Tursed my worid upside down

Egor opened his eyes and blinked from the bright light. He raised his palm and brushed away the tears that had welled up. His vision focused and the first thing he saw was unusual fireballs that illuminated the room. He turned his head to one side and his gaze fell on the wall. He turned to the other side and saw a long corridor lined with beds. Almost all of them were empty.

Egor looked down and saw that he himself was lying on one of the beds, covered with a thick blanket, and next to his other hand lay a black-haired head with closed eyes. The young man only slightly moved his fingers, as Klaus's eyes opened and he assumed a sitting position. They looked at each other silently, and then simultaneously their lips stretched into a smile.

"You slept too long," the prince said calmly.

"I was afraid that I would not wake up at all," Egor admitted honestly.

"How do you feel?"

"As if I slept for several hours in an uncomfortable position, otherwise I am completely fine."

Egor sat up, and Klaus adjusted his pillow so that his friend could sit comfortably. The blanket had slipped, pressed down by another head. At Yegor's feet, a girl was sleeping peacefully, resting her head on her hands. Yegor looked questioningly at Klaus.

"She has not left my side for a minute since we pulled her out of the cage," the prince waved his hand at her, "and, by the way, it is thanks to her that you can talk and move now."

"Really?" Egor was surprised.

"The knife that was intended for me was poisoned, and the antidote was blood with the same magical power as that of the poisoned person."

"This means that she ...," it began to slowly dawn on Egor.

"Yes, she also turned out to be an anti-mage, and if you hadn't insisted on saving her, we wouldn't be talking now. You're a lucky guy!"

"Yes, I think so," was all Egor answered.

Brod came out of his makeshift office.

"Have you woken up? How are you feeling?" he addressed the patient, simultaneously feeling his pulse and checking for fever.

"Okay, everything is fine," Egor answered confusedly and turned a questioning look to the prince.

"I'll tell you everything later, but now give the healer a chance to do his job."

After that, Klaus stood up. Lilith, as if sensing the prince's intention to leave, woke up abruptly and followed him. Klaus only sighed, but said nothing. Egor watched them go and turned his gaze to the needle that the healer had just inserted next to the fresh scar from the dagger. The blood was a little darker than usual, but it didn't seem to bother the doctor.

"We'll inject you with the antidote a couple more times, and everything will be fine."

Klaus decided that Egor needed to eat, so he left his friend with the healer and went to the dining room. Lilith invariably followed him.

"Listen," he addressed the girl without turning around, "you don't have to follow me everywhere."

"Forgive me, master, but allow this slave to be near you, it's so... it's so much easier for me," she finished her speech barely audibly.

"I can't drag you along. As soon as my companion recovers, we will leave this place. You can't come with us."

"But why?" the girl exclaimed, stopping. "I swear I won't be a hindrance to you. I can cook, wash and... and... I can do whatever you order."

Klaus stopped and exhaled slowly, then turned to the girl, who was looking at him with such a pleading look.

"Did you see what happened at the estate?" Lilith nodded uncertainly. "Then you must understand that it is dangerous near me. We freed you, now you can return to your family and live in peace."

"But I have no family," she whispered, staring at the stone floor under her feet.

"I'm sorry," Klaus said sincerely. "Then can you go back to your village or wherever you come from? We will accompany you."

"Master, I have been a slave since childhood and I do not even know where my real home is, perhaps I was even born in the old master's estate. I was sold as soon as I turned seventeen, because they thought that I would not be of much use. I was sold to a pleasure house," she grimaced. "But when the girls, including me, were being transported, we were attacked, and so I ended up in the house of Lady Minami."

"How old are you now?"

"In a few weeks will be nineteen."

"Why were you kept in a cage?"

"It's all because of my power. It so happened that during the attack, several girls wanted to escape. The mages tried to stop them, and I found myself in the path of a wind whip, which immediately dissipated as soon as it approached me. Among the attackers was an old woman from the estate. It was she who selected young and healthy girls for her experiments. They took me away immediately and took me to the cell in which I spent all this time. What happened to the others, I don't know, but I heard the slaves say how this old woman brought everyone to the next world."

"What did she use you for?"

"She came once a month and… and… forgive me, sir, but I don't know what she did, but it was incredibly painful and after that I couldn't come to my senses for several days. They nursed me back to health, and the next month everything repeated itself."

"I'm sorry, I didn't want you to remember this, but now I'm even more convinced that you can't stay with us. I'll find you a safe place, I promise."

"Master," she fell to her knees and pressed her forehead to the floor, "I beg you! I'll do everything! I'm not afraid! Only next to you I'm not afraid."

Klaus sighed again. This girl had been through a lot and, judging by the fact that she addressed him as "master", Lilith did not know that he was of royal blood. She did not know at all about the differences between statuses and the well-known distinguishing marks. He decided to return to this conversation later.

"Let's eat now and take the miraculous brew to Egor."

Lilith quickly jumped up from her place and ran after the prince, relaxing a little. She hoped that her prayers were heard and that this man, whose touch did not cause terrible fear of the memories of what she had experienced, would keep her with him, allowing her to serve until the end of her days.

When Klaus returned to the ward, Egor was already sitting on the edge of the bed, dangling his legs. He looked quite healthy and smiled at the prince.

"I thought you decided to leave me here to die of boredom."

"I just decided to feed you ,"the prince said, unable to hold back a smile, and Lilith came out from behind him with a full tray of food and a mug of some not very pleasant-smelling brew.

"What is this?" the young man pointed cautiously at the mug with brown liquid.

"It doesn't taste so terrible, but it restores strength perfectly."

"I'm glad you appreciated my little invention," the doctor smiled as he left his office.

"It is indeed a very useful thing," Klaus admitted. "And where is your captain?"

"He went out on business and will be back in a couple of hours. He gave orders to prepare rooms for you in the main wing. As soon as the patient has eaten, I will ask you to be escorted."

"Thank you, but we would prefer one room."

Brod shifted his gaze from the prince to Egor and stopped at Lilith.

"She can have a separate room next to ours," Klaus clarified.

"No, sir! I can sleep on the floor!" the girl was frightened.

"You will be in the next room," Klaus exhaled. "If something happens, I will come to your aid in a flash," he tried to calm her down, but judging by the girl's expression, he did not succeed. Klaus rolled his eyes and turned to Brod again.

"If you have such an opportunity, we would also like to take a bath and clean our clothes."

"Of course! You will be shown to the baths. I hope separate? Our men are not used to washing with women," the doctor added sheepishly.

"Did you hear? Will you be able to wash yourself alone?"

The girl nodded uncertainly.

When Egor had eaten every last crumb and drunk the healing brew, the same young man who had recognized Klaus as the prince in the dining room entered the infirmary. He bowed uncertainly and led them into the rooms, but the trio only entered one of the suggested ones.

"Make two more sleeping places here," Klaus sighed, and an uncertain smile blossomed on Lilith's face.

The bathhouse in this strange place resembled an underground hot spring. A small lake in the center of the grotto was steaming, and water was flowing down the stone walls under low pressure, which reminded Klaus of a soul from another world. When he and Egor entered, having with great difficulty torn Lilith away from the prince's hand and allowed two women to lead her in another direction, they heard the lively chatter and laughter of men, who abruptly fell silent at the sight of those who entered.

Klaus saw fleeting glances at his tattoos, but chose not to focus on it. He realized that the captain had ordered everyone not to show the prince special treatment and to pretend that they did not know who he was. It was even funny. People like Lilith, who had lived their entire lives in ignorance, could be counted on the fingers of one hand. There were clearly soldiers in the bathhouse who simply could not help but know the coat of arms of the ruling family.

"I hope we are not disturbing you?" Klaus asked dryly, unfastening his light outer armor.

"This is a public bathhouse, come join us," one of them answered, plucking up his courage.

"Then you should not stop your fascinating conversations."

The chatter continued uncertainly, but the soldiers could not hide their curiosity and stole glances at their prince. They could not even imagine that they would ever share a bathhouse with him. Highborn offspring never stooped to public baths or dining rooms. Even on the battlefield, they were accompanied by slaves who helped them dress, wash and prepare separate meals, especially the offspring of the royal family or their close associates.

Still preferring to ignore the curious glances, Klaus undressed, took a piece of rough soap and went into the water, feeling incredible pleasure. Egor hesitated, quickly threw off his clothes and followed Klaus.

Having thoroughly washed his hair and body, Klaus relaxedly leaned against the stone edge of the bathhouse and finally turned his gaze to the soldiers who were still unsure of how to behave.

"It is very strange to see a hot spring in such a place," he decided to defuse the situation.

"This is an artificial spring. We have several outstanding inventors here who built this place. The water maintains the same temperature due to fire artifacts," the man pointed to several stones, seemingly unremarkable, at the very bottom of the bath.

"Yes, and the water here is constantly renewed," the second pointed at the walls. "There are artifacts here that combine the magic of water, fire and air," the soldier added admiringly.

"What a pity that such useful things cannot be used openly, King...," the man stopped short, not knowing how to behave. He forgot that there was a prince in front of them and was about to openly condemn the law in front of him.

"Yes, it is a pity that inventors are executed," the prince said. "We could use magic much more effectively if the king were not afraid of losing his power."

The soldiers exhaled. The prince shared their opinion, and how could it be otherwise if the captain gathered them all under his command? The prince is their new king who will change this country, but fear, fueled by years of oppression, did not allow these people to fully feel at ease next to the offspring of the royal family.

Klaus understood, despite the captain's assurances - the people gathered here were Klaus's people, he still needed to gain their trust, but he could think about that later. He did not yet know what their goal was and his own role in this plan.

"How do you like our bathhouse?" a familiar voice was heard from behind.

The captain stood at the entrance in his full uniform and looked at Klaus, then slowly walked to the water and extended his hand, slightly wetting his fingers.

"Do you take a bath in a cloak and helmet?" the prince raised an eyebrow.

"If you are finished, then perhaps it is time to talk?" ignoring the prince's question, the captain continued.

"I look forward to it," Klaus answered and slowly walked out of the water.

Egor couldn't help but glance at the prince's bare back, to which his wet long black hair was clinging, lowered his gaze, blushed and turned away. The captain also looked at the naked prince without a twinge of conscience, chuckled and said:

"And you really have grown. Everywhere."

Egor blushed even more and quickly climbed out of the water, taking a towel and wrapping it around his waist, then took another one and handed it to the prince, trying not to look at him.

"Thank you," he answered, noting that his friend's face was very red "you shouldn't have sat in the water for so long. Is your fever up again?"

He reached out to his friend's forehead, but he recoiled and blushed even more.

"Everything is fine," he muttered.

The young men were given clean black pants and shirts, simple but comfortable boots. Having put on their new clothes, both followed the captain. He led them to the same wing where their room was located.

"I think we will have this conversation in my room. No one will disturb us there. Your Majesty, please follow me."

The captain's room was located very close to the one that Klaus had chosen for himself, Egor, and Lilith. The third one was standing by the door, nervously shifting from foot to foot. The girl's hair was still damp. She was given a simple gray dress just below the knees and high boots. After Lilith was washed, Klaus noted that she was a very pretty girl.

Fair skin, large brown eyes, shiny hair a few shades lighter than his own, thin but clearly defined lips and thick eyelashes. As soon as the girl saw Klaus, she quickly moved towards him.

"Sir," she exhaled with relief. Klaus looked down and saw the royal family mark (half sun and half moon, circled) contrasting with her pale skin.

"Let your companions wait in the room while we speak."

"Egor is coming with me."

"As you wish, Your Majesty."

The girl grabbed the prince by the forearm and looked at him imploringly.

"And she too."

The captain only slightly bowed his head in agreement and opened the door to his room.