chsdbacks Chapter 937: Protected
Chapter 937: Protected
Celestaria watched him with that soft, terrifying gaze again.Selena’s moonlit stillness had gone quieter, more thoughtful.
Solara leaned back in her chair, sunlight gentler than before.
Even Vizreel did not immediately attack the moment with a dry comment.
That was how Lux knew he had accidentally said something serious.
He cleared his throat. "Well. This is becoming emotionally unsanitary."
Vizreel exhaled through his nose.
Solara let out a small breath, almost a laugh, then leaned back and crossed one leg elegantly over the other.
"Haa..." she murmured. "I guess that’s good enough for now."
Lux glanced at her. "For now?"
Solara smiled, bright and pretty and absolutely not innocent. "Yes."
"That sounds like a threat."
"It might be an appointment."
Lux immediately looked at Celestaria. "I reject group therapy."
Celestaria smiled faintly. "No one offered group therapy."
"You thought about it."
"I think about many things."
"That is not a denial."
"It was not meant to be."
Lux knew they liked him.
Not loudly.
Not openly.
Not in a way they would permit themselves to name.
But he knew.
He looked at the table.
Then at the plates.
Then at all of them.
"You guys aren’t going to eat with me?"
Vizreel picked up his utensils immediately. "Of course we are."
Lux blinked. "You sounded offended."
"These are our food," Vizreel said, as if Lux had insulted his homeland, bloodline, and vegetable selection all at once. "And nice ones."
Vizreel began eating with the calm confidence of someone who had survived many arguments and had no intention of wasting good food on Lux’s dramatic suffering.
Selena sat beside Solara, taking one of the fruit pieces. Celestaria finally joined them too, and the entire atmosphere shifted. Not completely. The crisis was still there, lurking behind every window of light and every sealed door.
But it softened.
For a moment, this looked less like a divine emergency session and more like old acquaintances eating after a long, ugly meeting.
Lux took a bite of the grain cake. Warm. Soft. Mildly sweet. It tasted like someone had tried to invent bread without committing to pleasure.
Still good.
He chewed thoughtfully, then glanced at Vizreel.
"That last assassination attempt."
Vizreel’s hand paused for half a second.
Celestaria’s eyes shifted to Lux.
Selena and Solara both went quiet.
Lux continued, casual as if asking about weather.
"When you and I got trapped."
Vizreel’s expression didn’t change much, but Lux noticed the micro-tension near his jaw. "Did you find the mastermind?"
Celestaria placed her cup down. "Guess."
Lux turned his eyes to her.
Really looked at her.
Not the casual glance. Not the playful assessment. The full CFO analysis. Facial tension. Breath rhythm. Gaze direction. How quickly she answered. How calm she was trying to look. Whether Solara looked surprised. Whether Selena’s fingers tightened. Whether Vizreel was annoyed or guarded.
Lux’s brain began assembling pieces.
Celestaria didn’t deny it.
Vizreel didn’t ask.
Solara had gone quiet too quickly.
Selena’s gaze had lowered by a fraction.
Lux leaned back slowly. "I put my bet on yes."
Vizreel grunted.
"But..." Lux lifted one finger. "You didn’t kill him openly."
Celestaria remained silent.
"You didn’t make an announcement."
Solara’s eyes sharpened.
Lux continued, voice smooth. "You did it underground."
Vizreel’s expression turned flatter.
Lux looked at his face and smiled faintly. "And based on your expression..."
Vizreel stared at him.
"There’s still more."
Celestaria’s lips pressed together slightly.
Lux nodded to himself. "You’re still investigating it."
A quiet pulse of understanding moved through the room.
Lux’s gaze returned to Celestaria. "That’s the reason why you agreed so fast in the meeting."
The silence answered him before anyone did.
Vizreel finally exhaled. "You are too sharp."
Lux smiled. "Thank you."
Solara leaned forward slightly, eyes bright. "What you said was a good opportunity for us, Lux."
Lux looked at her.
She did not smile this time.
Not fully.
"The council needed to hear the possibility from someone outside our structure. Someone who could not be easily dismissed as an internal rival."
Lux tapped his finger once against the cup. "So you used me."
Solara’s gaze did not flinch. "Yes."
Honest.
Lux liked honesty.
Celestaria folded her hands. "And you used us."
Lux smiled. "Yes."
Selena’s lips curved faintly. "At least everyone is being polite about it."
"Polite manipulation is civilization," Lux said.
Vizreel muttered, "Demon."
"Correct."
Celestaria’s gaze softened again, but this time the softness carried something heavier. Something closer to promise.
"So, Lux..."
He looked at her.
"Don’t worry. You have our backing."
The words were simple.
Quiet.
Not grand.
And yet the room changed around them.
Celestaria saying that meant more than most armies.
Lux knew it. Vizreel knew it. Solara and Selena definitely knew it.
The Upper Realm, or at least the most important people in this room, was not abandoning him.
Lux held her gaze. For a second, his usual smirk didn’t appear.
The silence returned, but this one was different.
Less fragile.
More dangerous.
Then Lux smiled. "And you have mine."
Celestaria went still.
Selena’s eyes lifted.
Solara’s expression changed by a fraction.
Vizreel looked at Lux carefully.
Lux placed his cup down. "If Kaelmor tries to touch you..."
The air shifted.
Not from aura.
The holy robe still covered him. His demonic presence remained veiled. But something deeper slipped through, something colder than lust, sharper than greed, more terrifying because it had no performance in it.
His gaze locked on Celestaria.
Real.
Cold.
Serious.
"I will burn Hell and make him lose everything."
For one breath, no one spoke.
Celestaria’s heartbeat skipped.
Solara’s sunlight flickered, not from fear, but from surprise. The kind that came when someone saw the charming demon drop every layer of humor and reveal the blade underneath.
Selena’s moonlight stilled around her shoulders. Her eyes widened slightly, then softened in a way she would absolutely deny later.
All three of them felt it.
This was Lux Vaelthorn without costume.
The man who claimed softly but protected violently.
The man who had already decided that if Kaelmor reached for Celestaria, he would treat the king as a bad investment and liquidate him down to ash.