Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 743: The Architect

"With that out of the way... How lucky are we that Natasha appeared on the stream?"

"Yeah!" Nyx nodded in agreement.

"I was really surprised," Kaiden said.

"I organized everything," Vespera announced.

"...Huh?" Six voices gasped together.

The silence afterward dragged on for three complete seconds—roughly two and a half seconds more than this specific bunch of women had ever managed to stay quiet as a group on any topic.

Kaiden glanced at his mother.

"What do you mean, you organized everything?"

His voice sounded parched. Even wry. The kind of tone from a guy who'd seen this woman grin with eyes shut as her husband's side chick wrecked his name live, and now pieced it all together in the blatantly clear way it should've clicked.

Vespera shrugged lightly against the couch, her usual sparing gesture for stuff not worth whole sentences.

"He tried to kill my children. I decided to ruin him." Casual. Straightforward. "I targeted every flaw he possessed and every one he thought he lacked."

That summed it up.

The girls sat stunned. Luna gazed at Vespera in wide-eyed wonder, Calypso's smirk grew broader, and the others resembled folks who'd just seen a lady admit to torching places while polishing her nails.

Kaiden examined his mother's expression. Serene. Zero trace of remorse.

"So you manipulated me," he stated.

Vespera shifted her gaze to him. Red eyes, unperturbed. "What do you mean?"

Kaiden met her stare. Then one side of his mouth quirked.

"No manipulation. Just... orchestration." He let out a breath via his nostrils. "Got it."

Vespera directed her focus back to the vague space ahead, content.

"Mother-in-law." Aria's voice rang from the other couch, hesitant. "What would you have done if Kai hadn’t noticed the donation?"

"Natasha had orders to keep sending donations until somebody noticed her. If that didn't work, backups were ready."

"Wow..." Nyx whispered.

"But what about her?" Aria pushed further. Her forehead wrinkled. "If Magnus was ready to kill his own son, a mistress who turned on him faces serious risk."

Vespera eyed Aria briefly before answering.

"She’s tucked away in a secret village of political outcasts amid Russia's mountains. I got her a mansion and wired plenty into her accounts so she'll never have to work again."

Aria breathed out in relief. Then Vespera tacked on,

"He was awfully cheap with her."

Her lips curved. A sharper bite than the uncommon kindness she'd given Kaiden that evening. Entertained. Icy.

"Even with such a glaring flaw hanging around for years, he never bothered making the woman rich. Securing her help was easy. No need to dangle threats over her life or kin. She jumped at the chance to wash her hands of that guy."

The atmosphere in the room changed.

It stayed hushed, but not because of Vespera's words. It stemmed from her delivery. Replies to Kaiden and Aria had been simple back-and-forths. Question posed, answer given, done. Pure Vespera style—she responded when addressed and gave no extras.

Yet no one had queried Magnus's spending ways. No one asked how eager Natasha had been. Vespera had wrapped up Aria's question paragraphs back, yet kept going. She tossed in fresh info, shared her take, and extended a chat she could've left without a word.

The Shadow Monarch was engaging in talk.

Kaiden sensed it first. A cozy glow in his chest tied not to the content but to the lady next to him opting, for once, to chat with her son's women because she wished to, not because duty called.

The girls picked up on it too. Nyx's mouth fell open slightly. Aria's palm drifted to her chest. Bastet's ears froze rigid, which for a felinid matched bated breath.

"Shadow Mommy." Calypso piped up abruptly. "If I may."

Vespera's brows lifted, a novel reaction. She hadn't batted an eye when her son's ladies knelt before her for unclear reasons or pledged vows she never requested.

She brushed off the comment.

"Everything you did, the cameras, the money, the planning... Why? I’ve heard a lot about you, and I expected you to have attacked Magnus ever since he began threatening Kai’s life. Why go through all of this instead of attacking him?"

It screamed peak Calypso curiosity. The Manifestation of Carnage, who solved most issues with an axe and zeal, truly couldn't grasp why a powerhouse opted for documents over direct assault.

Vespera required no pause to gather her reply.

"Magnus Morvane embodies a man defined entirely by his dominion. His guild, his standing, his very name. All he represents, all he perceives himself to be, anchors to the vast empire he forged across decades. Slay him outright, and it ends. Brief agony, then oblivion."

Her face shadowed over, crimson eyes shifting to a cruelty far beyond sadism.

"But make him witness it all. Force him to watch the masses reject him, label him a fraud, a abuser of women, a father scheming to kill his own boy, a guild head imperiling his followers with selfish choices. Let him behold the empire raised by his own efforts collapse into ruin."

Her lips twisted upward, shaping a stunningly deranged smile.

"That’s how you truly wound a man like him. Death? A mercy Morvane never earned."

Silence gripped the room.

Luna clapped her palms together deliberately—twice slow, then with building speed. Her features cracked wide with the reverence her inner gaming fiend held for the most crushing maneuvers she’d beheld. This was ultimate-endgame tactics from a strategist in the marathon contest Luna had ever encountered, igniting the fierce competitor within to scribble notes.

"Kai, your mom is so cool!"

Nyx nodded with fierce agreement, eyes gleaming. Calypso burst into laughter, the peal of someone grasping a bolder vision of devastation. Even Bastet’s tail flicked rhythmically in unmistakable approval, her golden gaze appraising Vespera like a prodigy beholding a virtuoso in motion.

’Terrifying,’ Kaiden shivered. ’Completely terrifying.’

...

The kitchen door flew open.

"Big brother! The puffs are ready and the cookies turned out perfect—I only scorched one tray, which wasn’t really my fault because-"

Alice swung around the corner, balancing a tray heaped with pastries, cookies, and a bizarre spire of cream puffs that mocked basic engineering principles. Alexandra trailed close, gripping another tray laden with cups and a steaming teapot, still dusting flour from her cheek.

Clearly, the kitchen had descended into greater disorder than normal, courtesy of one hyper bundle of enthusiasm unleashing festive frenzy.

Alice froze in place.

She surveyed the room. The five women either smirking, chuckling, or gazing at Vespera in raw awe. Kaiden’s ironic grin. Her mother, positioned next to her son, wearing a look Alice had never spotted on her face before.

"What happened?"

"Mother orchestrated the Natasha stream," Kaiden explained.

Alice blinked. "The donation? The call? The crying?"

"Yep."

Alice stared at Vespera. Vespera met her eyes.

"Even the bruises?"

Vespera offered no reply, which spoke volumes.

"MOM!!!!" Alice stomped her foot.

No reaction came.

Alice puffed in frustration. Alexandra swooped in to grab the tray, placed both on the table, and assumed her standard spot behind Kaiden’s couch—hands folded, posture rigid, head held high. The stance of dutiful service.

"Alex," Nyx summoned from the facing couch. "Don’t. Join us here, sit down."

"I’m fine. I’ll just-"

"You’ve toiled endlessly, and it’s deep into the night now..."

"I’m not weary and I like standing! It’s-"

"Fine, suit yourself~"

Alexandra’s form rose three inches from the rug. Her feet kicked air. Her hands darted to flatten her skirt, her composure shattering into outright panic within moments.

"Nyx! This is-" She drifted above the couch back. "This qualifies as awakened powers used on a non-awakened citizen! Per Association Code Section-"

Nyx snagged her by the waist and drew her down into her lap. Alexandra’s spine met Nyx’s torso, the spatial grip fading, stranding her nestled in the pinkette’s embrace with her protest trailing off.

"Section what?" Nyx queried sweetly.

Alexandra pivoted to Vespera. The Shadow Monarch commanded utmost authority here, an agent empowered to uphold any rule at will, and Alexandra’s gaze brimmed with desperate appeal.

Vespera eyed the cream puffs—and the daughter still shooting daggers at her.

Alexandra’s head snapped to Kaiden. Her final lifeline. The one who valued her, rescued her, who’d never allow—

Alice ceased her glare at her mother right then, slipping between the couches with a tray of treats aloft.

"Big brother! I baked these just for you!"

The view broke. Alexandra’s mouth worked soundlessly behind Alice’s form, as Nyx’s hold cinched tighter, locking her in place.

Kaiden observed sidelong. Alexandra wriggling in Nyx’s lap, slapping at restraining arms, cheeks aflame. Resisting. Pummeling lightly. Flustered, irked, fully engaged.

Just a girl peeved at her pal for scooping her up unasked. Nothing else.

Relief washed over his chest.

He raised his gaze to Alice. "For me?"

"For you!"

"You mean for all of us?"