Chapter 377
Chapter 377
Milano, the capital of Athens (1). The Royal Palace.
In the centre of a luxurious hall, a slender girl was sitting cross-legged in the leather armchair. Her name was Haya Feruz, the first princess and the first genius of the kingdom. Her spy entered the hall, kneeled before the princess and greeted her: «Your Highness!»
Haya ordered him coldly: «Tell me!»
«We have been following Dick Baker under your orders. Something extraordinary happened five days ago…» – He told the princess the details of Dick Baker’s fight with Cernos students, how he killed Prince Charles and defeated a girl in the lord phase. The next day he disappeared from Cernos and became a legend.
The longer Haya listened to him, the gloomier became her face: «All this is pure nonsense. No one in their right mind would believe that. Cernos must be getting attention again to increase the authority. But I trust my spy who vowed to tell the truth and nothing but truth.»
*a silent pause*
Haya did not know what to think. Dick Baker must have staged a grandiose show to carve his name in the students’ hearts and become famous throughout Rosarrio. However, he did not take into account the green night and the rainbow sun. The tall tales about Dick Baker would be quickly forgotten against the backdrop of these significant events that almost everyone in the entire empire had seen.
«You’re free to go.» – Haya said and headed for the training building. Over the past nine months, her blond hubby had been catching up with her by leaps and bounds. If everything continued like this, she would soon be weaker than him and would have to let Franz marry Marina and Julia, as well as keeping her words: «I will even let you sleep with me if you ever defeat me! But this will never happen, believe me.»
…
A beautiful horse was racing through forests and fields, carrying three riders: two dazzlingly beautiful girls and a pot-bellied man.
Kyon was surprised how quickly Eve and Leila got used to high speed. However, it could be explained by their excessive cultivation. The speed of their reaction was also many times faster than that of ordinary people.
«Remind me, daddy, why you’re sitting behind us.» – The pixie cried out, trying to shout above the deafening wind.
{Because you might break my spine with your arms if I’m sitting in front of you.} – Kyon thought but said the following. – «You’ve always loved sitting in front of me.»
«Something tells me that you just like hugging your beautiful daughter! I’m right? Tell me!»
«Honey, we still have a long way to go. You will understand soon why you’ve always liked to sit in the front.» – Zosimos said with indescribable love and patience.
«Don’t give me that, humbug.»
{Smug skunk.} – Kyon spat to himself but said nothing, just held the bridle tighter.
Half an hour later, Leila fell asleep, leaning on daddy’s soft belly and wide chest. Her sister followed her lead soon. Kyon had to hug them. Eve would freak out if she found out that a man was touching her.
The evening had come.
The girls woke up in the stable.
«Are we already there?» – Leila asked, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
«We are in Milano, the capital of Athens.» – Zosimos announced.
«Wow! I want to go sightseeing! I want to visit museums!» – Eve demanded, getting off the mount.
«To hell with boring museums! Take us to the toy store! Daddy, your gorgeous daughter wants to go to the toy store! Oh no, I take my words back. I want a cake! A chocolate cake! Yippee!» – The mere thought of chocolate cake made Leila squeal like a puppy.
«My sweet ones, daddy has a lot of things to do. Tomorrow morning, we are leaving for Dantes, the capital of the empire! There you will find museums, toy stores, and whatnot!»
His words got stuck in Leila’s throat: «Are you saying that we will sit in our room and…»
«Read books!» – Eve suggested with enthusiasm.
Leila looked at her sister as if she were a leper.
«You will watch cartoons.» – Zosimos smiled.
«Cartoons?» – The sisters didn’t understand.
Soon, Kyon rented a room and brought the daughters there. He sat them on the sofa, took out some treats from the ring and a nephrite with a formation that teleported Synergy. Liquid light flowed out of it, forming a screen.
«Enjoy the show, girls! If you don’t like anything, just say it, and the cartoon will change. When the screen goes out, go to bed. All right?»
«All right…» – Eve and Leila mumbled, staring at the screen.
Kyon intended not only to keep the girls busy with cartoons and films, he was going to bring them up like his own children. It would certainly take some time.
Love left the hotel and went directly to the palace, changing his appearance on the way. It wasn’t so difficult to get inside unnoticed, having access to the crown prince. He got to the top floor and found himself in a spacious hall where he met two young people: Franz and Marina.
«Oh, Kyon! I’ve missed you!» – The stunningly beautiful girl fell into his arms.
«My dear Marina…» – Lovr hugged his friend tight. Beautiful moment, do not pass away!
While the two hugged, Franz came up to them and coughed dryly: «Greetings…»
Kyon gave the first prince of Athens a pill that would supposedly maintain his youth and brushed him off: «Leave us for half an hour.»
Unsuccessfully trying to suppress a bitter attack of jealousy, Franz went to the sitting room. He had nothing against his master. TsiJi’s student had given him a new eventful life full of palace intrigues.
Kyon learned a lot from his half-hour conversation with Marina. To cut it short, her present life was full of positive moments, but sometimes it was tainted with negative feelings, mostly jealousy. She worked hard on herself studying and training every day for many hours, all this to have a special place in her beloved Franz’s heart. Marina was jealous of Julia and even of Princess Haya, but she was well aware that she was more important to Franz than the two rivals together.
His plan to link Marina’s and Flitz’s destinies proved to be effective. This couple had come a long way, pretty thorny at times, but now they lived happily together, and Marina’s happiness was the most important thing for Kyon.
Kyon hugged Marina goodbye, giving her a little gift to boost her cultivation many times over. Then he invited Franz in, firmly shook his hand and patted him on the shoulder: «What’s up, buddy? What do you think of your life in the palace?»
They had recently talked on the sound transmitter, so there was no point in formal greetings. Franz smiled, lit his pipe, sat with his legs wide apart, and began his story: «Being a crown prince turned out to be much more fun than I had expected! I’ve made some connections and trustworthy friends. As for the untrustworthy, I told them to fuck off and got rid of some assholes who were ruining my life. The ladies-in-waiting kept making eyes at me. When I first met the king, he had nothing but contempt for me and denied his daughter’s decision to marry me, but Haya was more persistent than her father… As a result, my father-in-law and I have daily talks over Emburgh whisky and Eden tobacco!»
«You’ve made friends with the king? I am impressed.» – Kyon said even if he had already known about it.
«Of course you are! And it’s not because of my unrivaled talent. It all came down to my life experience. What would I do without it? The king has his worldview, and I have mine. We always have something to talk about…»
After talking about palace life, Kyon asked: «What’s up with Julia?»
«She has become more obedient. Well, she has always been obedient because of the formation… But now I can tell it’s for real. She is caring and affectionate. Julia must have fallen in love with me, but I am not sure. I’ll have to set up a soundproof barrier soon, or Haya, who sleeps in the next room, will die of jealousy. Ha-ha-he! By the way, Julia’s grandpa has somehow found his granddaughter…»
«And taken her away?» – Kyon exclaimed.
«He couldn’t. It would have been a different story if I had not joined the royal family… My red-haired lioness would have been set free, but does she need her freedom? Where will she go? Julia is my woman. Besides, she’s almost free… I practice a policy of least restraint. She does whatever she wants to. However, I can still feel her hatred, albeit not as strong as it used to be.»
When Lovr learned all the details from Franz’s life, he concluded that there was nothing to worry about. Still, he warned the crown prince: «Be careful with Julia. She might hit your weakest spot in revenge as soon as she gets the chance. Keep Marina away from her.»
«I get it. I am no fool.» – Franz said dryly.
«Great. Let’s get down to business. Did you follow my instructions?»
Franz turned suddenly serious: «I’ve been spending day after day in the treasury, pretending to study the heritage descriptions, just as you ordered me. I’ve made friends with the guards and learned their schedule. They let me in without checking the formation and don’t mind the absence of the mandatory escort. They trust me completely!»
Kyon held out his hand and immediately received the ring. He looked inside and gave a pleased nod. The entire Feruz’s legacy had been copied! Selling it would be risky and unprofitable, though. There was no original staff created by the master but only a copy that was impossible to duplicate due to world restrictions. Anyway, Kyon was interested in something else: he needed the legacy to create more advanced techniques of concealment, treatment, as well as cloning to achieve teleportation.
«Great job. So, we proceed as follows…» – Lovr recalled the plan of action or, rather, outlined a new one, based on the additional information he had just received.
Franz nodded and then asked anxiously: «Have you made any contingency plans?»
«I repeat, you will have an alibi. Deny all charges. Play dumb. Take your stand. Your life will get better in a month or two when everything settles down. I will save Marina and Julia if anything goes wrong.»
Franz heaved a sigh of relief: «That’s what I wanted to hear.» – He hastened to add. – «By the way, what about healing my semen? If the operation is successful, I…»
«No way.» – Kyon said firmly. – «You haven’t served me for ten years yet.»
«With your powerful master, you could rob…»
«My powerful master thinks that the student must be independent. This conversation is over.»
…
Late in the evening. The Royal Palace. The entrance to the treasury located in the basement.
A handsome young man approached the two guards.
«Your highness, crown prince Franz!» – One of the guards greeted Franz, taking a bow.
A second later, the three of them burst into laughter.
«I forgot when you last greeted me like this, Pete!» – The crown prince said cheerfully.
«You’ve spoiled me! Ha-ha! What have you been up to?»
«Same old, same old. I’ve been trying to find a decent technique to prove myself in the tournaments of my generation. I have nothing to show so far…»
«Choosing the right technique is crucial. It’s for life, after all. Try the Rock Crushing Mountain Stream Fist! It will be perfect for your water and light elements. My son defeats opponents two stages stronger with it’s help!»
«Thanks for the tip, Pete.» – Franz said, holding out his wrist casually.
After the required formation check, he went inside and ran out three seconds later with the words: «Shit! I’ll be back soon!»
A few minutes later, Franz returned to the treasury and grunted grimly: «False alarm. I thought Haya was calling me to her room because she was finally ready, but no. Nothing has changed. She only gave me false hope.»
«Still playing hard to get?» – The guard grinned slyly.
«She is. Well, never mind. I will catch up with her soon, and then the Rock Crushing Mountain Stream Fist will pin her to the ground, and I will get to her… Well, you understand.» – The prince smiled, patting Pete on the shoulder, and slipped inside the treasury without the formation check of the formation or the escort. The guards had long known and trusted the crown prince.
«I hope my advice will help you!» – The guard shouted after him.
It was Kyon, of course, in disguise. His plan had worked! Changing personality, smell, bracelet, and even faking the soul… Franz had made friends with the guards for a reason. Once, he “accidentally” told them about his disastrous relations with Haya to create a diversion. As for Franz, he had an indestructible alibi: he was talking with his majesty the king!