Chapter 1112: Mirrors

Chapter 1112 – Mirrors

The system did not answer.

The elevator slowed.

A low chime rang through the black glass chamber.

-Ding!

The doors opened.

Hell breathed in.

Lux stepped out.

The district beyond the elevator was not the fiery pit mortals painted in church windows. This was Envy territory, beautiful, poisonous, polished until every surface reflected something you wanted and did not have. Tall mansions rose like obsidian jewels beneath a violet sky, their windows green-lit and watchful. Water ran through narrow canals, black and glossy as oil, reflecting towers that did not exist above them. Mirrors hung from archways. Statues wore faces that changed when no one looked directly.

Lux hated the design.

Admired the execution.

That was the worst part about other Sin Houses. Even when their aesthetic was psychologically unhealthy, the craftsmanship slapped.

The Envy mansion stood at the end of a bridge made of dark glass. It was elegant in a predatory way, all tall windows, sharp balconies, and ivy that looked too alive to be decorative. The front doors were open before he reached them.

Cyrinne was already waiting.

Lady Cyrinne stood beneath the archway in a deep green dress that shimmered like serpent scales beneath candlelight. Her hair flowed over one shoulder, glossy and perfect, and her smile was slow enough to feel planned. Envy women did not simply smile. They placed smiles like traps and waited for men to step inside.

Lux stopped before her.

His own smile appeared automatically. Polite. Dangerous. Controlled. CFO face.

Demon prince posture.

Greed heir charm.

The full cursed package.

Cyrinne looked him over once.

Lux felt the scan. Not magical, exactly. Social. Aesthetic. Hungry in the Envy way. She took in the suit, the eyes, the way his aura sat tighter than usual around his shoulders.

Her smile widened. "Welcome to my place."

Lux inclined his head.

"Lady Cyrinne."

"Prince Vaelthorn." Her voice was silk over venom. "You came quickly."

"I was motivated."

"By me?"

"By the phrase legendary demon."

She sighed dramatically, pressing one hand to her chest. "Cruel. Here I thought you missed my company."

Lux’s smile sharpened. "I survived one mansion-wide pheromone incident and one breakfast council before coming here. Compliment me later."

Cyrinne’s brows lifted, amused. "Mansion-wide?"

"Do not ask."

"Oh, now I have to. Was it fun?"

"Classified."

"That means yes."

Lux walked past her into the mansion.

Cyrinne turned smoothly and followed, her perfume curling around the hall, green apple, smoke, and jealousy wearing lipstick.

The inside of the mansion was worse than the outside. Mirrors everywhere, but none reflected normally. One showed Lux wearing a crown. Another showed him seated on Kaelmor’s throne. Another showed his mansion bed, and he immediately refused to look at that one because Envy décor had no manners.

Lux slowed for half a step, eyes moving along the walls with professional suspicion.

"You changed the décor."

Cyrinne glanced back at him, smile curving like a blade dipped in honey. "You noticed."

"It became more aesthetic than last time."

"Thank you."

"That wasn’t fully praise."

"I accepted the useful part."

Lux looked at a mirror showing him standing in the middle of a burning royal court, one hand covered in gold light, Kaelmor’s crown cracked beneath his shoe.

Subtle.

Very subtle.

He kept walking.

"The previous décor lacked bite," Cyrinne said, trailing one finger along a silver frame shaped like intertwined serpents. "Too soft. Too polite. Too desperate to impress without threatening the guest."

"And now?"

"Now it threatens beautifully." Her eyes gleamed. "I prefer this way."

Another mirror showed Lux surrounded by shadowed figures kneeling.

Cyrinne leaned closer.

"My house shows what people want," she murmured.

Lux kept walking. "Your house is intrusive."

"It also shows what people fear. And sometimes what they already have but refuse to admit they love."

Lux’s steps slowed for half a second.

Then he made the catastrophic mistake of looking.

One mirror showed his bedroom from last night, not the ruined furniture, not the broken pillows, no, Envy skipped the acceptable evidence and went straight for the scandal.

It showed him tangled with his women beneath dark sheets, bodies moving, mouths finding skin, hands gripping, laughter turning into breathless little gasps. Naomi’s fingers in his hair. Sira’s smug smile against his throat. Gula flushed and hungry. Lullaby somehow sleepy and shameless at the same time.

Lux’s face went blank. Then he continued. "Your house needs boundaries."

Cyrinne laughed softly. That laugh echoed through the mirrored hall, multiplied by a hundred reflections. "Coming from a Greed prince, that is adorable."

Lux looked at her sideways.

"Coming from Envy, your definition of adorable is legally questionable."

"Everything fun is."

They entered a private salon at the heart of the mansion. No servants. No mirrors here, strangely. Only dark velvet chairs, a low black table, and a green flame burning in a glass bowl. The air felt sealed. Old. Serious.

Cyrinne’s teasing faded by one degree.

But muted.

Lux noticed. His own humor tucked itself away.

She gestured to a chair.

Lux did not sit.

Cyrinne smiled faintly. "Still cautious."

"Alive people usually are."

"Fair."

She moved to the table and touched the green flame. It bent toward her hand like a serpent recognizing its owner.

"I found the path," she said. "To the legendary demon."

The flame darkened.

A shape appeared inside it. Not a map exactly. More like a memory of one. Red lines. Black mountains. A gate wrapped in bone-white roots. A name hidden beneath static.

Cyrinne’s voice lowered. "But before you get excited, understand this."

Lux’s mouth twitched despite himself.

She looked at him fully.

"The demon is not simply legendary because she is strong. She is legendary because Hell agreed to forget her."

Lux went still.

Cyrinne’s eyes reflected green fire.

"And when Hell agrees to forget something, Lux..."

Her smile returned.

Small.

Uneasy.

"That usually means remembering it gets people killed."

Lux looked into the flame.

Another old secret.

Another buried name.

Another door Kaelmor might have touched first.

He smiled slowly. Hunger lit behind his eyes.

"Good," Lux said.

Cyrinne blinked. He finally sat. "Then let’s begin."