Chapter 606 – He was Born to Clean Up Other People’s sses
Rava watched him. Watched how easily he slipped back into strategy. How natural it was. And it scared her.
Because she could still feel how fragile his body was under her hands just minutes ago. How sensitive. How worn.
"You can’t show yourself yet," she said before she could stop herself.
All eyes turned to her.
"He’s not ready," Rava continued, voice firm. "He’ll do it. He always does. But his nerves aren’t done healing. If he pushes now..."
She didn’t finish.
She didn’t need to.
Lux looked at her. Really looked.
Then he smiled at her. Soft this ti. Not smug. Not teasing.
Celestaria watched the exchange carefully. "You trust her."
Lux didn’t hesitate. "Yes."
Sothing in Rava’s chest cracked open.
Celestaria stood. The chair slid back as if obedient.
"Then here’s our counterproposal," she said. "We tell the Virtues you are alive. Functional. We buy you ti."
"How much?" Lux asked.
"A few days," Selena said. "We got too much pressure lately. But we’ll hond as much as we could."
Lux grimaced. "Expensive."
"Worth it," Solara said.
Lux thought for a long mont.
Then nodded once. "Fine."
Celestaria smiled faintly. "We’ll need sothing in return."
Lux’s grin returned, sharp and familiar. "Of course you do."
The goddesses prepared to leave again, light gathering around them.
As they stepped back toward the balcony, Solara paused.
"Lux," she said quietly.
"Yes?"
"Don’t die of boredom. Or of anything."
He smirked. "I’ll try not to."
The light faded.
Silence settled again.
Rava turned back to the bed.
To him.
He was still tied up. Still dangerous.
Her logic reminded her. Not yet. Let him rest.
Her body sighed in disappointnt.
Her heart reached out anyway.
She stepped closer. Adjusted his shirt properly this ti. Smoothed it down.
"You okay?" she asked softly.
Lux looked up at her.
"Yeah," he said. "I am."
In the upper realm, the mont they returned to the Celestial Realm, the radiant warmth of Lux’s mansion faded, replaced by the cold, immaculate stillness of the upper planes. No heat. No scent. No ambient emotion. Just perfection in white marble and light. Too clean. Too quiet.
Celestaria didn’t speak.
She moved with deliberate calm, her heels clicking faintly against the polished floor as she walked through the glowing archways back to her office. The hallway stretched endlessly in both directions, but she took the shortest path through mirrored corridors only she could bend.
Behind her, Selena and Solara followed. Silent.
Not from reverence.
From restraint.
The door opened itself as they neared, and Celestaria entered first. The room blood with soft golden hues, walls made of living scripture, shelves filled with reports that self-updated in real ti. Her desk floated, circular and without corners, its surface scattered with projection runes, feather-light contracts, divine mos, and one untouched crystal tea cup.
Celestaria sat.
Selena took the chair to the left. Solara remained standing, arms crossed, still staring at the door as if her mind hadn’t followed her body inside.
No one spoke for a while.
Not because they didn’t have words.
But because they didn’t know how to say them without unraveling sothing sacred.
"...He looked thinner," Selena finally murmured, gaze downcast. "He never looks tired. But he was."
Celestaria nodded once. "His mana’s stable. But his nerves..."
"I saw it," Solara said quietly. "The tremor in his hand. The way he held it still like it was a negotiation."
Celestaria leaned forward slightly, resting her arms on the edge of her desk. Her tone was calm. Too calm.
"He was joking again," she said. "Teasing. Flirting. Covering the gaps."
"That’s his default," Solara replied.
"It’s not the sa," Selena added. "He used to play at confidence. But that wasn’t a ga. That was control. Cold. Efficient. Like he calculated our reactions five steps ahead."
"He did," Celestaria said simply.
Another silence.
This one a little heavier.
Solara uncrossed her arms and ran a hand through her hair, her fingers glowing faintly. "I can’t stop thinking about it," she said. "The way he looked at her."
"Rava," Selena confird softly.
"Yeah. Her." Solara looked down. "He didn’t panic. He didn’t pretend. He just... let her speak. Trusted her. That’s not the Lux we knew during the pact negotiations."
"He’s changing," Selena said. "And it’s not just recovery."
Celestaria tapped a single rune on the surface of her desk. It flickered. Scrolled open into a page of incident reports, bounty records, sealed battle logs, and a single flagged na.
Zoltarin.
"The network damage was worse than they admitted," Celestaria said. "He took it all in. Alone. No buffers. He bypassed the system firewalls through TechoGreed and absorbed the blowback."
"Why?" Solara asked. "Why not let soone else handle it?"
"Because he never lets anyone else suffer the cost," Selena answered. "Not if he can take it himself."
Celestaria stared at the data, then closed the projection slowly. Her voice lowered.
"He shouldn’t have been the one to kill Zoltarin. That should’ve been his father."
"He said it," Solara muttered. "We all heard it. That line..."
"’Why ? Why the prince of Greed? Why not the Lord himself?’" Selena echoed.
Celestaria’s hands curled just slightly on the desk’s edge.
Lux had smiled when he said it. But it wasn’t a real smile. It was the kind that cracked just beneath the surface, like gold leaf hiding a fracture.
"I wanted to ask," Celestaria said. "But I didn’t."
"None of us did," Solara whispered.
"Because we knew the answer already," Selena finished. "He was born to clean up other people’s sses."
Another silence.
Then Celestaria straightened. Her tone changed again. Controlled. Detached.
"If we buy him a few more days, he’ll be stable. But the Virtues will keep pressing. If we delay too long, soone will go around us."
"I’ll hold them off," Selena said firmly.
"Good," Celestaria said. "And Solara?"
"I’ll reroute all divine tracking requests on Lux’s position. Let them bounce through mortal proxies."
"Excellent."
The room dimd a little as the divine light adjusted to their lowered energy signatures.
But still, no one moved.
Not really.
Because that was all they could do.
Reroute divine tracking pings. Delay questions. Redirect suspicion.
Talk in circles. Obfuscate the truth with elegant silence.
Buy him ti.
They were goddesses, yes. Born of light, upheld by law, heralds of order and balance.
But Lux? Lux was born of sin.
Of Greed. Of Lust.
Of everything Heaven had once sworn to crush and now... tiptoed around.
Their tea couldn’t help him. Their tonics couldn’t cleanse him. Their magic couldn’t knit his nerves back together, not without violating every rule of realm-bound sanctity. The mont their touch crossed the infernal threshold, it wouldn’t be kindness.
It would be war.
They couldn’t step into demon politics.
Even though each of them had wanted to reach out.
Because Lux wasn’t just a danger or an anomaly anymore.
He was theirs.
Not by claim. Not by contract.
By choice.
And that was the part no virtue council would ever understand.
Why three of Heaven’s daughters stood in silence... in the dark... worried for a demon who still flirted with them while half broken in bed.
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