Demonic Pornstar System novel Chapter 498

Chapter 498: Responsibility

"You left, and the house got so dark, big brother... Not even my light could defeat the suffocating darkness."

Kaiden swallowed.

This conversation was no longer about jealousy.

It was about abandonment.

Loneliness.

Trauma disguised as obsession.

And he knew... He had to handle it carefully.

Kaiden didn’t answer her with words.

He stepped forward, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her into a tight embrace.

Alice let out a startled, squeaky little "Eep!" as her face was smushed against his chest. Her hands clutched at his shirt, instincts warring between melting, hiding, and exploding into delighted fireworks.

It was a tender moment, far too tender for someone being so incredibly cruelly disciplined.

One could argue, quite reasonably, that Kaiden had been far too lenient with Alice up until now.

He had scolded her.

He had lectured her.

He had warned her.

He had even once threatened separation.

Yet he never followed through with anything. She kept spouting nonsense, got scolded, and then things went on.

The punishments always dissolved into mild admonishment, head pats, or an affectionate sigh and dismissal. He never enforced consequences.

And the reason was painfully simple:

Deep down, Kaiden always felt guilty.

Another argument could be made, once again, rather sensibly, that as siblings, Alice had never been his responsibility. It was their parents’ job to raise, protect, and nurture her. Kaiden had not brought her into the world. He had not chosen her existence. He owed her nothing, from that perspective.

For a brief moment, that line of reasoning brushed through his thoughts.

And then his arms tightened around her, firm and protective, rejecting it so thoroughly that his teeth clenched in utter disgust that the notion even popped up in his head.

Screw that responsibility game.

Screw the cold logic.

Screw the attempt to absolve himself.

He refused to be that kind of spineless bastard any longer. That useless guy died when he slipped and cracked his neck. The current Kaiden refused to continue living such a sorry life.

Alice loved him.

Alice depended on him.

Alice clung to him because he was her only warm light in the house of freezing darkness.

And he had still left her behind.

Like a coward.

Like someone running without a care for who he left behind.

The Kaiden of today, the Paragon, the leader, the man with women who adored him, power, purpose, and confidence, would never walk away from that situation should time be reversed, yes.

But the past couldn’t be rewritten.

What was done was done.

And now he had to deal with the consequences. Her trauma, her attachment, her instability, her possessiveness.

He rested his chin lightly atop her head and his voice came low with remorse threaded through it:

"I’m here now."

He didn’t apologize.

Not because he thought he was blameless. Quite the opposite.

He didn’t apologize because he did not believe he deserved forgiveness.

Alice would have pardoned him instantly; he knew it. She would say he is his own person who doesn’t owe her his life. But whether Alice forgave Kaiden or not, or if she even thought him to be responsible for her current state, which she most certainly did not, wasn’t the point.

In his mind, he was guilty.

He had left.

He had abandoned her.

So he didn’t offer an apology that felt like a plea to be absolved.

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