Chapter 207 – Because I’m Petty
For once, Lux didn’t have an answer.
His smirk faltered—barely, but Mira saw it.
"I’m... not sure," he said, honestly. The words felt weird in his mouth. Not because they were wrong, but because he so rarely admitted uncertainty out loud. Especially not in front of dragon-blooded heiresses who dressed like divine executioners.
Mira blinked. Just once.
Lux looked out the tinted window, brow slightly furrowed. The passing skyline reflected back at him—a blurred collage of neon signs, glass towers, old cathedrals swallowed by modern greed.
"I an, yeah... at first, she abducted ." He huffed, a quiet exhale through his nose. "And I let her. Because I wanted to know who was pulling strings. The mastermind. Thought maybe one of the auction guests was behind it."
Mira tilted her head, still watching him.
"I suspected the duke, you know?" Lux added. "Figured he might’ve been trying to silence after the whole thing yesterday."
She nodded slightly. "His werewolves are the ones who attacked you at the auction."
"Yeah. But..." Lux shrugged. "Turns out I was wrong."
His fingers tapped lightly against his thigh.
"I an, sure, Lylith already had caras planted in the hotel room before today. Probably more. But my people dealt with those."
"Your people," Mira’s eyes narrowed slightly. "One of them’s nad Corvus, right?"
Lux grinned—almost boyishly. "Let’s not talk about that."
"That’s a yes."
Mira let that pass without another jab, which surprised Lux more than it should’ve.
"So you couldn’t escape?" she asked. "And you just... stayed?"
"No," he said, shaking his head. "It wasn’t that."
He fell quiet for a mont.
"Maybe I stayed because I wanted to know what she wanted from . Really wanted."
"Power?" Mira offered. "Influence? Leverage?"
"Maybe."
She turned more fully toward him, her posture still poised but her tone more curious now. "Do you think... she have a crush on you?"
Lux didn’t answer imdiately.
Which said more than a direct yes ever could.
"Maybe," he admitted eventually. "But I don’t think it’s that simple."
Mira raised an elegant brow.
"I think it’s about business. Or maybe..." he paused again, watching his own reflection in the window, "maybe it’s because she sees my value."
"You think you’re not valuable?" she asked, more serious now.
"No. That’s not what I said." Lux turned to her. "I an, she sees it. Really sees it. Not like the way people see numbers on a net worth chart. Not like status or fashion or family na."
He fell quiet again, his thoughts drifting in a place even he didn’t usually visit.
Because sothing in that suite... in that kiss... in the way Lylith looked at him like he was an auction piece wrapped in flesh... it stuck with him.
There was a mont there—brief, unsettling, sharp—where she didn’t just see a man.
She saw sothing rare.
Sothing dangerous.
And wanted it.
Not for prestige. Not for press. Not even for conquest.
But because it called to her.
Lux tilted his head, lost in his own silence.
In truth, he wasn’t sure what it ant.
But one thing buzzed in his skull—sharp, electric, and wrong in all the right ways.
’She might be the closest thing to Greed I’ve seen among mortals.’
Mira was watching him now—closely. asuring.
Her eyes didn’t narrow this ti. They softened. Slightly.
Without a word, she reached into the car’s mini bar and pulled out a sleek, chilled glass of champagne. No label. Pale gold with a faint sparkle.
She handed it to him wordlessly.
Lux blinked.
"...Thanks."
"What?" she said, half-smirking again. "Don’t give suspense."
He took the glass, swirled it once. "Maybe she and I are a bit similar."
Mira snorted, softly. "That’s a terrifying thought."
"You’re not wrong."
She leaned back again. "Anyway... I heard sothing today."
Lux arched a brow.
"I heard you’re planning to stay in Carson’s mansion next week."
He gave her a lazy smile. "Yeah. That mansion is mine now."
She raised a brow. "You bought it?"
"Technically, yeah."
He took a sip of his champagne.
Then paused.
Swallowed.
"...Wait. You heard sothing?"
Mira nodded, calmly. "Carson found out."
Lux froze.
And slowly turned toward her.
Mira took a sip of her own glass before speaking.
"He went completely feral. Rage fit. Broke a few antiques. Smashed a mirror. Ripped down a portrait. Almost set the mansion on fire."
Lux blinked. "He what?"
"Yeah." Mira’s tone was dry. "Apparently the staff called the police just before he could actually torch the place. They hauled him out kicking and screaming."
Lux hissed through his teeth. "Damn him..."
He set the champagne down slowly.
"Those were my chandeliers."
Mira laughed.
Actually laughed.
A low, sharp sound full of wicked delight.
"You’re upset about the chandeliers?"
Lux gave her a wounded look, dramatic and deadpan. "They were black glass. Naomi said they shimred like obsidian rain under candlelight. Of course I’m upset."
Mira blinked.
"You’ve never even seen them."
"No," Lux admitted, sighing. "But Naomi liked them. She said they made the room feel like a cathedral built for secrets."
That last part he didn’t an to say aloud. But it slipped, like a thread unraveling from sothing too tightly held.
Mira looked at him for a long mont, her eyes flickering with sothing unreadable. Not mockery. Not sharp amusent. Sothing else. Sothing quieter.
"You’ve never been to the mansion, have you?" she asked finally.
Lux shook his head. "Not once."
"Then why did you buy it?"
He glanced at her.
Paused.
Then smiled, half-lidded and lazy. "Because I’m petty."
It was a joke.
Mostly.
But she didn’t laugh.
Instead, Mira leaned toward him—just slightly—her perfu catching the air like rare snow lting on hot stone. Her voice dropped an octave.
"Just because of that?"
Lux tilted his head, that slow devilish grin spreading again. "Careful, Miss Xianlong," he said, soft but laced with warning. "You keep leaning in like that... you might attract more problems."
Her lips curved. "Like?"
"."
Before she could shoot sothing back—because knowing Mira, she had sothing loaded—the car eased to a stop with a soft chanical click of the magnetic brakes. The driver’s voice ca through the tinted intercom.
"We’ve arrived, miss."
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