Everything will be my way!

Chapter 537

　　At the exit from the office, Kyon met a servant who escorted him to a new place of residence. On the way, he said that each junior disciple was entitled to his own large room on the 3rd floor of the palace. Senior disciples live on the 6th floor. Their rooms are larger and richer, yet their position is higher.

　　«Will the senior disciple be able to enter the junior's room without permission?»

　　«No, sir. The room can only be entered by the formation. All of them are well protected, and if someone tries to break down the door, the palace guards will immediately intervene, after that the violator will be punished.» – the young guy politely explained.

　　Kyon chuckled thoughtfully. The protection here is clearly better than that of the houses in the order. But something else is even more pleasant: that powerful palace barrier, through which even a radio signal does not pass, begins on the 12th floor and ends on the last - 13th, he learned this when he went up to the throne room to take the oath. It is understandable, because such powerful spherical barriers require a lot of energy, and therefore cannot be too large.

　　Lovr went down to the 3rd floor and found a long wide corridor, almost 300 meters long, on the sides of which there were many ebony doors.

　　About fifty junior disciples of the empress came out to meet the newcomers. Many people surrounded Juno, Seraphima and Clementine. Demonstrating their virtues in every possible way, they tried to put themselves in the best light in front of the beauties.

　　«Mr. Roman, here is your room. I also want to please you: since you are the husband of Lady Juno, you have access to her room, as she has to yours.» – the servant explained.

　　If there were no bandages hiding Roman's face, everyone would have seen how ugly he was wrinkling. The guy would rather climb into the monster's lair than to this fury named "Juno"!

　　Artemis, who heard about access to Juno's room, gnashed his teeth enviously, so he quietly got up to his younger brother from behind and slapped him with an evil smile: «Congratulations on the title, little brother!»

　　~pu-u-u-um~

　　However, to Clinton's surprise, Roman could not withstand the blow: he lost consciousness and rolled head over heels down the corridor, attracting everyone's attention. There was a deathly silence.

　　«S-s-s-s-s… I didn't want to… I thought he would stand…» – Artemis said guiltily.

　　Whether he wanted it or not, he had just asserted himself at the expense of his younger brother.

　　Juno snorted coldly and, taking advantage of the situation, dodged the annoying crowd into her room. She didn't care at all that Roman was unintentionally humiliated right in front of everyone. She already considered her husband a miserable nonentity.

　　Two disciples of the empress immediately ran up to Roman and, taking him in their arms, carried him to the first-aid post, thus trying to curry favor with one of the most influential junior disciples of the empress - Artemis Clinton, the future patriarch of his family.

　　Meanwhile, Kyon tried to quietly sneak into his room, but no luck.

　　«Hey, piggy, where are you sneaking?! Are you really going to live in the palace?!»

　　«You're kind of mixed up, aren't you?! Your place in the pigsty!»

　　Two bullies from the Russell family were the children of elders, so they could offend almost any person in the empire, and, of course, a fat weakling. The fact that he acquired the title of the empress' junior disciple infuriated the guys incredibly. And the fact that they would have to live next door to him offended them and even angered them even more.

　　Fifty young people turned to loud voices. Again, this pair of notorious bullies attacked a weak student? Nothing new… However, seeing who they bullied, many of them unwittingly supported their initiative.

　　«Should I show you the way, or will you find it yourself?!» – Russell scowled.

　　«And you're also deaf…» – his partner added rudely, approaching.

　　Kyon felt that one of the Russells was the royal phaser king at the 9th stage. The other – at the 10th stage. It would be nice to show everyone at their expense that it is better not to mess with him, but arranging an unauthorized battle in the palace on the first day is clearly not the best idea…

　　Before the Russells could grab the fat man by the collar, they suddenly froze and smoothly turned around. They saw a beautiful blonde: a newly minted disciple of the empress.

　　«If you dare touch him, you will have to deal with me.» – Elsa threatened.

　　The two guys shivered in fear. Even with their high position, they would rather cut off their little fingers than go against the will of the empress' senior disciple. Two bald dogs are not like a tiger. They shouldn't even open their mouths again.

　　«Sorry, lady, we didn't know he was under your protection…» … «Excuse us.» – confusedly making excuses, the two Russells bowed humbly and quickly went away.

　　Stone looked around at everyone present, held her gaze on Kyon and silently left.

　　{What was that?!} – all those present unanimously wondered. It's one thing that the empress' senior disciple just went down to the 3rd floor, but it's quite another thing that she stood up for the fat man!

　　And only those few who caught the final match at the tournament guessed that Elsa simply wanted to establish good relations with such a unique and strong practitioner, so she helped him a little.

　　{That will do too.} – Kyon nodded to himself. Now they won't bully him, it makes everything easier.

　　Lovr went into his room and raised an eyebrow in surprise: there is even a second floor! There was a feeling that he got into a small luxurious mansion. But he did not feel at home here, but rather felt like a spy who had infiltrated the enemy's lair, after all, the mistress of the palace is his sworn enemy. And if so, it would be wise to exercise extreme caution: he studied his new place of residence with "The eyes of truth", scanning and echolocation for hidden nephrites. There was nothing.

　　It was already late in the evening, so Kyon took a shower and thought about everything again before going to bed.

　　Doubts about the fact that he is still a puppet in the hands of the zeroth general have practically disappeared. Figuratively speaking, the shadow of the empress seemed to hang over him. It probably all started with the announcement of new conditions for the tournament in the forests of Regan, say, without entering the top 64, it will not be possible to pass the final exam this year…

　　But is the zeroth general really so stupid, since he did not assume that the empress would notice the messenger of the goddess and want to take him into her hands? Conversely. He specifically gave him the task to score a colossal number of points to make her notice him, and called it the trust test… Some kind of idiocy. Why go through all that trouble?

　　{As if he was deliberately stalling for time…} – Kyon had an uncomfortable sense of loss of control due to the lack of information about what was going on behind the scenes. Of course, the 0th general is in no hurry, but for him, time is priceless!

　　Anyway, now earning points in the order is meaningless, as is the deal with the 0th general. Does this mean that he tried in vain? No, it doesn't. The main thing is that the empress noticed him, and he is gradually moving towards his main goal.

　　{And what is she waiting for? Does she want to let me feel my new privileged status? Does she want me to be filled with gratitude and become attached to her arrogant majesty? Or am I not even aware of something again?} – Kyon could not know the answer. All he needs now is to speed up the process of becoming a direct disciple, ingratiate himself with her and save Valeera. How to do it? Would he have to wait a whole year to get the right to meet her for 10 minutes? Too long. There is one way to meet her even faster than if he were a senior disciple!

　　The plan is simple: to sign up tomorrow for the exam to become an imperial alchemist of high rank! Only in this way will he be able to meet with Lanatelle and offer her his services in a week.

　　It is convenient to be a junior disciple of the empress. It is not necessary to complete your studies in the order to be eligible to take the exam to become an imperial alchemist, formacist or enchanter.

　　…

　　The next morning, Roman woke up in the palace infirmary with a slight throbbing pain in his head. Infirmary, or what? How did he get here? Did he lose consciousness yesterday right during the move-in?! Damn it… All because of Juno.

　　Clinton went to the mirror and, holding his breath, took off his bandages… The guy almost screamed in horror, because he saw a real freak: a distorted nose, a black eye, swollen cheeks and a split lip.

　　«My beautiful face… I'm like some kind of monster! It's all because of the damn bitch!» – Roman swore under his breath.

　　«What did you say?!»

　　Clinton shrugged his shoulders because of this gentle, but for some reason very ominous voice. He slowly turned around and smiled tightly, which made his ugly face look completely unsightly: «Honey, hello… I'm not talking about you… I'm talking about a nurse! That's it…»

　　The blonde approached the pale guy and, with an ice mask on her face, poked a thin finger into his chest: «Now I am your wife, and I need pocket money.»

　　The crooked smile on Roman's face became even more unnatural: «Of course, dear… How much do you need? Will a hundred thousand be enough?»

　　«One hundred million!» – the girl blurted out.

　　«How much?!» – Clinton choked on saliva from amazement.

　　«Do you have hearing problems? Maybe I should fix it?!» – Juno suggested threateningly.

　　«N-no, you shouldn't! I-I'll give you the money… After all, I'm your husband, ah-ha-ha!» – Roman laughed even more unnaturally.

　　«You spoiled my mood… You also called me a bitch.» – crossing her arms, the girl turned away with resentment on her pretty face. – «Now I need two hundred million.»

　　Roman caught his breath, but meeting the blonde's sharp gaze, he again forced a smile on his face: «Y-yes, honey… Soon I will get the money…»

　　Juno's gaze suddenly softened, she nodded approvingly and left the infirmary.

　　{I was robbed in broad daylight… My own wife robbed me! Why the hell did I marry her?! What did I sign up for?!} – there was the deepest regret on Clinton's face, and tears sparkled in his eyes. Due to his stupidity, he did not have enough insight to see the insidious demon in the body of the beautiful angel.

　　…

　　At about the same time, Rose woke up in the VIP ward of the best hospital on the territory of the Valentines. For several minutes he stared blankly at the ceiling, trying to dispel the fog in his head. Burning pain in the whole body, as always, made it difficult to concentrate. In addition, there was a sickening feeling coming from the soul right now, as if the lake there had turned into a musty swamp.

　　At some point, terrible memories of the tournament flooded into Rose's head… His eyes widened, he suddenly tensed, turned pale and, trembling slightly, sweated. He was humiliated in front of the whole empire! Dick beat him like a punching bag, and then forced him to shit himself and lose three stages! Now Valentine's reputation, like that of his entire family, has sunk into oblivion! Now he is just a pathetic mediocrity who is not destined to break into the imperial phase!

　　Even if he fulfills his dream and marries Elsa, everyone else, including his wife, will perceive him as a toad who was lucky enough to sit on the neck of a phoenix. Now he will not become a patriarch… What will Stein say when he visits him? What will the father say? Where has he been for several weeks?..

　　{Wait… What if I could get rid of the root of evil?!}

　　With immense hope, Rose took out Albert's formation and "scanned his soul". Finding a huge black spot on the image, occupying almost the entire space, the guy shook and roared at the top of his lungs, like a mad beast.

　　*flash*

　　Rose has just lost another stage. The last thing that flashed through his mind was Dick. He could not get rid of the root of evil precisely because of him… If that bastard hadn't beaten him up, making him look like a clown in front of everyone… If he hadn't punched him in the stomach, forcing him to shit himself, then everything would have been different!

　　{I HATE HIM!} – Valentine frothed from his mouth, shaking in impotent rage.

　　Nurses and doctors immediately burst into the ward, but the master had already lost consciousness…

　　A few hours later, Rose woke up, but already seemed to be dead inside.

　　An imperial representative entered the ward and said that he urgently needed to go to the palace to take an oath, otherwise he would not become a junior disciple.

　　Picking himself up, with the help of the servants, Rose got up and headed to the palace. Every second on his feet seemed to him an unbearable torment. He began to feel dizzy, his splitting head throbbed… He wanted to die.

　　At the palace, the imperial representative escorted Valentine to the 12th floor, where ten influential people of the empire were waiting for him, acting as witnesses. The man began to read the oath for Rose, as it turned out, in front of a huge portrait of the empress… No wonder, Lanatelle wouldn't waste her time on such an insignificant meeting. And in general, Rose should say "thank you" for being allowed to take the oath separately from the others.

　　«I swear.» – Valentine swore with a low bow.

　　Soon, Rose, who was barely able to stand on his feet, was given the formation and escorted to his room, but before he could go inside, someone suddenly grabbed him from behind…

　　«Mr. Stein asked us to take you to his place.» … «Guy, it's better not to resist, otherwise it will be worse.» – two guys threatened, they were the Russells who bullied Baker. Obviously, they served Stein, which, apparently, they were very proud of.

　　Rose wanted to say something, but realized that it was pointless. If his older brother wants to see him, then this meeting cannot be avoided… He can only hope that Stein will not resort to physical assault, because he does not worry about his family and everyone else.

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