Harem Startup : The Demon Billionaire is on Vacation

Chapter 121 – You’re Thinking Too Loud

Fifteen minutes later, she finished interrogating Lux.

The glowing datasheet hovered beside them in the soft ambient light of the courtyard, its runes gradually dimming as the last few words scrolled across the surface. Selena’s fingers moved with clean precision—graceful, deliberate, practiced. Every question, every keyword, every celestial-legal clause lined up waiting for approval.

Lux, in the meantime, sat exactly where he had been, lounging like this was just another rooftop café and not a secured courtyard in the highest plane of existence. His shirt was back on, but a few buttons were still open. Probably on purpose. His suit draped half off the stone bench. He looked comfortable. Too comfortable. And that irritated her for reasons she couldn’t fully explain.

With a faint chime, the report finalized. The signature lock blinked.

Selena tapped it once, confirming divine verification.

Then, slowly... she put the pen down.

Her fingers lingered on the smooth surface of the report scroll, still faintly warm from magic. But she didn’t move to send it yet. Her eyes drifted instead—to the crystalline pond ahead, the gentle ripple of glowing koi-sigils, the holy breeze winding through silver-leafed branches overhead.

”Does it scare you?” she asked suddenly, voice quieter now. ”All of this. The attack and all.”

Lux tilted his head, eyes flicking toward her.

”Not yet,” he said, almost too easily.

A pause.

”Should it?”

She didn’t answer.

Not immediately.

Because the truth was—yes.

It should terrify him.

And the fact that it didn’t? That shook something inside her far more than the attack itself.

She stayed still, staring ahead, not trusting her voice.

Lux watched her carefully now. No smile. No sarcasm. Just eyes like twin obsidian flames, sharp but calm.

”You’re doing that thing again,” he said softly. ”Where you pretend you’re not worried, but you are.”

Selena stayed quiet.

He didn’t look away. ”You know something, don’t you?”

Her fingers tensed slightly on the scroll. He noticed.

”Selena.”

She turned to glance at him. Just a little.

”Whatever’s spinning in that head of yours,” he said, voice even, ”you’re not letting me see it.”

Her lips parted, and for a second—it looked like she might say something. Confess, explain, give him a glimpse.

But then her expression shifted. Professional. Composed. Walled-off.

She stood up.

”I’ll send this to the Tribunal,” she said. ”You won’t have to explain anything more. For now.”

The silence that followed wasn’t peaceful.

It was heavy.

Tangled in all the words neither of them were saying.

Selena stared at the pond again, but it didn’t help. Its shimmer, once calming, now only reflected the strange pressure in her chest. Like something was twisting itself quietly behind her ribs.

She knew she liked him.

Had known it for a while now—long before this mission, long before the ambush, even before his name first landed on her celestial files. The moment she saw him at the Multirealm Summit, lounging at the edge of the assembly circle with that damned smirk and eyes that saw through too much—she’d known.

But this?

Being here. Alone. Healing him. Feeling his heartbeat under her palm...

This was something else.

Lux hadn’t moved. He just tilted his head up, watching her with that slow devilish patience that always made her nervous for reasons she refused to say aloud.

”You look like you’re thinking too loud,” he said eventually.

She folded her arms.

He let the silence hang for a few more seconds, then said—casually, of course, like he wasn’t about to press a celestial button—

”If you have anything... just tell me.”

He blinked. He looked at him again, brows slightly furrowed. ”You sound like Celestria.”

”I’m not trying to sound like her.”

Lux’s grin curled. ”Then... since you said it—I’ll use this chance to demand a little honesty.”

Their eyes locked.

The courtyard suddenly felt too still.

Lux leaned forward, his voice dipping. ”Do you have feelings for me?”

Selena opened her mouth—but Lux held up a hand.

”Cause I caught that from you,” he said. ”Clearly. You might cover it. You might deny it. But I know.”

His voice softened—no teasing now, just truth. ”You’re a warm goddess. It’s obvious. But when you hide something, you don’t go neutral—you go cold. Shut off. Stiff posture. You pretend it doesn’t bug you, but it does. It eats you alive inside.”

Selena froze.

Her heart jolted—so sudden, so sharp that she almost dropped her composure.

He wasn’t wrong.

And she hated how right he was.

Only Solara knew that. Her twin. The only one who ever called her out when she’d walk out of a Multi Realm briefing too fast, or glance at Lux when she thought no one noticed. But Lux had never said anything before. Never acted like he knew.

And now—he just laid it bare.

Like it was obvious.

Selena looked down. Her fingers twitched slightly at her sides. She didn’t want to speak. Not like this. Not when the air still smelled like him and her palm still remembered the beat of his heart.

Lux watched her with the kind of patience only someone ancient could afford. But there was a storm behind his calm. Something more.

And that made her speak.

But not the answer he wanted.

”I don’t think you’re easy to like,” she said quietly.

That wasn’t what he expected. His eyes narrowed just a little.

”I don’t think you’re safe to like,” she continued, stepping away from the scroll and walking closer to the pond’s edge. ”You come in like a fire. Burn fast. Talk faster. You read people too well, and you never stay where they expect.”

Lux didn’t interrupt. His gaze followed her the entire time.

”But,” she said, ”some fires don’t burn everything down. Some fires... make you feel alive.”

Her voice dropped a little.

”And that’s harder to ignore.”

Silence again. Softer this time. But tense.

Lux’s smirk faded. Just slightly.

”...That wasn’t a yes or a no,” he said.

”I know.”

”Is that your goddess answer?”

”No,” she said. ”That’s my honest one.”

He stood.

Not fast. Not with drama. Just slow enough to make the moment stretch.