Chapter 1084: You Touched Her Naked

Chapter 1084 – You Touched Her Naked

Lux reappeared in his room.

He stood in the middle of the chamber with one hand on his forehead, the other hanging at his side, his shirt still rumpled from being used as emergency bedding.

Lux exhaled slowly.

He did say he was going to the women who wanted him.

And technically, that was true.

Most of the women in this mansion did want him.

Some openly.

Some violently.

But Lux Vaelthorn was not the type of man who jumped onto a woman just because he was aroused.

That was amateur behavior.

Embarrassing, really.

He was an incubus, yes. Lust was part of him. Desire came to him like breathing, like heat, like the low pulse under music. He knew bodies. Knew scent. Knew how attraction changed the air before mouths admitted anything. He knew when a woman wanted him, when she feared wanting him, and when she wanted to slap him because the wanting was inconvenient.

But there was a difference between desire and indulgence.

A difference between hunger and taking.

Lux respected that line.

Loved that line, actually.

Consent made desire sharper. Freer. Cleaner.

Anything else was ugly.

And he had seen too much ugliness wearing sweet words.

He looked down.

His body, unfortunately, did not care about philosophy.

"Traitor," he muttered.

The problem was simple.

Runa had been naked.

And Runa was beautiful.

Beautiful in the kind of way that carried danger under the skin. Long golden hair, flushed face, sharp eyes, pride blazing even while wrapped in a sheet. Cat ears twitching with outrage. Tail betraying emotions her mouth denied.

It was an absurd combination.

Ancient sorcerer dignity.

Wounded animal vulnerability.

Tsundere rage.

Lux paused.

Tsundere.

That was the mortal word, wasn’t it?

He frowned.

"What a weird word."

Still accurate, though.

Runa acted like kindness was a personal insult, affection was a trap, and admitting gratitude would collapse her bloodline. She scratched, hissed, insulted, threatened, then drank milk from a spoon and looked like she might cry because someone fed her gently.

Complicated woman.

And what shocked him more was not even her beauty.

It was the resemblance.

Physically, Runa looked strangely similar to Naomi.

Not identical. Naomi was softer in the eyes, more modern in posture, more quietly warm. Runa looked older, sharper, more dangerous. Like Naomi if life had given her a tower, a betrayal, and several centuries to cultivate murder as skincare.

But the features were close enough to be unsettling.

Lux’s jaw tightened. "That’s going to be annoying."

He knew very well who Naomi was.

Naomi was his girl.

Naomi was warmth after too much calculation, the hand that held him down when his Greed wanted to turn the world into asset classifications. She was the woman who looked at him and still chose him even after learning what he was. Not because he was demon royalty. Not because he was rich. Not because his body occasionally caused bad decisions in otherwise intelligent people.

Because he was him.

Runa was not Naomi.

Runa was her own storm.

Lux rolled his shoulders, trying to let the tension leave his body.

Then another thought struck him.

"Ah."

He clicked his tongue.

"I forgot to ask about the demon who imprisoned her."

That was important.

The tower. The curse. No siphoning traces. No wardens.

But Runa had said enough with her eyes, her fear, her flinch at demon scent, her violence at waking near him.

Someone had done that to her.

Someone powerful.

Someone she knew.

Lux’s expression darkened.

He wanted a name.

Badly.

But he guessed it was better to let her calm down first.

Pushing her now would be cruel.

And Lux did many things.

Cruelty toward wounded women was not one of them.

He sighed. "Fine. Ask later."

Which left the current problem.

The physical problem.

The erection.

Lux closed his eyes.

The universe was childish.

He was hard enough that ignoring it had become an active political position. His body burned, heat coiled low and sharp, pheromones leaking despite suppression because apparently being an incubus meant his own biology sometimes filed complaints directly to the atmosphere.

He had not touched Runa improperly.

Would not.

Did not want to.

Not like that.

But his body still reacted to a beautiful naked woman pressed against him, feline tail around his leg, pheromone feedback in enclosed space, warm skin, embarrassed eyes, and the entire cursed situation.

Feelings were not required for the body to be stupid.

Especially an incubus body.

Lux muttered, "I wonder..."

A voice came from the doorway.

"Wonder what?"

Lux turned.

Gula stood there.

Rarely did Gula appear without a plate, bowl, skewer, pastry, bread, fruit, stolen pudding, or something suspiciously crunchy. Yet now her hands were empty. Empty. That alone made the situation feel apocalyptic.

She looked at him.

Then looked down.

Her eyes widened with understanding.

"Oh."

Lux closed his eyes. "No."

Gula pointed. "So this pheromone is indeed from you. That’s why it’s so intense." She nodded to herself, satisfied with her own investigation. "It affected all the mansion."

Lux opened his eyes and stared at her. "You exaggerate."

"I do not."

"You are the only one who came here."

Gula tilted her head. "That’s because the others went shopping for Runa’s clothes. And Lullaby is asleep."

Lux frowned. "They know Runa turned into a human?"

Gula blinked. "She turned into human form?"

Lux stared.

Gula stared back.

Silence.

Lux slowly lifted one hand and massaged his temple. "You guys don’t know about that? Yet they went to buy her clothes?"

"Yes."

Lux lowered his hand. "Explain."

Gula smiled brightly. "Cat clothes."

Lux’s expression went very still.

Gula continued with great confidence, "You touched her naked."

Lux’s eye twitched. "She was a cat."

"Yes. Naked cat."

"Cats do not wear clothes."

"That’s why they thought of buying her clothes at least to preserve her dignity when she turned into a human."

Lux stared at her.

Gula stared back, completely serious.

The mansion seemed to hold its breath.

Then Lux said, flatly, "Too late for that."

Gula’s gaze dropped again. "Oh..." Her face brightened with awful comprehension. "That explains the erection."