Harem Startup : The Demon Billionaire is on Vacation-Chapter 493: Parental Dispute [Part 2]

Chapter 493 – Parental Dispute [Part 2]

Lux coughed.

Hard.

Zavros pointed at him. "Stop enjoying this."

"I’m not," Lux said, totally enjoying it.

Seraphyne’s gaze flicked to Lux—softening for a second. "Sweetheart," she said, "what girl? Who wore the ruby?"

Lux pointed calmly. "Mortal realm. Lamia queen. She had a circlet. The ruby felt almost exactly like that."

Seraphyne’s brows furrowed. "A lamia?"

"Yeah."

"And the ruby?"

"Same cut. Same feel. Same pull. But different shape. Hers was embedded in a circlet."

Seraphyne’s aura pulsed.

She stepped closer to Lux, eyes narrowing. "Are you sure it felt like this?"

She tapped the gem on her chest.

He nodded. "Not a copy. Not a mimic. It wasn’t exact—but it wasn’t separate either. It was connected. I felt it. In my bones."

Seraphyne turned back to Zavros, voice low. "You said it was one of a kind."

"It is," Zavros snapped.

"Then explain how someone else has one."

"I— I...."

Lux watched his parents stare each other down.

Seraphyne turned to Lux again. "Where is this lamia now?"

"Watching me."

"...Excuse me?"

"She’s obsessed. But not like Lust. Like hunger. And she doesn’t know why."

Seraphyne’s eyes sharpened. "Then she’s not the thief."

Lux blinked. "You believe me?"

She turned toward him fully, the ruby on her chest glowing just faintly. "Lust likes to fck around," she said, voice low, dangerous, "but not lie."

Lux raised a brow. "Great. Glad we’re all being honest then."

She whirled back to Zavros like a storm barely leashed. "Now explain."

Zavros threw both hands up like he was dealing with an angry archduchess at a board meeting—because, to be fair, he was. "Okay, okay. Fine. You want truth? Truth it is."

Lux stayed exactly three steps outside Zavros’ spellcasting range. He summoned his Barrier skills. Experience taught him not to trust dramatic revelations in rooms where furniture could fly.

Zavros exhaled. "There are two stones. Yes. Two."

Seraphyne’s talons twitched.

Zavros kept going quickly. "They were forged from the same source. Same original crystal. Mammon’s bloodstone. It was too large to wear as one piece. So our ancestors split it into two."

"One is the necklace," Lux said, eyes narrowing. "The other is—"

"A circlet," Zavros confirmed. "Together they were a set. One to crown. One to bind."

Seraphyne’s voice turned cold enough to freeze lust itself. "So you just confessed you had an affair."

Lux immediately took one more step back.

His Barrier flickered into a quiet shimmer just because of her aura.

Zavros paled. "Wait! What? No! The circlet never belonged to me! I swear!"

Seraphyne stepped forward, her wings shifting. Her eyes were glowing. Not like a spell—like a promise.

"Then where is it?" she demanded.

Zavros stumbled over the words. "It was given—to my brother!"

Lux blinked. "Your what?"

"You have a brother?" Seraphyne’s voice was practically fire and teeth now. "You never told me you had a brother!"

Zavros looked panicked. "Because—because he’s erased!"

"What the fck does that even mean?" Lux snapped.

Zavros dropped his arms and exhaled hard. "We erased him. From our family. From infernal history. From everything. He is a disgrace!"

Lux’s brows shot up. "Why?"

"Because he betrayed us!" Zavros shouted. "He tried to usurp the Infernal Throne. Tried to kill me. Tried to kill Pride! He believed Greed should rule. Not as a support class—not as financiers—but as a king above all."

"Wait," Lux said, "are you saying—"

"Yes. His name was Zoltarin Vaelthorn. He’s my twin."

Dead silence.

Even Seraphyne stopped mid-glare.

Zavros rubbed the back of his neck, voice raw now. "He believed economy was the key to power. He said Hell’s backbone was coin, not conquest. He wanted to take the Throne, rewrite the laws, collapse the Sin Courts."

Lux swallowed. "That... doesn’t sound entirely wrong."

Seraphyne shot him a look.

"Just saying," Lux muttered.

"He was dangerous," Zavros continued. "He could manipulate whole factions. Turn nobles just by offering them a better credit line. He forged relics. Rewrote contracts. There were riots in Sloth, full-blown rebellion in Gluttony, and Lust nearly folded its entire aristocracy because of a speculative takeover he engineered."

Lux ran a hand through his hair. "And you’re just telling me now?"

"Because he’s gone, Lux!" Zavros snapped. "We defeated him. Nearly killed him. But..."

"But?" Seraphyne growled.

"Our father," Zavros said, quieter now, "begged us to spare him. Said blood was still blood. So instead... we sealed him."

"Where?" Lux asked.

Zavros hesitated.

Lux’s eyes sharpened. "Where?"

"The Old Tower of Greed," Zavros said at last. "Beneath the original vaults. The place Mammon carved."

Seraphyne froze.

Lux didn’t.

His breath caught. Everything started connecting.

The ruby.

The circlet.

The aura that felt like Greed—but wrong.

Corvus’ warning.

The strange, ancient hunger in Lylith’s aura—obsessed with him but without reason.

Lux stepped forward, slowly.

"You sealed him," he said, "but the circlet?"

Zavros swallowed. "It was lost long before the battle."

"And you didn’t think maybe, just maybe, it’d show up again?"

"I didn’t think anyone could access it again!"

Lux’s voice dropped. "And yet a lamia queen is wearing it in the mortal realm."

Seraphyne’s ruby flared with heat, the gem humming now in sync with her pulse. "Then he’s awake."

Zavros shook his head. "Impossible. He’s sealed behind seven blood wards and thirty-two fail safes. It’d take generations of corrosion or high-level sabotage."

Lux’s voice was cold now. Flat.

"Dad... I felt him."

Zavros blinked.

"I didn’t know what it was at first. That itch in my mind. That pull. But now? I’m sure. Someone’s watching me—and it’s not mortal. Not angel. Not even standard demon."

Seraphyne moved beside her son. Her eyes still glowed, but there was concern beneath them now.

"He’s awake," she whispered. "Or close."

Zavros turned pale.

Lux tilted his head. "So tell me... do I have an uncle who wants to kill me?"

Zavros opened his mouth, but Seraphyne beat him to it. "Yes."

"Thanks, Mom."

"You’re welcome, baby."

[System Notification: New bloodline threat identified.]

[Profile: Zoltarin Vaelthorn. Status: Sealed (theoretical).]

Lux muttered, "Not helping."

Seraphyne turned back to Zavros, red eyes burning. "So what now?"

"We send a scout," Zavros said. "Check the tower. Assess the seal integrity."