Supreme Spouse System.

Chapter 491: Chapter

The Weight of a Choice

The night hadn’t calmed. Smoke still curled from the scorched courtyard, the scent of burnt stone and iron thick in the air. The moon hung fractured above them, silver light slicing through drifting ash.

Alina stood there—no longer a disguised old warrior, but in her true form. Her silver-white hair glimmered faintly under the moonlight, long and wild around her shoulders. Her pink eyes burned like two quiet embers, sharp and unreadable as they fixed on Leon. Her armor, still scarred and smudged from battle, couldn’t hide the tension rippling beneath her calm surface.

She exhaled softly, voice low but laced with edge.

"So," she said, "are you happy now? You got what you wanted. Now tell me—how did you see beyond it? How did you know? That fool King Garry never trespassed this far. He never saw me. So how did you?"

Leon didn’t answer right away. His gaze lingered on her for a moment, faintly amused, faintly distant. Then he said, voice quiet, "Just know this for now—I have my ways. What matters now is your last condition. That’s what we need to talk about."

Her eyes narrowed slightly. That flicker of pink hardened into a blade’s gleam. "The last condition," she murmured, recalling the pact between them—the one that hung like a shadow over the ruins of their confrontation.

She stepped closer, slow and deliberate, her boots crunching against burned gravel. "Then tell me," she said. "What is your answer? Why refuse me, Leon Moonwalker? Why unfinish what you started?"

He smiled faintly, a quiet, knowing curve of his lips. "Because, Alina... for your last wish, I can’t agree."

The air changed—an invisible tremor pulsing between them. Sparks danced faintly around Alina’s body, the air charged with mana. The soldiers nearby tensed instinctively. Nova, standing to Leon’s side, felt the current crawling over her skin, raising every hair along her arms.

Alina’s voice broke the silence.

"Then kill me," she said. "There’s no point in talking. I’d rather die serving a ruler I choose... than live bound to one who doesn’t understand why I made that condition."

Leon’s golden eyes softened, but there was steel beneath the calm.

"Why this desperation to die?" he asked quietly. "Let me finish before you condemn yourself."

Her jaw tightened, but she said nothing.

Leon took a deep breath, the night wind threading through his hair.

"I said—and I’ll repeat myself—I don’t completely reject your final condition," he said steadily. "But if I agreed as it stands... I’d lose something vital. Something I’ll need when the world turns on me again."

He looked straight at her now—no warmth, no mockery, only honesty.

"I won’t force your soldiers or your people. But I need a promise, Alina. If the time comes when everything collapses—when it’s either me or the world—I want your assurance that you’ll stand with me. You and your people."

Her lips parted slightly, uncertain.

"I want you to bind your strength to me," Leon continued, "not as slaves... but as those who choose to share the same fate. If I fall, you fall. If I fight, you fight. In return, I’ll sign a blood contract to prove I’ll never force you beyond your will."

His voice was calm—too calm. "But if you refuse..." he said, resting a hand on the hilt at his waist, "then my blade will decide for us both."

The soldiers around them exchanged uneasy glances. The wind carried tension like thunder before a storm.

Alina studied him long and hard. The anger in her eyes faded—not gone, but buried beneath thought. There was something dangerous and resolute in the way Leon stood.

Finally, she sighed. Her shoulders lowered. "You never leave room for argument, do you?"

Leon’s expression didn’t change, but his tone softened slightly. "No. I don’t."

She looked away for a moment, her breath trembling before she steadied it again. "Alright," she said at last. "I agree."

The words slipped out like the exhale of a long war.

Leon let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. It was quiet, but deep—like someone finally surfacing after years underwater. He nodded once, sharply, but his eyes flickered with something gentler.

"Good," he said softly. "Then it’s settled."

The air eased. Even Nova felt the shift—like the battlefield had suddenly lost its bite.

Alina stepped back, her posture relaxing slightly. Around her, the soldiers of Vellore stared, still in disbelief. A moment ago, they’d watched their commander—a figure they’d followed for decades—reveal herself as not the grizzled veteran they thought, but a striking woman bound now to serve the man who had destroyed their kingdom.

It was too much to understand. Yet none dared to speak.

Leon’s voice broke the silence.

"Welcome, Commander Alina," he said, his tone calm, almost kind. "For now, go. Rest with your soldiers. Explain everything to them. You’ll need their trust more than ever."

She gave a small, reluctant nod. "As you wish."

Leon turned to Nova, Captain Black, and Vice-Captain Ronan. His eyes sharpened again, the ruler returning in full.

"Nova," he ordered, "press every noble, minister, and surviving captain. I want no one escaping Vellore’s capital by dawn. Any who try to run or rebel—bring them to me."

Nova bowed slightly. "Yes, husband."

Captain Black and Ronan saluted. "At once, my lord."

Leon gave them a brief nod. "Good. By morning, gather the citizens in the central square. Alina, you’ll announce the change in rule yourself. After that, we’ll discuss the next steps."

His tone left no room for argument.

Alina met his gaze briefly, her pink eyes flickering with strange emotion—somewhere between defiance and reluctant respect. "Understood."

Leon inclined his head. "Then go. You all have your tasks."

The group dispersed, their footsteps fading into the crackling air. Leon stood still for a moment, staring into the dark horizon. Then he stamped his foot lightly against the charred ground.

Mana rippled outward.

The earth beneath him cracked, glowing faintly with blue runes. Then, in a surge of wind, Leon’s body lifted off the ground—his aura flaring around him like a halo of burning gold and shadow.