Harem Startup : The Demon Billionaire is on Vacation

Chapter 589 – Tied to The Chair

They returned to the mansion just before the sky turned pink.

A breeze slipped through the open gates of the Lux Vaelthorn estate, scented faintly with flowers and distant marketplace spice. It should’ve felt peaceful. Safe. Familiar.

But Lux’s legs still ached.

His hips. His neck. His back.

Somewhere in that cursed chaise lounge at Eros’s place, he had died. Spiritually, at least. His incubus core had pinged the system with a ”you may be overdoing it” notification. He ignored it.

They walked through the main hall together, Lux, Ely, Sira, and Lullaby, each of them in various stages of post-sin daze.

Lullaby floated behind them with bare feet and a blissed-out expression, hugging the edge of Lux’s coat like it was her favorite blanket.

Sira still carried herself like nothing fazed her, but the smug bounce in her step was absolutely ”I broke him and I know it.”

Ely was quiet. She looked radiant, flushed, hair tied back loosely with Lux’s own cravat. She hadn’t returned it. He didn’t ask.

They reached the central hall.

Ely turned to him.

”I should excuse myself,” she said, voice gentle.

Lux blinked. ”What?”

She gave him a small, grateful smile. ”Thank you, Lux. Really. For everything.” Then, before he could say anything else, she leaned in and kissed him softly on the cheek. Not lusty. Not playful. Just... warm.

Lux’s hand shot out.

Not forceful.

Just instinct.

He caught her wrist.

”This place will always be open to you,” he said. ”You don’t need to knock. Just stay here. Like the others.”

Ely paused. Her gaze softened. But she didn’t pull her hand away.

”I will,” she whispered. ”But as you can see...”

She gestured to herself, a little helplessly. ”I’m still mortal. And mortals always have things to do before they move on.”

Lux’s chest tightened.

Be patient, she said.

Be patient?

He was Greed.

Patience was not a design feature.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her. It wasn’t even about fear. It was... that itch. That need to hold on. Not in a cruel way. Just the way Greed always did. To own. To protect. To keep.

He didn’t want her gone.

Not even for a night.

But he let go.

”Okay,” he said.

She gave him one last look, then turned and walked down the hallway with quiet footsteps and the confidence of someone who knew she’d be back.

The door clicked.

And Lux stood there in silence.

”...I hate this part,” he muttered.

Sira patted his shoulder. ”Get used to it. Girls who fall for you tend to walk back in eventually.”

”Not helping.”

Sira stretched. ”What now?”

Lux exhaled, jaw tight. His footsteps echoed as he stormed into the study, eyes sharp with fury. He dropped into his chair like it owed him money.

[INFERNALNET: CONNECTING...]

[QUERY: ACCESS ZOLTARIN. STATUS: ACTIVE.]

[INTENT DETECTED: AGGRESSIVE.]

[RECOMMENDATION: DEEP BREATH.]

Lux ignored it.

”Curb stomp,” he growled, smirking like a devil who’d skipped diplomacy and gone straight to digital murder. ”I’m going to strip his firewall, rewrite his spine code, and wire his damn core to a public grid.”

His incubus aura flared.

He wasn’t just mad.

He wanted to profit from Zoltarin’s corpse.

”Oh no, you don’t,” Corvus’s voice said immediately, appearing behind him with a stack of quarterly soul-bond market reviews and a look of absolute dread. ”You are not logging into InfernalNet like that.”

”Corvus.”

”Yes, my lord?”

”I am calm.”

”You’re vibrating like a violated alarm crystal.”

”Let me have this.”

”No.”

But before either of them could get further into an extremely one-sided escalation, Lux clicked to unlock the high-sec system...

Sira yanked him by the collar so fast his chair spun.

”What the— Sira—”

”Sit. Down.” She dragged him... Physically, physically toward the dining room.

”I was sitting,” Lux snapped, half-sprawled across the polished floor.

”You were plotting murder again,” Sira replied.

”I can do both.”

”Not when you’re still leaking pheromones from every open pore.”

”THAT IS A FEATURE.”

”Not when it fries your brain.”

The next thing he knew, he was shoved into a dining chair.

Hard.

Not painfully... Sira was still annoyingly precise about physics and body angles, but with just enough force that his legs buckled at the knees and the chair scooted back half a meter before stopping with a wooden groan.

”W-What? Why?” Lux blinked, genuinely stunned, arms halfway in a gesture that had almost been a proud counter-argument before being abruptly turned into a defensive reflex.

And then he heard it.

The snap of satin against wood.

He looked down.

Ribbons.

No... ropes.

No... Pride-forged satin restraint silk.

His eyes widened. ”You have got to be kidding me—”

- Click!

One knot locked in place.

Sira leaned in, her mouth far too close to his ear, voice dripping sugar and threat. ”You love this.”

She said it like a fact. Not even seduction. Just quiet confidence. And her fingers moved too fast... looping, twisting, tying. Years of upper-circle etiquette and martial tie-combat training in action. One wrist was already cinched to the backrest. The other one followed with such ease that Lux didn’t even feel the loop slip past his knuckles until it was too late.

”Corvus,” Lux muttered, eyes darting toward the corner where his familiar should’ve been, ”Corvus— help—”

Corvus peeked around the doorway, took one look at the scene, the satin ropes, the predatory glint in Sira’s eyes, and Lux’s rapidly escalating confusion, and made the exact face of a man choosing survival over loyalty.

”Yeah... I’m clocking out,” he said, vanishing like a professional traitor.

”Tch,” Lux hissed, eyes narrowing. ”Fine.”

’Shadow Step.’

[ERROR: PRIDE-ENCHANTED BINDINGS DETECTED]

[FAILURE: MOVEMENT NEGATED. HUMILIATION PENDING.]

Lux jolted but didn’t vanish. His body stayed right where it was... strapped to the chair... while Sira grinned wider.

”SIRA—” he snapped, squirming, just as two more ribbons slid across his chest like silk serpents.

His ripped shirt parted. Again.

Another button popped off.

”What is this... an intervention?!”

Sira giggled. ”A cooldown. You were foaming at the mouth over InfernalNet.”