Demonic Pornstar System novel Chapter 521

Chapter 521: Ashborn Sibling Reunion

"Little brother," the woman began while her eyes swept him from head to toe without hiding her judgment. "How have you been?"

There was not a single shred of warmth.

Kaiden just stared back.

She clicked her tongue dramatically. "Aww, come on! Your big sis will tear up if you treat her like this..." she whined, even lifting a hand to her eye as if preparing to shed a tear on command.

Fake.

Every bit of it.

Predictably, the twins stepped up with anger flashing in their eyes, hot and stupid.

"Don’t be rude, you fucker!" one snapped.

"Yeah, show proper respect!" the other added, puffing his chest as if that helped.

Kaiden closed his eyes.

Deep breath.

Opened them again.

Selena.

Cassian.

Calix.

His older sister and his two younger brothers.

All three were absolute pieces of work.

Spitting images of their father, Magnus, in all the worst ways.

The Ashborn mansion had never been a serene place.

Not before the mana apocalypse, nor once it hit.

Peace was a foreign concept inside those walls.

From birth, every child was expected to perform.

Vespera, kind at her core despite everything, had been part of that problem, too.

Not out of malice. Not out of cruelty.

But because she herself had been raised under the same suffocating expectations by her own cold, demanding parents.

She had excelled from the moment she could walk, so she assumed, believed, that pushing her children the same way would give them the best chance at a meaningful life. After all, what mother wants their sons and daughters to become lost in their way?

And for a long time, she didn’t question that.

Not until ’that’ happened.

Not until she watched the quiet, depressing spiral Kaiden fell into when he couldn’t awaken, something he had zero control over. A wound no amount of effort could fix.

That was when it hit her.

All the pressure.

All the demands.

All the unseen weight she’d placed on his shoulders.

Because it wasn’t just that Kaiden was one of the unlucky 85% who didn’t awaken, no, he was the sole child in the household full of awakened - a household that demanded excellence and respected competence. By the way she brought her own children up, he was understandably feeling horrible, like a true failure.

That was when regret grew in the woman like a sickness.

This was why Kaiden felt so emotional back when she visited them in their new home and went as far as to openly declare that he was her pride, her amazing son. It meant a lot to Kaiden, who grew up in this suffocating setting.

And this was why, back when Kaiden could take the depression no longer and left for college, once she saw the results of her own parenting style, she stopped.

But Magnus?

He didn’t stop.

Magnus was worse.

He was the architect of the tension that now simmered between the siblings standing in this room.

It wasn’t enough for him that his children excelled; they had to compete.

He fostered a home where one-upmanship was the norm.

Where emotional closeness was a weakness.

Where every victory earned praise... and every failure earned frost.

Where each child was silently pushed to claw their way toward the title of heir apparent.

Kaiden and Alice never bought into it, not truly. They were content not inheriting the large conglomerate that became New Dawn once they rebranded.

They refused to play the game.

But Selena?

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