Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 625: Marcus and Elena

The man stood first and offered his hand. Kaiden took it without hesitation. The grip was firm, grateful, and just a little unsteady.

”Thank you for protecting our daughter... I am ashamed as a father.”

”Ashamed?” Kaiden repeated as he looked at the man.

The man hurriedly shook his head at once, the words clearly sitting wrong with him now that they were out. ”No! That’s not what I meant. I’m proud of my strong daughter. What I’m ashamed of is myself, my inability to protect her when she needed it. That failure is mine, not hers.”

”My name is Marcus,” he added after a moment. ”Alexandra’s father.”

The woman beside him placed a hand on his arm and then looked at Kaiden. ”Elena,” she said. Her voice was calm but tight around the edges. Her eyes shifted past Kaiden toward the doorway he had come through. ”Is she here?”

Kaiden studied them for a brief moment before answering. ”She decided to stay at home, I’m afraid. I hoped she’d come, but it quickly became clear that she wasn’t ready to meet you yet. She’s anxious, and she needs more time.”

Vespera glanced at her son then.

Her expression did not change, but her gaze lingered on him a fraction longer than necessary.

Why?

Because the Shadow Monarch knew exactly where Alexandra was standing, which was just out of sight, more than close enough to hear every word spoken in this room. However, she said nothing.

Marcus and Elena exchanged a look. It was quick and quiet and full of shared understanding.

”That’s all right,” Elena said after a moment, visibly sorrowful. ”We can wait. It’s her recovery that matters.”

Kaiden nodded. ”I’d like to speak with you both for a bit, if that’s okay.”

”Of course,” Elena replied immediately.

Kaiden took the empty seat beside his mother and leaned back, resting an arm along the chair as he faced them. His posture was relaxed, but his attention was fully on the pair across from him.

”Tell me about Alexandra, about how she was before all of this. I’m curious.”

Marcus let out a slow breath and glanced at his wife before speaking.

”She was a wonderful child, giving us almost zero trouble,” he started chuckling, patting Elena’s shoulder as he added, ”she’s our only child. When my wife got pregnant, we prepared meticulously, reading so many books on how to properly raise our child. We were prepared for nasty tantrums, for nights spent awake, for arguments, but nothing... She was a real angel.”

Marcus said these words bittersweetly, with a pained expression, which was accentuated when Elena sobbed loudly. Clearly, both parents were very emotional.

Marcus then added, ”From the moment she could walk, she wanted to be around people. Neighbors, cousins, kids at the park. She made friends everywhere we went. Loud, curious, always asking questions, always smiling at strangers like they were already part of her world.”

Elena nodded along while wiping her tears. ”She was a cheeky girl... Not rude, just bold. She would speak her mind and then laugh when adults didn’t know how to answer her. Teachers loved her. Other parents would tell us she was the one who kept groups together when arguments broke out.”

”She was happy,” Marcus sighed. ”Up until she was about ten, our biggest worry was getting her to come home before dark.”

His hands tightened where they rested on his knees. Elena’s fingers curled into the fabric of her dress.

”Then the Mana Apocalypse came, and we heard about the academy,” Marcus gritted his teeth. ”They were recruiting children with potential, promising better odds of awakening, better futures, protection in a world that was changing too fast for anyone to understand.”

Elena swallowed hard. ”We just wanted what was best for our daughter,” she decreed with a shaky voice. ”Everyone was scared back then. People were talking about power gaps and survival, and what would happen to families without awakened members. Poor Alex...”

Her eyes filled, and she broke off.

Julia stood without a word and crossed the short distance to her, holding out a handkerchief. Elena took it after a moment and dabbed at her eyes.

”Thank you,” she said quietly.

Marcus looked down at the floor. ”I despise myself for it. The whole thing was new back then. No one really knew how it worked. That’s what I tell myself, but it doesn’t excuse what we did. We signed papers we did not understand, with a man like that... We trusted a man who spoke well and painted a future that sounded like a dream. Our humble family, having an awakened?! Not just that, but one with a bright future even among awakened?!”

His jaw tightened. ”I should have read every line. I should have asked so many more questions. I should have walked away. Instead, I believed the dream we were sold.”

Kaiden listened without interrupting. When Marcus finally fell silent, he nodded once and spoke with a voice that wasn’t confrontational.

”I understand. I’m not here to judge you. I like Alexandra, I care a great deal about that precious person, and hope to see her smile as bright as possible one day. I wanted to know who raised her, that’s all. You don’t need to defend yourselves or your actions before me.”

Marcus let out a breath he seemed to have been holding for years. Elena did the same beside him, shoulders sagging as the weight of the moment pressed back in.

”But I deserve to be judged,” Marcus said hoarsely. ”I ruined my little girl’s life.”

Elena’s composure broke again at that, her face folding as the quiet sobs returned. She pressed the handkerchief to her mouth, shaking.

Kaiden’s gaze shifted briefly to Julia. Their eyes met, and he tilted his head just enough to make his intent clear. Julia hesitated, then understood. She gave Elena’s shoulder a final, gentle squeeze and moved away, taking a seat beside Kaiden without a word and leaving the parents alone with him.

He wanted to speak and understand their real feelings without Julia shielding the mother, without politeness or social instinct smoothing over the raw edges. This wasn’t about comfort. It was about truth.

It had been what Alexandra needed, after all.

...

The journey to the manor had been quiet at first, the kind of heavy silence that sat between engine hum and passing scenery. Alexandra sat with her knees pulled close and hands folded tight in her lap. At every checkpoint they passed, every kilometer that brought them closer, she grew more restless. Her leg bounced. Her fingers twisted together until her knuckles went pale. By the time the spires of the city had appeared in the distance, she was barely sitting still.

”They must hate me!” she’d whimpered suddenly, voice small and brittle, staring at the reinforced floor instead of him.

Nyx shook her head. ”Blondie, you’re going to drive yourself insane. Stop making such strong assumptions based on nothing.”

”Nothing? They should feel that way... I ruined their lives, their reputation. I’m... I’m the infamous daughter people whisper about.” Her breathing had hitched. ”They must be so ashamed of me.”

A sense of guilt washed over Kaiden and his girls. After all, Alexandra published a video where she accused Maximilian and ChronosX of their crimes so that Kaiden and co could win the war.

Alexandra made a major sacrifice for them.