


    twice about that.


    “She was nothing but a toy he could toss aside whenever he could. My mother was constantly begging,


    dying for a second of attention, making herself the most pitiable woman. She cried more than any


    woman can cry, she screamed, she begged endlessly. She was such an annoying thing to see. She


    was a crazy, crazy bitch… A useless bitch.”


    Cassandra was shocked.


    She had never thought being a concubine was easy. She knew how hard some of them fought to get


    the Emperor’s attention. How some killed and got killed. Cassandra was well aware of how lucky she


    had been, in this nest of snakes, and she had also always kept in mind those women were mostly


    fighting for their survival. She had never thought about how one woman could actually lose her sanity


    over this… Lose herself.


    “Can you believe, she was actually stupid enough to love that man you call my father? She believed his


    lies, she was ready to do anything for him. …She taught me one thing, one thing only. I had to survive,


    I had to be his only son. I had to be the Emperor, and she’d do anything for me. My mother


    dirtied her hands more than anyone, and she taught me everything I needed to know. It was quite fun,


    sometimes. When she wasn’tpletely crazy, she wasn’t so dumb!”


    Cassandra wanted to puke at each sentence he said. Deep in her heart, she understood. How a


    woman could have lost herself in her attempt to get the Emperor all to herself. How she could have


    gotten absolutely insane with jealousy and paranoia… and took her children down with her.


    Vrehan wasn’t born a monster, he had been purely created by his mother’s madness. She could hear it


    in his voice. He wasn’t crazy. He was just a child born out of resentment and hatred.


    Original content from N?velDrama.Org.


    “It was so easy, once you understand the rules of the Pce, you know. It was a game, for me. Kill, but


    don’t get caught. My mother let me kill the servants that displeased me, or she’d do it herself. She


    hated my sisters so much… She killed two of them herself, and the others quickly understood if they


    weren’t useful to me, they might as well be dead too.”


    Their mother had killed… her own daughters?


    “It was such fun… If I ordered it, my sisters killed anyone. I was already the Emperor of my own pce,


    and they were my servants. Phetra was the smartest one… She always did whatever I asked, so I kept


    her around. She even ordered the others, understanding what I wanted before I wanted it myself. It was


    fun, seeing them thrive to keep me satisfied.”


    Vrehan looked at the two horrors next to him, suddenly frowning.


    “I thought I’d be father’s favorite in no time… Sephir was going to die anyway, and the others were


    meaningless idiots. …I had forgotten about Kairen.”


    Cassandra suddenly realized. Lady Kareen had kept her children away from the Imperial Pce to


    keep them safe. After what had happened to her oldest children and to the young Kairen, it was a wise


    decision. However, it meant they had mostly grown away from their siblings… out of Vrehan’s sight.


    The Second Prince’s eyes got darker, reliving some memories he obviously didn’t appreciate.


    “I knew the one woman my mother hated most was Kareen… The one woman my father loved. My


    mother killed her eldest, but she killed my mother back. I was… at a loss. I couldn’t understand that


    woman couldn’t be killed like my mother was after she had killed my mother openly. Plus, it wasn’t


    enough, that bitch still had managed to have more children, and another son! That was the one woman


    I couldn’t get to kill. If our Father discovered I killed one of Kareen’s, I knew I would die. It was the one


    game I couldn’t y without risking my own life…”


    So the Emperor’s love for Kareen had saved them some time after all. After Vrehan’s mother’s death,


    the young


    murderer had understood he couldn’t kill his siblings and get away with it. Shareen and Kairen were


    protected, more so than their other siblings. Cassandra couldn’t even being to understand what


    monstrosities had taken ce behind closed doors at that time. The monsters their mothers had


    created, all for their survival or greed… for one man.


    Suddenly, Vrehan shook his head.


    “So I understood. I had to find a way to be better than him. To have the strongest dragon, the most


    children. I needed to be the best Prince… The one my father would have no choice but to choose!”