“Hand me the guardian beast! Hand it to me right now!”

Jun Regalia’s anger-filled voice announced his presence before his plump stature barged into the wooden gates of Cielo’s residence.

“Papa!” A smiling six-year-old Shiela welcomed her father with open arms and a big grin when she was swatted to the side like a fly.

Kriza Regalia saw this exact scene and released a cry. “Don’t hurt my daughter!” She dropped the basket filled with clothes and ran toward her sniffling youngest child. Right before she could scoop her brave bundle of joy, Raella Ruen kicked Shiela away from her way, making the latter cry.

“Psh! What a crybaby! How did your mother raise you?” 

“Shiela!” A tear-stricken Kriza scooped her crying daughter, burying Shiela’s face on her chest while lightly caressing her heaving back.

“I-Is Shiela a bwad baby?” Shiela hiccupped into her mother’s embrace.

“Absolutely not true, Shiela,” said a voice behind Jun Regalia.

“Here you are! Now, come on and—”

Cielo walked past his father as if he was not seeing him at all. With his hands in his pockets, he walked straight in Raella’s direction, which was in the way of his plight toward his sister and mother. Neither slowing down nor changing his direction, Cielo’s eyes filled with insanity made Raella Ruen forget to move from his way, rooting her trembling feet onto the pavement.

“Move.” Cielo bumped right into Raella. With the force he put into his strides, it was no wonder how Raella stumbled down.

“Ouch! How dare you!”

Stopping from his tracks, he looked behind him and pinned the woman’s accusing look with a sinister glare. In a low voice, he said. “How dare you hurt my sister… again.”

“Again? Are you delusional, or is your mother spewing lies about me to ruin me in front of your father?” 

Without looking back at the blabbering Raella Ruen and the seething Jun Regalia charging at him from behind like he always did, even from his first lifetime, Cielo scooped Shiela from his mother and whispered into her wet face. “You are far too sweet to be hated. They are only a sore loser because your brother won this round.”

‘And will win in all the rounds that will follow,’ Cielo continued his train of words at the back of his mind.

“Son, watch out!” cried Kriza.

Cielo merely smiled at his mother before turning around and catching his father’s fist with his left hand. Without flinching, Cielo’s eerie smile did not diminish. “Oh. You are here, Father.”

“Arrogant bastard! Having the blessings of the guardian beast is not enough to beat me!” Veins started to pop around his neck and jaws.

“Says who? Says that woman?” Cielo’s mocking gaze strayed to where Raella was slumped after Jun Regalia walked past her. “Or says your so-called vassals? What will you do, Father? Rebel against the clan? The verdict is clear. We are now standing on different levels.”

“The Council of Six will never accept you as the new heir. Mark my words: if you let this thing get between us, you will lose the chance to become my heir.” Jun Regalia eyed the silver choker around Cielo’s neck. It formed as a snake sleeping around his son’s neck. “Hand me the silver chain and denounce your claim. With all our ancestors as my witness, I will assure you that I will give you the heir position once I am seated as the patriarch.”

Cielo burst out laughing, startling Shiela in the process. He pushed him away with force enough to make his father stumble but not fall down.

Still in a fit of laughter with his shoulders shaking and his eyes turning teary, Cielo patted Shiela, who inched her head against his neck like a young koala. “Why would I wait for a decade or two if I can have it by today? You have the talent to make me laugh, Father.”

Kriza held the edge of her son’s shirt, heart pounding after seeing the fuming look on her husband’s face. She did not want her son to experience what she did, for she knew the trauma would last longer than the scar. “Cielo, just give him what he wants and be done with it.”

“Smart, bitch. Follow your mother, or there will be no more room for regrets,” Jun Regalia glared at his wife.

Cielo did not look back at his mother. Instead, he pulled her behind him before giving Shiela back to her. “Stay behind me, Mom.”

‘You will not be facing that monster alone ever again,’ Cielo thought as he stood tall between his family and the monsters who destroyed everything that was important to him. A glint of madness flashed beneath his gaze toward his father, which was immediately covered by his stoic expression.

“Go home with your mistress and start minding your business, Father. I will overlook the fact that you trespassed. Rest assured, this will not reach Grandfather’s ears—for now.”

“Impudent!”

He had seen this coming—the slap. Cielo stopped his father’s wrist when his palm was about to hit his left cheek. With their height difference, Cielo easily towered over his father as he stepped closer.

“Let go of me! Don’t tell me you are going to hit your own father!” Jun Regalia scoffed, hiding the sweat trickling down his nape. “Your arrogance knows no bounds after a small taste of success!”

“Guards! Cielo Regalia is assaulting Master Jun!” Raella Ruen shrieked.

“!!!” Kriza was about to pull her son away from his husband, who was now dangling by Cielo’s grasp when no one arrived, even after Raella repeated what she said.

“Where are the guards? Guards! Guards! My son is about to kill me. Help!”

Cielo dropped his hold against his father’s wrist, making the latter fall on his butt against the cold pavement. “You mean them?” He snapped his fingers.

On cue, the bodyguards who stopped him from attending the Claiming appeared one by one from all the corners of the mansion’s yard. Cielo watched his father’s expression. The look of disbelief and betrayal etched on his plump face was one of the reasons why he accepted his grandfather’s suggestion of keeping the main family’s elite guards.

‘How does it feel, Father? This kind of betrayal already hurts like hell, right? When you approved to kill my mother just because your mistress told you so, did you ever imagine the feelings of betrayal from my mother—from your children? Did you ever regret it? Did this thought keep you awake at night? Because it haunted me, and it haunted Shiela for twenty years. The look of my mother’s resigned smile, I never forgot that. Not even in this lifetime.’ Cielo thought as he watched his father lose his strength.

“Impossible….”

“You are an ungrateful son of a bitch,” Raella sneered at Cielo. She supported Jun Regalia from his trance as her greedy eyes lingered on the choker around Cielo’s neck. “What is meant for others will never be stolen. Fate will find a way.”

“Whatever floats your boat, Raella. Whatever floats your boat.” Cielo shrugged. He only answered her nonsensical claims in his mind as he smiled at her. ‘You mean you will send an assassin to chop off my neck for your son?’

Watching their retreating backs, Cielo spoke, making Raella stop dead in her tracks. “And send my regards to your son. Tell him I am looking forward to the day we will see each other….”

‘…. again.’

 

 

 

TODAY WAS THE FIRST DAY CIELO would spend under the tutelage of her grandfather, the reigning patriarch of the Regalia Clan. Handed down by a secretary under the direct command of Ren Regalia, Cielo wore the traditional garbs of the Regalia Clan—black eastern silk paired with golden embroidery of the guardian beast that swirled across the pair of shirt and pants. 

The moment he arrived at the main mansion of the estate, he was immediately led to a place where his grandfather usually lounges doing his calligraphy. It was a vast pond with a small island where a large Wisteria Tree was situated. The islet was surrounded by two bridges to connect from both sides of the yard.

“You are here, Chosen One, my grandson, Cielo Regalia.”

A calm, wise voice echoed behind Cielo, making the latter turn around before bowing his head in respect. 

“Patriarch.”

The old patriarch waved his hand dismissively. “Come and let us drink some tea in my favorite pavilion.”

For the first time in both of his lifetimes, Cielo was invited to the ‘pavilion’, which only a handful had a chance to get invited to by his eccentric grandfather. Not even Jun Regalia was given the opportunity to take a single step inside the prized territory of the old patriarch.

Sitting in a kneeling position while their backs remained straight, the white-haired patriarch started to brew tea. “I called you here for two reasons.” He showed Cielo his two wrinkly fingers and emphasized his point. “First, I will train you personally on how to become a patriarch who holds the most crucial role in the underworld—information. Second, I need you to summon the guardian beast and let me talk to him alone.”

Nodding his head, Cielo spoke. “The second reason is not a problem. I can call him right now if Grandfather wants to.”

“Wh-What?”

Ren Regalia listened to the tales of the guardian beast of the hidden families. He fantasized about the summoning, dreaming about it since he was young. But his grandson could summon the Regalia Clan’s deity with just a snap of his fingers? The old patriarch did not know whether to laugh or cry.

“Oi! Old Man, you finally decide to teach Cielo, my partner, the one skill I bestowed on your family?” A child-like voice resonated inside the pavilion.

Instead of a giant black serpent, Ren Regalia’s draws hit the floor when a little boy was now sitting on the oval-shaped wooden table where the tea set was supposed to be placed!

Not minding his grandfather’s shell-shocked expression, Cielo looked at Rito. “A skill? What skill?”

“You did not know about the God’s Eye?”