My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 131

Chapter 131: Chapter 131 FRAGILE AND SOLID

SERAPHINA’S POV

The hall still hummed with noise long after Lucian’s announcement. Excited murmurs collided like sparks from flint, igniting speculation in every corner.

“The Moon Dew Nectar...could it be real?” someone called out, their tone half awe, half disbelief.

“The Moon Dew Nectar doesn’t exist,” someone else barked, disbelief curling through his tone. “It’s folklore.”

“No, I’ve read papers on it,” another insisted, breathless. “The plant’s real. The recipe? Lost centuries ago.”

“How could OTS possibly have it?”

“Or...is this all a clever trick?”

Speculation tangled with awe until the whole place was a fever dream.

I didn’t need heightened hearing to catch the words: impossible, fabricated, mythical, priceless.

The voices around me tangled together—awed gasps, suspicious whispers, greedy mutterings.

My hands fisted the fabric of my dress harder than I intended, my knuckles whitening. This was no ordinary prize.

It was more than glory, more than wealth. Whoever claimed it would wield a miracle.

Lucian stood tall before the case, his expression carefully composed but unmistakably proud.

His dark suit caught the gilded light, his presence commanding the entire room. “Doubt,” he said smoothly, his voice carrying with the authority of a born Alpha, “is natural. But truth does not need belief to exist.”

A murmur rippled again, skeptical yet attentive.

And then—because of course Lucian would leave no room for doubt—he lifted his hand.

The massive screen behind us flickered to life.

The image sharpened into the face of a man even I recognized—a pharmaceutical master, gray at the temples, with a reputation untouchable in the werewolf world.

His work in medicine and elixirs was often called revolutionary, his name whispered with reverence like an incantation.

“Master Qadir,” Lucian introduced. “A name that requires no embellishment in our world. He has examined and authenticated the elixir personally.”

The man adjusted his silver glasses and nodded into the camera. “Yes,” he said plainly. “And what OTS has unveiled is no counterfeit. I have examined samples of this elixir personally. The Moon Dew Nectar is real.”

Gasps swept the room anew, this time edged with exhilaration. Skeptics fell silent, their folded arms loosening.

And then the hall erupted.

Some cried out in wonder, others muttered feverishly, while a few still shook their heads, stubbornly unwilling to accept what their eyes and ears told them.

But it no longer mattered. Lucian had brought forth an unimpeachable authority.

I found my pulse racing, heat crawling up the back of my neck.

The weight of the prize pressed down on me, heavier than expectation. I wasn’t just competing for prestige now.

This was about legacy, salvation, hope—for so many. For myself.

And yet, despite the knot of nerves in my stomach, a strange fire lit inside me. Excitement. Determination.

As though the Nectar itself was daring me: come and earn me, if you are worthy.

***

When the evening’s formalities finally drew to a close, Lucian was at my side almost instantly, his hand finding the small of my back with the kind of easy claim that made warmth dart up my spine.

“Come with me,” he murmured, steering me gently but firmly away from the dispersing crowd.

His pace carried me out of the grand hall and onto a private terrace tucked along the hall’s edge.

Cool night air swept against my skin, carrying the faint perfume of roses from the garden below.

Above us, strings of lanterns glowed like captive stars, their light softening the world into something almost intimate.

“Your expression betrays you,” Lucian said softly as we walked toward the railing, his tone teasing but edged with something cautious. “You’re still thinking about it.”

“How could I not?” I glanced up at him, my voice low, almost reverent. “The Moon Dew Nectar—it’s the stuff of myths. Logically, it shouldn’t actually exist. Yet here it is.”

I shook my head. “It’s so surreal.”

Lucian chuckled indulgently. “It’s actually not that unbelievable. The formula was not...mine to begin with.” His tone carried a note I rarely heard from him—a wistfulness, threaded with something close to...grief. “It was entrusted to me. By someone I once knew.”

There it was again—that shadow, flickering across his expression before he mastered it.

I tilted my head, curiosity sparking. “Someone you knew?”

His lips pressed into a thin line. “She shared with me the basics. But the attempts to replicate—hundreds of them—failed. It was only after tireless trial and error that we achieved success.”

“She?” The word slipped out terser than intended.

A faint smile curved his mouth, not quite reaching his eyes. “A friend.”

A friend. Yet the soft longing in his tone betrayed more. I caught it, tucked it away in the back of my mind for examination later.

Still, before I could probe further, he deflected, leaning closer. “Tell me honestly, Seraphina. Do you resent me for not giving the Nectar directly to you?”

The question disarmed me. My breath hitched.

For a moment, I imagined it: me, healed, whole, powerful beyond my wildest imaginations.

And yet—I shook my head slowly.

“No. I understand. Something that precious...you can’t just give it out recklessly. Too many others need it too. I’d rather earn it. That way, it’s mine—rightfully.”

Lucian’s gaze deepened, heat and admiration mingling in the pools of his eyes. “I have no doubt that you will win it.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “If my friend were here, I know she would want someone like you to have the Nectar. Integrity and bravery—she prized those above all else.”

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