«That day I was sleeping quietly and peacefully on the bench when suddenly there was a loud crash outside. Driven by curiosity, I looked out over the fence and saw a figure running from the mansion... I might have been groggy and seeing things but... No, I’m sure it was Master Jean!»

Dinah recoiled in horror. Jean did come for the training session this morning with his eyes red, his cheeks sunken, his clothes in disarray, his hair dishevelled. He was a spitting image of a raving psychotic, an escapee from a mental institution. Could the reason be...

Despair darted in the girl's eyes. The world reeled. What... dirt, what an abomination! If the old goat did with her things just what she thought... Oh, her honor, her dignity!

«It can not him… He stole…» - The girl's eyes were wet with a storm of feelings. She’d always been a strong, iron-willed one and all of a sudden, she could hardly stand her ground. She turned around and slowly “went with the flow” to the mansion. Tears blurred her eyes but she kept them wide open. Her face expressed a desire to kill with particular cruelty.

{It serves you right, bitch.} – Kyon spat after her. He picked up the sausage soiled with dirt and started his meal tearing off bite by bite and swallowing without chewing. There it was, the taste of heavenly life! Marina did help him out, after all. Not at once but still. He had to fight for his food, sine qua non. But it was totally worth it.

After he satisfied his hunger, Kyon began to practice. Dinah was no longer an issue or so it seemed. Now the need to master the basic grade of pure energy comes to the fore. He had a chance to survive! Besides, he had found an ally under the code name "Marina" in the mansion. Everything was getting better, it had to get better.

Until very late at night, Kyon was completely alone. What a nice feeling of being left alone. One couldn't ask for more... A full stomach and some solitude. Quiet peaceful study of the basic grade of pure energy. If he could decipher the neural connections he would immediately become invulnerable to the little demoness beating.

The sausages were rich in fats and proteins. Kyon saw via Synergy his body get rid of serious injuries. His body stopped being numb. Dull pain and a couple of injuries of moderate severity were still left.

He was sure that by morning he would heal from Juno’s beating. His eyes glimmered with hope. Maybe someday he would take revenge on Dinah and Juno, give thanks to Marina and Anna, and also Martha from the mine... But all that had to wait. Now the main thing was to master the damn basic grade of energy.

Kyon took a deep breath. He was dying of thirst. And he needed to take a bath. Fortunately, he was not locked, unlike the last time. His memory helpfully planted the picture of a fancy gate leading to the hot springs. He had no intention to risk his life and go to the mansion to quench his thirst. The spring was a more reliable option. Besides, who could possibly be there at such a late hour? Anyway, he needed only a couple of minutes, no more. As far as he knew, no one went to the park after 11 pm. The maids usually slept as well as Juno, and he had never seen a patrol security guard.

Kyon stealthily approached the long-awaited hot water spring. He carefully peered through the crack in the gate into the darkness. It was long past midnight. But a bit of caution is never superfluous.

A minute of observation later, he fearlessly penetrated inside, hastily threw off his dirty clothes and plunged naked into the relaxing hot water of the spring. He had never experienced such bliss.

However, his joy was too short. The water splashed, and Juno herself emerged from the bottom of the spring.

The time seemed to freeze.

The poetry in motion appeared before Kyon in the clouds of steam. The milky-white delicate skin seemed to glow in the dark, a slender flexible waist, a thin graceful neck, neat little mounds partially hidden by sticky wet curls... The goddess of beauty and youth herself had descended from heaven to splash in the hot spring. An unopened bud, the most beautiful flower ever seen in the sublunary sphere, the idea of the most daring men's fantasies... Jean’s perversion no longer seemed so abnormal. No one could resist the charm of that angel, albeit a very fallen one.

In one second, a whole hurricane of thoughts had passed through Kyon’s head. He plunged gently and silently underwater praying to God that Juno would not notice him.

He might have enough oxygen in his lungs for some minutes... He had to escape as soon as possible, anyway. His heart was pounding against the chest like mad striving to jump out. The boy was even afraid that Juno could hear it rumbling in the silence of the smooth water.

What a terrible set of circumstances. Why was she not sleeping at that late hour? Why was she under the water for a whole minute? Damnit!

The girl flashed her charms to the night around her and dived back. She enjoyed a night bath in the hot spring when her skin was caressed by water and moonlight. She became one with the universe. The line between the earth and the sky disappeared. No one else existed, only she, the night, and the stars, the stars everywhere... She was alone in the whole world.

Kyon seized the moment. He got out of the water quickly and quietly, grabbed his clothes, and flashed a clean pair of heels running off at full speed.

Juno sensed some strange vibration. She opened her eyes under the water and noticed with her side sight a figure dashing away! She emerged instantly and detected someone's bare ass rushing off.

Her temples were pounding from boiling rage for a second of stupor. It was the slave! Still alive!

«I order you to freeze immediately!» - The girl growled as quietly as possible. Truth be told, she didn’t want to draw the attention of her maids or guards to this embarrassing situation. There was nobody else in the mansion.

Kyon paused and turned around. He saw the virgin-naked miracle shining in droplets of water. She was so pure, innocent, beautiful and at the same time cruel and bloodthirsty.

Juno walked slowly out of the water with a regal gait. She was seething with anger but on the outside, she was calm and nonchalant. She couldn’t care less about the hungry look of the dead-to-be boy.

The girl slowly put on her white panties, wrapped her elegant, slim body in a towel and went to the slave with bad intentions.

The boy remembered the time when she fell on him and then made him guilty for that. She ordered him to knock out his own teeth. And now he was looking at her naked body, which was at least a hundred times worse. What were his chances of surviving? He didn’t stand a chance... She was going to kill him!

His mind worked at 120%. Kyon didn’t have too many options that could give him hope for survival. The options like fighting back won’t fly. Even if he succeeded in overcoming her by some miracle what's next? It would be the end of him. She would press on her formation and they would come after him. To kill her? It would make things even worse. Much more pleasant but worse.

It was completely stupid and meaningless to prove his value to her.

His last option was to give that selfish, malicious, vile sadist what her nature wanted. The last training with Jean was an eye opener. The girl humiliated her own master. She wanted to see people suffer. And not only physically but morally as well. Following that reasoning, there was a minimal, almost illusory chance of surviving if only he took advantage of her weakness.

If Kyon could convince the little demon that she could benefit from his existence that is, get pleasure, his trick could work. Especially, if she wanted him to suffer for many days.

He didn’t want to die. He had to grasp at any chance. Kyon meekly raised his arms (in an unarmed gesture) and bowed. He babbled in a trembling voice:

«Madam your highness, your humble servant had a misfortune to be at the hot spring at the same time as you. Do not have hard feelings for the stupid loser. I did a terrible thing but, please, spare my life! I will do everything to earn your forgiveness... I am sure that sooner or later, you will forgive me. Give me a chance! Please…» - Kyon was willing to pretend as long as could be. He needed only a couple of days to master the basic grade of energy. Then his chances to save himself will significantly raise. If, of course, she fell for his trick.

Juno's bloodthirst burning in her beautiful bright eyes followed by a stupor. She opened her mouth but could not say a thing. She did not expect any words from that slave... Especially like those. His posture was so humble as if he was ready to accept any of her orders. To live or to die. Was he hoping for her forgiveness?

After a moment's pause, Juno spoke in an angelic voice:

«Lousy slave, you have soiled my beautiful body with your filthy eyes. You deserve hundreds of executions and countless years of torture. However, I am not the kind of lady who deprives her subordinates of a chance of forgiveness...» - Kyon looked up full of hope. Did his words really work?! - «That’s why I’ll let you redeem your guilt during next week.» - Juno finished with a regal look.

He had never experienced such relief. It was hard to tell what she was hiding behind her words. It was more than obvious that she was getting back at him. The damn sadist was going to rejoice in beating him up! The young lady wasn’t that terrible, after all. She was giving him hope!

In the meantime, he would definitely come up with something. He would have more options! Kyon was enjoying the hell out of that. He still had a chance to get out.

Juno saw the expression of relief and even happiness on the slave’s face. She smiled warmly and at once took a long stick out of nowhere and whacked it right onto his head.

The impact of her blow was lessened by his hand, and yet, he could hear his bones crack. He struggled to stay on his feet, shocked by her sudden attack.

Juno giggled enchantingly, her eyes squinting, her thin eyebrows arched. - «A stupid creature is so easy to fool... Did you really believe that you can stay alive after what you’ve seen? Today you will die a horrible death, slave. Face it.» - Her voice was gentle and tender.

«You… You’re a cruel, loathsome bitch…» - Kyon had felt so distinct hatred for a living being for the first time in his life. One look at her sent shivers down his spine, his heart drumming in his chest so hard it ached. His hands kept clenching into fists. Her charming appearance completely contradicted her inner world. He wanted to snap her neck at any cost!

Juno had shattered his expectations. He thought he had a chance, a puny chance. She had deceived him to see his rise and fall. So mean of her.

She noticed the whole range of emotions on his face and could hardly restrain herself. She wanted to whoop and holler. She’d never felt so thrilled. It was a heavenly delight to watch the scum despair. It was time to finish the show... She attacked with the stick.

«You will die with me, ugly bitch,!» - Kyon snarled and violently grabbed the stick in flight trying to pull it out from her hands when a powerful blow landed on him. He felt pain all over his body. Everything went dark. When it cleared up he missed a fatal blow to his thigh and lost his balance.

«Die, you fool.» - The girl said laughing and proceeded to murder him.

She bludgeoned him on his head with the stick. Kyon desperately tried to protect himself with hands. The bones crumbled into dust under her fierce blows. A hellish pain eclipsed his mind with a bright flash... Blissful darkness fell in.

Juno mercilessly belabored the boy on all sides - his stomach, ribs, legs, back... She was incredibly pleased to break off the life of scum like him on a warm note. He dared to tarnish her beautiful body with his eyes but his death would make her crystal clear.

She didn't like him from the start. He stared at her brazenly at their first meeting. He did not scream in pain later. He did not yell when she kicked him with her feet. Something was wrong about him. He refused to die. Well, that was something she was going to fix.

She beat him with the stick for five minutes, enough time to beat him to the pulp. He kept groaning and breathed hoarsely. Amazingly but he still showed signs of life. She took her time.

Juno took a more comfortable hold of the stick and began to batter his chest like a woodpecker as if trying to make a hole in it. Bump, bump, bump... The ribs broke through, the sternum turned into a total mash of meat and small fragments, the lungs gurgled suspiciously... The wood stick was soaked through with his blood. The boy was no longer breathing.

His body went limp, his hands and feet spread unnaturally over the crimson earth like he was a broken rag doll, mutilated and thrown away by a cruel child.

Only then Juno finally stopped. Her chest was heaving. Fever and ecstasy, at the level of filthy lust, were boiling inside her. She deprived the boy of his life as if he was a miserable bug crawling onto the toe of her shoes. He lived like no one and died like no one. In the morning he’d be thrown into a cesspool without any questions and she would forget everything about him. She would never let any thoughts creep into her pretty head. She would never remember the boy who dared to look at her with his shameless eyes.

She felt the long-awaited satisfaction. Then she hid the stick, returned to the spring to wash off the sweat and splashes of dirty stinky blood. She carelessly wiped herself with a towel and hopped to the mansion whistling merrily. It was time for her to go to bed. Great things were yet to come. The path of becoming strong is always thorny and difficult and her goal — to bring her hated sister down — was worth all the effort.

The moon looked with a pity on the pile of meat and bones that was once a living person. Its cold cadent light illuminated the twisted limbs, the broken head, the chest in the deep dents… No matter who he was, even a three-time former emperor, he got into a situation where he had no control and now he was just a handful of half-dead meat.

{I did everything possible to survive in this damned mansion... And still, I am going to die!?} - His voice sounded in the depths of consciousness. - {No way!}

Suddenly, the heap of meat startled and shuddered in convulsions. Blood spurted out of his lungs. He signed convulsively and his body exploded from burning and piercing every cell pain.