Harem Startup : The Demon Billionaire is on Vacation

Chapter 1015 – Admiration and Envy

Cyrinne stared at the chandeliers, the enchanted walls, the immortal-level security, the ancient beings, the noble women, the monsters disguised as guests, and Gula waving at her with sauce on her cheek.

”Humble,” Cyrinne repeated.

Her smile returned slowly. ”Prince Lux, I think your definition of humility has been audited by a liar.”

Gula brightened. ”Cyrinne!”

Cyrinne’s gaze slid to her. ”Gula!”

Gula waved harder. ”You came fast.”

”You said it was urgent.”

”I said maybe urgent.”

Cyrinne’s eyes narrowed. ”That is not the same thing.”

Sira stepped forward, gaze cold. ”Why are you here?”

Cyrinne looked at her properly now.

The two stared at each other.

Pride and Envy.

A room could survive one.

Both at once was a furniture insurance problem.

Cyrinne smiled. ”To pay a debt,” she said. Then her eyes returned to Lux. ”And to tell him what I know about one legendary demon.”

Lux looked at Cyrinne.

His expression stayed relaxed, but everyone near him already knew that was a lie with cheekbones. His mind had moved. The warmth in his eyes folded inward, replaced by that dark-gold calculation that made even ancient things reconsider their life choices.

”Sit down,” Lux said. ”And continue.”

Cyrinne inclined her head. ”Thanks.”

She moved toward the table with effortless grace and sat beside Gula.

Bold choice.

Or suicidal.

Depending on how much survival instinct someone had.

Gula looked delighted, like someone had brought her a new snack and political disaster in the same bowl. Cyrinne sat calmly, folding one leg over the other, fully aware that Sira’s gaze had sharpened like a noble execution blade from across the table.

Sira did not like this.

Not because Cyrinne was Envy.

Well, partly because Cyrinne was Envy.

But mostly because Cyrinne had forced a portal into Lux’s mansion and arrived without a proper invitation.

Sira’s expression said, very clearly, that belonging could be reconsidered through violence.

Cyrinne smiled at her.

Which was stupid or brave.

Lux sat back down slowly, robe shifting around him. Lyra appeared silently and placed a fresh cup of coffee near his hand. Lux looked at it as if it were a sacred object that had survived war.

Zehar wobbled closer.

Lux put one finger on top of the cup without looking at him. ”No.”

Zehar froze. ”Cruel.”

”Correct.”

Corvus hopped from Lux’s shoulder to the back of his chair, clearly enjoying the unfolding disaster because birds were morally suspicious creatures by nature.

Cyrinne placed both hands on the table. ”I heard already,” she said. ”The rumors.”

Lux did not ask which rumors.

There were too many.

At this point, Hell had become a marketplace of paranoia. The king’s borrowed power. The Shadow Corridor ancient lords. The unknown sovereign consuming old prisoners. Lux’s vacation being suspiciously productive. Greed House instability. Heaven negotiations. A revived First Elf sitting at his dinner table like she was politely trying not to judge the soup.

Rumors had wings.

Unfortunately, Corvus also had wings, so Lux respected the ecosystem.

Cyrinne continued, ”About the king’s borrowed power.”

Aela’s fingers tightened subtly.

Ely noticed and reached for her hand again.

Cyrinne’s gaze flickered to Aela only once, sharp and knowing, but she did not stare. That alone made Lux revise her intelligence upward by a small but meaningful amount.

”He put his eye on Envy House too,” Cyrinne said. ”But I know it is more subtle than Greed.”

Gula nodded immediately. ”He put spies in all houses.”

Lux looked at her.

Gula blinked at him, then happily took another bite. ”What? That part is obvious.”

Sira muttered, ”You are frighteningly useful when food is involved.”

Gula beamed. ”Thank you.”

Cyrinne gave Gula an amused look before returning to Lux. ”Envy notices watching. It is what we do. Greed counts ownership. Pride senses insult. Sloth notices disturbance. Gluttony notices consumption.”

Gula raised her fork. ”Correct.”

”And Envy,” Cyrinne said, ”knows when someone is staring too carefully.”

Lux lifted his cup, inhaled the coffee, and let the warmth settle in his chest like a tiny legal rebellion against stress.

”So you decided to tell me something. Why?”

Cyrinne’s smile faltered for the first time. ”Because if the king is searching old prisoners,” she said, ”he may go after something Envy was supposed to keep hidden.”

Sira leaned forward. ”Envy was supposed to keep something hidden?”

Cyrinne looked at her. ”Yes.”

Sira’s eyes narrowed. ”That sounds like the beginning of betrayal.”

Cyrinne smiled thinly. ”Usually, yes.”

Lux’s gaze sharpened. ”What do you know?”

Cyrinne rested her fingertips together. ”This came from my dead mother.”

That changed the air around her.

The confidence stayed.

The princess mask stayed.

But beneath it, something old and bitter surfaced.

”She died a long time ago,” Cyrinne continued. ”Back when I was still young enough to believe stories were just stories.”

Lux said nothing.

He knew the tone.

A person did not speak like that about stories unless one of those stories had later reached out and grabbed their throat.

Cyrinne’s voice grew quieter. ”She once told me about a legendary demon. A tale. It was supposed to be sleeping. And Envy was supposed to be the guard.”

Sira made a sound. ”Envy can guard? I doubt it.”

Cyrinne’s eyes slid toward her, gleaming. ”Envy came from admiration.”

Sira’s expression shifted slightly.

Cyrinne continued, ”Before envy becomes poison, it begins as looking at something and thinking, I want to be like that. I want to reach that. I want what shines there.”

The room quieted.

”Admiration came first,” Cyrinne said. ”Then Envy was created.”

For once, she did not sound smug.

She sounded like she was reciting something sacred that her own house had broken.

”So Envy guarded it. At least... the former Envy did. Before it betrayed the legendary demon.”

Lux’s fingers tightened around the coffee cup. ”Wait.”

Everyone looked at him.

He leaned forward. ”This is pre-Sin era?”

Cyrinne nodded.

A subtle chill moved through the room.

Pre-Sin era.

Before the seven great authorities settled into houses. Before Hell wore crowns, documents, hierarchy, budgets, wars with names, and banquets with too many political assassins. Before civilization had carved roads through violence and called it order.

That was not old.

That was foundation-old.