Chapter 6: Highcrest University
The moment that the Vicious dream bubble thread popped and connected the twins, the car slowly entered the Highcrest district.
The Highcrest district is one of the three biggest districts in the Prime capital city, alongside Imperial Apex and the Echelon gardens.
They are commonly known as Highcrest of East, Apex of North and Echelon of South, based on their locations. The west area is a residential zone, wherein residential buildings, apartments, villas, and parks were built by different real estate giants, according to the city plan decided by the Neutral Governing Assembly from the suggestions of the three founding clans of the empire.
The three founding clans are the Valentine Family that manages the economy of the empire, the Lovellan Family in charge of the diplomatic state of the empire, and the Riagar Family in charge of the empire's military. Every suggestion and decision of the big three would be under the evaluation of the Neutral Governing Assembly before it can be passed.
And aside from the big three, there is also the National Defense Ministry, an organization catering to the safety of the citizens, and only hiring clean citizens with no affiliation to the three families. They must have trained in the National Defense Academy for six year or passed the one-month recruitment test overseen by a major general that were said to be life-threatening.
Remembering the ladder of power of the Valoria Empire, an empire without a ruling emperor, Lucian did not notice that he was dazing off, and that he has been staring too long at the rearview mirror.
"What are you looking at?" Sevena's eyes glinted ominously as she stared back at Lucian through the mirror.
Six raised his head from browsing his holoring, eyebrows raised at the confrontation between his twin and the idiot.
Lucian's eyes gathered clarity, his lips curled in a restrained manner as he scratched the back of his head, lowering it slightly in an apologetic gesture.
"Sorry elder sister, I was dazing off and I did not know that I was staring in your direction."
Sevena did not buy Lucian's excuse. Although he did look like he was in a trance, Lucian's stare still unnerved her. She could not explain it herself, but she felt a nagging feeling that something is wrong.
Six instantly felt disinterested at the two. His eyes lowered back down to look at the private hologram depicted by his holoring.
Sevena felt the need to question Lucian once more, but the car suddenly came to a halt which jolted all of them to look out of the window.
On their right, a tall and imposing silver gate stood with an ark at the top inscribed with the Highcrest mark.
Cars going inside the university needs to be scanned if they are registered in the system, and unregistered cars would need to get a day-pass from the security detail situated next to the entrance.
The twins were also students of Highcrest, and the car that they are riding is a registered car, but they would not go out their way to accompany Lucian inside the university, and the bodyguard driving them, was also aware of the personality of his young master and young miss, leading to his decision of stopping the car outside the gate.
Sevena clicked her tongue and looked back at Lucian with a frigid gaze.
"We're here. Go and tour to your heart's content." Mockery and disdain dripped from her words.
Her eyes barely stayed on Lucian for a few seconds before moving away. She did not want to continue staring at such an idiot, lest she catch his stupidity. The earlier suspicion was also thrown to the back of her head, remembering how dumb Lucian was.
The bodyguard conscientiously opened the door on Lucian's side with a click. The hidden words could not be any more obvious. The only thing missing was for them to shout 'scram' at his face.
Lucian smiled gently, not taking any offense, as if doting on his elder sister, though in reality, he really couldn't even be bothered to care. His mind has already drifted past the gates of the university.
He was too preoccupied to recall earlier, but now that he was in front of Highcrest, he remembered his first meeting with his second elder brother and elder sister, and it was purely coincidental. This arrangement also happened in his first life, and the twins acted just the same way.
He was left alone to tour around the university and happened to meet his second brother Mikhail and elder sister Mishya due to a small accident.
'I can't wait to see brother Mikhail and sister Mishya.'
Taking a deep breath, Lucian raised his legs, heading to the side door of the gate, where students and visitors can enter. Students can easily enter after the first silver metallic threshold scans their student pass on their holorings.
A yellow warning sign would flash inside security room the moment someone without a student or a visitor pass crosses the threshold, and the second threshold would emerge from the ground and raise a second door to stop any outsiders.
When Lucian crossed the first threshold, it instantly triggered the second threshold to rise.
A security guard wearing a black uniform embellished with silver lines on the collar, cuffs and pockets walked out of the security room next to the gate.
"A visitor without a pass needs to undergo an inspection before setting foot inside the university ground." The gruff voice of the guard and his sharp-piercing look could scare most, but Lucian is not an ordinary young adult.
He merely smiled politely before tapping on his holoring to show a hologram to the guard.
"No, I am an incoming student. I just want to get familiar with the university grounds before the start of the semester."
Without a student pass on his holoring, Lucian could only show an electronic copy of his admission letter that was sent to him by Madam Seles, knowing that he will need a proof of affiliation to the university to avoid the arduous rounds of inspection encountered by normal visitors.
With her plan in motion once Lucian enters Highcrest, Madam Seles is highly efficient in acting out her motherly responsibilities.
Lucian could read what's in Madam Seles' mind, and even if he was already sick to his stomach while interacting with the Valemonts, he understands that he couldn't recklessly escape away from their clutches.
The repercussions might not affect him, but once those lunatics snapped a thread in their heads from overstimulation, they might become even crazier, who knows what they will do, as they might even throw caution to the wind and target his siblings.
He would not live this new life with the repetition of the deaths that happened in his first life. No life of his family will be harmed on his watch this time.
The guard grunted and took out a smooth black circle the size of half his palm. He placed it in front of the seal of Highcrest shown on the admission letter. It took barely ten seconds for a beep and a green light to glow on it, letting the guard relax and gesturing for Lucian to enter.
The guards inside the security room could see everything from the monitoring feeds, and the moment they got the green light from the seal scanner, they allowed the second threshold to give way.
"Thank you." Lucian nodded to the guard, and his polite manner softened the battle-hardened expression on the guard's face.
'I did not notice it in my first life, but Highcrest is really a noble institution. Even the guards at the gate are at the cream of the crop and seems to have blood on their hands.'
A wide expanse of green land acting as backdrop to the ancient-style castle-like building in front, greeted Lucian's eyes. Open-air pavilions were a dime a dozen nested next to the enormous magnolia and oak trees on the east and west paths, providing both refreshing shade and nature's beauty.
A row of tall ancient buildings was situated at the southeastern end of the university, and if he remembers it correctly, that is the dormitory buildings of the students.
The crest building, which is the castle-like building in front of him with a total of 12 floors and covers an area of over 5000 square meters is the main university building that houses all the lecture halls in the entire Highcrest. On the right of the main building are the soccer field, baseball field and tennis courts and on the left is the auditorium, indoor gyms and university club rooms.
A faculty building and a library stands behind the crest building, and a small forest with a clear lake could be seen further back, which is also part of Highcrest's territory.
Lucian absentmindedly gazed at the surroundings, his steps familiarly led him to take the exact steps and path he took in his first life, that path that would lead him to his siblings, his real and blood-connected siblings.
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In the small forest at the edge of Highcrest university's territory, Mishya Crownwald felt irritation well up as she stared at the group of three junior students in front of her.
She was just taking a stroll around to look for inspiration for her painting when the three young men blocked her way. As a sophomore student with outstanding looks and a noble family background, there had been similar instances of being blocked by those of the higher years, but those men will not dare to stop her if she wants to leave.
This was the first time that she was forcefully stopped when she tried to leave after rejecting a dinner invitation.
"I already told you that I don't have any intention to go to dinner with you, so can you let me pass? I have better things to do." Mishya was usually polite and well-mannered, but the men in front of her was clearly not on her list of kindred spirits.
"Do you really think we will all hold you in a pedestal just because you're a Crownwald? How dare you reject my, Wale Halacre's invitation?"
The blonde man at the center of the group had an ugly look on his face at hearing the rejection from Mishya, that he couldn't reign in his temper. He is also a descendant of one of the six aristocrat families at the top of high society, and although his Halacre family is the sixth seat and he is just a branch descendant, he doesn't think that he is lower in standing than Mishya.
Mishya is just a girl, and she would just be used for marriage arrangements, so why does he need to look too highly upon such a dispensable identity? She might be a Crownwald, but in the Halacre family, girls were nothing but a bunch of accessories, and he thinks that it is the same for the other aristocratic families.
Mishya saw the terrible expression of the man with veins popping up from his neck, but she did not panic. The moment she noticed the three men trying to block her way, she clasped her hands behind her back as she calmly tapped her holoring on its emergency notch. It will send a location to the emergency contacts that she saved inside.
Her second brother Mikhail should be nestled in one of the private rooms in the library building, and it will probably take ten minutes for him to arrive. Now, Mishya just needs to waste the time of the three in front before her brother arrives.
"You're just a bitch! Do you really think the Crownwalds will face against the Halacre just for a girl like you?" Wale could not stand the rejection clearly written on Mishya's face.
He suddenly approached her and raised his hand.
He has already lost most of his reason and just sees Mishya the same as those girls that dared to reject him.
Beating those insolent girls has always worked wonders to get his way with them.
The two lackeys behind Wale, felt their hearts shudder at his sudden action. They were stupefied, and frozen on their place, and it was too late for them to stop Wale when they came back to their senses.
They were just from some small wealthy families, and they know what will happen to them once Mishya Crownwald goes home with a swollen handprint on her face.
'We're doomed.'
'We are definitely doomed!'
The two men could only close their eyes from fright.