Wow, I don't have much stuff—my closet is practically bare. That's how it should be, really; I don't like all the trendy clothes. My mom always complained to my dad that getting me to the store to buy new clothes was a real hassle. But I still thought I had more than I needed.
When I was taking a bath after a long journey, the clock already showed half past eleven, and it started to rain outside.
Hah! These are the first joys of living on my own—at home, they'd start putting me to bed at ten o'clock, but here I can go to bed whenever I want. Beautiful!
Dorian and I usually said goodnight to each other before bed, but today I can't even remember whether we did. I was so tired that as soon as my head hit the soft pillow, I passed out.
I was awakened by an unusual sound—a knock on the door. The knocking had been going on persistently, apparently for a long time.
I threw a blanket over my shoulders, put on my slippers, shuffled to the door, and asked:
"Who's there?"
"Emperor Romanov," someone's rough voice answered from behind the door.
"Who?!"
"Go ahead and open up, the Director sent me."
I opened the door and saw a plump guy of about sixteen, at least three heads taller than me. He was wearing a dark suit with a flame emblem and the number "3" embroidered on the left side. He looked me up and down and snorted dismissively.
"Look... You really are only twelve, I'll be... And I thought Ivan Fyodorovich was joking. Now that's something," he continued to look at me for a moment as if I were a rare animal, and then asked, "Are you Maxim Temnikov?"
"I am."
"Are you really twelve?" he asked.
"In a few months, it will be thirteen, if anything."
"It's funny... The kids told me this morning that they brought the little one to school yesterday, then the principal did the same thing this morning, but I still didn't believe them. Now I see it for myself," the boy shook his head. "Isn't it too early for you to go to Kitezh, kid? You need to use your head here, not just cry loudly all day long. And it would be nice to have some kind of Gift..."
"Yes, I guess," I answered and yawned. "Why did you come?"
"I'm going to wake you up and tell you that we usually have breakfast here at eight in the morning, okay? So come on, kid, wake up and head up to the main building, to the fifth floor—that's where the cafeteria is," he chuckled. "We live here without any mommies, so no one's taking you to the tables, okay? If you're late, you'll go without food."
"Okay, thank you."
"You're welcome," he said, walking down the corridor, commenting on what he'd seen. "Twelve years... Holy shit... Everyone's going to pee their pants laughing!"
I closed the door, threw the blanket on the bed and stretched: I had slept well.
"Listen, Max, I don't like this fatso. Would you like to rip his right ear off if you get the chance?"Dorian asked me.
"Let him live for now. He hasn't spoken into the severed ear yet," I replied, looking out the window.
By the way, I didn't live very high up—on the second floor—but the view from my room was amazing!
I like that kind of thing. It might have been an inner courtyard, but at least it was a park or something like that. I don't know how things are laid out here yet.
Anyway, the trees were very dense, and I love having lots of greenery under my windows. And I noticed paths between the trees, so it was probably a park.
The rain had long since stopped and the sun was shining brightly through the window.
So, it was sunrise on my side, and then the sun would set. That's fine; I can't stand it when the sun is blazing through the window all day. It's so much better when everything is a little bit of a good thing.
The clock on my phone showed 7:15, so I had plenty of time to do everything. I managed not only to get myself ready but also to leave early.
I really wanted to get to the dining room before everyone else arrived. If that chubby guy had been staring at me like I was a two-headed dwarf for three minutes, then I really didn't want to be the last one to arrive for breakfast and make a scene out of it.
However, everything did not go according to plan.
I arrived at the main building at a quarter to eight, as planned, but there was no dining hall on the fifth floor.
And there wasn't even a fifth floor, unless you count the attic.
It ended with some guy catching me and asking me a bunch of questions. Like, whose son am I, and why am I wandering around school without my parents? I spent a long time explaining that I was a student at Maxim Temnikov's school, and he just laughed in response.
Oh, how he got on my nerves! Any more and I'd have to resort to extreme measures. Dorian also told me it was time. But this time he was lucky.
We met the school principal, who resolved the situation in an instant.
"What happened, Yegor Nikitich?" Orlov asked, looking at us with a smile.
"Well, Your Excellency, I spotted a boy in the halls. He's wandering aimlessly around the building, saying he's looking for the cafeteria." At that moment, the man squeezed my shoulder because I wanted to break free. "And he's lying, too! He says he's a Kitezh student, Viscount Maxim Temnikov... I think he's someone's son, just afraid his parents will give him a hard time for hanging around…"
"Release the boy immediately," the Director said sternly.
"I'm sorry?"
"Did you hear me?"
The man loosened his grip, and I immediately broke free from his clutches.
"Mr. Director, I just... Do you know who this is?"
"Of course," he nodded. "The boy himself told you who he is. His name is Maxim Temnikov, and as of yesterday, he is indeed a student at our school. So please remember him, Yegor Nikitich."