Tursed my worid upside down

Egor woke up before Klaus. He went to the window and slightly opened the shutters. The sun was just coming out from behind the horizon, which gave this world a more ominous look. Egor shuddered from a light gust of wind that brought the already familiar smell of gunpowder. This aroma had been haunting the young man since the moment he passed through the portal and found himself in Isorobia - Klaus's homeland.

The young man quietly closed the window and went to the bathhouse. He did not fill the pool with water, but decided to take a semblance of a shower, opening only one tap from which hot, but quite bearable water poured out.

Egor learned his lesson yesterday and came to the conclusion that the best way not to encounter the prince's naked body is to get up early, and before going to bed, carefully study the opposite wall while Klaus lazily takes off his excess clothes.

When Egor had finished and returned to the room, the slaves were already busy there, tidying up and setting out breakfast on the table. They were doing their job so quietly that the young man wondered how often they came here. Maybe Klaus's uncle sent spies to eavesdrop on their conversations?

Klaus opened his eyes when Egor was already finishing his second toast with honey. The prince, as usual, threw on his shirt and pulled up his pants, ignoring the ties, and joined him, stretching sleepily.

"You're early today. Didn't you sleep well?"

"No," Egor answered, chewing the last piece and licking his sweet fingers. "On the contrary, I sleep so well here that I got up early and decided to wash myself, and then have breakfast, without waiting for you."

"There will be a reception for the nobles today. As I understand it, Uncle decided to have a dinner. You will stand among the guards by the wall, forgive me, but I cannot seat a slave at the same table with these people, but after that we can have a nice time in the fresh air. Do you know how to handle a horse?"

"When I was a child, my grandmother used to ride me on a pony," Egor shrugged.

"Well, then we will learn. You will need this skill when we leave Uncle's estate."

"And what will we do next?"

"I don't know yet. Uncle said that I need to listen to one person before making a decision. I think that's what I will do."

The reception began in a few hours. All this time, Egor sat in the room, checking the documents that Klaus brought him. They contained the names of the slaves, their abilities and achievements. Also, according to these papers, it was possible to track something like a promotion in rank, see when the slave was acquired and what village he was from.

Klaus asked to find those who, one way or another, deserved attention. Judging by the description, many slave mages were quite useful and quickly achieved promotion, but those who possessed exceptional skills were few.

In each book, Egor found one or two representatives of the highest rank and wrote down their names, describing their abilities. He was finishing with the last one when a dissatisfied Klaus entered the room.

"How are things going?" he asked.

"Not bad, how are you?"

"I can't stand all these social gatherings. Everyone will be looking for something to gain from communicating with me, and I will have to avoid giving direct answers, at least until I talk to this mysterious man."

"Maybe he will talk to you before lunch?"

"I was counting on it too, but lunch is about to start, and I still haven't seen anyone of note. By the way, get ready. It's time for us to go!"

Egor, accompanied by three more guards, accompanied the prince to the large hall, where the tables were already set. They did not enter from the main entrance, and Egor immediately went into the shadows, where about twenty soldiers had quietly gathered. Why such security? Who is Jiro so afraid of?

Klaus sat down at the right hand of the owner of the estate and his uncle made a hand signal for the slaves to open the large wooden doors. A crowd of dressed-up guests had already gathered behind them. They, one by one, some in proud solitude, some accompanied by their spouses, and some with their entire families, approached the raised platform where Klaus and Jiro were sitting, exchanged pleasantries with them, and then took their places at the table, where they were kindly escorted by slaves in gray robes, but with gilded embroidery and an orange belt.

After all the guests had taken their places, Jiro rose from his seat.

"I am very glad to welcome you all to my modest estate, as I am glad that my dearest nephew has visited it," he turned his head to Klaus and slightly bowed his head, receiving the same gesture from the prince. "Let's start eating before it gets cold."

Klaus also rose from his chair and went down to the table with his uncle. At first, everyone ate quietly and peacefully. No one broke the silence, but Egor noticed how everyone was throwing impatient glances at Klaus. He was right, they all wanted something from him, but no one dared to ask for a "piece of pie" first.

"How is your sick wife, Crowley?" Jiro asked a middle-aged man who sat conspicuously in the middle of a long table.

"Thank you for asking. She has not yet fully recovered, and the fever sometimes bothers her, but overall she is much better. I hope that next time you and the prince will visit us and my wife will be able to meet His Highness in person.

Jiro smiled slightly, but said nothing. His first question was like the trigger of a pistol at the start of runners. Then, everyone vied with each other to "pull the blanket" of Klaus's attention in their direction. Someone spoke about the fact that lately it was becoming increasingly difficult to find worthy slaves. Others complained about the depletion of their lands and hinted at the possibility of getting new ones. Some even said that they still had not heard about the prince's engagement and hinted at their unmarried daughters.

One widow, who came accompanied by her two sons with their wives, continued the topic of the prince's choice of a life partner and said:

"My husband left this world many years ago in a battle on the border, and I still have not remarried. Of course, I understand that there are many young and beautiful girls around His Highness, but can't a mature and, I note, experienced woman count on his favor?" She laughed, presenting what she said as a joke. But it was clearly not a joke, and her look spoke louder than words.

This woman was old enough to be Klaus's mother, and after her "joke" no one dared to develop the topic of matchmaking.

After dinner, musicians and slave waiters entered the hall. The remains of food and dirty dishes were removed from the table, and in their place they put out snacks, fruits, sweets and more wine, so that the guests could calmly break up into groups, discussing their affairs and at the same time have a snack and drink.

The atmosphere was more relaxed, but there was a constant crowd of people around the prince. He nodded at their complaints, smiled at jokes and avoided making direct promises.

Egor was already bored with all this and wanted to relax and have a bite to eat. He lazily watched the guests. A man approached Klaus accompanied by a young girl. Egor noticed that this girl was really beautiful. A soft blue dress made of airy tulle, revealing her shoulders. The top of the bodice was decorated with embroidery of flowers of a darker shade of blue, on the belt there was a strap, as it seemed to the guy, made of sapphire. Earrings and a thin chain with a pendant matched it. Long chestnut curls were neatly styled in a high hairstyle.

Egor frowned, seeing how Klaus smiled at her, and the girl, blushing, as if by accident touched his hand.

"Are you jealous?" a quiet voice was heard from the side.

Egor glanced sideways at his comrade, who was grinning and looking at Klaus.

"Did you really expect him to fuck only you?" a sarcastic laugh from the second guard.

"He doesn't fuck me," Egor said through clenched teeth.

"I don't really believe it."

"We don't have that kind of relationship."

"Oh, come on. Everyone knows and sees it. Your Highness doesn't treat anyone the way he treats you. How else could you have earned his favor, except for your..."

"Shut up! Our relationship with him is none of your business!"

"Don't get worked up, kid. If the prince throws you out, you can always come to me."

Egor frowned even more. He was infuriated by the guards' attitude, but he was even more infuriated by Klaus's "working" smile, as Egor called it, addressed to the embarrassed girl, who, to the young man's great indignation, looked even more attractive with her rosy cheeks.

When did it all go so far? Egor already understood that this nasty, itching feeling inside was jealousy. "But what right did he have to be jealous? He and Klaus were friends. He couldn't even dream of more. As luck would have it, a picture played in his head of the prince leaving the bar with a man. What that man wanted was obvious. So he can sleep with men without any problems? That means I have… that's enough! His friendship is enough for you. Maybe you feel a physical attraction to him because you've never slept with anyone else? But how can I test the theory if I don't even feel any physical attraction to this beautiful companion of Klaus's. Only jealousy."

While he was lost in his thoughts, the entrance door to the hall opened again, and a man appeared in it. Egor even opened his mouth in amazement, because the late guest immediately found Klaus in the crowd and smiled at him. The prince lost his mask for a few moments and stared in surprise at Professor Skotsky, who was already confidently making his way straight to the prince.

"Good afternoon, Your Highness," Professor Klaus greeted with a slight bow, "I offer my deepest apologies for being late for the reception in your honor. I encountered some complications on the way."

"I am glad that you finally reached my uncle's estate safe and sound, sir…," Klaus greeted him with a cold nod, taking his emotions under control.

"My name is Vitos Haritz, we have met several times, but we do not know each other personally, so would you consider it rude if I asked for an audience with you? The matter is urgent."

"I beg your pardon, he addressed the girl, her father and a couple of other sycophants who surrounded Klaus," as you have heard, our guest has urgent business and I am forced to leave you. Please continue to have fun without me, enjoying the hospitality of the host.

He shook hands with the men and lightly touched the girl's hand with his lips, smiled dutifully and went to the exit of the hall. The guards accompanying him, among whom was Egor, left their post and moved after the prince and his guest.

They walked silently along the corridors until they found themselves next to a room near the prince's bedroom. It turned out to be an office that the uncle had kindly allocated to his nephew.

"You," he pointed at Egor, "come with us, the rest of you wait at your post."

They entered the office. Before the door had time to close, a skinny boy in a gray robe entered the room and with quick, deft movements lit the candles and lit a fire in the fireplace. All these actions took him no more than a few minutes. As soon as Klaus, Skotsky and Egor sat down around the semicircular table in the center of the room, the boy had already slipped out and closed the door behind him.

"What the crap!" Klaus began. "I have been furious with your behavior and silence since that ill-fated letter! And you dared to appear here! Aren't you afraid that I will order your execution?"

The prince expressed indignation, but Egor already knew that this was, to a large extent, feigned displeasure. Klaus was more interested in what he would tell him, and not in the fact that he had deceived him in the past.

"I apologize once again, Your Highness, but I had my reasons. If you allow me…"

"Lord Haritz or should I call you Scotsky? It doesn't matter," Klaus waved his hand impatiently, "let's leave all these formalities and just talk. I am eagerly awaiting the information that, in my uncle's opinion, can sway me in his favor."

"Okay, Klaus. Let me start from the beginning then. You know that your mother is from the Astrik family, which, by tragic accident, no longer exists?"

"Yes, I heard a story about a terrible fire that occurred due to a particularly dangerous experiment and destroyed not only the estate, but also all its inhabitants. Mother survived only because she was in the capital at that time."

"That's right. That's the well-known version."

"Version? You don't mean to say that my father... No, that can't be."

"Didn't you find too many coincidences after studying some of the documents that I got with such difficulty?"

Klaus was silent. The professor took that as permission to continue the story.

"So, the Astrik family had one outstanding slave. I would say that his gift was so rare that only a couple of people could be found in the entire country over several centuries. The king wanted him. Your mother's father didn't want to part with his treasure."

But, for the king, the problem remained your mother, who caught his eye, and he already intended to make her his wife. A dilemma arose, whom he wanted more - a beautiful wife or a unique slave. The king could not deny himself either one or the other, so at his own risk and peril he decided to leave alive one of the representatives of the destroyed family.

Klaus was silent. From his father, or rather from the nanny who looked after him until the boy was sent to study with Fazli, he heard a completely different story. Klaus knew that his mother was the last representative of her family. He was told that the estate burned down along with all the inhabitants due to some unsuccessful magical experiment and this happened when the mother became the legal wife of the king. It was this news that undermined the pregnant woman, and she did not survive the birth.

"So you want to say that father decided to get rid of the last representative of the Astrik family? That her death was staged?" the prince finally spoke, in a terrifyingly calm and even voice. Goosebumps ran down Egor's spine. He knew that unnaturally calm voice "the voice of restrained rage."

"Yes and no. He really did decide to get rid of your mother after she revealed the secret of her family's death, but he did not kill her. Your mother is still alive."

The prince's eyes widened, he opened his mouth and closed it like a fish out of water. The mask of composure flew off his pale face, and the prince was in no hurry to put it back.

"Alive?" he asked in a shaking voice. "How can this be? Where is she? Can I meet her?"

"Take your time, Klaus." Skotsky switched to a familiar address to the prince again.

Egor noticed how uncomfortable the professor felt, addressing Klaus as "you", being in Isorobia. Here he was below the prince, and his whole being protested, but now his voice was firm. He addressed the offspring of the royal family as a younger comrade or student, but not as a future ruler.

"I just can't believe it. How could father hide such important information from me? How could he deprive me of my mother on purpose?"

"It all happened shortly before you were born. More precisely, Minami had just found out that she was pregnant and decided to tell this joyful news to the king personally, but the surprise was a failure. Your Majesty always protected your mother from state affairs and protected her from visiting certain corridors of the castle, where his special slaves lived."

"That day, she went to his office without warning, and at that moment, the same slave in a purple robe was coming out of it, because of whom the entire family of highborn and hundreds of other people sank into oblivion. She recognized him immediately. This man was the main one for training slaves. As a child, Minami loved to watch the training battles of future warriors. The task of their teacher was to stop the fight in a dangerous situation, or rather, to stop the released magic. His skills allowed the Astriks to reduce the mortality rate among gifted warriors several times and raise a fairly strong army."

"The king was afraid that they could rebel against him?" Egor expressed his thoughts.

"I doubt that he even thought about it. Rather, he was attracted by the prospect of being able to increase his army."

"What happened next? Mom went to Dad for answers?" Klaus interrupted them impatiently.

"Oh, no. No, she was shocked. How could one of the slaves survive and end up under the king's command? Minami was a smart woman and decided to investigate on her own first, and only then go to the king. But she learned the truth. Moreover, she learned that her family was not the only victims. She wanted to escape, but she was already pregnant with you. She tried to get rid of... get rid of the child, but the king found out about it and assigned her a retinue of servants who watched her day and night.

After a few months, your mother began to behave strangely. She did not let the king near her, did not talk to him. One fine day, when the palace received newly-minted nobles to the court, she burst into the hall and began to accuse the king in front of everyone of being the devil, a murderer. The queen swore that she would destroy the unborn, but already sinful child, and the king himself needed to walk and look back. She literally confessed to her intentions to kill the king and the future crown prince. I do not know," sadly sighing and shaking his head, Vitos continued the story, "whether it was the pregnancy that affected her so much or the realization that she had become the wife of the murderer of the entire family, but Minami's mind was clouded. Until your very birth, she was not allowed out of the bedroom, and after she gave birth, they reported that the queen did not survive the birth and died."

In fact, that same night, accompanied by several dozen slaves and guards, she was sent to a remote estate, where she still lives. No one knew that she was alive.

There was a heavy silence.

"How can I meet her?" Klaus asked when the silence became uncomfortable.

"I would not advise Your Highness to rush into a meeting. As I said, your mother has lost her mind and, unfortunately, she has not recovered yet."

"How did you find out where she was hidden and what connects you?"

"We have been friends since childhood and I, being a naive boy, hoped that Minami would become my wife, but when she was presented to the court a year after me, your father immediately noticed this beautiful girl. How could I compete with him? I retreated and remained her loyal friend. When Minami was declared dead, I did not resign myself to it. I felt that she was still alive and turned to a good friend. He always had several search mages in reserve. He helped find her, but when I finally met her ..."

"What then?" Klaus asked impatiently.

"This was no longer the Minami I knew. She was talking nonsense. Her eyes sparkled with madness. Later I found out that the king also stopped visiting her, but at the same time spared her life. A life in which she has no choice but to gradually go crazy and cherish hatred for the entire royal family."

"I still have to see her and hear the story from her lips. Where is she?"

The professor sighed heavily, but seeing the prince's gaze, he realized that no arguments would convince him to back down from his decision.

"I'll give you the map tomorrow morning, but I won't be able to accompany you. As you know, I have another life, and it's more important to me than all these intrigues. What keeps me here? Only Minami. I want her to be cured. I want to see for myself that she can be happy, and then I'll disappear from Isorobia forever."

"Professor," Egor intervened in the conversation, "why did you even move to that world? Unlike my grandmother, you are a member of a high-born family and you were not threatened with slavery or death. So what made you do this?"

"When I saw Minami in that estate... it was hard for me to accept such changes, and I decided that I should ask His Majesty why he did this to his wife. - He smiled bitterly. - I did not have time to leave the prison of my old friend, as the guards attacked me. The king gave them clear instructions to kill anyone who entered the territory without his will. I miraculously managed to escape, again, thanks to a good friend, but I had to sacrifice it," he put his hand on his mutilated face and lightly ran his fingers over the scar. "I cut off my coat of arms and applied it to the burnt corpse of one of the guards, having first scorched a piece of flesh. You know that no matter how mutilated the body is, the sign cannot be destroyed. It does not burn or rot due to special paint. Therefore, the guards took that corpse for a clearly executed order. I had to hide, but without outside help. That's how I ended up in that world and, by a lucky chance, met Pouoka."