"Lick it!" Ilay ordered the female at his feet.

"Hmph! You really overestima-" She began rising but was slammed down by Ilay's ruthless slap.
The action aroused a wave of gasps, sending fear into the hearts of the students watching.

Diana cleared her white hair from her eyes and scowled up at Ilay in disbelief with a hand on her flaming cheek. She had never been slapped this hard before all her life. Never been humiliated like this.
"I'm going to call my dad and have him kill you!" she yelled with tears of humiliation filling her eyes.

Kally, who stood a distance from them, smiled, feeling satisfied by the psycho look eating away at Ilay's face. She couldn't help but feel herself stir whenever she saw this beastly side of him.

"All the phones, OFF!" Ilay boomed casting his deathly glare at every part of the hall where the students were occupying. "NOW!"

The Dean jumped, hurrying to carry out his orders by convincing the students to do as instructed. Some tried to protest while others wanted to run off. But all entrances had been blocked by men and women in neat uniforms whose faces bled of death if crossed.
Only the few students who hadn't been in the hall were lucky from the horrors unfolding. But they were not allowed to roam about freely and cause trouble for the next Czar.

As a thick blanket of fear covered them, Ilay remained unbothered by it; his focus was now on Diana, who had disobeyed him.

"Dimitri, how do we punish people like Diana?"

The Dean, hesitant, answered, "C-cutting off three fingers."

More gasps arouse.
The females tried suppressing them by covering their mouths, afraid of drawing Ilay's attention to themselves in such a terrible situation.

"Lick the fucking mess or lose three of your fingers, Diana. Be quick while I'm being generous."

"No! Who the hell are you to order me around?"

Feeling his irritation was rising above the normal limits, Ilay squatted with his right hand grabbing her hair to force her to look at him. "You've been parading yourself as my fiancee. Can you not recognize me? Paul will be so disappointed to learn that the daughter he sent here as a peace offering was ruining the last hope of reconciling with Drakon," Ilay reminded in a calm yet threatening voice that left its impact on Diana.
Nobody knew her real reason for joining Drakon Academy or why her father wanted her to marry Drakon's heir.

She began questioning Ilay's identity for this arrangement was known to only the Volkovs and the Petrovs.

With the same intimidating flickers in his blue eyes, Ilay softened his expression to a smile as his finger lifted Diana's chin. "I was considering introducing you to my younger brother. But seeing how disrespectful you've been, I might do away with you this early if you can't be of any use to me."

Diana's eyelids stretched as her brain processed Ilay's words.
If he was indeed a Volkov and the heir, then did it mean that she had sabotaged her family's relationship with Drakon by herself? Would her father let it go easily? No. She would be subjected to hellish torture before being disowned and sent overseas, banned from ever entering the country again. She would be left penniless, homeless, and almost lifeless.

Before she came to a firm decision, the Dean fell on his knees behind her, further shocking the students and professors alike.
The tension now gripping the air had intensified more than anticipated.
Who had imagined that something as simple as a kiss would end up bringing about such a complicated mess?

"I know I have no more merits to trade for my request. I can only offer my hand in exchange for hers. Please spare her, Tsarevitch," he pleaded, bowing his head in full respect.
His protectiveness over his students moved something in Ilay that wasn't warm.

He rose.
"You, of all the people in this damned hall, should know that things don't work like that out there. Are you raising pussies who can't handle the consequences of their words or actions? Will you give away a part of your body for every student under you? The ln what? Do you think they will learn anything when you have sacrificed your body for their sins? Such stupid thoughts are not needed in Drakon, Dimitri!" Ilay spat harshly, scolding the Dean like a child even though he was younger than him.

His sore eyes tuned to the students staring in disbelief.
"Why are you here?" he questioned. "Why are you in this fucking academy? Answer me!"

None dared to speak up for fear of losing their tongue or another part of their body.
But from their trembling bodies emerged a teenager with determination in his brown eyes and hope on his face.
"To join Drakon and serve the incoming Czar!" he half yelled in a firm Russian-accented voice that left his peers stunned.

"Good," Ilay praised with a tinge of pride. "What's your name?"

"Mikhail Vladimirovich Ivanov," he answered.

"Come here, Mikhail."
Kally noticed the difference between the way Ilay said his name and how the owner had pronounced it. She wanted to laugh it out but held it in and bottled it to maintain the tense atmosphere brought by Ilay.

Mikhail obeyed, showing no fear even though he was experiencing some when he realized that the professor the whole school had been talking about might be the Tsarevitch.

"Do you want power?"

Confused but hiding it, Mikhail answered, "Y...yes!"

"Then I shall give it to you."
He looked down at Diana. Her expression was one of sheer indecision. "Do you think women should punished differently?"

A test.

Mikhail frowned. Drakon's teaching did indeed say they a woman should not receive the same punishment as a man. But facing Ilay's dense gaze, he began questioning everything he had studied.
This question rang through Kally's mind, making her sink deep in thoughts.
If women's punishment was lighter just because they were women, then they would commit more crimes knowing that they would face light consequences.

"No!" Mikhail answered after half a minute. "Whether man or woman, they should be punished according to the gravity of their mistakes. Being lenient with women is the reason many past Czars had more betrayers. I believe that both genders should be treated equally just like how they can now serve different ranks in the organization."

His answer brought a satisfied smile to Ilay.
"Good boy."

He eyed Kally for a brief second, teaching her how things are handled without the need for bloodshed.
"So, Diana. What is your-"

"I'll do it!" she squeaked, rushing her face to his shoes while still on her knees. "I'll stay away from you, I swear. Please don't cut any part of me."
She ran her tongue over Ilay's shoes licking her bloody spit that had started drying up.

Other than wanting to keep her body whole, she did not want to be the reason her family fell out of favor with Drakon. Without them, she was nothing but a model with only her body to give.
She shed tears of embarrassment and humiliation as she licked clean Ilay's shoes, taking in dirt. Diana had shed her pride to beg for her life and her family by demeaning herself in front of four hundred students.

When she was done, she looked up at Ilay, her mascara running along with her tears. "All done. It's clea-"

Ilay pulled his leg from her grip, ignored her, and turned to Mikhail. "From today, you'll oversee the academy and report to me if anything is out of place. It doesn't matter whether you fail or pass your graduation."
His eyes fell on the Dean. "As for you, your punishment is two months of self-reflection away from the school."

"Thank you, Tsarevitch."

Finally, the female professor who had sided with Diana. "Get your ass out of this academy before I break both of your legs."

She finally breathed again. Her heart had been racing, wondering what kind of punishment she would receive from the notorious heir. A dismissal was a light slap on her back.

"One more thing." Ilay opened his palm at Kally.
She smiled taking his invitation. "This is my wife and the future Czarina. There's only one Czarina."
Forgetting not about Dario, he also extended a hand at him.

Dario got up and came to stand next to the two. "This is also our partner. He will hold the same power as my wife. If any of you dares to mess with them..." He grinned at the confused eyes with a vicious aura, "Consider yourself dead in the most painful way possible."

He was not speaking to them, rather, it was a message he was conveying to their families through them.