Chapter7: the truth about Alceste family

"There are certain truths that you, youngster, don't know about the Alceste family"

Cali and Klan knew, to a certain extent, that the Alceste family was full of secrets, but they thought it was due to their aristocratic habits.

"Unlike our family, whose notoriety is recent, the Alceste family has been established for several generations. They are aristocrats whose origins are older than our country…",

Klan's grandfather said that the ancestors of that family had made great contributions so they collected a large fortune over the centuries. Obviously, who says fortune, says power and, who says power says conflict. so, quarrels within the family were frequent, yet, this family remained globally united and rules concerning the management of common family properties were established in order to alleviate, more or less, internal conflicts.

When a head of family was chosen by the previous one _in an objective way; chosen according to merits and achievements_, he remained so until his retirement, then, they had to go through another succession's battle which also determined those who were going to occupy the strategic positions within the family business.

Each candidate had to form alliance with trusted family's members, who were going to occupy or already occupied important strategic positions within the family, _that is to say key positions in the family business_ and from which the candidates will receive support.

The old man explained to them again that these key positions in the main company Alceste are highly sought after by the members of this family, in particular the title of president, since it was the direct path to access the supreme position of head of family : manager of all family assets.

However, not everyone could claim the title of president, one had to show certain abilities and prove his abilities _ with notable achievements_. Obviously, this kind of rare candidate in the family turned out to be the first victims of unfortunate accidents which even cost them their lives, as they were the favored candidates in this succession's battle.

There was, eventually , a way to not get involved in this war, that was to voluntarily withdraw from the succession.

"Your friend, Neil Alceste is one of those candidates born with the predispositions required to become the head of family"

"So does that mean Neil's life is in danger?!" Klan was increasingly intrigued

"Yeah, sort of," the old man said.

This statement gave Cali goosebumps. Was it to protect himself that Neil had to give up his life and his friends? Why did Neil have to suffer such a fate? why did he have to be born into such a family? The real culprits were the vile and greedy members of this family.

"But that would have been enough for Neil to just withdraw from the succession's battle for him to be safe, right? why did his parents decide to hide him instead?" asked Klan

"His parents could not have decided this alone, they just acted as supports. Only one person has the decision-making power in these cases".

Klan and Cali exchanged confused looks. Who could this other entity involved be? To enlighten their lantern, the old man explained

"As I said earlier, your friend is predisposed to inherit the position of successor, even if it means being involved in a succession war, it was better to do so willingly, rather than by force..."

With that, these two understood right away where Klan's grandfather was coming from.

"I think your friend has simply gone to prepare himself for the terrible storm which is impossible for him to avoid"