“Ma! Ma! Whews bwother, Ma?”

Kriza Regalia turned around only to see her youngest child still clad in her pink pajamas while hugging a plush pillow. Hiding the worry on her face, she scooped Shiela into a hug. “Brother Cielo is out to meet your father.”

Shiela’s eyes sparkled at the mention of her father. “Papa? Will Papa see Shiela?”

Biting the insides of her cheeks, Kriza changed the topic. “Why don’t you let Mama cook your favorite food, hmm? Does my little angel want that, hmm?” Tickling her by repeatedly kissing her chubby cheeks, Kriza successfully averted Shiela’s question.

“Yes!”

“Alright, let’s go.”

A servant rushed in. Her wrinkled forehead was sweating as her eyes looked elsewhere but Kriza. “M-Madam, you have a visitor.”

“Lead the way.” Kriza did not need to know who it was. Only two people would dare to come to the second-largest mansion in the estate. With a grim expression, Kriza cradled her six-year-old daughter.

“Madam Kriza!” The sweet, innocent voice of Raella Ruen welcomed Kriza, eliciting a practiced smile from the latter.

“Miss Raella, to what do I owe the pleasure? My husband is not here, I believe.” Kriza took the seat adjacent to the lady who was once her high school friend. Helping her was her greatest mistake.

Giggling like a lovesick fool, Raella playfully slapped Kriza’s arm—as if their friendship was not changed at all. “Of course, I know.”

Kriza’s smile slipped. “Then why are you here?”

Taking something out from her paper bag, Raella offered a black-colored rose—a symbol of condolences in the region where Kriza came from.

Hugging Shiela tightly away from Raella’s sight, Kriza’s voice raised. “Get that thing away from me!”

Servants rushed to take away the bouquet of black flowers that caused distress to their mistress.

Standing up, Kriza could not help but lose her calm façade. “What is wrong with you? You should know who you are talking to if you are here to make threats. Being my husband’s mistress can only take you so much, Raella. Always remember that.”

Gone was the innocent smile on the gorgeous Raella’s face as she stood. She shrugged. “That is why I am here. I heard that your son is participating in the Claiming. Ha!” She leaned toward Kriza, mocking the latter by emphasizing their body differences. While the other was curvy in all the right places, the latter had the curves of a mother. Raella smirked. “I never thought he would present everything for my son on a silver platter. So I am here to offer my advance condolences.”

Biting her tongue until she could taste the tangy blood down her throat, Kriza held Shiela. “Leave.”

“I came here as a friend, yet you treat me like a competitor. You are being petty for getting jealous. It is not my fault that your husband kept coming back to me.” Raella Ruen sauntered out from Kriza’s sight with her chin held high.

Watching the retreating back of the woman she once called friend, Kriza slumped on the sofa. She looked in the direction where the Claiming would be held.

‘Please take care, son.’

 

 

 

CLAD IN A GRAY SUIT, Cielo dropped his tie into the bin and opened three buttons in one fluid motion while maintaining his quick, long strides. He was about to enter the gates of the main mansion when a group of guards clan in black and white suits stood before him in an imposing manner.

“Move,” said Cielo. At sixteen, he was quite tall compared to his peers. Though his body was not as big as the men before him, Cielo did not back down. “Do not make me repeat what I said.”

“And what if I told them to throw you out?” said a voice from behind Cielo. His tone was condescending, the same tone that had haunted Cielo’s mind for two decades as he remained imprisoned in his charred body. His eyes flashed with a murderous glint for a second before he turned around.

Cielo was met by the image of his father, Jun Regalia, with his mistresses clinging onto him from both sides. With a cigarette in his mouth, his mustache stretched when he grinned at Cielo. “What did your stupid mother teach you, huh? Hurry up and get lost! I will be late for my inheritance ceremony.” 

Jun Regalia’s arm swayed back and forth as if he was making a stray dog run away—not his son.

Staring at the plump arm a couple of feet away from him, Cielo toned down the need to break his father’s limb into pieces. With both hands in his pockets, he strode toward his father and stopped when he was a meter away from Jun Regalia. “Why can’t I join the Claiming, Father? I believe I have the same right as you in this ceremony.”

“You don’t belong here! You need to—”

In one fluid motion, Cielo closed the distance between him and his father before he leaned down to his right ear and whispered—cold cruelty etched on his smiling face, which made the mistresses take a couple of steps back.

“House of Lamentation, you know that, right, Father?”

“!!!” Jun Regalia’s eyes widened after hearing the name of the building he had recently purchased in the Underground District. Hidden families and the Underground District cannot be mixed, as the old patriarch of the Regalia Clan believed.

A pair of large hands that belonged to one of the bodyguards was about to flip Cielo away from Jun Regalia when the latter shook his head after seeing the nearing silhouette of Ren Regalia.

One by one, including Cielo, they bowed their heads and placed their fists on their chests as soon as Ren Regalia walked past them. Usually, the old patriarch would not mind his son—Jun Regalia—when he saw his grandson. On cue, Ren Regalia’s cane stopped, increasing the tense atmosphere near the gates.

“Cielo, you finally grow some balls, I see. As expected of my kin, you do not need a tragedy to strike you for you to wake up from your nonsensical plight for righteousness.”

Amid his calm tone, the sharp meaning of his message shook Cielo’s core.

‘If only you know, old man,’ Cielo thought. With a grin, Cielo did not hide the malice in his countenance as he placed his right arm around his father’s shoulder breadth. “Hence, I am here, Grandfather. I am here to participate in the Claiming, and Father gave me the full permission to do so.” He tightened his grasp around Jun Regalia’s shoulders before he turned to his father, who was on the verge of flipping over. “Right, Father?”

Pinned by the emotionless gray eyes of Ren Regalia, Jun could only nod his head stiffly with an over-the-top grin while heavily patting Cielo’s back. “What can I say, Father? I am a doting dad to my children.”

“Then let’s go. The representatives of the other hidden families are here already. We need to finish this ceremony and proceed with the quarterly meeting,” said Ren Regalia.

 

 

 

THE FIRST THING THAT CAUGHT Cielo’s eyes was the presence of Raella Ruen beside the young master of the Satova Clan. Cielo tasted the tangy blood down his throat as he reined his desire to slice her throat open. When he saw her frown upon his intense gaze, Cielo had difficulty looking elsewhere.

“This is not ever. You and I will have a long talk after this one. Let’s see if you still have the guts to threaten me with your measly information,” whispered Jun Regalia as soon as they were seated on the podium where the host clan would be sitting for the Claiming.

As if he did not hear anything, Cielo served himself a cup of green tea with ease and a calm posture. ‘Let us wait and see, Father. Let us wait and see, indeed.’

Ren Regalia stood and offered his cup of tea to each direction where the other hidden clan’s tables were before he spoke. “Today is the Regalia Clan’s annual Claiming Ceremony. As per traditions, all the heirs will walk to the altar to seek the blessings of the Regalia Clan’s guardian beast—the sacred Black Serpent—by touching the ancient ornament of our clan.” The old patriarch of the Regalia Clan cast a fleeting glance to the highest podium where the altar of the sacred Black Serpent was situated. He sighed and continued. “For generations, no heir was ever recognized by the guardian beast of the Regalia Clan, unlike the other hidden families. If this generation still fails to get recognized by the Black Serpent, I will automatically name my eldest son as the heir apparent of the clan as per tradition.”

Jun Regalia, the eldest son of Ren Regalia, huffed and puffed. He stood and patted his chest with his heavy hand. “Don’t worry, Father. This son of yours will make you proud.”

Cielo’s gaze looked up, connecting with a pair of dead eyes beneath a small face wrapped with a bandage. ‘That young lady….’

Cielo’s train of thought was interrupted when Ren Regalia signaled for the traditional drums. As soon as the first beat of the drum echoed within the four corners of the lavish and vast room, the qualified heirs immediately stood up.

One by one, they lined up at the altar.

Being the youngest, Cielo was the last to stand in the procession of heirs. His fleeting glance passed by a young lady whose entire head was wrapped with a bandage while sitting in a wheelchair—she was seated at the table of the mysterious Aberon Clan. Cielo’s line of vision shifted nonchalantly to Raella Ruen. The moment their eyes met, her proud grin was answered by a small one filled with mockery.

‘Let me see that proud grin of yours later, Raella Ruen. I want to see your son’s face as you tell him that your sinister plan did not work.’ Cielo thought while watching the silhouette of his father getting closer to the altar.

Jun Regalia stuck his hand inside the altar’s cabinet to get the glass box where the silver chains were placed. He carefully put the sacred container onto the small table before him to open it. The grinning son of Ren Regalia glanced down at all the heirs that were lining up behind him.

Though no one could say a single word—too afraid that Ren Regalia would hear it—every heir, excluding Cielo, was seething. Their eyes were sharp, while their fists and jaws were clenched from controlled fury.

“Your son might make it. There is a different vibe coming out from the altar,” said the patriarch of the Satova Clan to Ren Regalia.

The matriarch of the Aberon Clan scoffed. “Remember what happened to the Ruen Clan’s last Claiming? The guardian beast chose the least expected heir instead of Raella Ruen.”

Raella Ruen grinned, her nails digging into her palms under the wooden table. “I am now happy with my life, Matriarch Aberon.”

“Look! Jun Regalia failed to awaken the guardian beast of the Regalia Clan!” exclaimed one of the Regalia Clan’s retainers. “It is now the Patriarch’s second son’s turn!”

Cielo bit back his laughter upon watching the stomping image of his father. ‘There is no wonder that the Regalia Clan declined under your rule after a few decades,’ he thought. 

Cielo glanced at his grandfather, who was calmly doing his calligraphy like always—it was as if Ren Regalia did not have any expectations, to begin with. He could not blame his grandfather. After all, the Claiming was only a tradition passed down from generation to generation. As the times became modern, the guardian beasts got aloof as time passed, making the selection of heirs through Claiming impossible… not until today.

When Cielo stood in front of the altar, he felt shivers run down his spine as if a pair of predatory eyes were fixated on him.

Rito was watching him.

“You better get down there, son. I don’t want you to lose your face at such a young age,” said Jun Regalia from his seat. He scoffed and crossed his arms.

Cielo turned to his father.

“Respect the Claiming, Jun Regalia.”

Ren Regalia’s words stopped Jun’s plan to sabotage Cielo’s Claiming rites. Gnashing his teeth, Jun could only glare at the back view of his son; his hold on the teacup tightened.

“Go on, Cielo,” said Ren Regalia with a firm nod.

Without looking anywhere else but his father’s eyes, Cielo opened the lid of the glass box and hovered his hand over the chain.

Swish!

A series of gasps filled the room, silencing the drum beats when it was about to reach its climax.

“The Regalia Clan’s guardian beast!”

“Black Serpent!”

“Impossible!”

“No!”

A myriad of reactions was elicited from the crowd. Their eyes were fixated on the giant black-scaled snake in front of Cielo Regalia. They watched with dumb expressions how Cielo Regalia raised his right hand, where a silver chain was enclosed around his wrist like a tight bracelet.

Ren Regalia finally stood. “The Regalia Clan finally has an official young master, the next patriarch after I abdicate my position.”

Watching his father’s flustered expression, Cielo shifted his gaze to the ashen Raella Ruen. Gone was the pride in her eyes, replaced with disbelief and anger.

‘I barely began, and now you are all showing me these expressions. This? I am merely staking my claim. What I will do next is the real show,’ Cielo thought as he grinned at her, eyes knowing she had visited his mother and sister.