THE PRIESTESS'S WORTHLESS HUSBAND IS A DRAGON

CHAPTER 1: BASEMENT PART 1

Ethan pushed open the front doors of the Morrison estate with both hands, and for the first time in eighteen years, he was smiling so wide his cheeks hurt. His heart was pounding, not from fear, not from anxiety, but from pure, raw excitement that he couldn't contain no matter how hard he tried. His shoes clicked fast against the marble hallway as he half walked, half ran toward the grand hall where he knew his parents would be sitting at this hour.

Today was the day. Today everything would change.

He had spent eighteen years being invisible in this house. Eighteen years of watching his parents pour every ounce of their love into Derek while he stood in the corner like a piece of furniture nobody wanted but nobody bothered to throw away. He had told himself a thousand times that it was because he wasn't good enough. That Derek was smarter, more talented, more worthy of their attention. That if Ethan could just do something extraordinary, something undeniable, his parents would finally turn their heads and see him standing there.

And today, he had done it. He had awakened his bloodline.

He burst through the grand hall doors with his chest heaving and his eyes bright, and the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could even catch his breath.

"Father! Mother! I did it!" Ethan's face was flushed red, his eyes shining like a child who had just brought home his first gold star. "I awakened my bloodline! The examiners at the Awakening Hall said my Core stability is in the top percentile. I actually did it!"

He stood there in the center of the grand hall, grinning, panting, waiting for the moment he had been dreaming about since he was old enough to understand that his parents loved his brother more than him. He waited for his father to stand up. For his mother to open her arms. For someone, anyone, to say the words he had been starving to hear his entire life.

Well done, Ethan. We're proud of you.

But Richard Morrison didn't stand up. He didn't smile. He didn't even blink. He sat in his chair on the raised platform with his jaw clenched so tight the muscles in his cheeks twitched. His eyes were dark, cold, and fixed on Ethan with a look that could have frozen boiling water.

Patricia sat beside him, her handkerchief already pressed against her nose, her eyes swollen and red, refusing to look at Ethan at all.

The smile on Ethan's face flickered. Then it cracked. Then it slowly, painfully, died.

"Father...? Did you hear what I said? I awakened my..."

"Kneel."

The single word hit the air like a hammer striking an anvil. Richard's voice was so low, so controlled, so full of barely contained fury that it didn't even sound like a voice anymore. It sounded like a warning that came right before something terrible.

Ethan blinked. His lips parted, but nothing came out. His brain couldn't connect the word to any reason that made sense. He had just awakened his bloodline. He had just achieved what half the candidates at the Awakening Hall failed to do. And his father's first word to him was kneel.

"I... Father, I don't understand. What did I..."

"I said kneel!" Richard slammed his fist against the armrest so hard the wood cracked beneath his knuckles. "Get on your knees right now, or I will have the guards put you there."

Ethan's legs moved before his mind could catch up. His knees hit the cold marble floor, and the impact shot through his bones like electricity. His palms lay open on his thighs, fingers trembling, head forced down by the sheer weight of his father's stare. The grand hall stretched wide around him, tall pillars and golden chandeliers towering above like a courtroom built to crush small things.

Richard stood from his chair, his hands clasped behind his back, his chin lifted so high he looked down at Ethan the way a man looks at a stain on his shoe.

"You disgusting, ungrateful parasite."