WARNING: 

The chapter will be talking about sensitive topics and issues that might trigger sensitive readers. Please read responsibly and with caution. Thank you.

♰

"HELP!" A SERF SHOUTED as soon as he arrived at Saints' Haven, which is the council's dormitory. President Justice was at the lobby with Secretary Perseus Odair, putting extra locks on the doors in case a brotherhood tries breaking in again.

     "What the hell is going on? If it's about the brotherhoods, we can't help. We already told you that," Perseus explains, closing the door before the serf can get in, but the serf stops it with his feet.

     "No, it's not about the brotherhoods. It's about Max," the serf finally says, making the two Saints look at each other with furrowed brows.

     "What happened?" Justice asks.

     "He's having an allergy attack!"

     Before anyone could say anything, the two officers wasted no time and followed the serf to their dorm. Justice was suspicious and cautious, but he was still worried. Perseus, on the other hand, was curious to see what this stunt was about. He was confident that Max was faking it to get something, but when they finally arrived at Hell Sanctum, they saw that Max's face was completely red. His eyes and lips were swollen, and he was already having a hard time breathing.

    "No way. He's not faking it?" Perseus asks in disbelief as Justice runs to Max, pushing the serfs who are surrounding him.

     "We were eating breakfast, and we didn't know that the fried rice had shrimp in it. We have to do something," Keigo says while holding onto Max's hand, Xander and Stefan standing behind him, are also worried.

     "Why haven't you brought him to the clinic?!" Justice scolds.

    "The clinic was completely trashed. There aren't even doctors there anymore," Stefan explains, making Justice curse.

     "How about an EpiPen? Does anyone have one?" Justice asks next, and the serfs shake their heads, making the president curse again.

     "Justice, this shouldn't even be our problem right now," Secretary Perseus suddenly interrupts. "Tons of students are getting beaten to death at this very moment. Someone's allergy attack shouldn't be our top priority. We need to get back to our dorm and—"

     "So you're just going to let him die?! We need to bring him to the hospital!" Xander then says, shocked that someone would even say such a thing.

     Perseus was about to say something to retaliate, but then Keigo dropped the bomb that instantly made the Saints' Secretary shut his mouth.

     "You're right, tons of students are getting beaten to death right now, but none of them is the sole heir to the Sinclaire and Lemieux family. If you let him die here because you refuse to bring him to the hospital then let's see what his family will feel about that," Keigo threatens, and the two officers finally give in.

    "Press the emergency button," Justice finally declares.

     Despite being suspicious about the whole thing, Perseus runs back to their office and hits the emergency button, which automatically opens the gates. The gates only open like this when students need to leave for the holidays, or when they need to evacuate. Opening this for a single student is definitely a big deal.

     The serfs helped carry Max to a van that had been heavily vandalized, but thankfully the wheels were still intact. Perseus drove the van, saying he should bring Max to the hospital personally. Keigo also came with them, while Justice stayed behind to make sure nothing happened on their campus.

     As soon as the van drove off, the gates closed again, locking everyone inside with the chaos that no one in the outside world even knew about.

     "You two better not fuck me over," Perseus says, looking at Keigo and Max through the rearview mirror.

     "You're seriously still going on with that right now? My friend is literally dying. The best you can do is be a fucking human being," Keigo angrily says, and Perseus sighs and finally drops his suspicions.

     They eventually arrived at the nearest hospital and ushered Max inside. Keigo didn't even have to wait for anything because when they arrived, the staff recognized Max and immediately assisted him.

     "We made it," Keigo says with a relieved sigh.

     He and Perseus were waiting outside the emergency room where Max was in. To be honest, Perseus still didn't believe that Max was having an actual allergy attack, but now all his doubts were gone. I guess he's been used to having Max start something, which isn't really his fault since Max does it all the time.

     "The Ministry will definitely get mad when they find out why we opened the gates," Perseus ranted. "But anyway, we're already here. I should have brought my phone with me now that there's a signal. I couldn't check my email for a week."

     "Maybe you can borrow someone's phone here," Keigo suggests, feeling a little awkward that he's having a decent conversation with someone like Perseus.

     "It's fine, we have to go back anyway. As soon as Max is released, we're heading back. The Ministry won't forgive me if they find out we've been out for so long during school days," Perseus explained further, making Keigo look back at him with curiosity.

     "You know, I've always wanted to ask this but...why are you guys so scared of the Ministry?" Keigo then asks, and the moment he asks the question, Perseus looks extremely cautious.

     Perseus wants to ignore Keigo's question, but before he can even open his mouth, an important figure suddenly arrives with two guards following behind him. Perseus couldn't help but drop his jaw in shock because the man walking towards them was none other than the president of the Brotherhood Association, Janus Sinclaire.

     "President Janus!" Perseus shouted, immediately touching his chest and bowing to him. Keigo wasn't as shocked, but he bowed to him as well.

     "Where's my nephew?" Janus asks.

     "P-President, what are you doing here?" Perseus asks instead.

     "Someone from the hospital called my brother, Denzel, but since the news of his stepping down from the company, paparazzi have been following him around. I was sent on his behalf," Janus explains, making Keigo look away and suppress his grin, almost like he knew that this was exactly what would happen.

     "Now, my nephew?"

     "He's...he's..." Perseus looked nervous, mostly because he was afraid that Max or Keigo would end up telling Janus about what's been happening to their house or what Max has been experiencing in general. Fortunately for him, a doctor steps out of the room and approaches them.

     "Are you the patient's guardian?" the doctor asks, and Janus looks at Perseus and Keigo for one last time before walking to the doctor.

     "I am. I'm his uncle."

     "Well, your nephew is fine now. We were able to give him Epinephrine, and thankfully he reacted to it well. We transferred him to a private room and you can check on him now," the doctor explains, and Janus thanks him before heading to Max, Keigo accompanying him.

     Perseus, on the other hand, asked to use a phone to immediately call Justice. He needed to tell him about President Janus before doing anything. If Max ends up telling the president what's been happening to their house, shit will definitely go down.

     "Leigh?" Janus called out as soon as he arrived at the room.

     Max was lying in bed. His skin was still a little red, but he looked better now compared to earlier.

     "Uncle. You're actually here."

     Keigo stood near the door as a guard while Janus approached Max. When Janus isn't looking, Keigo secretly locks the door, making sure no one gets to enter while they're talking.

     "How are you feeling?" Janus asks with a worried expression on his face.

     "I'm fine," Max answers before sitting up. "Actually, I'm more than fine. I did all this so I can talk to you. It didn't matter if I was a moment away from dying. I had to get out of that school so we could meet up privately like this."

     "What?" Janus asks, confused. He looks at Max with furrowed brows, unsure of what Max meant by that. At first, he laughed because he thought Max was only messing with him, but when he saw the serious expression on his nephew's face, Janus finally knew that this wasn't a laughing matter at all.

     "Leigh, what the hell is going on?" Janus finally asks.

     "There's so much you need to know unc...no, President Janus. Something is happening in St. George Academy that's more than what you can imagine. I can't explain it properly yet, but I need your help first. I hope you can trust me on this."

     Janus couldn't understand what was going on, and he was itching to ask Max more about what he just said, but he trusted his nephew. So instead of interrogating him or scolding him for pulling such a dangerous stunt, he listened to what Max had to say.

     "I was already surprised when Ian told me that he sent you as a representative for the exchange program. I should have known you've been planning something again. Now, what is it that you need?" Janus asks, fixing his posture so Max can know that the man speaking to him now is not his caring uncle but the terrifying president of J.S High.

     Max takes a deep breath and glances at Keigo before answering, "Klaus Vitus Von Hatzfeld...we need records of him."

    As soon as Max said the name out loud, Janus's eyes instantly widened in shock. This wasn't what he expected to hear from Max at all.

    "Klaus Vitus Von Hatzfeld? Where did you hear that name?"

    "He's a member of Paradox, correct? He was a student of J.S High, so you should have school records of him, right?" Max asks, hoping Janus will give him a good answer.

     "I don't know what's going on, but you're not the first person to ask me this," Janus answers instead, surprising both Max and Keigo.

     "What do you mean?"

     "Siren asked me about it as well."

     "Siren?"

     "That's right, Siren. Or what you better know her as...River Hansen Karlsson," Janus explains further. "Siren visited my office the other day and asked for the same thing. I don't know what's going on, but like what I already told her, I don't have records of them anymore. All traces of the Von Hatzfeld family were erased, and this includes their school records. A dozen men raided J.S High a couple of years back to burn my documents. They even erased all information in our system," Janus explains, which was an answer that Max and Keigo did not expect at all.

     "What happened to that family?" Keigo then asks, approaching Janus and Max. "I apologize if I'm butting in, but we can't find any information about them at all. It's almost as if they never existed."

     Janus looks at the two teenagers in front of him, unsure if he should share this information or not. But when he realized that being secretive about it wouldn't really help, he finally gave in and decided to explain the situation.

     "Around thirteen years ago, the Von Hatzfeld family did something unthinkable that made the entire world turn their backs against them. As a family who's probably older than the Lemieux family and Stepanov Clan combined, they got away with everything. Everything except that scandal," Janus says.

     "Scandal? What scandal?" Max asks, unable to contain his curiosity anymore because of how mysterious this family has been.

     "Human trafficking. Specifically on minors," Janus finally reveals, leaving the two white uniforms completely speechless.

     "D-did I just hear it right?" Keigo asks, turning to Max who was equally shocked as he was.

     "The Hatzfeld family had a private island where the biggest people were invited to come. That's where they found it. The news went public, and then pictures and videos resurfaced that the family could no longer deny the supposed allegations. Usually, the public wouldn't have any power against big families like them, but when people rally together, authorities are forced to do something to avoid looking bad. It was such a scandal that even the government in their country got involved," Janus explains, which was something that sounded unreal, but it was.

     "All their business was closed down, and their supposed legacy was ruined just like that, which they did deserve. Everyone started removing anything associated with them because of how sickening the scandal was, but there were two family members that people pitied instead, and those were the kids, Klaus and Klyde. Klaus was 13 and Klyde was 10 at that time."

    "During the scandal, they must have been pretty scared," Max realizes.

     "They were. But despite being so young at that time, the media was relentless. They followed them around like they had anything to do with the crime. It got so bad to the point where they had to travel from one country to another just to escape the paparazzi. It was terrible. The public greatly pitied them. It took a toll on them which could be the reason why the two of them grew up with so much spite."

     "Wait, this happened thirteen years ago, right?" Max then asks after looking at the timeline. "Then that's during the time I met with Viktor and the others. We were declared as the new members of Crème de la Crème during that year."

    "That's right. Since Crème de la Crème had been putting the Von Hatzfeld family on their lists for years, the public started questioning them as well. That's why to divert their attention and get the public's approval again, they removed Klaus from the list, and then simultaneously announced you five as the new members," Janus revealed further, shocking Max and Keigo once again. This was definitely news to them.

    "Don't be mistaken. You five have always been expected to join Crème de la Crème so you weren't only announced as members just to cover the Von Hatzfeld scandal. But in your case, you were the first to be announced together. You see when a new heir is added to the list, they replace a member that graduated, in a sense. Or, in some cases, you start at the bottom ranks so the others before you will rank up. But you five automatically started as the five highest ranks. It had never been done before. It was such a bold stunt, and it worked because everyone became interested in Crème de la Crème again."

     Max pauses for a second and thinks about what his uncle just said. Max never realized that all five of them simultaneously received their ranks. So that was the reason why they all met up that time?

     "You five reshaped the entire image of Crème de la Crème. Actually, others might disagree with this but I believe you completely changed how the public sees heirs in general. You five, well not just you but the new generation as well, were just different. You were all educated, ambitious, and surprisingly enough, sincere. And the fact no one knows your actual ranks proved that you're not like the previous members at all. For the first time, people genuinely adored you all. You weren't just an ornament!" Janus exclaimed, which almost made Max roll his eyes because of the unnecessary praise.

     This was literally the bare minimum of being a decent human. The fact this is rare among heirs like him makes one raise their brows. How could they have set the bar so low?

     "Alright, besides the point, what happened to Klyde and his brother? Because for what I heard, they were still around even after their family's scandal. In fact, you even invited them to enroll in your school," Max then says, in a tone that makes it seem like he is scolding Janus.

     Keigo felt the tension so he takes a step back to silently retreat. Janus, on the other hand, gives out a heavy sigh, almost like he's aware of all the mistakes he made in the past.

     "Remember what I said when people started pitying Klyde and Klaus? Well, I was one of them. Those two brothers were the only ones left in their entire family that's not being stoned to death, so imagine how hard that would have been. Not a single school in the world wanted to take them, and I felt bad that they couldn't even have something as simple as education, so that's what I did. I wanted to give them a chance in life."

     "And you enrolled Klaus in J.S High and added him to Paradox," Max stated, making Janus sigh again.

     "I know what you're thinking. It was a mistake. Creating Paradox was a mistake. But I..." Janus paused, acting as if something was stopping him from saying anything further. Based on his reaction alone, Max can already tell that Janus made Paradox for a different reason. He didn't just make it to put all those powerful heirs together. He had a deeper reason. He's certain of it.

     "Anyway, thank you for telling me about the Von Hatzfeld scand—" Before Max can finish his sentence, Keigo goes in between them and suddenly reminds his friend, "Wait! We're missing something here. The story isn't over yet."

     "What are you talking about?" Janus confusingly asks.

     Max, who realizes it too, looks back at his uncle again and says, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Klaus and Klyde...what happened to them after? From what I know, Klyde, who was the first council president of St. George Academy, suddenly left, so I'm assuming Klyde left as well."

     When Janus heard the question, the expression he had on his face made Max and Keigo gulp. Whatever happened to them wasn't because of good reasons at all.

     "This was during the time authorities raided my office to erase their records," Janus shares. "I'm only going to tell you this because you're my nephew, and I trust that you will not tell anyone else about this matter to at least give respect to them."

     "Give respect to them? Come on. Those two were assholes!" Keigo exclaims, which Janus couldn't help but agree, but still, he didn't want to cross a line.

     "Uncle, what happened to them?"

     Janus takes a deep breath and looks down on the floor like he is ashamed to say it out loud.

     "It happened in 2020. Klaus was fighting to get their position back after Paradox's defeat during the Annual Brotherhood Reranking, while Klyde was in his second year as the Saints' council president. During that year, the media suddenly posted a series of disturbing photos that brought the Von Hatzfeld scandal back to light," Janus reveals.

     "What? Someone opened it up again?"

     "That's right," Janus answers while looking at Max. "After almost a decade, when people had already forgotten about that terrible scandal, pictures were suddenly published. They were disturbing images of some members of the Von Hatzfeld family members with kids. And among those pictures...were Klyde and Klaus."

    As soon as Janus revealed the terrible secret, Keigo and Max were instantly left speechless. Max even felt a tear fall from his eyes when he heard it, and Keigo felt a chill creep down his spine.

     Something like this can't be real, right?

     Even their own kids? It's just impossible.

     "The whole country...no...the whole world were all dumbfounded. It was the saddest thing, and that's when the two brothers just...disappeared. Their entire family ceased to exist after that," Janus said with an expression that showed regret; regret at the fact that he couldn't protect those two brothers even if he tried.

    "That's why, as I told Siren, I don't know where they are anymore. I'm sorry."

     Max releases a heavy sigh and wipes the tear on his cheek. "N-No, thank you. Thank you, uncle. And...I'm sorry as well."

    Janus doesn't say anything and just reaches out to touch Max's shoulder, squeezing it. The two Sinclaires looked at each other, and without even saying a single word, they automatically understood what the two of them wanted to say. As fucked up as their family is, they had it better. Some families...are just evil. Purely evil. And Janus and Max, and the rest of the kids in their family, were fortunate enough to be in a family that isn't as cruel.

     "I don't have the records, but I know where you might find one," Janus then says.

     "Where?" Max asks.

     "The Ministry," Janus then reveals, instantly making Keigo and Max look at each other.

     "The Ministry might still have written records of Klyde, but I'm not certain about that at all. But if you want to know their whereabouts, there might be someone who can give you an actual answer," Janus said next.

     "And who could that be?" Max asks back, already worried.

     Janus takes a deep breath, and then he looks at the two and answers, "The leader of Paradox. Your cousin, Don."

     As soon as Janus mentioned his name, Max clenched his fist in irritation. Donato Sinclaire, also known as Don, was the first king of J.S High, and the Sinclaire that made the brotherhoods cautious of Max because they were afraid he'd end up being like him. Merely thinking about the things he and his brotherhood did is already making Max's blood boil. It also doesn't help that their family relationship is terrible, especially now.

     "We'll see what we can do. Thank you again, uncle," Max says, and Janus nods his head in response.

     "Will you go back home to rest?" Janus then asks Max.

     "No, I'm heading back to St. George Academy. Thank you again, uncle. Drive back safely," Max says, and Janus nods his head before letting go of Max. He then looks at Keigo and nods his head towards him as well. But before Janus can even grab the doorknob, Max asks him one final question.

     "Uncle...why did you create J.S High? Why did you create the five houses for heirs like us?" Max asks, making Janus stop.

     Without looking at the two young men behind him, Janus gives a sad smile and answers, "When your memories return, come to me. I'll tell you everything. The houses...I'll tell you why I created them."

- END -