Chapter 960: Less Lonely
Chapter 960 – Less Lonely
Sira always knew what to say.
Usually something sharp, proud, teasing, or indecently timed.
But now her voice came softer.
"He looks lonely like this."
A pause.
Then, because she was still Sira, she added, "Yet also hot when working."
Gula stared at her. "Uh, excuse me?"
Sira looked back at her, dead serious.
"What? Both things can be true."
Fiera let out a small laugh, though it had no full strength behind it.
Lullaby shifted against her pillow. "Lux is always like this, Gula."
Gula turned to her.
Lullaby’s sleepy voice drifted through the room, soft but strangely clear. "He jokes around. Seduces. Shows himself like he is harmless and approachable."
Naomi looked toward the hallway too. "That you can negotiate with him."
Lullaby nodded faintly. "Mm."
Naomi’s lips curved sadly. "He is clingy sometimes."
Rava’s fingers folded together in her lap. "That’s because of his trauma."
Fiera’s ears twitched. "Trauma?" The word came from her quietly.
Mira crossed her arms, gaze lowered. "Lux has abandonment trauma from his parents."
Fiera looked at her.
Mira’s voice stayed controlled, but not cold. "Simply put, his parents left him with a mountain of responsibilities when he wasn’t ready. His father is the Greed Lord. His mother from Lust lineage. Both powerful. Both overwhelming. And Lux..."
She paused, searching for the right words. "He was young."
Yue’s eyes lowered slightly.
Sira continued, "Greed House wasn’t stable back then. His opponents weren’t academy students or little nobles. They were lords, warlords, ancient creditors, monsters who wanted to carve pieces from Greed’s authority. Everyone saw a young heir behind a desk and thought they could take advantage."
Naomi’s jaw tightened.
Rava looked down.
Lullaby’s eyes turned darker, because she knew some of this. Not all. But enough.
"He had no one to rely on," Mira said. "Not really. So yes. It made him clingy in some ways. Not pathetic. Not weak. Just..."
She looked toward the hallway.
"He doesn’t like letting go of people he loves."
Fiera’s expression changed. The earlier teasing faded entirely. "I thought it was because he is Greed."
Yue lifted her eyes. "That side made everything worse."
No one argued.
Because Greed did not create the wound.
Greed made the wound possessive.
Protective.
Terrified of losing what finally stayed.
Fiera sat down slowly on the sofa.
Her tails curled around herself.
"He told me something like that," she murmured. "After he marked me. That he knew I would come back, but his Greed still didn’t like seeing me leave."
Sira nodded.
"That sounds like him."
Gula looked uncomfortable now.
Not because of the topic.
Because she had started the evening flirting through dessert metaphors and had now accidentally stepped into the root cellar of Lux Vaelthorn’s heart.
She looked toward the hallway again.
"He hides it well."
Naomi gave a small, sad smile.
"He hides everything well until he doesn’t."
Ely, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke. "Do you think..."
Her voice trembled slightly.
She looked at her healed finger. "Do you think he can do this?"
Everyone turned to her.
Ely swallowed. "Helping my ancestor, I mean."
The word ancestor made the entire situation feel more personal. More real. Not a rumor. Not a strategy. Not another Kaelmor thread.
Her blood.
Her history.
A woman in a sacred place, willingly chained by debt.
"I’m afraid he will push himself too hard," Ely said softly. "He came to this mortal realm for vacation, right? He said it from the beginning."
Sira looked down.
Rava’s expression turned gentle.
Ely continued, "And then... is this the same as work?"
Lullaby hugged her pillow. "Actually, it is."
The room absorbed that.
Gula groaned softly and dropped back against the sofa. "Ugh... I guess work will follow Greed wherever he goes."
Sira murmured, "It always did."
Fiera looked toward the hallway. "I’m shocked he isn’t losing himself even after all of this."
Mira answered without hesitation. "Coffee."
Everyone looked at her.
Mira lifted her chin, utterly serious. "That is his coping mechanism."
Sira blinked. Then slowly nodded. "...Yeah."
Mira continued, "I realized he was trying to lower his coffee intake when he was relaxing."
Naomi’s eyes softened. "He did?"
Mira nodded. "Yes. During quiet days, he drank less. Not none, because that would be impossible and possibly illegal in his soul, but less. He slept more. Stayed longer at breakfast. Teased more without checking markets every minute."
Rava smiled faintly, sad and fond. "He was getting better."
Mira looked toward the hallway. "Then everything escalated again. Kaelmor. Upper Realm. Yue. The ancient elf. And now..." She exhaled. "He started drinking more coffee."
Gula was quiet. Then she said, "That’s not good."
"No," Naomi said softly. "It isn’t."
Sira walked to the sofa and sat down, unusually slow. "He won’t stop if we tell him to."
Yue folded her hands in her lap. "Because he believes stopping means someone else pays the cost."
Ely’s eyes stung. "That is not fair."
"No," Yue said. "It is not."
Lullaby’s sleepy eyes opened a little wider. "Then we stay."
The simplicity of it made everyone look at her.
Lullaby hugged her pillow under her chin. "We can’t stop work from following him. But we can make sure he isn’t alone when it does."
Sira stared at her. Then smiled faintly. "That’s the smartest thing said tonight."
Gula lifted one hand. "Dinner was still smart."
Sira snorted.
Naomi laughed softly.
The tension cracked just a little.
Rava looked toward the hallway and nodded. "We stay."
Mira’s eyes sharpened. "And we make sure he eats."
Fiera lifted one tail. "And sleeps."
Sira smiled dangerously. "And bathes."
Gula blinked. "That sounded less medical."
"It was."
Naomi sighed, but she smiled too.
Ely looked at all of them.
Something warm rose in her chest.
Not enough to erase the fear.
But enough to stand beside it.
Lux was in his room now, surrounded by system screens, hunting loopholes in ancient debt like a demon who had forgotten how to rest.
But outside that room, in the living room he had accidentally filled with women, homes, histories, and trouble... They made their own quiet decisions.
If work followed Greed everywhere... then so would they.
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