Chapter 22: She Finally Swallowed!
Nobody spoke.
The fruit sat glowing softly between them, golden light pulsing like a slow heartbeat.
Then Evelisse slowly pushed it back across the table.
"...I can’t."
Lucien blinked. "Can’t what?"
"This," she said quietly, "is worth more than our entire estate and probably more than the estate and everything in it combined."
She looked up at him.
"You’re the one who fought for it."
"You fought a mutated monster and got it from a gold treasure chest by yourself."
"You should use it, not me."
"Yes I fought for it, but you need it more more me, silly wife." Lucien replied
She argued again.
"But you’re the one who carried it home."
"Why do you think of me before yourself?"
She said almost angrily and annoyed as he carried on refusing.
Lucien didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he leaned back slightly in his chair, studying the fruit between them before looking back at Evelisse.
"...Can I ask you something Evelisse?"
She frowned and looked at him."What?"
"If our positions were reversed..."
He pointed at the fruit.
"...and it could awaken my Talent instead."
"Would you eat it?"
Evelisse opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.
Lucien smiled knowingly.
"See, exactly what I’m saying and I already know your answer."
She clicked her tongue irritated by his logic.
"That’s different."
"How?" He questioned.
"Because..." she started before stopping herself with her mouthhanging open.
"...because you’re my husband."
Lucien chuckled.
"So?"
She stared at him.
"So I’d naturally want the best for you."
Lucien folded his arms.
"And I naturally want the best for my wife."
"..."
"..."
"...That’s unfair."
"I know it is, but it’s also why I’m right."
Evelisse puffed out her cheeks in frustration.
"I don’t like logical husbands."
"I’ll try being an unreasonable one tomorrow."
That finally earned a tiny laugh from her.
Lucien simply smiled. "I don’t really need it."
"You do," she snapped, some of her usual fire returning.
"You don’t even have a Talent!"
"Who says I don’t have one," Lucien murmured under his breath
"I managed eighteen years without one, I can manage a little longer." Lucien said.
"Plus I have a bloodline however weak it may be, but you’ve waited twenty-one years with none"
Silence settled over the table.
Then Aurelia spoke, and something about her tone made everyone pay attention.
"He’s right." She looked at Evelisse, steady and direct.
"If anyone need this the most out of us, it’s you not him."
Coming from Aurelia, who complimented almost nothing, who measured every word like it cost something that landed heavier than any speech could have.
Seraphina smiled softly, reaching over to squeeze Evelisse’s hand.
"Im sure you’ve always wanted to awaken one," she said.
"Just accept it, we are his wives so we are all in this together"
Evelisse’s composure cracked, just slightly, her voice dropping to something smaller.
"Nobody’s ever given me something like this," she said.
"My father ignored me. My clan laughed at me. I’ve never," she stopped, swallowed hard,
"I’ve never been someone’s first choice. Not once. Not in twenty-one years."
"You are now," Lucien said.
No elaboration or speech was needed as just that was enough.
"You all make it sound so easy."
She looked down at the fruit in her hands.
"I stopped hoping years ago."
"I used to imagine what Talent I’d awaken."
"I’d practice sword swings."
"I’d copy the older children."
"I even bought books about famous Fallen Angel heroes imagining becoming like them."
She smiled bitterly.
"Then the awakening years past by pne by one but i got nothing, the next year too and all the years after that."
She inhaled shakily.
"Eventually I stopped dreaming, I convinced myself that I didn’t need a Talent or bloodline."
Her fingers tightened around the fruit.
"But that was a lie."
Her voice trembled.
Evelisse’s eyes went glassy again, and this time she didn’t fight it quite as hard.
One tear slipped down her cheek.
"I wanted one so, so badly, I just got tired of hoping."
Lucien reached over and gently wiped away the tear with his thumb.
"You don’t have to stop hoping anymore wife, all of us are here for you."
---
She picked up the fruit with both hands, like it might slip away if she wasn’t careful, and finally took a bite.
The moment her teeth broke the skin, the chime rang through Lucien’s mind, clear and resonant.
[Ding!]
[Investment Detected: Golden Genesis Spirit Fruit (Legendary)]
[Target: Evelisse Noctis]
[Current Bond: Partner — 19%]
[Random Multiplier Range: ×2 – ×19]
The wheel bloomed into view, spinning fast, numbers blurring past in a dizzying rush.
×2. ×7. ×4. ×12. ×9. ×13. ×5.
Lucien’s heart pounded, watching it cycle without any indication of slowing.
’Come on.’
The wheel finally began to drag, numbers ticking slower, slower—
[×19]
[Reward Generated: Talent Evolution Seed (Mythical)]
[Reward Stored in Inventory.]
Lucien’s breath caught.
’Max multilpier and mythical, on my first true "life-changing" investment.’
’I’ll check it later,’ he told himself firmly, forcing his attention back to the room.
’I’ll figure out what that actually does later, Evelisse comes first.’
---
Golden light exploded outward the moment Evelisse swallowed the last bite, the fruit dissolving entirely into pure mana.
Her body lifted slightly off the couch, suspended in midair, dark energy and golden light spiraling together around her in slow, hypnotic currents.
The pressure in the room climbed steadily, thick enough to feel against the skin.
Seraphina and Aurelia both instinctively stepped back.
Lucien didn’t, he reached out and caught Evelisse’s floating hand instead, steadying whatever small part of her he could reach.
"What Talent do you think she’ll get?" Seraphina asked quietly, eyes fixed on the swirling light.
"Its impossible to predict what she’ll get," Aurelia said.
"Talents don’t follow bloodline or race reliably, they could literally be anything."
Lucien glanced over at her.
"What was yours like? Your awakening."
Aurelia was quiet a moment, gaze distant.
"I was twelve," she said finally.
"Training in the courtyard. Struck a training dummy harder than I meant to, shattering it along with three others behind it, while something in my chest just opened."
"Divine rank, apparently, according to the elders who tested me afterward. Everyone called it the best talent awakening the clan had seen in three generations."
"Everyone called me the future Archduchess."
"Must’ve felt incredible," Seraphina said softly.
"It did for a while," Aurelia admitted.
A faint, humorless smile.
"Everyone called it a blessing, at first. Before those high up decided I was a threat to their future plans and ambitions instead."
"Everything after it went the way it did."
Nobody pushed further. The bitterness in that sentence spoke for itself.
Lucien reached over and without saying anything he gently ruffled her hair.
Aurelia froze."What are you doing?"
"Comforting my wife."His reply left her speechless.
"You’re weird." Finally she said.
She didn’t move away and just accepted his weird comforting.
---
Thirty minutes passed, then a full hour.
The golden-dark light around Evelisse only grew brighter, pressure thickening steadily in the room until even breathing felt like effort.
Lucien’s grip on her hand tightened.
’This is taking longer than I expected. Is that normal? Is something wrong?’
"She hasn’t changed much," he said, glancing at Aurelia, worry creeping into his voice.
"Shouldn’t there be, I don’t know, some visible effects by now?"
Seraphina’s brow furrowed too, clearly thinking the same thing.
Aurelia studied Evelisse’s floating form carefully before answering. "This is a Talent awakening," she said.
"Most of the transformation happens in the soul, not the body. Outward changes are usually minimal until it’s fully settled." She paused.
"The higher the rank of the talent, the longer it typically takes in these cases."
Relief washed through Lucien immediately. "So she’s fine."
"She’s fine," Aurelia confirmed. "Just becoming something new, somewhere we can’t see."
They settled in to wait, the three of them sitting around Evelisse’s suspended form, murmuring quiet speculation back and forth.
What rank she might awaken, what kind of Talent would suit her personality, whether it would lean toward her fallen angel blood or something entirely unexpected.
The hours crept by slowly, golden light pulsing steadily brighter with each passing minute.
---
Then, finally, something shifted.
Evelisse’s closed eyes flickered, faint golden light glowing beneath the lids. Thin lines of mana lit up beneath her skin, tracing pathways along her arms, her collarbone, delicate and glowing, before fading gently back beneath the surface.
Not pverly dramatic or overwhelming, just enough to confirm something profound was settling into place.
The system chimed again in Lucien’s mind.
[Ding!]
[Investment Detected: Helped Evelisse Successfully Awaken a Talent.]
[Talent Rank: Divine] 1
Lucien’s breath caught sharply.
’Damn! Divine rank, same rank as Aurelia’s Talent, what are the chances of that?’
Before he could process it further, a new wheel began spinning silently into view, numbers already blurring past too fast to read.
The spinning didn’t stop.
***************
[A/N: Hey readers!
What do you think of the story so far? Leave a comment and let me know.
If you are loving the book, please take a second to:
🔥 Add to Library so you never miss an update.
💎 Drop some Powerstones to help support the story.
💬 Leave comments and reviews sharing your thoughts!
Your feedback really helps me, and your support keeps me motivated to write.]
Go check out the auxiliary Chapter for the Talent and Bloodline ranks.