However, it could be easily explained during the conversation: at the moment, the patriarch was busy with family issues, especially the preparation of incompetent youngsters. Pretty soon, there was going to be a family tournament in the kingdom, the rank the family would hold for the next 4 years depended on how the young proved themselves; based on current projections, they would tumble down to the 4-5th place, their mines and plantations that gave the main income were likely to be bought out by the enemy families. Specifically bought out and not taken over or something of the kind. The system allowed the strong to get someone else"s possessions in a legal way, namely with a special currency called a token, which could be acquired by doing some service to the empire, like winning in the tournaments and compet.i.tions…It was the first time Kyon had heard about those "tokens" and got confused in the information flow, however, he put a mental tick: he was going to find out about it later.
The conversation turned smoothly to the discussion about Elsa"s life, Juno"s sister, however, as soon as the patriarch carelessly said something good about his elder granddaughter the girl immediately changed the subject:
«By the way, grandfather, when is the party planned?»
«On the lovers day, in three weeks.» - The old man sighed. His two beloved granddaughters had a falling out and it seriously distressed him. - «I"ve sent letters to all the families of the kingdom, we can expect the most talented and high-ranked young men. I am sure that each of them will bend over backward just to get your attention. I can"t wait to see those young talents show their feathers in front of you, I"m sure they are going to put on a talent show there, hehe.»
«Hurray!» - Juno said glumly, without much enthusiasm for "c.o.c.kfighting".
Bai continued dreamily either without noticing or deliberately ignoring the mockery in his granddaughter"s voice:
«I am sure they will be eager to pay a fortune for a single dance with you. After all, you, my sweet little Juno, are the loveliest flower in the whole world. There is no such boy who would not be fascinated by your beauty, manners and character, believe me, your grandfather knows what he says.»
At this point, Kyon had to cover his mouth tight with his hand so as not to laugh out loud, he also bit his tongue, just to be sure.
Juno drawled out above his head, her voice sounded touched:
«Grandfather, you"re embarra.s.sing me!»
A burst of soft laughter was heard out of the sound transmitter:
«If you put on your favorite black dress, everyone will be crazy about you. You will be the brightest little star at the party, all the guys will be stunned at the sight of you, and those who are weaker, they will topple like ninepins and arrange themselves neatly in piles! I"ve said it before and am saying now, I want you to find your soulmate yourself, a marriage of convenience is rarely happy... And I do not want to see my beloved granddaughter unhappy. And remember, choose with the heart but listen to your mind. As soon as you find someone you like, whisper his name to your brother and XiaoBai will arrange everything: dancing-shmancing, whatever you, young people now need to get to know each other, hehe! You will be the most beautiful couple in the world.»
Juno, embarra.s.sed, rubbed her nose.
«Grandfather, enough... I"m already burning with shame. I haven"t even met anyone yet and you"re about to choose the names for "our" future children.»
«So what, Alice is a great name for a daughter, in my opinion…»
«Grandfather, don"t! Enough of that!» - exclaimed Juno, then she heard a stifled grunting from the sound transmitter and she blushed to the tips of her ears: the old geezer was simply mocking her! Well, as the saying goes "old men are twice children"! She rubbed her temples wearily and sighed: - «Do you remember Timothy Brown?» - and, without waiting for his answer, she continued: – «You know, he licked his chops every time he saw Elsa. He wanted to marry her, to make his own... Only that stinker escaped and now there are rumors that Timothy wouldn"t mind switching over me! I doubt there will be brave souls willing to rip me out of his grabby hands. Do you understand?»
In the opinion of many, Timothy Brown is the most talented of all the youngsters of his generation in the whole kingdom, with the exception, of course, of the offspring of the royal family itself. Actually, his family was predicted to get the first rank after the tournament. Juno knew perfectly well that no one would risk their own life, even for the sake of such a delicious prize like her, except for maybe a couple of idiots she would not look twice at.
«All these rumors are pure nonsense. The person who will decide your fate has not been born yet! I will let no one taking you as a wife against your will, command you, push you around, do whatever he likes, regardless of your desires - I will never let it happen! And if this presumptuous young man dares to say something…» - the indignant patriarch was spewing like an open hydrant, his sound transmitter was completely wet. - «My little sweet Juno, do not worry over trifles, your grandfather will settle everything. If necessary, I will take tough measures, you know me. I"ll do anything for the sake of the family... especially for you.»
After those words, Juno just sighed. There was no point arguing with grandfather, he was very stubborn. He had always tried to keep everything under control, especially her life. She couldn"t take a step out of the mansion without his knowledge. Still, with all his pathological affection and care, they rarely saw each other: he couldn"t leave the post of patriarch out of a sense of duty.
The conversation ended soon on a warm note. The girl thought about something for a long time, turned off the light and went to bed. If only she was aware of the monster under the bed... She wouldn"t fall asleep, that"s for sure.
Kyon twitched impatiently. He didn"t care less what problems that family had, who promised to marry whom and all that jazz, at least for the time being. The only thing that worried him now was the importance to apply the formation on the little b.i.t.c.h, who"d given him so many close calls. And that moment had come. It was time for action.
The clock struck two in the morning.
By the girl"s measured breathing, Kyon could determine that she had entered the deepest phase of sleep. He silently crawled out from under the bed, glanced with a bloodthirsty look over this sweet sleeping creature with a black heart — it was she who was responsible for the h.e.l.l that he had lived through. He understood that it was stupid for him, the former emperor to hate that little one and yet he hated her with all his heart. Oddly enough, his self-esteem did not suffer at all from the realization of what he was about to do — on the contrary, he genuinely enjoyed the situation.
Kyon stretched his hands, put two fingers on her temples and slowly began to ma.s.sage them in circular motions, pouring in Synergy.
If Juno wasn"t sleeping she"d feel gooseb.u.mps all over her body and a relaxing thrill as if she was floating among the stars in the beautiful imaginary s.p.a.ce.
The effect was in the complete relaxation of the body, so powerful and all-embracing that no one could wake up the sleeping one even with a horn. Kyon put her into an abnormally deep sleep for a good reason: to lessen the mental resistance to the formation.
A few minutes later he saw the signs of a sound sleep, sighed with relief and turned her head up.
The guy had an urge to pinch the young lady"s little nose but he reminded himself that he was not ten years old, after all; he put his hand on her forehead and in a couple of minutes, delivered a perfect slot, which he"d worked out and repeatedly tested on the swan. It didn"t only contain the formation but also protected it concealed from others.
Kyon exhaled slowly, closed his eyes and put two fingers on the slot. The energy of pure force slowly, gently and as accurately as possible poured inward, creating the formation. So far, the things were looking good, his only concern was the difference in development. He was on the 4th stage and the girl, as he remembered, was on the 5th or even higher, which could cause a greater chance of failure.
In spite of her sound sleep, Juno frowned and mumbled something. Soon her lips trembled, the brows closed on the bridge of her nose, forming a cranky wrinkle on her smooth forehead.
The guy gritted his teeth. The formation meddled into the girl"s sleep! If she woke up there would be no revenge and no life.
He was so close…
{Please, don"t wake up! Sleep or I"ll have to wring your neck and die soon after!}
Juno mumbled something indistinctly, lifted her lead eyelids with difficulty. The blurred from her dream picture was slowly focusing on the image of the dead slave.
At that moment, Kyon had all his life flashed before his eyes. The last line of the code was delivered to the slot; since the formation did not disappear, it went out really well, it had to, it was the law of formacy.
Euphoria, like a tsunami wave, flooded his mind.
It was the feeling of flying through the universe.
It was like you are G.o.d and everything is under your control.
All of creation is just the dust of oblivion at your feet.
Oh, those huge (by nature and surprise) eyes, staring at the one who she"d been considering dead for a long time... And to be more precise, who she had personally killed. However, the dead cannot grin so mischievously.
«BUT…»
«I order you not to make a sound. I order you to freeze and not to move.» - Kyon ordered in a commanding tone. Flames of fire seemed to be dancing in his eyes.
The formation that he"d invented, optimized and applied to the slot, of course, was of a subordinate nature. Each of his phrases, starting with "I order", was going to the limbo, then got processed by the girl"s subconscious and executed by it.
It was a success for several reasons: the mental state of the girl suppressed by deep sleep, the hyper-dense ultroptimized formation, and the unprecedented 100% purity of the key element of Kyon"s pure force.
Flitz had applied to him something like that before but his own formation was hundreds of times better and more effective. Now the girl turned into his slave; everything turned upside down. What a universal irony: the lady, who treated the slave like he was nothing, became just the same for him.
Kyon thought for a while and added:
«I order you not to attack the formation on your forehead in any way and not to use of the elements, in general.» - he couldn"t get away without that: applying the slot, he was directed at secrecy, not at protecting the formation from the energy attack.
Juno opened and closed her small mouth like a guppy fish but there was no sound. In her eyes was disbelief in what was happening: it had to be, it was just a dream, another nightmare, a vision. Like the time when she faced that very slave on the way to the bathroom...
The atmosphere in the chambers of Juno, the daughter of the patriarch in the family number one in the kingdom of the Iron Throne (3) was very peculiar.
Kyon looked at the pretty shocked face with a victorious, triumphant smile. Inside him was rising a black desire to revenge, to hurt, to give her the same feelings she"d given him several days before. Just a minute ago, he was n.o.body and no one knew his name, and now he was the slave owner of Juno herself. The power was intoxicating.
The girl could not even move either from horror or at executing the order of the "master". She couldn"t even think, the only thought feverishly screaming in her mind was "it"s a dream, it"s just a dream, I need to wake up!", her heart was trying to jump out of her chest as if she was a bunny driven into the corner, staring at a fox licking his lips.
Kyon stroke her gentle cheek; she was beautiful, b.i.t.c.h, it was hard to argue that. She had big enchanting eyes, her hair was like rays of sunlight, and her pretty gray nightie ending just above her knees was not a sight for the faint-hearted. He had never seen… anyone like her. So perfect, beautiful, devilishly charming. To disfigure or maim her was a sin, even by the standards of the most evil G.o.ds and devils.
The guy grabbed the girl by her thin tender neck, slightly squeezed it as if he wanted to kill her. If he made a little more effort the fragile spine would break in his hands.
Juno"s face was a mix of helplessness, confusion and misunderstanding. Her long eyelashes trembled, diamonds of tears glistened in the corners of her eyes; the sight was truly pitiful and heartrending.
Kyon bent over the girl and almost tenderly whispered, straight into her lips:
«I order - you can talk but not louder than a mosquito buzz.»
The girl knitted her brows angrily and said softly through her teeth:
«I order you to kill yourself!»