The Red Room
Cassandra stared at the man, a bit lost as to how to react. She was no stranger to men's unwanted and dirty solicitations. As a slave, she had gotten her fair share. She even got touched a couple of times, though she would rather forget those. She even found herself lucky to have preserved her virginity until she met the Prince.
"Isn't she just a slave? We know our Commander-in-Chief doesn't care about his concubines anyway! I bet he doesn't care if we get a taste of this one either."
"You idiot, didn't you attend last night's dinner? His Highness acted differently with this one," said another of the blacksmiths. "Go ahead, Moar, but don't blame us if you lose your head for that!"
Hearing this, the man seemed to hesitate. Actually, Cassandra also noticed the other men seemed torn as well. Those who had been leering at her were now reconsidering the question, looking at her in a new light. Some apparently felt the question wasn't worth losing their life over, and got back to work, ignoring her. The man named Moar, however, clicked his tongue, annoyed from not getting any more support from his fellow peers.
"That little pussy. You better not wander off alone, Missy, or you'll get a taste of me."
Cassandra didn't like the threat, but she did not respond. She felt that man wasn't worth it, and anyway, she didn't want to stay here any longer. He probably wouldn't dare to do anything in plain sight, and with so many witnesses. Ignoring him, she turned around and left, her heart beating a bit faster than usual. She knew the kind of man that Moar was, and she really hoped she wouldn't see him again.
"Should we go back to His Highness' tent, perhaps?" suggested Evin.
Cassandra didn't really feel like it yet. She had visited only a small portion of the camp, and she felt like she would be losing to that horrid man if she went back to hide in the Prince's tent. She hesitated for a second wondering what would be the right thing to do.
"Madam!"
They turned around. Orwan had left the Forge to come to them, running, and out of breath. He shook his head, a bit fidgety.
"I'm very sorry about that, Moar is...a jerk, Madam. I'm very sorry, I wish I could have shown you around some more."
Cassandra didn't hold Orwan responsible at all. She didn't really care about the incident because it was only words and she was fine. Instead, she just gave him a gentle smile.
"It's alright, Orwan. Actually..."
"Yes?"
"Could you show me to the Red Room?"
He shook his head even faster, very embarrassed.
"I can't, Madam. It really isn't a place you should go."
"I'm curious about it, please?"
Orwan exchanged a look with the servant, but as usual, Evin didn't betray a single emotion, staying quiet and still the whole time. It was hard to say what he thought about Cassandra's request, even if he had voiced his opinion against it earlier. However, he didn't say anything now. He probably had to respect Cassandra's choices anyway. Eventually, Orwan sighed.
"All right, but...please, don't make His Highness mad at me for showing you this."
"I promise."
She followed the young man across the camp, ignoring more stares on the way. She wondered where the Prince was. Probably busy with some high ranked general. Krai was nowhere to be seen, too, so she assumed the dragon might have been napping or hunting somewhere. Finally, they reached a building that had actually been carved into the mountain, with a narrow entrance guarded by two soldiers. They only gave a glance at Cassandra's red dress, but let them through without questions. Inside, Cassandra was surprised to find several rooms that had been dug deep into the rocks, most of them were for storage of food or weapons. A lot of people were also working there, and seemed busy enough not to pay attention to the trio.
