Harem Startup : The Demon Billionaire is on Vacation

Chapter 480 – Status Symbol

He shrugged. ”I attract everyone with my pheromones.”

”Cocky.”

”Accurate.”

And when Lylith reached the aisle and began approaching their row—slow, unbothered, her tail swaying like silk and death—Lux just sighed internally.

She knew what she was doing. Every sway of her scaled hips, every glint of red-gold in her slitted eyes, the way her smile hovered between flirtation and declaration of war. It wasn’t vanity. It was calculation. She was showing the room—and Lux in particular—that she wasn’t here to bid. She was here to hunt.

And maybe seduce. Probably both.

She passed by their row without breaking eye contact, her tail brushing subtly over the floor just beside Lux’s boot. Not touching. Just close enough to leave the scent of danger behind.

Sira didn’t move. But her nails tapped the armrest once. Twice. A slow, deliberate beat.

Lux, eyes still on Lylith’s disappearing silhouette, exhaled through his nose.

Then finally asked, ”What do you think, Sira?”

Sira tilted her head slightly, gaze trailing after the Lamia Queen as she took her seat across the VIP arc.

Her voice was low. Almost bored. ”Her?”

”Mm.”

Sira’s lips twitched. ”Dunno. I need to see more.”

Lux hummed. ”Fair.”

”She’s pretty,” Sira added, voice light. ”For a snake.”

”She has territory. Influence.”

”Sounds like a woman who wants to dominate you.”

”Sounds familiar,” Lux deadpanned.

Sira gave him a quick side glance and a crooked grin. ”Don’t flatter yourself.”

He smirked. ”Too late.”

Jeremy’s voice crackled over the speaker system.

”Our three main items today are from an exclusive collection—hand-harvested siren pearls, each with unique enchantment, history, and elegance,” Jeremy said, mic slightly steadier this time.

The lights dimmed. One by one, the curtains at the front of the stage lifted, revealing three crystalline cases.

Inside each?

A pearl.

But not just any pearl.

Lux’s eyes narrowed immediately.

Sira leaned forward, lips curling in disgust. ”Those are hers.”

Lux nodded once. ”All three.”

The third pearl pulsed faintly with its own inner light. It was beautiful—perfectly round, gleaming like a full moon dipped in divine water, but...

The energy inside?

It screamed.

Not loud.

But the way a violin string would if you twisted it until it snapped.

Sira’s voice dropped, dark and brittle. ”I want to kill him.”

”You can’t,” Lux muttered. ”We can’t. Not here. Not like this.”

”I can,” she corrected.

”You shouldn’t.”

”Then you better do something,” she snapped under her breath, jaw clenched. ”Because if I see that bastard auction off another piece of her suffering like it’s some status symbol, I will turn this entire room into fertilizer.”

Lux didn’t answer immediately.

He was already moving.

His hand lifted slightly—just enough to cup his palm upward. From within the folds of his aura, a shadow gathered. Twisted. Condensed.

”Corvus.”

- Pop!

A tiny raven appeared, perched neatly in his palm like it had always been there.

Sleek black feathers. Glowing violet eyes. And the absolute worst attitude in the underworld.

”Seriously?” Corvus croaked. ”You summon me here? With all these shiny mortals pretending to matter?”

Lux didn’t smile. ”Yup.”

Corvus hopped in a tiny circle, fluffed his wings, and glared. ”And you want me to do what, exactly? Offer them coupons? Hack their shopping lists?”

”I have a job for you,” Lux said smoothly, voice low enough not to carry past their row. ”The pearls. Find out everything. I want access logs, recording. How they were harvested. Who approved it. Every dirty, disgusting piece of history that led to them being in that box.”

Corvus’s eyes glowed.

”Ohhh... you want me to open those people again. Dig up the bones. Break a few minds. And showed it to the public.”

”Exactly,” Lux said.

Corvus cackled.

”I love this job.”

Sira, arms crossed, side-eyed the tiny raven. ”Do it fast.”

”Yeah, yeah,” Corvus muttered, already spreading his wings. ”But if you’re gonna go full massacre, give me at least five minutes head start before you paint the walls.”

Sira didn’t even flinch. ”I’m a devil, not a goddess.”

Corvus shivered. ”Ew... Demoness is scary.”

Then he vanished—phased out into spectral invisibility with a shimmer of obsidian dust and a faint whoosh of raven wings.

Lux leaned back in his seat.

Sira, beside him, was still tense. Her aura was low and steady, but that just meant the pressure was building.

”I’ll handle it,” he murmured. ”We’ll make them pay.”

Sira didn’t look at him.

But her hand slid across the armrest.

Just enough to brush his fingers.

A silent trust you.

He curled his pinky around hers.

A silent I got this.

Jeremy’s voice continued on-stage, full of performative warmth. ”Now, our first pearl—a medium-grade Siren tear. Refined in Delmar Sanctum waters, and bound with protective charms...”

Lux’s eyes flicked to Mariell.

She wasn’t watching the pearls.

She was watching him.

Oh, she had plans. Gossip. Leverage. Maybe even seduction, if she thought he was just some sugar-fed heir riding on his demon-daddy’s investments.

But she didn’t know.

Not yet.

That she was sitting in the presence of true Greed.

Not the mortal kind.

The real kind.

The kind that would ruin you politely—and leave you begging for more.

And as the next pearl came up—the second, the one pulsing with trauma and song-magic—Lux felt Corvus ping in his mind.

[Raven Protocol: Data incoming. Details of Ariel’s abduction, containment chamber schematics, Delmar-sanctioned extraction rites. ]

Lux smiled slowly.

”Well,” he whispered, ”looks like someone brought receipts.”

And right on cue, Corvus’s voice purred in his head—dry, smug, and far too pleased with himself.

’Hold that pretty smirk, boss. I’m almost done scrubbing through the mess. Give me two minutes and a projector screen. You’re about to have a live playback of moral bankruptcy.’

Lux didn’t flinch. Just leaned back slightly in his chair and whispered through the link, ’Keep it subtle.’

’Subtle is for tax audits. This is theater.’

Corvus paused dramatically, then added, ’Don’t worry. I’ll behave... just enough. Now stop being hot and mysterious and let the fool dig his own grave.’