Harem Startup : The Demon Billionaire is on Vacation

Chapter 492 – Parental Dispute [Part 1]

Lux’s pulse beat harder than he liked. His mind raced. If Zavros was telling the truth, then either the artifact had a twin—or the one on his mother’s neck had already been copied. Which meant someone breached their house security. Their lineage.

Or worse—

There was a deeper connection to the first greed than even the system could trace.

[Warning: Heart rate elevated. Suggestion: Breathe. Or stab something.]

Lux ignored it.

”You said it was made from the first sin of greed,” he repeated.

”Yes.”

”Which means the magic inside it is older than the system.”

Zavros nodded slowly. ”Correct.”

”Then tell me... who made it?”

Zavros hesitated.

Just a blink.

But Lux saw it.

He didn’t like that blink.

It meant something was being edited in real-time.

Lux stepped back again.

Zavros straightened. ”Lux...”

”Don’t,” Lux said. ”If you lie to me—”

”I never lied to you.”

”You omitted half my childhood and buried my name in expense reports for almost two centuries.”

”Character building.”

”Bullshit.”

Zavros smiled faintly. ”You’re still angry.”

”I’m still calculating,” Lux corrected. ”There’s a difference.”

The silence between them simmered.

Zavros snapped his fingers, and the room shifted—curtains drawing closed, runes humming with heat, the floor adjusting with a gentle mechanical clink like it was deciding whether this was a family conversation or an ambush in disguise.

Lux didn’t flinch.

He stood firm in his black slacks, silk shirt open at the collar, aura faintly humming. Not because he wanted to flex—he didn’t need to. But because this place demanded caution. And his father? Always played with loaded dice.

Zavros stepped forward with the elegance of someone who knew no one could touch him. ”You want an explanation?” he said smoothly. ”I’ll give it to you.”

Lux crossed his arms. ”I’m listening.”

Zavros gestured toward the black emblem etched into the obsidian floor between them. ”That ruby. The one on your mother’s necklace. It was crafted from the crystallized blood of the first sin of greed. Our ancestor.”

”Mammon.”

Zavros nodded. ”Yes. Not the title. The being. The original greed. Before contracts. Before vaults. Before we knew how to count sins with coin.”

Lux’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t interrupt.

”That’s why I said it’s a family heirloom. Mortal hands can’t hold it, let alone wear it. Its aura alone would shred their soul’s alignment. Unless...”

Lux cut in. ”Unless they’re bound to our bloodline.”

Zavros smiled. ”Exactly.”

Lux took that in, eyes narrowing. ”So it’s not listed in the Vault logs.”

”No. It never was. It stays in the bloodline. Even if the family breaks, the ruby doesn’t leave. It stays.”

Lux nodded slowly. ”I see...”

He paced a little. Let that settle. Ran the pieces through his mind like he was auditing a crime scene made of memories. But something still didn’t click.

He stopped and turned back. ”Do we have another?”

Zavros raised a brow. ”Another ruby?”

”Another dark ruby. Like that one.”

Zavros gave a short laugh. ”Do you have a most-loved one, Lux? One woman above all others?”

Lux didn’t answer. His face was stone.

Zavros kept going, smirking. ”Because from what I’ve seen, you’ve got quite the collection in the mortal realm. Naomi, Rava, Sira, Mira, Lullaby... Should I keep going? If you want to give a piece of our legacy to all of them, I oppose it—deeply. I mean, imagine trying to split Mammon’s blood five ways? You’d destabilize Hell’s economy with heartbreak alone.”

Lux’s eyes didn’t move. ”Just answer the question.”

Zavros tilted his head, amused but cautious. ”No. There’s only one.”

Lux narrowed his eyes. ”Really?”

”Yes. Your mother is the only one.”

”You sure?”

Zavros blinked. ”I just said—”

”Because,” Lux said, cutting him clean, ”I caught your hesitation.”

Zavros froze for a heartbeat. Just long enough.

Lux’s smile was sharp. ”And I never miss that.”

Zavros exhaled, eyes narrowing. ”Is this about the girl you saw in the mortal realm?”

”You’re damn right it is.”

”Oh, come on, Lux. Maybe it was fake. A cheap knockoff. Something cursed, maybe—but not the real ruby. That’s impossible.”

”I’m Greed, Dad. Your flesh. Your blood. I can tell.”

Zavros took a slow step forward, cane forgotten. ”Lux—”

”Or...” Lux’s voice turned darker, ”do you have another girl in the mortal realm?”

”WHAT?”

The shriek hit like a whip.

Lux and Zavros turned at the same time.

There she was.

Seraphyne.

Lux’s mother.

And yeah... she was mad.

She stood in the arched doorway like a queen descending from a broken opera. Her long hair whipped behind her, curled and coiled by unseen heat. Her dress was blood-red silk clinging to her like scandal, low-cut enough to make most demon lords stutter, and her eyes—those infamous eyes—flared bright crimson.

Her rage stopped the room cold.

And the necklace... The dark ruby glowed on her throat.

Like it was listening.

”Zavros,” she said, voice like velvet wrapping around a dagger, ”how dare you?”

Zavros looked like a banker caught with his ledger open mid-affair.

”Wait—honey—I can explain.”

”You can try,” she hissed, stepping forward.

And her beautiful appearance shifted.

Gone was the perfect queen.

Now?

Full demonic form.

Her skin shimmered with a rose-gold undertone that pulsed like lava under moonlight. Horns curled back from her temples, sleek and polished. Her wings—red, lust-stained, and veined with power—unfurled with a snap that shook the air. Her nails lengthened into black talons. Her fangs showed when she smiled.

And that smile?

Not the seductive kind.

The wrath-of-a-scorned-queen kind.

Zavros instinctively stepped back.

”Now wait a moment—”

”Do you have another girl in the mortal realm, Zavros?”

Lux moved three paces out of range, fast, calm, internal system already buffering for friendly fire.

[System Alert: Incoming Parental Dispute. Recommend: duck and maintain plausible deniability.]

”I don’t!” Zavros threw up his hands. ”I swear, I don’t! Lux is just—”

”Lux is what?” Seraphyne growled. ”Asking questions you’re too cowardly to answer?”

”I’m not a coward—”

”Oh, honey, you ran from the Lust courts for three centuries because a nymph touched your horns and you got confused about taxes!”