Harem Startup : The Demon Billionaire is on Vacation

Chapter 1002 – Not One of Them

Gula, for once, did not add anything.

Lullaby stirred the water slowly.

Yue stood near the door, guarding without saying she was guarding.

Ely had gone to fetch more medical salve with Lyra, but her healing warmth still lingered in the room.

Sira removed Lux’s coat remnants, then the belt.

Aela handed towel after towel.

Her face grew warmer with each layer removed.

Then Sira reached his pants.

Aela immediately turned her head.

Sira stopped. A slow smile formed.

”Aela. Help me.”

Aela’s head snapped back. ”What?”

Sira gestured at Lux. ”He’s heavy, unconscious, and injured. I need to get him into the bath without reopening his wound.”

Aela’s ears flushed pink. ”I can help lift his shoulders.”

”No, I need you to hold the towel while I remove the rest.”

”The rest?”

Sira stared at her. ”He can’t bathe in pants.”

Aela looked at Lux.

Then at the bath.

Then at Sira.

This made sense.

”Right,” Aela said weakly.

Sira’s smile became crueler. ”Why are you blushing?”

”I am not.”

Aela pressed the towel to her chest, trying very hard to behave like an ancient ancestor with dignity and not a newly freed woman about to help undress the demon who had robbed her from a tree.

Sira leaned closer. ”You want to see his d*ck, right?”

Aela nearly dropped the towel.

Gula made a strangled sound.

Lullaby blinked and said, ”Direct.”

Yue closed her eyes again, perhaps praying to any dragon ancestor willing to lend patience.

Aela’s face went bright red. ”I offered to help because he is wounded!”

Sira’s eyes sparkled with wicked delight. ”Sure.”

”That is the truth. I do not even understand modern bathing customs.”

Sira smiled proudly. ”Just do it.”

Then, despite the teasing, she moved with care.

For all her dangerous mouth, Sira treated Lux’s body like something precious and damaged. She covered him properly with the towel the moment his clothes were gone, preserving what dignity remained for a man currently unconscious after being bonked by Sloth magic.

Aela noticed.

And that made her embarrassment shift into something else.

Understanding.

These women teased him because they loved him.

But when he could not defend himself, their hands were gentle.

Sira and Aela lifted Lux together, Gula helping from the other side when needed. Lullaby guided the water, making it warmer where his body touched and cooler around the wound. Slowly, carefully, they lowered him into the bath.

Lux stirred once.

A low sound left his throat.

Sira froze. ”Lux?”

His eyes did not open.

Gula leaned over the bath. ”Is he awake?”

Lullaby shook her head. ”Sleeping.”

The healing water reacted immediately.

The green-violet glow brightened around Lux’s body, red sparks sinking into his skin. His breathing hitched, then steadied. Dark residue leaked from the wound and dissolved into the bath, eaten by the Gluttony mixture like poison being chewed into nothing.

Aela watched, fascinated and unsettled. ”The water is consuming the corruption.”

Gula nodded happily. ”See? Gluttony specialty.”

”That is... useful.”

Gula placed one hand over her heart. ”Finally. Recognition.”

Sira knelt beside the bath and brushed wet hair away from Lux’s face. Her expression softened. ”You reckless bastard.”

Aela stood on the other side, still holding a towel she no longer needed.

She looked at Lux’s face.

Paler than he should be.

But alive.

That seemed to matter more than it should.

Aela sat beside the bath, robe folded neatly around her legs.

The water glowed around Lux’s body, green-violet and strange, red sparks dissolving near his wounds. Every few breaths, the surface rippled as if the bath itself was chewing away corruption and fatigue.

Sira knelt by his head, washing ash from his cheek with a cloth. Her movements were firm, almost annoyed, but the gentleness beneath them was impossible to miss.

Ely sat closer to Lux’s injured side, one hand hovering over the water, healing mana ready in case the wound reopened. Her face still held traces of panic, but her eyes never left him for long.

Lullaby leaned against the bath edge. Gula sat with one leg folded under her, chin in her palm, pretending she was relaxed while her gaze kept drifting to Lux’s breathing.

Yue stood nearby, but her attention was sharp enough to cut.

Aela watched them all.

Then she said, ”I see you girls love him a lot.”

Ely looked up first. ”We are.”

Aela absorbed that in silence. ”I thought sharing a man would make women jealous of each other.”

Sira finally looked up. ”It should.”

Aela blinked.

That was not the answer she expected.

Sira rinsed the cloth, wrung it out, and resumed cleaning Lux’s hairline.

”Most of the time, it would. Women fight. Houses fight. Pride fights first, obviously, because standards matter. Lust complicates things. Greed makes everything possessive. Politics turns affection into knives.” Her eyes flicked to Aela. ”So yes. It should.”

Lullaby rested her cheek on her folded arms.”But not for us.”

Aela turned to her.

Lullaby yawned softly. ”We fight with each other sometimes. Tease. Bully. Steal pillows. But Lux is... Lux.” She blinked slowly. ”He gets lonely if we leave him alone too much.”

Sira’s hand paused.

Only for a second.

Then she continued.

Ely smiled sadly. ”He looks strong enough to stand anywhere by himself. But he shouldn’t have to.”

Aela looked back at Lux.

Gula raised both hands. ”I have no comment. I’m not his woman. I’m just a friend.”

Everyone looked at her.

Gula frowned. ”What?”

Aela tilted her head. ”But you fought alongside him and looked so worried.”

Gula’s cheeks puffed slightly. ”I fight a lot of things. I worry about many people. Also he feeds me.”

Sira smirked. ”Ah, yes. Pure friendship. Very nutritious.”

Gula pointed at her. ”Don’t start.”

Yue calmly said, ”She is interested in Lux. But not his woman yet.”

Gula’s mouth dropped open. ”You add too much detail, Yue.”

Yue looked unbothered. ”It was necessary for accuracy.”

Aela listened to them bicker, and something inside her loosened.

For centuries, she had been surrounded by silence, obligation, and roots. Love had been a word she understood from observation, not from touch. Devotion had always come dressed as duty. Sacrifice had always been praised until it became a cage.

But this was different.

They loved Lux not because he commanded them, not because debt demanded it, not because the world required repayment. They loved him while insulting him, protecting him, scolding him, bathing him, and threatening to punish him once he woke.

And Lux...

Aela looked at him again.

He was trouble.

A beautiful disaster wearing demon skin and bad decisions like perfume.

But he had given her a choice when her own promise had become a prison.

Because gratitude was familiar to her.

But this feeling was not gratitude.

It was curiosity.

A strange pull toward the demon who stole her freedom and then pretended it was just another part of his ruined vacation.

Aela touched her chest lightly.

Her heart was beating faster than she remembered hearts should. ’There’s no way I will become one of them, right?’