Harem Startup : The Demon Billionaire is on Vacation

Chapter 545 – I’m Not Losing You to Greed

Her eyes didn’t soften.

She didn’t laugh.

She just reached out, brushed her fingers near the cut on his cheek, and then shook her head.

Mira was next.

She sat beside him, looking him over with a judgmental hum.

”I never thought a CFO could fight like a street thug,” she muttered.

”You’ve seen me fight before.”

”Yeah. But you weren’t this messy.”

Rava crossed her arms. ”I’ve seen him mess up once. Like this. But... I’ve never seen you this mad, Lux.”

That made him pause.

They weren’t wrong.

That wasn’t just a network fight.

That was rage. Legacy-fueled rage. Buried deep. Ripped out like a cracked ledger.

And yeah.

He was still shaking.

Still breathing harder than he should.

The potion was helping. The healing spells were doing their part. His dark magic pulsed softly beneath his skin like coiled threads patching him back together, one system scan at a time.

But that tremor?

The one in his bones?

That wasn’t from blood loss.

That was from rage.

Rage that someone like Zoltarin, someone who should have been nothing but a cautionary tale locked in a rotting vault, had reached this close to winning again. Not just touching his family. Not just whispering from shadows.

But entering through the back door of his own house.

The living room was still warm. The air still smelled like sandalwood, potion vapor, and Sira’s faint infernal aura that clung to everything like ozone.

Lux let out a breath and adjusted his seat. His body ached, but his thoughts were razor sharp again.

”That’s normal,” he said suddenly. His voice came out dry but alive, words steady. ”I mean... this time it came from my own house. So yeah. I’m mad.”

Corvus let out a soft caw from the top of the armchair, where he had perched like a concerned gargoyle in bird form. ”Still, ya better be careful, boss. One wrong digit in that cursed server and it’s curtains. Ghost-tier or not, you almost flatlined.”

Lux chuckled.

Low. Dangerous.

And smirked.

”Look at the bright side,” he said, raising his hand and watching his fingers curl back into a fist, almost healed. ”I know how to kill him now. Even Grandpa’s barrier can’t stop what I felt.”

Sira’s eyes narrowed. She crossed her arms.

”You mean...” she said carefully, ”you want to crush him in the network.”

Lux’s smirk widened.

The full CFO face came back. That confident, cunning look like he was already five plays ahead and buying real estate in your defeat.

”Bingo.”

He tapped his temple.

”Zoltarin’s consciousness is in that network. Not just an echo. Not just a projection. His soul. Escaped and embedded like a virus. Once he died... The body in the tower? Will become a shell. A rotting placeholder he left behind to fool seals and scare clerics.”

His eyes gleamed now.

”If I destroy the version of him inside that data structure...”

Lux paused. Let the silence draw in.

”...Then that’s it. Game over. Legacy erased. Nothing left but some bones and old debt.”

Corvus fluffed his feathers, shifting uneasily. ”But if you die in there, boss, then you’re the one left as a shell.”

”I know,” Lux said, voice soft now. ”That’s why I ordered the system to activate safety protocols. Pull me out if things go bad. That timer lock? Ten minutes max. Just enough to get in, do damage, and get out.”

Sira gestured sharply toward his bruised torso, her voice sharp. ”This is your safety protocol?!”

Lux looked down.

The mess.

The dried blood.

The bruises still healing across his ribs.

”Hey,” he offered, raising a brow. ”My HP stayed above 50%. Barely. I’ve had worse.”

Then his grin slid sideways.

”And you’ve messed me up more in bed.”

He winked.

It didn’t work.

Not even a smirk from Naomi. Not a twitch from Mira. Sira looked seconds away from summoning restraints. Rava narrowed her eyes like she was calculating the interest rate on every stupid word he’d just spoken.

He sighed.

”Fine,” he muttered. ”Judge me all you want. I won’t complain.”

It went quiet for a second.

Then Lullaby, still hugging his arm with both cheeks squished against his bicep like a sleepy blanket, mumbled something against his skin.

”Don’t do it again.”

Lux blinked.

”What?”

She looked up.

Still sleepy. But awake enough now that her eyes shimmered just slightly. ”Don’t do it again,” she repeated. ”You don’t have to.”

Then she curled closer.

”You have us.”

He froze.

Not because it was dramatic.

But because she wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

He looked around.

Naomi crossed the room and knelt by his side, resting a cool palm against his jaw. ”We’re not asking you to stop being strong, Lux. Just...” she exhaled. ”Let us be strong with you. You don’t always have to do it alone.”

Rava set a potion vial down with unusual softness. ”Next time, you call us before you go diving into cursed data hell with your body still bleeding.”

Mira smoothed the sleeve of his robe and nudged a warm towel closer. ”You’re allowed to trust us with the ugly stuff too.”

Sira didn’t say anything at first.

She just walked forward, knelt on the armrest beside him, and placed one hand firmly over his chest. Her voice was barely audible.

”I’m not losing you to greed.”

Lux swallowed.

It was stupid.

But the ache in his ribs hurt less after hearing that.

They didn’t scold him because he was reckless.

They scolded him because they cared.

They loved him.

And for someone raised in a tower of expectations and succession charts, that still hit harder than any spear.

”...I know,” he said quietly. ”I really do.”

His voice softened further.

”But the only one who can slip into that network... track it from the inside...”

He pointed to the far side of the room.

Corvus blinked as every gaze turned to him.

The bird puffed his chest.

Then struck a ridiculous pose.

Wings raised. Eyes glowing faintly. Beak tilted up like a black-feathered superhero.

”You know it,” Corvus chirped.

”...you’re an idiot,” Sira muttered.

”But I’m useful,” Corvus said smugly. ”And let’s face it, who else has root access, curse immunity, and no soul to corrupt? Me! The mighty infernal bird! Corvus!”