Chapter 1023: Bored Prince
Chapter 1023 – Bored Prince
The dinner was more peaceful after that.
Or at least, it wore the costume of peace.
The plates were still warm. The chandeliers still glowed softly over polished wood and too many dangerous women gathered around one table. Food returned to being food.
Coffee returned to being coffee.
But Lux?
Lux had gone quiet.
Not just quiet.
Gone.
His body remained there, sitting in the chair with one arm relaxed against the table, robe loose at the collar, coffee cup near his hand, expression almost bored. He looked like a king forced to attend a banquet he had already mentally purchased, renovated, audited, and sold at profit.
But everyone at the table knew better.
Lux was not bored.
He was sinking.
Deep into thought.
And that was somehow worse than him opening the system, because at least when the system appeared, they could see his eyes flicker, hear him mutter, watch his fingers move as he dismissed windows and lied about not being overworked.
This time, there was nothing.
No visible interface.
No dark-gold panels.
No warning light reflected in his eyes.
Just Lux, staring at nothing, sipping coffee one slow mouthful at a time while his mind probably built twelve plans, three backup plans and one "technically not suicidal" plan that was definitely suicidal.
No one reminded him to stop.
Not even Sira.
Sira, who had appointed herself Lux’s unofficial anti-self-destruction authority, did not scold him. Did not snap her fingers in front of his face. Did not threaten to confiscate coffee or tie him to the bed with pride chains and common sense.
She simply watched him for a moment.
Then quietly placed food onto his plate.
A piece of roasted meat.
Vegetables glazed in dark honey.
A small pastry Gula looked at with brief grief but allowed to pass because even Gluttony understood triage.
Lux did not touch any of it.
He lifted his coffee again.
Sip.
Silence.
Sira’s jaw tightened.
Rava leaned closer, voice low enough not to break the strange atmosphere. "He is doing the thing."
Mira whispered, "Which thing? He has many concerning things."
"The one where his soul becomes a spreadsheet."
Naomi, sitting nearest to Lux, looked at his untouched plate, then at his face.
His eyes were focused somewhere far beyond the room.
Naomi picked up his fork.
She cut a small piece of meat, lifted it, and brought it toward his mouth.
Everyone paused.
Lux did not look at her.
Naomi waited.
Then Lux opened his mouth.
Took the food.
Chewed.
Swallowed.
No smug remark about being fed like a wounded prince.
Gula’s spoon stopped halfway to her mouth. "Oh," she whispered.
Sira’s gaze softened.
Naomi cut another piece and fed him again.
Lux accepted it the same way. Silent. Automatic.
Like some part of him knew his body needed fuel, but the rest of him had already gone to war.
Aela leaned slightly toward Ely. Her voice came small, unsure. "Is this normal?"
Ely looked at Lux, then at the others, like she was still new enough to worry openly but experienced enough to know this was not the first time.
Sira answered quietly. "Normal."
Aela’s brows drew together. "That does not sound comforting."
"It isn’t," Sira said. "But it is normal."
Yue’s tail moved uneasily behind her chair. "If he’s this deep in thought, he already found something ugly."
Mira leaned back, arms crossed. "Or several ugly things lined in a row and wearing Kaelmor’s perfume."
Rava’s eyes stayed on Lux. "He is quiet even for strategy."
Naomi fed him another bite.
Lux chewed.
Swallowed.
Reached for coffee.
Naomi gently moved the cup slightly farther away and replaced it with another bite.
Lux accepted the food.
Again, no protest.
Gula whispered, "That is terrifying. He didn’t fight the coffee removal."
Sira’s fingers curled once.
Lullaby, still nestled against her pillow, watched Lux through sleepy eyes that were far more awake than they looked.
"Don’t worry," she said softly. "He will be fine."
Fiera looked at her. "You’re sure?"
"No."
Lullaby yawned, then continued, "But he has us. We just need to do our best and support him." Her gaze lingered on Lux’s face. "Let him rest when he can. Let him think when he needs it."
Gula tilted her head. "You are going to bonk him again?"
Lullaby looked at Lux.
Lux stared into distance like a tragic financial emperor reviewing cosmic bankruptcy.
Lullaby nodded. "Yeah."
Sira’s lips twitched.
Gula whispered, "Now?"
"Later," Lullaby said. "Let him think now. He will need it."
That quiet sentence settled over the table.
Because she was right.
Lux was not spiraling over nothing.
He was processing war.
Not the flashy kind with banners and armies, though that might come too.
Lux’s mind had to move.
They hated that.
But they understood.
Mira drummed her fingers softly on the table, eyes glinting. "I guess we need to serve him well tonight."
Rava blinked. Then looked at her. "S*x?"
The question was too blunt.
Several heads turned.
Gula almost choked on dessert.
Fiera’s tails shot upward like scandal banners.
Mira shrugged with shameless dragon confidence. "What? It relaxes people."
Sira’s eyes narrowed. "Only if he is in the mood."
Her gaze slid back to Lux. For a moment, her expression softened into something almost protective. "He is Lust," she murmured. "But now he is more Greed than Lust."
That was the truth of him tonight.
The incubus part of Lux was still there, of course. It never truly left. It breathed beneath his skin, curled in the warmth of his aura, existed in the lazy danger of his smile and the way women noticed him even when they knew better.
But now, he did not radiate hunger for touch.
He radiated ownership of consequence.
His Greed was awake in the quietest, most dangerous way.
He was not thinking about pleasure. He was thinking about how to steal prisoners back from a king without getting everyone at this table killed.
Naomi fed him another bite.
Then another.