Kaiden shut the door behind them, letting the muffled sounds of the demoness vs the valkyries' incest-prevention debate fade out.

Alice stood in the middle of the room, hands clutched together in front of her chest, shoulders hunched, gaze glued to her toes as if the floor held the secrets of the universe.

She was deliberately tiny.

Deliberately fragile.

Deliberately pathetic.

And Kaiden knew she was doing it on purpose, appearing as an innocent little kitten who could do absolutely no wrong in the world. She did it in hopes of preventing him from lashing out at her.

The whole situation would raise the eyebrows of any observers, as Alice, despite being younger, was stronger than Kaiden. As long as one didn't count the dungeon and its inhabitants as part of Kaiden's power, of course.

But that was neither here nor there. What mattered was that this high-level, S-tier awakened was looking like a puppy getting scolded by her owner, having absolutely zero intentions of fighting back. How could she? That was against everything this girl stood for. The notion didn't even materialize in her head.

Instead, she just kept looking at her toes while tracking her big brother with her other senses, hoping to see a chance to shift her strategies into cuteness overdrive when the opportunity was just right, escaping any scolding.

Alice hated it when her brother scolded her. Little sisters were meant to be hugged and loved, not scolded!

Kaiden did not share the sentiment as he began pacing in front of her like a drill sergeant preparing to discipline the most hopelessly deranged recruit in military history. One look at his face made it clear he was not buying her act.

After a long moment, he stopped and looked at her.

"You can stop this nonsense now."

Alice made a tiny whimpering sound.

"I-I have no idea what you mean…"

Kaiden stared at her for a full five seconds.

Alice squirmed.

Finally, he sighed, releasing a deep, weary, older-than-his-years tired sound.

"Alice. My beloved sister. I feel like we've had this discussion multiple times already."

"Ugh! Nooo…." Alice's whimpering intensified.

Because he was very right.

And she knew he was very right.

And she knew that he knew that she knew he was very right.

But still, she persisted.

"I-I don't… I don't know what you're talking about…" she tried, voice trembling, eyes still desperately fixed on the floor. She was visibly wrestling with the concept of lying to her most adored human being. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

Kaiden took a slow breath.

Then he quoted her, voice flat:

"You can't do that! Not with MY big brother! Lick each other or something, you horny hussies!!"

Alice flinched as if she'd been shot right in the chest.

"Seriously?" Kaiden asked.

He reached out and gently took hold of her chin, lifting her face from its deep study of the floor.

"Alice."

Her eyes shimmered instantly, tears gathering at the rims. She was not pretending anything now; those were not fake crocodile tears. Being forced to look at him while in disgrace was her greatest weakness.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered, voice cracking.

Kaiden exhaled again, softer this time, and lifted both hands to cradle her cheeks, tilting her face fully toward him. His thumbs brushed away the first escaping tears.

"Ah!" Alice gasped, completely overwhelmed by the unexpected tenderness. For a moment, she forgot she was being chastised at all.

But Kaiden didn't let her forget for long.

"I agreed to have you visit us in our home because I thought it would help you calm down a little. I know separation was hard on you after I left for college. I thought if we spent time together, things would return to how they were back in the Ashborn mansion."

Alice's breath hitched.

Kaiden continued, gently but firmly:

"Can we agree that back then, you were in much better control of your emotions? I don't know what exactly happened in my absence, but you seem to have been struggling."

Alice's delicate features froze, then twisted. Pain, longing, fury, and grief all tangled together at once to form one horror-induced expression. The memory of those years, years without seeing him once, ripped through her violently, reminding the girl of the PTSD she suffered.

Her expression went cold.

Hollow.

Haunted.

"It was pure torture."

Her words lingered in the air like a guillotine, and Kaiden felt the sharp edge of it right against his conscience.

He looked at Alice's hollow expression and finally accepted the uncomfortable truth:

He was at least partially to blame.

The Ashborn household had never been a home.

It was a pressure chamber.

A breeding ground for prodigies and monsters.

There were no warm dinners.

No cheering parents.

No casual affection.

Only ranking, achievement, and the constant need to outperform.

And he, being the only unawakened child in a family built around power, couldn't stand the crushing weight of being the weakest link. So he fled. He dressed it up as "college" and "independence," but in the end…

He ran away.

And in running, he left her behind.

Even if he hadn't consciously known she would suffer, some part of him had understood exactly what abandoning her meant. He knew she clung to him. He knew she depended on him. Yet he left anyway, for his own sanity, his own comfort, his own pride.

Alice's current extreme attachment…

Her possessiveness…

Her spiraling emotions…

They might very well be the fruit of his own cowardice.

Because to Alice, he wasn't just a brother.

He was her light in that dark house. Her warmth in the cold.

Her one human connection.

While their siblings sneered at her setbacks and ignored her accomplishments because praising her would make them look lesser, Kaiden celebrated her like she mattered.

When she failed, he guided her.

When she succeeded, he lifted her by the armpits and spun her around, smiling, proud of her simply for being her.

He was the only one who didn't treat her like a rival.

Magnus, their father, was the same as the others. Distant, strict, obsessed with strength and lineage.

Vespera was different, yes, but she was a storm in perpetual motion. Always busy, always moving, always consumed by matters beyond the household. And even if she had been free…

Vespera was an introvert carved from obsidian.

Bonding wasn't natural to her.

Even with her own children.

She loved Alice, but struggled to take on the role the girl needed. She couldn't provide the same warmth that Kaiden had, even when she tried.

So in that house of ice, ambition, and isolation… Alice had exactly one warm bond.

And he had cut it.

Kaiden exhaled slowly, looking at the girl who was trembling, now no longer from fear of punishment, but from the memory of abandonment.

"…Alice," he said softly, tone losing its scolding edge.

He brushed her cheek again, slower now.

Her eyes shimmered, but she didn't look away.

For the first time since dragging her from the room, Kaiden wasn't annoyed.

He wasn't exhausted.

He wasn't overwhelmed.

He was guilty.

It was easy to call Alice an unhinged little sister and conclude that she was one heck of a weird girl, but that would be missing the small details, the points in their shared past that had led to her current state.

Her voice came out small and brittle at the edges:

"You left and the house got so dark, big brother...."

Kaiden swallowed.

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