Chapter 1149: Vacation Status: Cancelled [Part 3]
Chapter 1149 – Vacation Status: Cancelled [Part 3]
She brushed an imaginary speck of dust from his shoulder. "I was the one contributing the most power to him."
Lux went still.
Lilith tilted her head. "Did you think he kept me in that coffin because he enjoyed my company?"
"No," Lux murmured.
His gaze shifted toward the royal emergency announcement.
The audits.
The soldiers.
The attacks on his financial system.
Kaelmor wasn’t merely furious about losing a prisoner.
He had lost his greatest source of harvested power.
Lux slowly smiled.
"Yes," he said. "I get it."
[Updated assessment: His Majesty has suffered a catastrophic loss of revenue.]
[You may wish to send condolences.]
Lux took another sip of coffee. "Absolutely not."
Lilith laughed. "So?"
She leaned closer, one hand resting on the mattress beside his thigh. Her black hair slipped over her shoulder, carrying a faint fragrance of night-blooming flowers. The silver cracks in her horns caught the morning light.
Her lips hovered near his ear.
"What’s your plan, Little Greed?"
Lux kept his coffee steady.
An achievement deserving of recognition, considering that the first demoness had apparently decided personal space was an outdated invention.
"I’ve already divided everyone into several teams," he said. "Each team has its own targets and escape routes. If you want to join us, I can arrange one more."
Lilith hummed. "No."
Lux glanced at her. "No?"
"I think I’m enough on my own." She straightened, smoothing the front of her dress with an almost insulting lack of concern. "Even if Kaelmor himself comes after me, he cannot kill me."
Her smile became sharper. "Of course, I cannot kill him either. Not with his soul and core bound to nothingness."
She sighed. "What a shame."
The disappointment in her voice was genuine.
Lux had heard people complain about disappointing investments with less bitterness. "It’s fine," he said.
Lilith tilted her head. "Is it?"
"We’ll turn the power he considers his greatest advantage into his eternal torture."
His smile returned.
Cold.
Patient.
Possessive in a way that had nothing to do with affection.
"Kaelmor wants to live forever? Excellent. We’ll make sure he has plenty of time to appreciate everything he loses."
Lilith studied him.
Then her lips curved.
"Oh, Little Greed." She brushed a finger beneath his chin. "You say such lovely things in the morning."
Lux caught her hand and kissed her knuckles. "I haven’t even finished my coffee."
"How terrifying."
He released her hand and opened the strategic map again.
Colored dots illuminated the air.
Some were confirmed facilities. Others were suspected prisons, siphoning stations, or supply depots. Several remained little more than Runa’s memories, supported by fragments of surveillance.
Not enough.
But enough to begin.
"We need to move quickly," Lux said. "Kaelmor’s attention is on the Sin Houses right now. His auditors are busy provoking everyone, his administrators are trying to break my financial system, and Wrath is already fighting royal soldiers."
Lilith examined the map. "You intend to use his own distraction against him."
"Exactly. He expects us to defend our houses."
"So you’ll attack what he’s hiding."
"While making sure our people aren’t left exposed."
He enlarged three marked locations.
"Simultaneous operations. We rescue whoever we find, destroy the siphons, secure the records, and leave before he can move his remaining prisoners."
"And if he notices?"
Lux smiled. "Then we become very inconvenient."
Lilith’s eyes gleamed. "I do enjoy inconvenience."
"Good. Because there’s plenty to go around."
A small voice interrupted them. "So..."
Lux looked toward the bed.
Gula was sitting upright, hugging her cushion.
Her expression was serious.
Grave, even.
The expression of a woman confronting a matter of enormous personal importance.
"Breakfast?"
Lux stared at her.
He had just outlined a coordinated assault on a king’s hidden network of prisons.
Lilith had offered to confront the immortal monarch herself.
Hell and Heaven were both approaching open conflict.
And Gula...
"Breakfast?" she repeated.
Lux exhaled through his nose. "Yes. Breakfast first."
"Yay!"
The cushion went flying.
Gula sprang out of bed, seized Sira’s wrist with one hand and Lullaby’s with the other. "Come on!"
Sira stumbled.
"Wait, I haven’t even—"
"Food!"
"Gula!"
Lullaby allowed herself to be dragged along without resistance. Her feet barely seemed interested in participating. "Wake me when we arrive," she murmured.
"You’re walking," Sira informed her.
"Tragic."
The three disappeared through the bedroom doors.
Their footsteps faded down the corridor, accompanied by Gula’s enthusiastic discussion of how many breakfast dishes constituted a reasonable serving.
Lux watched them go.
Lilith chuckled. "Your women are certainly interesting."
"They are." Lux’s expression softened. "They’re also the reason I intend to come back from this."
Lilith’s amusement gentled.
For a moment, she simply watched him.
Then a rustle came from the pillow.
Runa stretched.
Her furry back arched, her tail curled, and a shimmer of magic passed over her body.
A heartbeat later, the cat was gone.
In her place sat a young adult woman with feline ears, a long tail, and a very serious expression.
She looked directly at Lilith. "You."
Lilith raised an eyebrow.
Runa glanced at the floating map. Her ears lowered. "That huge dot."
Lux followed her gaze.
One of the marks Runa had described the previous night had been considerably larger than the others.
At first, they had assumed it represented a central facility.
A major prison.
Perhaps Kaelmor’s principal siphoning station.
Runa swallowed. "That huge dot on Kaelmor’s map... it was you."
Lilith’s smile faded slightly. "Yes."
Runa stared at her. "Why?"
Lilith waited. "Why did you let him siphon your power?"
There was no accusation in Runa’s voice at first.
Only confusion.
Then her tail stiffened.
"Why would you let him become that powerful?"
Lux lowered his cup. "Runa—"
Lilith lifted one hand. "It’s all right." She approached the bed. "When Kaelmor first came to me, he wasn’t like this."
Runa’s ears twitched.
Lilith looked toward the open balcony.
For a moment, the morning light caught the ancient markings along her wrist. "He was ambitious. Certainly. Proud, too. He wanted to build something that would endure."