Harem System In A fantasy World

Chapter 256: Quite Potent

The conversation between Celeste and her parents did not end there, and in fact, it went on for quite a while after that, stretching into a long exchange where Lucius repeatedly pressed her for more details about this boy named Elion.

The more he heard, the more his expression gradually soured, because nothing about what he was learning sat well with him.

Elion was a first-year.

That alone was enough to make his brow twitch because it meant the boy was younger than his own daughter, and yet, despite that, he had already managed to entangle himself with her to such an extent.

And as if that was not enough, Celeste had casually mentioned that he already had two other women before her, which only made Lucius’s thoughts grow darker, because if the boy already had a habit of collecting women, then what exactly was stopping him from continuing to do so in the future?

At least he is talented, Lucius had thought reluctantly, because that was one thing he could not deny, and it was also the one thing that stopped him from outright dismissing the boy entirely, since he did not particularly care about Elion being a commoner, that aspect was irrelevant to him so long as the individual possessed enough talent and potential to justify their existence in such a position.

Still, it did not sit well with him.

Not at all.

Once Lucius had finished grilling Celeste, and after both he and Lilith had thoroughly reprimanded her for her choices, though not without restraint, they eventually shifted their focus toward the consequences of what had already been set in motion, and it became clear very quickly that the council of elders would not take this lightly.

They would be devastated.

That much was certain.

But in the end, there was little they could do about it, not if Celeste stood firm in her decision, and knowing her, she would.

Lucius found himself thinking back to the look in Celeste’s eyes when she had declared her love for the boy, and there had been no hesitation there, no uncertainty, only conviction, and while that alone was enough to trouble him, it was not the part that weighed on his mind the most.

What concerned him more was whether that feeling was reciprocated.

Did that boy truly love his daughter, or was she simply one of many to him?

And beyond that, there was an even more troublesome truth. Humans had short lifespans.

Painfully short.

Even if Elion was as talented as Celeste claimed, even if he reached the heights of power that could extend his life far beyond that of ordinary humans, perhaps reaching five hundred years or so, that was still nothing in the grand scale of a vampire’s existence.

Five hundred years was nothing but a drop in the ocean.

Lucius could not even begin to imagine the consequences of that disparity, the inevitable end that would come far sooner than it should, and the impact it would have on Celeste when that time arrived.

But that was a problem for the future.

And just as they had begun to settle into that line of thought, just as they were processing the aftermath and the future implications of her decisions, Celeste spoke again.

And dropped another bombshell.

It almost felt deliberate, as though she had chosen that exact moment to say it, after everything else, as if to shift their focus entirely away from her earlier… lapse in judgment.

Celeste Chronos had evolved her bloodline to an ancestor-level bloodline.

And just like that, she had placed herself on the same pedestal as her parents.

They went through another long stretch of shock after that revelation, and it turned into a drawn-out back-and-forth filled with questions and answers, because neither Lucius nor Lilith could simply accept something like this without understanding how it had happened.

Especially not when it involved a bloodline evolution of that level, which should have taken decades, if not centuries, to achieve, if at all under normal circumstances.

Celeste answered them patiently, though there were moments where even she hesitated slightly, choosing her words carefully as she explained the sequence of events.

When it became clear that Elion had once again been involved in the incident that led to her breakthrough, both of her parents grew even more attentive, their earlier assumptions about the boy slowly beginning to shift.

It became clear that this ordinary young man was not so simple after all.

Celeste explained how that moment had marked a turning point in their relationship, how things had begun to change from simple acquaintance to something deeper.

How she had found herself confiding in him about matters she had never spoken of with anyone else, and how, in that vulnerable space, one thing had led to another, and she had decided to cross a line she had not originally intended to cross.

The result was now obvious.

Both Lucius and Lilith listened in silence, their expressions complex, because while the emotional aspect of it was one thing, there was another detail that struck them far more deeply.

The timing.

“This all happened… after your bloodline evolved?” Lilith asked slowly, her brows knitting together as she processed the implications.

Celeste nodded.

That was what shocked them the most. At that level of bloodline purity, conception was so incredibly difficult that it bordered on impossible.

And yet it had happened in a single sitting.

Lucius’s eyes narrowed slightly, while Lilith brought a hand to her lips, her gaze thoughtful as she considered what that meant.

“Oh my…” Lilith chuckled lightly after a moment, the tension easing just slightly as her tone turned playful, “My, this son-in-law of mine must be quite… potent then.”

Lucius’s expression immediately soured.

Lilith blinked.

“…Oops,” she muttered softly, realizing she had stepped on a rather sensitive topic, though there was no real malice behind her words, only a lighthearted attempt to ease the tension.

Still, the look on Lucius’s face made it very clear that this was not something he was amused by in the slightest.

Lilith coughed lightly and looked away for a moment, though a faint smile still lingered at the corner of her lips.

It was no surprise that everything else was momentarily overshadowed by the news of her bloodline evolution, because for beings like them, for a family that stood at the very peak of their race, something like that carried far more weight than even the scandal of an unexpected pregnancy.

And so the atmosphere shifted almost instantly, the earlier tension giving way to something far brighter.

Lilith’s eyes lit up with genuine joy, and she stepped forward without hesitation, reaching out to take Celeste’s hands in hers as a warm smile spread across her face.

“My child… you’ve truly done it,” she said softly, her voice filled with pride as she looked at her.

Lucius stood still for a moment longer, as if the information was still settling in his mind, but then his expression slowly changed as well, the heaviness lifting just enough for something else to surface.

“…You are now an Ancestor-level vampire, my daughter…” he muttered under his breath, almost as if he was confirming it for himself.

Then he nodded.

“I am proud,” he said simply, though the weight behind that single word carried far more meaning than any long speech could have.

They congratulated her.

And of course, they remembered the other thing as well.

“…And…” Lilith began, her smile turning playful again, “I suppose congratulations are also in order for something else.”

Celeste sighed quietly.

“I’m going to be a grandmother,” Lilith said, laughing lightly as she covered her mouth, clearly happy at the thought.

Lucius blinked a few times, and then something completely inconceivable happened.

He laughed uproariously.

A deep, booming laugh that echoed through the already damaged sections of the castle, his voice carrying with such force that it almost felt like a second shockwave, and for a man who had never once been seen laughing like that in all his years, it was a sight that bordered on surreal.

“I’m going to be a grandfather!” he declared, his laughter continuing as if he had just realized the absurdity and wonder of it all at once.

Celeste watched them quietly, a small smile forming on her lips.

This is what she had expected.

She had calculated this outcome carefully because she knew her parents well enough to understand that as long as she showed no hesitation, no doubt, and no wavering in her decisions, they would accept the path she had chosen, even though they would be initially unhappy about it.

If she had not been certain of that, she would never have taken such a risk in the first place.

Everything had been calculated.

Eventually, the laughter died down, and the room settled once more into a calmer state, and Lucius, regaining his composure, cleared his throat lightly as he prepared to steer the conversation back toward something more serious.

“The matter of the bloodline trial—” he began, already forming the thought that perhaps it was no longer necessary for her to undertake it.

The reason for the trial was for her to attempt to ascend and evolve her bloodline to the next stage, and for once in maybe a thousand years, to have three vampires with such a powerful bloodline.

Now that the goal had been reached with no issue, he didn’t feel the need for her to go through all the trouble.

Even if the trial happened through your mind and soul and not your body, which meant it would not affect her physically while in the trial, who knew if there was a chance her mental state while in the trial might affect the child?

He wouldn’t risk it.

He began, “I don’t think—”

But he never got to finish.

The door opened.

All three of them had already sensed the presence approaching long before the interruption, which was why none of them reacted strongly, though their attention shifted toward the entrance as the newcomer stepped inside.

“Why the commotion?” the man asked casually.

It was Dorian.

His tall, imposing figure filled the doorway as he walked in, his presence carrying its own quiet authority, and his gaze swept across the room before settling on them.

“I was sent by the others to see what you all are up to,” he continued in a relaxed tone.

His eyes instantly landed on Celeste, and a smile spread across his face.

“Oh my… my dear niece is here.”