Supreme Spouse System.

Chapter 471: The Two Conditions [Part-2]

The Two Conditions [Part-2]

"Perhaps," Aden said, his voice firm, unyielding. "But one I expect to hear from your own lips." His tone was tranquil, but the strain beneath it might have sliced glass.

Leon’s silence warped, hanging in the tense air between them, until a slow, deliberate smile twisted his lips. It fell just short of reaching his eyes, which stayed alert, wary, and yet. interested. "Sir Aden," he murmured softly, the words slipping into an almost-confessional tone, "I would adore to accept your condition. Honestly, I would." There was a weighty hesitation, the sort that seemed to make the air around them thicken with unspoken possibility. His face relaxed by just the smallest margin, showing a fleeting vulnerability. "But..."

The one word struck Aden like ice. Tension bristled through every muscle as his jaw clenched. "’But’? Triumphant Leon, what are you saying—’but’?" His voice was tight, commanding, his normally calm veneer threatened by a spark of irritation.

Leon moved closer, the slight movement deliberate, almost intimate, strands of his hair caught by the moonlight like threads of silver. His eyes grew dark, somber and heavy, full of the weight of a king but tempered with an odd, quiet integrity. "You see," he said, voice dropping low enough to graze Aden’s senses, "as king, I don’t much care about the concept of ’lower’ and ’upper’ classes. I never came here to govern this little nation.". My dreams... they reach far wider than these horizons." His eyes flashed with flame, the glimmer of a dream too big to hold.

"But." He left the word suspended, seeming to taunt, seeming to dare, before going on. "If what you want—a kingdom built on peace, happiness, and equity—is something that can exist beside the empire I intend to create. then I will do everything in my power.

Aden’s brow furrowed, a momentary shadow of uncertainty crossing his face, for just one heartbeat—a chink in the armor of his customary sureness. "Then... you do agree?" His voice was low and uncertain, as if to inquire this could cause it to disappear.

Leon’s smile stretched with a touch of mischief, playing but intentional. "I agree... on one condition of my own.

The shock struck Aden with immediate effect. His eyes flickered, reading Leon’s for significance. "Condition?" His voice was both inquiring and guarded, the cutting edge of skepticism held tightly in check.

Leon slowly leaned forward, allowing the full force of his words to hang between them. "You will be my Prime Minister. The man who created and guarded the world you dreamed of. My power can grant you the tools—but it’s your hands that will mold it. Every decision, every move... will be yours to carry. You’ll bear that responsibility, Aden. You’ll bear that burden."

Aden’s chest constricted, as if the very air around him had grown dense. His eyes bulged, heart pounding, and for a second, he couldn’t catch one breath. "You would give me. that power?" The words quivered, half awed, half in terror of the burden they spoke.

Leon’s golden eyes softened, warmth creeping into the authoritative power behind them. His voice was both reassuring and serious. "I would. Because I think you’ll do good with it. I trust you."

Nova’s soft, shaking voice cut through the tension, full of concern. "Leon—!"

Leon raised a hand with gentle authority, halting her mid-sentence. His smile was subdued now, weak but steady, reassuring. "I know what I’m doing, wifey. Don’t worry."

Her gaze remained on him, the green light quivering with concern, soft but unmistakable. It hung there for a long moment, as if she was weighing the risk, balancing the trust she wasn’t certain she could afford. And then, at last, she nodded. Quietly. Almost unnoticed. But it was a nod of trust, of faith, even in the absence of complete understanding.

Aden’s eyes darted between them, catching that unspoken moment, the force of unuttered thoughts piling into the space. He could see it in their eyes—the stillness that covered something stretched tight, like a strained cord waiting to break. Then his eyes came back to Leon. Leon’s lips parted, as though he wanted to protest, to object, but nothing issued. They quivered ever so slightly before snapping shut once more, the movement almost conciliatory.

"Now," Leon’s voice finally broke the night, calm and measured, with an undercurrent that was almost gentle. "Grant me your second wish, Sir Aden."

The night grew heavier around them. Smoke and ash from the dying fire curled in the air, and the quiet crackle was the only thing shattering the heavy silence. Each shadow seemed to press closer, listening.

Aden took a deep, ragged breath, the type that brings exhaustion and determination. His hand went up automatically to press against his chest, fingers covering the beat of his heart. His eyes absorbed the faint light of the fire, showing the burden of the day, the fight, and something more profound—a serious, unyielding determination that tempered the sharpness of his eyes.

"My second stipulation," he declared at last, each word measured, weighed with meaning, "is this: You will never conscript anyone—any soldier, any citizen—into war or battle against their volition. If they do not choose to fight, you will not require them. And if the day ever arrives on which you fail this vow..." His voice fell, even, cutting the stillness like a honed knife. "...then we, and our territories, will break from your authority."

The words dropped into the darkness like a hammer to stone. Hard. Terminate. Definite.

The resulting silence was definite, a vast expanse that appeared to consume even the slightest sound of the wind’s sigh. No one moved. Not so much as a quiver of shadow, not a tremor of hope or fear. Even the flames stammered in their slow, dying waltz, as if they themselves had been hit by the import of what had been spoken. The crackle of the fire stuttered, choked on its own smoke, and then fell at last into smoldering embers that clung to life by mere will. A faint cold crept through the crater, squeezing against everyone’s bones, as if Aden’s words had sucked the very heat from the air.

Nova’s lips opened, a whisper quivering on the borders of incredulity. "He... he just—"

"I heard him," Captain Black growled, voice rough, nearly engulfed by the silence. His voice wore the knife-edge of incredulity, rough but controlled. Vice Captain John remained tense and unyielding as ever, yet every tightly contained thought was betrayed by the tension curled into his shoulders. Even the vanquished Vellore soldiers, kneeling amidst the debris with dust stuck to their tattered clothes, looked up, wide and cautious, as if attempting to appreciate the gravity of the moment.

Leon did not move, did not stir, a statue of golden shadow and light. His face was impassive, expressionless, yet his eyes—those golden eyes—did turn, ever so slightly. The warmth that had once glinted there dulled, resolving into something harder, something colder, a silver blade picking up slight moonlight. Aden sensed it at once, the flash of hidden danger running along that silence. It was not explicit, but it vibrated beneath the surface, a warning whispered that required attention. Nevertheless, Aden’s eyes did not waver, did not blink.