Harem Startup : The Demon Billionaire is on Vacation

Chapter 471 – Comfort

Before he could answer, a small shape shifted beside her. Lullaby, still bundled like a sleepy dumpling, reached out a single arm. It moved slow. Lazily. Like gravity had to beg her to lift it. Her fingers patted Sira’s head once. Then again.

Sira blinked.

”...What are you doing,” she muttered.

”Comfort,” Lullaby said dully. Her eyes didn’t even open. ”Poor you.”

Sira stared at her.

”Don’t think too much,” Lullaby continued, her voice as soft and unbothered as someone sleep-talking their way through an apocalypse. ”Lux will be Lux. He’s too corrupted. He’s greedy. And sometimes he thinks with his d*ck.”

Lux choked on his coffee.

”Gee,” he coughed. ”Thanks, Lullaby.”

”You’re welcome,” she mumbled, curling back into her blanket cocoon without even a flicker of shame.

Sira blinked again. Then—against all odds—let out a half-laugh. Small. Dry. But real.

”I mean... she’s not wrong,” she muttered.

”Can we not talk about my d*ck before breakfast is over?” Lux groaned.

”No promises,” Lullaby said from the depth of her kraken-approved chair.

Sira finally turned to him. Her posture still stiff, but her gaze had softened.

”You really won’t bend?” she asked, quieter now. ”Not even for Celestaria?”

Lux leaned forward, forearms resting on the table, voice calm but serious.

”I don’t bend, Sira. I pivot strategically. I sway for drama, though I don’t like drama. But I don’t bend. And I sure as hell don’t betray the people I trust.”

Her throat moved in a swallow.

He kept going.

”Celestaria might wear white silk and angel dust, but she’s still in the game. Same rules. Different shine. And I don’t play for both teams. I play for mine.”

Sira stared at him. Really stared this time. Her eyes, those searing Pride-bred things, ringed in authority, lit with something fierce and fragile all at once—searched his face like she didn’t want to believe him but couldn’t help it.

”You...” she began, voice soft but steel-edged. ”You better not.”

Lux smirked. ”I’m insulted you think I’d fold for divine approval. I haven’t folded for Hell’s board of directors and they tried to throw me into a dimension collapse.”

She rolled her eyes, but her fingers relaxed around her fork. Just a little.

Then—

Footsteps. Heels clicking across polished black marble.

Naomi.

She entered with a smooth glide, like someone who was always late but always right for it. Her hair was in a loose side bun, curls still wet at the ends from the morning rush, her tan coat slung over one shoulder, phone tucked under her arm.

She stopped just inside the dining room and blinked.

”Oh my god,” Naomi said. ”Even Rava and Mira are gone already? What kind of multiversal breakfast did I miss?”

”Morning, Naomi,” Lux said lazily, still nursing his coffee.

Lullaby, still curled sideways in her chair like a cozy ghost, lifted her milk glass. ”But I’m here too.”

Naomi walked past, reached out, and absently patted Lullaby’s head like a sleepy cat.

”Morning, Lullaby.”

Lullaby blinked.

Paused.

Then turned to Lux, very slowly. ”Naomi just patted my head.”

Lux sipped. ”I saw.”

”A mortal just patted my head,” Lullaby repeated, stunned, like she was watching a rerun of her own trauma.

Naomi froze mid-step. ”...Was I not supposed to?”

Lux shook his head. ”No, you can do that.”

He set his mug down and pointed casually at Lullaby. ”She’s happy.”

Lullaby turned toward Naomi and, with the weight of a sloth who had found her branch, hugged Naomi’s waist.

”You’re my favorite human now, Naomi.”

Naomi blinked. ”Huh? Just like that?”

Lux nodded solemnly. ”She’s a Sloth, Naomi. The bar is low. Your mortal warmth just overwrote years of indifference.”

Naomi gave Lullaby a soft pat on the head and let the tiny sleepy demon cling to her leg like an emotional parasite. Then she sat down next to Lux and exhaled. The coffee machine clicked once, sensed her presence, and poured her a mug automatically.

She took a sip and groaned. ”Finally.”

Lux leaned toward her with a grin. ”So... what’s the reason for your fashionable delay? Grooming?”

Naomi huffed, brushing a crumb off the table as she reached for the jam.

”There was chaos,” she said simply, but her tone already had that ring.

Lux raised a brow. ”Small chaos or proper chaos?”

”Small. So far. Near the Delacour estate.”

Sira paused, toast halfway to her mouth.

Lux narrowed his eyes. ”That’s rare.”

Naomi nodded. ”Exactly. That’s the weird part.”

She set her mug down, expression tightening slightly. ”A man came to the hospital last night. Middle-aged. With a hand of gold, Lux.”

Lux pressed his lips.

”Severe transformation. It wasn’t born that way. And it wasn’t artifice either. Real grade gold. Attached at the elbow, fused to bone and muscle. But it wasn’t his. And... It gets better.”

Lux took a long, slow sip from his mug.

Naomi leaned in. ”His leg too. Replaced with a matching golden structure.”

Lux paused mid-sip.

Naomi went on, voice sharper now. ”He demanded surgery. But when he woke up, the leg was gone. Now he wanted it back.”

Lux choked on his drink.

Naomi looked over. ”You okay?”

”Yah—” cough ”—fine. Coffee just—wrong pipe.”

Sira folded her arms. ”Nope. It’s his doing.”

Naomi blinked. ”His what?”

Sira pointed at Lux, unimpressed. ”You don’t remember what he said yesterday? ’I turned the criminals into a commodity.’ Sound familiar?”

Lullaby nodded solemnly, still hanging off Naomi’s leg like a sleepy barnacle. ”He turned a man’s leg into profit.”

Naomi blinked. ”Wait. Wait wait. You cursed someone into gold?”

Lux raised both hands, innocent expression in full smug mode. ”I didn’t curse. I transmuted.”

Sira stared. ”That is the same thing.”

”I used a spell. Not a grudge.”

Naomi blinked. ”So... you turned someone’s limbs into solid gold.”

Lux shrugged. ”Well... He was a syndicate asset and I can’t kill him directly so...”

Lullaby whispered, ”That’s almost poetic.”

”I warned him,” Lux said simply.

Naomi set her fork down. ”Lux.”

He blinked. ”Yes?”

”He killed people. On the street.”