Chapter 217 | Aurelyx

Chapter 217: 217 | Aurelyx

Dexter continued staring at Lyra with a frosty look on his face.

"Tch...boring."

Lyra clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes and then smirked.

"You can call me Aurelyx.

Dexter stared at her as his heart squeezed tightly. It was even more serious than he feared, it was a whole other personality and it even has a name.

Dexter’s aura started to leak out of his body as killing intent flashed in his mind.

"What the fuck are you doing in Lyra’s body?"

Aurelyx laughed and it sounded sinister and sweet at the same time in Dexter’s mind.

"Lyra?" she repeated. "Lyra’s body?"

She tilted her head.

"What makes you think this is Lyra’s body and not my body?"

Dexter’s eyes narrowed.

Then he grinned coldly.

"Do you think you can manipulate me?" he said. "If it wasn’t Lyra’s body, you would be called Lyra. You would be the one with the name, and she would be the one who had to invent one for herself."

He held her gaze.

"But she is called Lyra. And you had to name yourself Aurelyx. You named yourself because you’re the addition."

Aurelyx’s eyes flashed coldly.

Then she smiled.

"Now I get why Lyra likes you," she said. "I assumed she liked you because you give her food. That’s what I thought. Chips and pastries and six-bowl stews. Simple transactional affection. Feed the hungry girl and she follows you home."

She paused.

"But it’s different, isn’t it? She likes you because you see things. You notice what other people don’t. You pay attention."

Her eyes held his.

"That’s dangerous. For someone like me."

Dexter didn’t acknowledge the compliment. He didn’t acknowledge the threat. He simply stood there, saber still in his hand but lowered to his side, and spoke.

"What do you want?"

Aurelyx shrugged. Lyra’s shoulders. Lyra’s movement. But the casualness was exaggerated. Performed. The shrug of someone who was very deliberately trying to appear relaxed.

"I don’t want anything."

"Then what do you mean by kissing me?"

The question was blunt. Uncomfortable. The kind of question that most people would circle around with diplomatic language and careful phrasing. Dexter didn’t bother. He wanted a straight answer and he was going to get one.

Aurelyx’s expression didn’t change.

"Why can’t I just kiss you because I like you?"

Dexter’s grin faded as his expression hardened.

"State your true intentions," he said. "Do you really believe I can do nothing to restrain you? Do you truly believe I have no means of dealing with you?"

The threat was not explicit. It didn’t need to be. The Void Star Saber humming at his side was explicit enough. The Ancient Flame Demon Bloodline radiating heat from his skin was explicit enough. The fact that he had just fought an Ultra Realm expert to a standstill earlier that afternoon was explicit enough.

Aurelyx gazed into his eyes.

She was searching. Reading. Analyzing the micro-expressions and the mana fluctuations and the subtle, almost imperceptible signals that told her whether the man in front of her was bluffing or not.

She had been watching him for weeks. Through Lyra’s eyes. Through Lyra’s ears. Through Lyra’s brain. She had observed the way he moved, the way he fought, the way he made decisions. She had catalogued his abilities, his resources, his patterns.

She knew about the Seventh-Tier cultivation technique he had given the girls. A technique that shouldn’t exist. That was beyond anything any family in the city possessed. That had no business being in the hands of a disowned bastard with an F-Rank mana affinity.

She knew about the Type-3 weapons he had placed in their room. Weapons that had since been swapped for something even more powerful, though she hadn’t yet determined what.

She knew he had means. Connections. Resources. A background that didn’t match his public profile.

She also knew that he was serious. Right now, in this moment, he was not playing. He was not negotiating. He was demanding.

She smiled.

"You’re quite boring, you know that?" she said.

Dexter didn’t respond.

"Others would have taken advantage of this," she continued. Her voice carried a trace of genuine bewilderment, as though she was describing behavior she had encountered in others and found incomprehensible. "Others would have taken advantage of this opportunity. A beautiful woman enters their room at night. Locks the door. Sits on their bed. Kisses them."

She spread her hands.

"But you? You’re behaving like a cute, innocent virgin boy. Others would have slept with me by now. But you..."

She frowned.

"Annoying."

Dexter’s expression didn’t waver.

"Speak," he said coldly.

Aurelyx stared at him for a long moment. Then she sighed.

"Fine," she said. "I was teasing you. That’s all."

Dexter’s eyes narrowed.

"You just wanted to tease me. So you decided to kiss a stranger instead."

"That’s a lie, isn’t it?" he added.

Aurelyx rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she said again. "It’s about your heavenly physique."

Dexter’s heart skipped a beat.

But his face didn’t change.

"What heavenly physique?" he said in a puzzled tone.

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

Aurelyx sneered.

"Now you are denying," she said. "You should learn to lie better."

Dexter’s expression remained blank. "I truly have no idea what you are talking about."

Aurelyx rolled her eyes again. Harder this time. More exasperated.

"Fine," she said for the third time. The response of someone who was accustomed to getting their way through persistence and was running out of patience with a man who refused to play along.

"If you won’t admit you have a heavenly physique, then I won’t tell you what I plan to do."

She turned away.

The movement was abrupt. Final. The kind of turn that signaled the end of a conversation rather than a pause in one. She walked to the door, unlocked it, and pulled it open.

Dexter stood in the center of the room, watching her go. His mind was still processing. Still analyzing. Still trying to determine how much she actually knew and how much she was guessing and whether the gap between the two was wide enough to be safe.

She stepped through the doorway. Paused.

Without turning back, she spoke one final time.

"Good night, Dexter."