The guards weren't breaking it up without an order from the Emperor or Empress. This slipper beating was clearly a family matter and no lethal force was at play. It was an embarrassment of the Emperor for sure, but he had it coming. The former Empress was not known for random acts, and there was a clear paper trail that showed she had done some digging into the latest additions to the royal family.
The current Empress got wind of the situation and yelled at her mother in law, who quickly declared the reasons for the disciplinary action. The current Empress pulled a one hundred eighty degree shift, snatching the slipper away and began beating the Emperor. Karcosin realized what was up when his mother said it, and deemed that he was in deep shit. The guards didn't want to, but they intervened at the gesture from the Emperor.
The intervention was not appreciated by the ladies, and Karcosin slept in a guest room for a week. Gamgam took Nihil home with her and he met his grandfather for the first time ever. The old Emperor retiree was grumpy, even on a good day. While he was grumpy and strict about his rules, Karjarzen was a good person. Karcosin was also a good person, so long as you weren't Costan.
Nihil got used to being called Nihil instead of Costan, it took a while. He managed to talk normally at only a year old and everything got rolling from there. Nobody from the palace bothered him, despite the hoopla about the genetic results. Nobody bothered really looking at his genetics the last time in that life. They were shocked at his prehistoric DNA that was believed long lost to the species.
Without Costan's perpetual invention and refinement of tech, the Nekogians were stuck in an eighties Earth tech level. Take the fax machines, limited computer usage and limited space stuff and add on overpopulation and a mostly unified people and you got the picture. They had their high points though, like almost complete genomic decryption and almost light speed ship (singular) that had been on track to KR-9 for five generations and would land in about another year.
Nihil had gotten his careers going by the age of one. His grandparents were amazed and skeptical, but let it be after going over the models and projections. Everything was scheduled to go from red to grey within three quarters and on into the green within two years, a phenomenal feat for any business. Everything about the businesses was set, calculated, scheduled and otherwise accounted and predicted to the degree that only purposeful sabotage could cause meaningful setbacks.
Sabotage did not happen, with most of the companies getting into the green and paying dividends within the year. This allowed for further business ventures and Nihil being the youngest successful entrepreneur, having cornered or fully taken many markets by the age of six. This led to many long conversations about what school he should go to, or if he already knew it all, between his grandparents and parents, even the media was involving themselves in the educational debate.
Nihil hated it and wanted them all to mind their own business. He went so far as to create a record label and a publisher where he released wonderful works such as the book 101 Ways to Mind Your Own Damned Business and many other things of similar themes. The book was so so, but the music album Nonya Buinis was top of the charts for three years. He was not just rich, he was wealthy.
He went on to publish many books, many of which were educational texts and nonfiction, but he slipped in the occasional "fictional" work. Many times those fictional pieces were just his past lives that were too out there to be believed as real. He also recreated many of the songs, movies, video games, and media that he enjoyed. The entertainment industry was by far his biggest earner, despite his other businesses doing so well.
The entertainment slowed down a lot after they made Nihil go to school. His grandparents came up with the worst plan, sending him off to the same frozen hell hole he was forced to attend last time. The military academy didn't normally take kindergarten aged kids, but he'd already aced the advancement tests for K to 20 and some college courses were based on his nonfiction text books. Yes, the person leading the world in physics, technology, chemistry, entertainment, manufacturing and medicine "still needs to go to school".
Nihil had just turned eight when he was shipped off to the Northern Wastes Military Academy. Yes, eight is Nekogian kindergarten age, they normally go to school until twenty eight, and aren't considered adults until like thirty to thirty two, depending on maturity testing. The bastards put him in with the trouble makers, criminals, and flunkies with the misguided hopes of getting him to wash out or something.
The higher ups didn't expect Nihil to take it on the chin and be unaffected. He acted like an old Sergeant that chose to get out and re-enlist rather than being promoted. The bastard in charge of his bunkhouse put him on fire watch every night, but it just made Nihil shaft him every time code was bent, even in the slightest. If it wasn't exactly to military code, the Drill ended up in the Commander's office, which was every single day.
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The Commander eventually had enough and started rejecting the forms. Where was a recruit cadet finding the time for that anyway, or even getting the forms? The school was operated seven-eighths of the year and the bunkhouse drills only lasted half of that. The Commander flunked Nihil for being a nuisance and made him repeat the bunkhouse.
Then the supplies were cut off. One of Nihil's letters home was an order to put all military contracts on hold until full compliance with Military Law was proven by all components of the military, including academies. The semester continued on like nothing happened, with Nihil still receiving no sleep. Then the rationing started, but the drills never let up, even after they hit half rations. Nihil had top marks again, but they planned to recycle him again, even playing a prank to delay sending him home from a another month.
It was all on the books. Those very books would be the reason for a full closure of the academy until all new staff could be found. That "little prank" turned into a big ugly problem when a storm rolled up and set in for the long haul. It was close to the time when the last of the instructors were to leave, but the winter storm was too bad and nobody could get there to extract them. Normally, it would have been fully shut down and evacuated two weeks before, but the two Drill Instructors were going to ride it out with Nihil and almost no supplies.
They realized that PT was officially a no go after they dropped to quarter rations. PT was supposed to be postponed at anything less than a full ration by law, but it's obvious that they weren't too big on code compliance. It was a few months before anyone showed up.
The Drill Instructors were quite thin and Nihil was somehow fine, if sleep still majorly deprived. He had snuck out many times during the long dark and ate from his secret extradimensional snack space. To cover it up, he took extra long one time so that the Drills would definitely notice and probably come looking.
It worked, and his story stood up to all scrutiny, mostly because most of it was true. The Drills were freezing their asses off yelling for Recruit Nihil about two clicks from the bunkhouse when he responded. He was dragging a travois loaded with Arctic bear meat, a bear pelt, and foraged edibles. The one bastard still hadn't noticed his knife was missing.
The story was that he "strategically transferred equipment to an alternate location." Then "used said equipment to go foraging for edible plants, animals, or otherwise; where he encountered an Arctic bear, was pursued by said bear, fought and killed said bear, and finally found edible forage due to bear blood melting the ice and revealing them." He then "processed the carcass of the bear and fashioned a travois from from its bones and intestines." The Commander, back after the long dark, was incredulous at the debrief.
They had a month of full ration off that one unauthorized foray into the frozen wasteland. The Drills were salty as could be about it, but weren't going to actively try to discipline Nihil until they had more than five people to back them up. Nobody wants to go close quarters with someone that stole a soldier's knife and snuck out without notice only to go kill the most dangerous predator known to still walk the planet.
The big return was interesting, lots of fuss over having built a stone fireplace in the bunkhouse. There was also the lengthy debrief involving multiple higher ups, including a Colonel. Then an audit happened and Nihil got to go his unwashed and sleep deprived ass home.
Nothing like a higher ranking Colonel showing up and re-educate about the law due to "some uppity brat holding contracts", only to find major violations of Military Law in the treatment of said uppity brat. Strong words were had, and at length.
"That little fucker has been awake almost a whole year and you shit for brains made him recycle bunkhouse because he made you look bad? Well it really gods damned bad! Not just on you, but the entire Empire. We might as well kiss those contracts farewell and none of you will be here tomorrow. You're all done! Finished, this was too big of a fuck up you morons. He is the reason why everyone here's getting replaced instead of executed. Three people almost died here during the dark, one was Prince Nihil. He killed a bear with a knife while starving and sleep deprived on top of having top marks! The fuck do you think you have to teach him?" This was only part of it.
Gramps and Gamgam were pissed at how their grandson came back months late, missing weight, reeking to high heaven, and not having slept in a year. The Emperor got an earful. Then he got more of an earful once Nihil had been bathed, fed, and got enough sleep to function. New regulations were shoved down the military's throat, mostly about regulatory checks to ensure compliance with the laws, all of which exist for good reasons.
They were considering a nice private school after the incidents with the military academy, but a closer and in depth look revealed a bullying issue. Every school had some sort of malfunction that Gamgam and Gramps knew wouldn't fly with Nihil. Kid survived all of that, he probably had no tolerance left for bullshit; they were right on that assumption. It was confirmed when they got a call from the very posh private school.
Some older kids thought that Nihil would put up with them. He put them all in the emergency room. The Headmaster was livid, Nihil was in jail, and Karcosin showed up. It was a shit show. It was particularly interesting when the Headmaster pulled the video from the hallway as "proof oh Nihil's feral, wanton violence". It showed them surround Nihil and eventually pull out knives and get their asses handed to them. Literally handed to them in one case.
The charges were heard by five different judges on five different days, and they were written off as a self defense scenario, often with comments about trying the kid that takes on bears. Nihil was in jail the whole time, but everyone was cool with him. He always had snacks and drinks, often giving the guards a beer each. There were definitely laws being broken, but Nihil hadn't a further fucks to give.