1000x Random Returns: Investing in My Crippled Demon Wives!

Chapter 6: Chapter 6: The Golden Finger Finally Arrives!!

Lucien woke up to a wing draped over his face.

He blinked in the pre-dawn light, mouth full of feathers, and had approximately two seconds to process his situation before the memory of last night hit him like a falling roof tile.

”Oh.”

”Oh right.”

”The light. The words. The—”

He went very still.

[Wife Slot I Registered.]

[Wife Slot II Registered.]

[Wife Slot III Registered.]

[Wife Investment System Activated.]

His heart did something complicated in his chest.

’Eighteen years.’

’Eighteen years of waiting for a system, a cheat, a bloodline, anything —’

’And it shows up on my wedding night. Great timing. Very considerate. Thanks, universe.’

He carefully lifted Evelisse’s wing off his face. She murmured something in her sleep that sounded suspiciously like ”stupid warm idiot”, rolled over, and kept sleeping.

Lucien eased out from under her, tucked the blanket up over her shoulder, and sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, willing something — anything — to appear.

Nothing did.

’Rude,’ he thought. ’I remember glowing text and interface. Where’s my glowing text.’

He closed his eyes and thought, with as much focus as a man running on three hours of sleep could manage: ’System?’

The air in front of him shifted.

A pane of translucent, silver-blue light unfolded, hovering silently in the dark room.

No sound. No fanfare. Just there, like it had always been there and he’d simply never looked hard enough.

| Wife Investment System |

[Host Status]

[Wife Status]

[Inventory]

[Investment]

Lucien stared at it.

’...Okay. Four tabs and a locked one. Very mysterious. Very ”figure it out yourself,” apparently.’

He tapped Host Status, mostly out of habit, half expecting nothing to happen.

[Host: Lucien Dracul Aethernis]

[Race: Vampire]

[Bloodline: Uncommon — Bloodburn Bloodline]

[Talent: None]

[ Rank: F (Middle)]

[Stats: —]

[ Strength: 22

Agility: 25

Vitality: 31

Intelligence: 24

Mana: 23 ]

He read it twice.

’Yep. Still a garbage bloodline. Still no talent. Good, glad the system’s honest, at least. Really building my confidence here.’

He swiped — mentally, somehow, the interface just ’understood’ what he wanted — to Wife Status.

From there he chose to view Aurelia’s status first.

[Wife: Aurelia Astrax]

[Bond: Partner — 4%]

[Race: Demon (Asura)]

[ Rank: SS(Beginner) → E (High)]

’Damn, so Aurelia used to be at SS Rank before she was crippled, also what is this Bond thing? ’ Then he swiped to Seraphina’s Status seeing she also had a bond section,

[Wife: Seraphina Lilith]

[Bond: Partner — 3%]

[Race: Demon (Succubus)]

[ Rank: D (Beginner)]

’So Serephina is currently the highest rank between all of us, huh’ he thought.

’Also her Bond is at3%, seems like I gotta give her more love and show she is loved, if it is what I think it is,’

Then he swiped to Evelisse’s Status viewing her bond level and percent.

[Wife: Evelisse Noctis

[Bond: Partner — 6%]

[Race: Half Human / Half Fallen Angel]

[ Rank: F (Beginner)]

Lucien blinked at the numbers.

’It seems my third wife is a bit of a tsudere huh, she says she doesn’t need me but has the highest bond from all of them,’

’I can’t wait to tease her more,’ he smiled evilly while rubbing his hands together.

Then he moved on checking what this Partner Bond Level was, which he found after mentally clicking it on ’Partner’.

[ Bond Levels:

•Strangers

•Acquaintance

•Partners

•Lover

•Soul Mate

•One Soul

•Eternal Companion]

’Partner level. After one night. Okay. That tracks, I guess — soul contract, mutual near-death humiliation experience, that kind of thing bonds people fast.’

’But four percent? Six percent? Feels a little low for a guy who put in that much effort.’

He tried tapping the percentages for more detail. Nothing happened. He tried the Bonds tab directly. Same basic numbers, nothing new.

’Cool. Cool cool cool. Very transparent system. Love the customer support here.’

He gave up trying to brute-force it and closed the interface with a thought, the glowing panels folding away into nothing.

’Figure it out as I go, then,’ he decided. ’Fine. I’ve got time. Probably.’

---

He checked on Aurelia first — asleep in her own room, one arm flung over her face like she was blocking out an enemy’s arrow rather than sunlight.

Then Seraphina, curled small under her blankets, silver hair spread across the pillow, breathing slow and peaceful in a way that made something in Lucien’s chest go soft and protective.

Then back to Evelisse, still sprawled across his bed, wing twitching occasionally like she was dreaming about hitting someone.

’All present, all accounted for and all still asleep.’

”Okay then, they must be tired after last night, let’s go make breakfast for them to show how much I love them, I mean it works in movies doesn’t it?”

---

The kitchen was a disaster of borrowed pans and half-stocked shelves, but eighteen years as an overworked bachelor on Earth had left Lucien with exactly one transferable life skill, and it was this.

He cracked eggs, sliced what passed for bread out here, found some kind of local root vegetable that smelled promising and hoped for the best.

The smell must have carried, because within twenty minutes, footsteps started creaking down the stairs.

Aurelia first — dressed, alert and hair still slightly damp, moving like she’d already done a hundred push-ups before deciding breakfast was worth investigating.

Then Seraphina, wrapping a shawl around her shoulders, eyes widening slightly at the sight of him actually cooking.

Then Evelisse, hair a mess, wings still half-folded from sleep, glaring at the kitchen like it had personally wronged her by existing before noon.

”You can cook,” Aurelia said. Not a question. A fact she was filing away.

”Turns out I do,” Lucien said, plating. ”Surprise skill number one. Now sit down.”

They sat.

He set the plates down — nothing fancy, just eggs, bread, and the root vegetable turned into something resembling hash — and took his own seat across from them.

”Eat before it gets cold,” he said. ”I promise it’s better than it looks.”

Aurelia picked up her fork without ceremony and ate. No comment. No expression. Just steady, deliberate bites, like she was assessing whether the food met some internal standard.

Seraphina took a small bite first, careful, almost shy about it — and then her shoulders eased, just slightly, like she hadn’t expected it to actually be good.

Evelisse stabbed a piece of egg like it owed her money, shoved it in her mouth, chewed —

and went very quiet.

’Here it comes,’ Lucien thought, watching her fight visibly with herself.

”...It’s fine,” she muttered, not looking up. ”Edible. Barely.”

”I’ll take that as praise,” Lucien said. ”And I’ll cherish it.”

She kicked him under the table. Lightly, althogh it felt suspiciously like affection.

’Tsudere behavior, I guess?’ He thought inwardly.

The moment the third spoon touched a third mouth, something chimed in Lucien’s mind — not a sound exactly, more like a note struck directly against his skull.

[DING!!]

[Investment Detected: Normal Breakfast → Aurelia Astrax]

[Investment Detected: Normal Breakfast → Seraphina Lilith]

[Investment Detected: Normal Breakfast → Evelisse Noctis]

[Investment Tab — UNLOCKED]

Lucien froze mid-bite.

’...Come again?’

Three translucent gacha wheels bloomed into existence in front of him, hovering above the table where only he could see them, each one spinning through a blur of glowing numbers.

’Oh. Oh, this is happening right now. At breakfast. Cool. Very normal breakfast activity.’

He kept chewing, doing his absolute best to look like a man not currently watching three slot machines materialize over his eggs.

The first wheel slowed.

[Aurelia Astrax — Bond 4% — Max Multiplier ×4]

It clicked to a stop.

[×4]

[Investment: Normal Breakfast]

[Return: Four Blood-Vein Restoration Herbs (Common)]

The second wheel spun down.

[Seraphina Lilith — Bond 3% — Max Multiplier ×3]

[×2]

’Damn man, not even max, even though the max is only 3, must be rigged or my Lucknow horrible’ he complained to the system, more so jokingly.

[Investment: Normal Breakfast]

[Return: Soul-Calming Petals (Common)]

The third wheel slowed last, ticking down almost lazily.

[Evelisse Noctis — Bond 6% — Max Multiplier ×6]

[×5]

’YESSS!!!,’ he screamed inwardly, showing his inner gamer from earth.

[Investment: Breakfast]

[Return: Beginner’s Culinary Manual (Common)]

Lucien sat there, fork halfway to his mouth, staring at three glowing reward notices that his wives couldn’t see, sitting above a breakfast table they very much could.

Blood-Vein Restoration Herbs.

’From Aurelia.’

’Whose mana veins are shattered.’

Soul-Calming Petals.

’From Seraphina.’

’Whose soul is being attacked by her own bloodline.’

His pulse picked up.

’This doesn’t look fully random. This is,’

’This feels personalized.’

”Lucien.”

He blinked. Aurelia was watching him, fork paused, eyes narrowed slightly.

”You went somewhere,” she said.

”Just thinking,” Lucien said, setting his fork down carefully, heart still hammering. ”About breakfast.”

”About breakfast,” Evelisse repeated flatly, unconvinced.

”It’s a very complex dish,” Lucien said. ”Lots to consider.”

Seraphina hid a small smile behind her hand.

Aurelia went back to eating, apparently deciding his weirdness wasn’t worth further investigation this early in the morning.

Under the table, out of sight, Lucien opened the interface one more time.

Three glowing rewards sat waiting in his inventory, patient and silent.

’Herbs for a shattered mana veins. Petals for a soul at war with itself. A book that might actually teach me to cook something better than eggs.’

’Eighteen years of nothing.’

’And now this.’

He looked up at his three wives — Aurelia steady and unreadable, Seraphina soft and still faintly pink from a compliment she hadn’t gotten, Evelisse glaring at her plate like it had insulted her family — and felt something settle in his chest that hadn’t been there yesterday.

’Golden finger, huh.’

’Took you long enough.’

***************

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