Harem Startup : The Demon Billionaire is on Vacation-Chapter 490: Dark Ruby

Chapter 490 – Dark Ruby

"Impossible."

"Exactly."

The word hit the air like a verdict.

Lux leaned back into the couch again, head resting on the black velvet cushion that smelled faintly of sin and old cologne. His system projection hovered lazily above the living room coffee table—scrolling lines of glowing infernal gold, flickering gently in time with the firelight.

Charts. Market fluctuations. Trade vault movements. Contract performance. Warlord collateral auctions. Some fresh Hell Court drama about supply chain bottlenecks on corrupted obsidian bricks—again.

Nothing helpful. Nothing relevant.

He swiped left without looking. The system responded like a loyal hound, but his gaze didn’t follow.

His mind wasn’t there.

Not really.

And Sira knew it.

She didn’t push. Just poured herself the wine the servant had finally brought—deep red, as dark as her intentions, and probably older than half the mortal nations still on the map. She sat beside him, not touching, but close enough that he felt the heat of her thigh through his slacks.

He stared blankly at the feed.

Infernal imports rising. Border toll spikes. Overlord Marzelth finally got his frozen vaults unfrozen after three months of litigation and public ridicule. A minor court in Gluttony ruled against a Lust-based petition to unionize harem wings.

Nothing.

Just noise.

Static.

Lux exhaled. Long and slow. Tension bled from his shoulders again, but not all the way. It lingered like an unpaid debt—settled on the outside, still burning inside.

Because that ruby.

That damned shine.

It kept flickering behind his eyes.

He’d seen it. Not the circlet. The stone. The essence.

The way it drank light. Not reflected it—drank it. Like it didn’t want to be seen, only noticed.

He knew that texture. The oily shimmer. That crawling sensation behind the teeth like something unseen had just tasted your name.

But not from Lylith.

No.

This was older.

"Lux?" Sira’s voice snapped him out of it again.

He blinked. Looked at her.

"What?"

"You’re zoning out."

He rubbed his face with both hands. "Just thinking."

"About her?"

"No. About me."

"Dangerous topic," she murmured.

He cracked a smile. "Always."

Sira reached out and brushed her fingers across his cheek. Warm. Smooth. Nails barely grazing skin like she was checking if he was real.

He didn’t pull away.

The fire crackled louder, sending shadows dancing across the floor. Outside, the rain had slowed to a mist, and a distant thunder rolled through the hills like an old god shifting on its side.

Lux’s eyes drifted to the window.

The reflection—their reflection—glimmered there. Firelight tangled between their outlines. His golden eyes faintly glowing. Sira’s silhouette sharp and seductive as always, wrapped in darkness and royalty.

They looked like any pair of bored demons in a mansion too rich to care.

But behind their shapes—

A red glint.

Sharp. Quick.

Gone.

Just one flicker in the glass.

His fingers twitched.

"Sira."

"Yeah?"

"You see that?"

She turned fast, eyes narrowing. "What?"

He kept staring. But the reflection was back to normal.

"Never mind."

"Lux—"

He waved it off. "Just a trick of the glass."

She didn’t believe him, but didn’t argue.

And yet... deep in his chest?

That itch.

That ancient, twisting, gnawing itch—it sharpened.

Something was watching.

Not from outside.

From behind memory.

And whatever it was, it remembered him.

Even if he didn’t remember it.

He swallowed once, hard, like trying to force down a bad deal. Then—

"Oh wait..."

He said it aloud, softly.

Sira turned again. "What?"

Lux’s brows furrowed, eyes locked on something far away and invisible.

"Oh shit..." he whispered, sitting up slowly.

"What?" she repeated, sharper.

"I’ve seen that ruby before."

Sira froze. "What?"

"Yeah..."

His voice was distant now. Something about it hollowed.

"I have seen it. But not on a circlet."

The system around him dimmed as his thoughts pulled harder. He wasn’t driving it anymore. His body was just... there. Like autopilot.

Sira didn’t interrupt this time. She watched. Studied. Waited.

"It wasn’t like that," he said. "Not with that glint. Not with that... hate."

Her brow furrowed. "What glint?"

"The one I saw today. The one that flickered in the glass. It looked like the ruby, but filled with... something. Cunning. Rage. It felt like it was alive."

"Like a soulbound gem?"

"No," Lux said slowly. "Worse. It didn’t feel contained. It felt like... something pretending to be contained."

Sira went still.

And then—his voice dropped.

"It was a necklace."

The words came out flat. Measured. Like a scalpel slicing through old flesh.

Sira straightened. "Whose necklace?" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

He didn’t answer. Not at first.

But the look in his eyes changed.

"I was a kid," Lux said. "Maybe five. Before the Vaults. Before the contracts. Before they left."

"They?"

He looked at her. And for the first time tonight, there was something raw behind his golden stare.

"My mother," he said. "Seraphyne."

Sira inhaled sharply.

He nodded, more to himself than to her.

"She wore it," he said. "A long, black chain with a ruby pendant. Oval. Deep red. I used to stare at it whenever she bent over my crib."

"You remember that?"

"I remember everything she wore," he said. "She was Lust Lord’s daughter. She knew how to make you look. But that necklace... it was different. She only wore it in private."

"Are you saying the circlet and that necklace are connected?"

Lux leaned forward. Fingers interlaced. Eyes wide but unreadable.

"I think it’s from the same stone."

Silence hit the room like a dropped gavel.

Even the fire backed off.

Sira stared at him.

"Your mother never registered it in the Infernal Vault?"

Lux shook his head. "That’s the thing. I checked. Years ago. All her jewelry. All her treasures. Logged. Filed. But that one? No record. No name. Not even an appraisal. It’s like it never existed."

"And now it’s back... on Lylith’s head?"

"Not exactly," Lux muttered. "But similar. The cut’s different. But the shine—"

"—the feeling," Sira finished.

Lux nodded.

Sira swallowed hard. "That means it’s old. Pre-Council."

"Pre-system."

"Pre-hell as we know it."

"Yeah."