Supreme Spouse System.

Chapter 477: Alina!! [Part-3]

Alina!! [Part-3]

"You’ll need her in the future," it said. "She’s too good to lose. That’s why you’re drawn to her."

Leon’s jaw clenched, his thoughts running like ripples on still water. It was right, maybe, that was why he had insisted she stand beside him right from the beginning. Some part of him-quiet, instinctive-had recognized her worth when reason warned him to stay away.

He had seen all manner of people in his life: bloated rulers, generals starving for victory, nobles who wore smiles and knives in the shadows. Yet this woman. she was different. There was something unshakeable within her. Beneath the calm, he saw the soul of a true ruler; not a puppet to be moved at others’ whims, not a name propped on a throne, but one who could command the very world, if she so willed.

And yet, why spend so much energy on someone who seemed like nothing but an over-the-hill old soldier?

For even behind a mask of age and scars, Leon knew one undeniable truth: appearances were fragments, shards of something deeper, rarely the full picture.

He stood there for a long moment, the night stretching around him in silence. Thoughts churned quietly behind his eyes until her voice sliced through the stillness like steel through silk.

"Tell me... how do you know?" The defiance laced in Alina’s tone, but beneath, something trembled-raw and fragile, and so not to be shown. The question pulled him out of the spiral in his mind, forcing him to meet her gaze. Sharp. Demanding. Real.

Leon’s eyes softened. He exhaled slowly, the faint sigh merging with the cool breath of night. "First of all," he said, voice low but steady, "remove this guise. I don’t want to speak to a shadow. I want to speak to you—not the soldier, not the mask, not what the world sees... you."

Her expression tightened, a flicker of pride flashing in her dark eyes. "You ask that so easily," she murmured, almost scoffing. "Do you even understand what you’re demanding? If I remove it, I expose everything. My identity, my wounds, my past... Are you sure you want to see that, Leon?"

Leon didn’t flinch. He met her gaze with quiet certainty. "Yes. Because I don’t speak to ghosts. If you keep hiding, you’ll only keep bleeding under it. But if you show me who you are, even just once—I’ll listen."

Her lips arced faintly, a tired, bitter smile. "You really are stubborn," she whispered. "And if I refuse?"

"Then I won’t speak further," Leon said simply. His voice carried no threat-merely calm finality. "I’ll not force you. But understand this: I will only speak when you face me as yourself. If you cannot do that... then this ends here."

For a heartbeat, there was silence stretched between them. The night seemed to hold its breath.

Alina’s eyes flickered, the sharpness in them dulling into something uncertain. Her hand lifted slightly, hesitating near the edge of her veil. "You really think it’s that easy?" she asked so quietly she almost broke. "You think removing this mask won’t destroy what little I have left?"

Leon’s expression softened further. "I think you’ve already carried the pain long enough," he said. "And if it breaks you, then I’ll be there when it happens. But don’t pretend strength means pretending you’re fine."

She stared at him, shocked for a moment by the weight in his voice. Then, after a long breath, she whispered, "Fine... I will. But promise me something first, Leon."

He didn’t move. Just watched her, calm and unwavering, his gaze sharp enough to slice through the smoke curling around them.

"Name it."

Leon’s voice carried that quiet command only a king could have. He inclined his head slightly, the gesture simple yet heavy with certainty. "What is it?"

Her gaze darted briefly—toward the soldiers rigid in the distance, the dying embers flickering against stone, the long shadows crawling across the courtyard. Then her gaze returned to him, steady now, trembling with something raw and unguarded.

"Promise me..." she said, her voice low, fragile yet full of weight. "Promise that once I reveal myself, you’ll see me as I really am. Not the mask. Not the guise. But me." Her breath hitched faintly, emotion tightening her throat. "And tell me how you knew. How you saw what no one else did-how you knew my secret."

For the first time that night, Alina’s mask slipped-not just the one she wore, but the one she’d held over her heart for years.

Leon’s lips curved, the faintest shadow of a smile tugging at his mouth. Amusement mixed with something softer—understanding, maybe even admiration. "I promise," he said quietly.

Alina exhaled deeply, the sound almost a sigh. Her shoulders lifted then fell with a slow drain of tension from her body, like the end of a long battle. For a heartbeat, she looked younger, more human. The faint light caught her cheek, and for the first time, she looked ... free.

Then the change began.

It started small: a shift in her stance, a subtle movement under her skin. The tall, firm lines of her body softened as if the air itself reshaped her. The rigid poise she carried melted into something more fluid, more alive.

Nova was the first to notice: the ease in Alina’s posture, the proud, masculine frame slender at the waist, strength still present but gentled at the edges. The change that had come over her was not violent but was almost reverent, like a statue finding the softness with which it was carved.

Her shoulders tapered, her chest lifted, her breathing deepened. Suggestions of a curve begin to press from under her armor, slight but unmistakable. Her hips slightly widened, making the cut in her body one of strength and poise. A reflected glow of embers danced on her hair, its dim latticework tracing her new form in illumination.

The air around her seemed to shiver, as if reality itself had acknowledged her presence. A low hum permeated the silence; there was no loudness to the sound, only a depth that made Leon feel it thrumming inside his chest—a pulse of something divine, secret, and alive.

Then the change began.