Chapter 16: Eveline’s Ability

"Oh my! What is that!?"

A voice suddenly came from the side. One of the workers in the field stood up in surprise. She had her mouth wide open as she pointed at that audacious thing she just saw.

"Harold!" Someone loudly called out for Harold’s name.

Harold immediately looked toward the commotion. The moment he saw the tomatoes growing, his eyes widened.

"W-what the hell...?"

He quickly walked toward them, followed by the other workers who had stopped what they were doing.

"What’s happening?"

"Why are the plants growing so fast?"

"Those tomatoes weren’t there a second ago!"

The workers gathered around the row, staring in disbelief as more tomatoes continued to grow. Even Leon, who had been carrying another basket, stopped in his tracks.

"Wait... Is that what I think it is?"

Nobody answered him. Everyone just simply stood there and watched. The plants that had already been harvested were producing more tomatoes than ever. They were even fresher and better than usual!

"This is impossible..."

"I’ve been farming here for years. I’ve never seen anything like this."

"Could it be an ability?"

"It has to be."

"But whose?"

Everyone slowly turned their attention toward Eveline, who was still crouching beside the plants. Her hand remained near the soil, her eyes fixed on the tomatoes growing in front of her.

She couldn’t hear what the others were saying anymore. Her mind had gone completely blank.

The ability she had lost months ago...

The ability she thought she would never see again...

It was right there, working perfectly fine.

"..." Eveline slowly raised her hand and stared at her palm. Her lips trembled slightly, but no words came out of her mouth.

She had spent months believing that something inside her had disappeared forever. She had run away from her family, from her town, and from everyone who had once looked at her differently.

Yet now, after all this time...

She had done it again.

"Eveline?"

Someone called her name, but she didn’t respond. She simply stared at the plants with tears slowly forming in her eyes. She didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or cry.

Her ability was back.

A few moments later, Caelan returned with the empty basket in his hands. He had just finished dropping off the vegetables when he noticed that everyone had gathered around their row.

"What’s going on?" He slowed down as he went near, confused by the scene in front of him.

The moment he saw the plants, his eyes widened.

"What the...?" There were tomatoes everywhere.

Caelan immediately tried to look for Eveline, and when his eyes did, he was surprised to see her. She was crouching on the ground, staring at the plants with tears in her eyes.

"Eveline?" He quickly walked toward her, to check her.

"What happened?"

Eveline looked up at him. For a moment, she simply stared at Caelan without saying anything. Her lips trembled as she tried to hold back the emotions that had been building inside her.

"Caelan..." Her voice came out weak as she called his name.

"Are you alright?" Caelan’s expression became worried.

Eveline slowly stood up. She looked like she wanted to say something, but the moment she saw him standing in front of her, she couldn’t hold it anymore. She immediately reached for him.

"Caelan..." She grabbed his clothes and buried her face against his chest.

"E-Eveline?" Caelan froze.

Her body trembled as she started crying. All the emotions she had kept inside for the past few months suddenly came rushing out. The loneliness, the shame, the pain of losing her ability, the way people had started looking at her differently, and the feeling that she had become useless.

She had tried to forget all of it.

"My ability..." The tears she had been holding back finally poured down her cheeks as she tightly held onto Caelan.

Caelan looked down at her in confusion.

"Your ability?"

Eveline nodded against his chest, unable to stop crying. "It came back..."

Caelan’s eyes widened. He finally understood what had happened.

"Eveline..." He gently placed a hand on her head.

"You got your ability back?" Eveline nodded again, still crying in his arms. Now, she didn’t feel useless anymore.

It’s so fresh..." The workers slowly turned their attention back toward the plants. One of them carefully reached out and picked one of the newly grown tomatoes.

"This could sell for a fortune!" She turned it around in her hand, looking at it from every angle.

"What?" Another worker quickly grabbed one and examined it.

"I’ve never seen tomatoes this high quality before."

"They’re bigger than the ones we usually grow too!!"

"And look at how many there are!"

The workers became excited as they moved closer to the crops, carefully checking the newly grown tomatoes.

"These aren’t just ordinary tomatoes. If we sell these at the market, people will probably pay a lot for them!"

"We could make more money from this one harvest than we usually make in several days!"

"Careful with those! Don’t damage anything!"

"We should tell our boss about this!" The workers immediately nodded and started handling the crops more carefully. They were also saying a bunch of thank yous to Eveline.

"So... your ability can grow high-quality crops?" Caelan watched the scene with a confused expression. ℴ

Eveline wiped her tears and nodded slowly.

"Yes. It’s the highest grade a crop could be." She muttered; now a small smile was brewing on her face.

"We can finally earn enough, Caelan."