“YOUNG MASTER REGALIA, I WISH TO ASK YOU ONE THING.”

Cielo glanced down. There was no hint of surprise in his eyes. “Speak.”

‘Your detached tone did not change. I can still remember the back of the woman who stopped the assassins from chasing me and Shiela,’ Cielo thought as they trudged the empty corridors of the auction house.

“Are you a hero or a villain?”

“The young lady is funny. How did you think I made it here in the gathering if I did not defy my father?” A sarcastic smile cracked on his face as he kept pushing the wheelchair.

“A villain.”

Cielo glanced at Shiela who was holding the edge of his pants while holding Rito. “I rather become a villain who can destroy the world for the sake of what’s important to me than be the hero who will sacrifice everything for the good of the many.”

Velicia Aberon remained silent, her small hands placed on her lap with her straight back against the wheelchair.

Standing side by side, two guards who were wearing samurai black clothes opened the gigantic double door for them. The sound of the hinges made little Shiela gasp in wonder. She tugged her brother’s pants. “Bwother! Bwother, look!”

Ruffling her hair, he swoop her into his arms as he looked at the butler of the Aberon Clan. “As a payment for your request, look after my sister for me.”

If it would be other clans without Rito’s presence, Cielo would never entrust his little sister.

The butler glanced at his master. Without looking back, the heir of the Aberon Clan nodded her head. “Take care of the little one. I owe it to Young Master Cielo.”

The butler bowed his head before he stretched his hand for Shiela. “Worry not, Young Lady.”

Shiela looked up at her brother. Upon seeing him nod at her, Shiela grinned before inching her small limbs toward the outstretched arms of the butler. “Bwother, bye-bye!”

‘You sure you are going to face the heirs without me, boy?’

‘Protect her for me. That is the best you can do, Rito.’ Cielo turned around. Standing before an eight-meter-tall golden door, he did not have to guess where it would lead them to. He took a step forward, pushing the wheelchair forward with him.

“Let’s go.”

She nodded once more.

The moment they entered, they were immediately welcomed by a bright light that made their eyes squint for a moment or two. The illumination from the glass walls provided light from all sides. And with the room’s location situated at the topmost floor of a thirteen-story building, the eight-pillared walls surrounded a podium with a circular table in its center. There were four high seats surrounding the granite table and two of them were already occupied.

Cielo, who was the least to join the ranks of the heirs, immediately took notice of the names carved on the empty chairs.

Not a single sound was made as Cielo pushed Velicia’s wheelchair to her designated chair, ignoring the two sharp pairs of eyes fixated on his back.

“Do you need help?” asked Cielo when Velicia was about to stand.

A scoff from a middle-aged man littered with scars all over his neck and arms pierced the silence among the four heirs. “I am looking forward to the trial. I want to see why a feeble young woman holds the highest position among all of us here. Hey, Regalia bastard, believe me when I tell you. She is the least among the four of us who needs help.”

Cielo did not listen. “May I?”

Upon seeing the curt nod of Velicia Aberon, he picked her up from the wheelchair in one fluid motion before placing her carefully on her chair. He put the blanket on her lap the next moment and sauntered next to her—the seat for the Regalia Clan’s heir.

“What an interesting scene!” The scarred heir applauded while shaking his head in mockery. His gaze now lingered between the bandaged Velicia and a nonchalant new member of the Round Table. “No wonder the Regalia Clan flourished despite being the weakest among all the four hidden families. It is because you know how to lick an ass, leeching off like a sick parasite to the strong.” His grin turned sinister as he caressed his mustache, eyes now fixated on Cielo Regalia. “You weak mongrels make me sick.”

Cielo met the scarred heir’s mocking gaze. He did not fail to notice the insignia of a sea beast on his pin which was the guardian beast of the Satova Clan. Cielo crossed his arms, cocked his head, and looked at Levon Satova—his eyes dangerously turning to a hue of deadly azure. “Levon Satova, how is the taming of your clan’s guardian beast doing?”

One question.

It only took one question from Cielo Regalia to erase all the smugness on Levon Satova’s face. “Y-You!”

Levon punched the block of granite before him, barely scratching the century-year-old round table.

A knowing smile replaced Cielo’s seemingly curious façade. He knew about the patriarch of the Satova Clan from his first life who caused an uprising within the Satova Clan. Levon Satova’s clansmen refused to acknowledge their new patriarch for failing to tame the sea beast guardian. Until the day he died, Cielo never heard of the Satova Clan ever earning back their place within the four hidden families.

A young man sitting between Velicia and Levon chuckled as he crossed his legs and shrugged, his eyes filled with interest now eyeing like a beast king Cielo before it shifted to Levon. “I suggest you focus on taming your guardian beast like I am doing, Levon. The Trials of Eights is around the corner. Who will lick who is yet to be seen.”

“Don’t let them walk on us, their seniors, Amyr!” Veins popped around Levon’s neck and forehead. Droplets of his saliva showered over the table, making the white-coated Amyr look away.

Amyr opened his fan with one flick of his wrist, covering half of his face as he looked up at the heaving Levon. “Now that everyone is here. It is better to proceed with our main agenda.”

Levon scoffed. “I will only sit if you make that ass-kisser away from this room. He is yet to be baptized as a member of the Round Table. I refuse to sit with him around!”

“Pray tell, what does it take to be ‘accepted’ by the Round Table?” Cielo undid his cuff links, earning the granite table another punch from the Satova heir. As if he did not hear a thing, Cielo continued to poke the sea beast’s heir. “When are you going to test me, Levon Satova? Time is ticking, especially for you and your clan.”

“Bastard!” Levon knocked off his chair, about to dash out toward Cielo’s direction when he was pinned on his spot by a heavy weight of gravity—as if the gravitational force was centered on him alone.

“Enough.” A sweet voice of a young lady resounded within the pillared room, drawing Cielo’s undivided attention. “The scriptures of the old in the Round Table rule out the weight of our current agenda compared to your measly initiation. Maintaining the position of the four hidden families in the Trials of Eights is more vital than playing around, Sir Satova. The Satova Clan is ranked the lowest with your guardian beast still refusing to submit, we need to come up with a plan to battle the rising clans of the free cities and nomadic tribes.”

Sweat started to appear around his forehead. With his mouth forcibly shut by the invisible force, his frantic eyes now fixated on the strongest among them—Velicia Aberon, who tamed the dragon guardian beast at the young age of five. Her eyes flashed with crimson danger as they welcomed Levon’s fearful ones. “F-Forgive me! Ack!”

Levon coughed blood as the pressure started to affect the airflow in his lungs.

‘This is the power of the dragon.’ Cielo thought. His eyes completely gleamed with the azure glint of God’s Eyes. Though he was yet to grasp the full potential and function of his skill, he knew one technique to subtly assess a person’s vitality.

Crimson aura wrapped the small body of Velicia Aberon the same way it surrounded and pressed the staggering Levon Satova. Though it was invisible to others, Cielo could see through how the room was filled with the dragon’s oppressive breath.

‘Amazing. I wonder when I will be able to use Rito’s aura like this. I can tell this is not the dragon’s true power but it already subdues Levon.’ Cielo continued to assess Velicia when his curious-laden gaze went still for a moment.

On cue, Velicia’s gaze shifted to Cielo’s gleaming blue eyes.

‘This girl’s core….’

Cielo’s train of thought stopped upon seeing Velicia’s finger atop her lips as if she was telling him to keep it within himself whatever he found out about her core.

But how could Cielo keep it at the back of his mind? After all, this was the first time he saw a core of a human merged with her guardian beast!