Supreme Spouse System.

Chapter 631: The City That Never Slept

The City That Never Slept

The night outside Leons residence was really calm like something was finally relaxing, but the world around Leon was not going to sleep. The city of Vel was always alive, in the dark. You could hear the guards moving around quietly the sound of cart wheels and the far away cry of a night hawk flying over the rooftops.

Leon was lying in his bed feeling the warmth, around him his chest going up and down as he breathed slowly. At the time something was happening in the capital. It was not making a lot of noise. It was not crazy or wild. The capital was just coming alive.

The royal residence was really close to this building but it was near the big walls inside the palace grounds. This building was totally different from all the buildings around it. The palace grounds had these walls and this building was right next, to them but it looked really out of place.

The thing did not shine like the marble pavilions. These marble pavilions were polished until they caught the faintest starlight that was available. The marble pavilions were really polished.

It did not glow like the lit gardens, where the warm gold color of the light bled softly into the dark shadows. The lantern lit gardens had a kind of glow. The gardens were really beautiful, with the gold color.

It did not have the elegance of noble estates with all the curved arches and the proud banners that noble estates have. The noble estates are really beautiful, with their arches and proud banners.

This thing was made from something that’s really old.

Far darker.

The black granite was really something. It was so pure and cold that it almost ate up the moonlight. This big chunk of granite rose up and it felt really heavy and overwhelming. It did not reflect anything it just swallowed up all the reflections like the light did not want to be. The black granite structure was up, against the palace wall like something alive was attached to it. The black granite was so heavy that it felt like it was squeezing everything it had this suffocating power to it. The black granite just felt really powerful.

A huge block of stone was right in the middle. It had straight lines carved into it. These lines were very sharp. They looked mean. There was nothing about it. The stone was hard and cold. It just looked like it was made to hurt people. The person who made the block of stone wanted it to look strong and scary. The block of stone had a look, to it like it was made to last forever.

The kind of stone that did not whisper to me. The stone just stared back at the stone itself.

The heavy doors of the place had two banners hanging above them. These banners were, above the heavy doors.

The first:

The golden seven-headed serpent — the crest of the Nagareth Kingdom.

The heads are carved with sharp lines and their eyes seem to shine even in the faint light of the torches. It feels like the heads are watching every person who walks under them. The eyes of the heads look like they are staring at each person who dares to pass beneath the heads.

And beneath it, the second banner:

Two swords are crossing in a violent clash. There are sparks flying everywhere they look like they are embroidered in thread. The swords are clashing hard that it is creating a lot of sparks. The sparks look beautiful like silver thread.

The Nagareth military headquarters had a mark that showed they were always ready for a fight. This mark was, like a reminder that problems would always be solved with strength. The kingdom of Nagareth was saying that when all else fails they would use steel to get what they want. The mark of the Nagareth headquarters was a promise that the kingdom would always rely on steel to deal with its problems.

Inside, the building was wide awake.

Torches were burning along the walls of the corridor. The flames from the torches were steady. They were being fed with a lot of oil that was prepared well. The light from the torches made shadows on the stone. These shadows were moving back and forth. They looked like they were alive, like ghosts. The shadows would jump whenever the air moved a little in the halls. The torches and their shadows made the stone corridor look really spooky. The light from the torches and the moving shadows were, like ghosts that were sliding across the stone.

The air felt warm really warm. It was heavy on my skin. The smell of smoke and metal was, around me it was a smell I knew well. The smell of armor and weapons and the long nights when we waited for orders that would send men to die. The smell of armor and weapons was something I was used to it was the smell of nights and waiting for orders that would send men to their deaths the smell of armor and the smell of weapons.

Down the hall one room was really shining brighter, than all the rooms. The room was full of light. It stood out from all the other rooms.

The room was really big and round. Its ceiling went up higher than you would think it would in a building like this. The light in the room was not soft all. It came from torches that were stuck into holders shaped like dragons. These torches made the shiny black floor look like moving water that was really dark. The black granite floor looked like it was shimmering because of all the light, from the dragon-shaped torch holders.

In the middle of the room was an oval table. This table was made from one piece of stone. It was so heavy that it took fifty men and some special machines to pull it into the room. The table had a shine to it. There were some papers and maps on the table. There were also some piles of papers about the war. The oval table was really big. It took up a lot of space in the room. The war reports and maps were, over the table.

The room had eight chairs around it. These chairs were not fancy they were not soft. They were made of iron and strong wood. They were built for people who spent time on battlefields than in comfortable places. The chairs were, for people who knew war, not comfort. Eight chairs were there made for battle hardened people, not for luxury.

The man was sitting at the head of the table. He had a strong presence. It was like he was filling up the room without saying a word. The table and the room and everything, in it seemed to be affected by the man.

Commander Black.

This guy had black hair it was cut in a simple and neat way every single piece of hair was exactly where it was supposed to be. His hair looked like it was styled by someone who did not care about looking good. Only about getting things done. It went around a face that looked like it was made for being in charge not for being handsome. This guys eyes were really serious too: they were dark and cold you could not tell what he was thinking. His eyes used to belong to a soldier. Now they belonged to the kind of person who is even more scary than a soldier. The kind of person who is really dangerous, like this guy.

This man was not a person. He had a face with sharp edges. His face looked like it was made that way because of all the things he went through not just because he got older. Every line on his face told a story about a decision he made when things were really bad like when he had to decide if someone lived or died or when he had to deal with a big problem all by himself. The war made him the person he is today. It did not destroy him. It made him stronger, like metal that gets harder when it is heated.

He put on dark armor. This armor was made to be very strong. It had plates that were made to withstand a lot of force. The metal was heavy and hard against his body. It was made for him to stay safe not to look good. On his chest was a picture of a seven-headed snake, which was the symbol of Leon. This picture was cut into the metal. The light from the torches moved across the snakes heads and body making it look like it was real. It seemed like the snake was watching the room, with him looking at everyone who stood in front of Leon.

He did not sit casually. The man was not sitting in a way. He was sitting up straight and looked very serious, about something the chair was not even comfortable for him to sit in a position so he did not sit casually.

His back was rigidly straight.

The mans arms were. He was doing it in a way that looked really careful like he was making sure not to put too much weight on them. His arms rested with controlled weight. It was like he was thinking about every movement he made.

His jaw was really tight it was set in a way that you see in people who have a headache but do not want to say it. His jaw was like that because he was trying to deal with the headache by himself. The way his jaw was set said a lot, about the headache he was trying to ignore the headache that his face showed even though he did not want to admit it, this headache.

The promotion had changed him. It did not make him feel full of himself. It made him feel really bad about the weight of responsibility. Being a captain was a job: you just had to follow what you were told to do and keep the men who worked with you safe. The promotion was different it was, like being a captain. Now the responsibility of the promotion was weighing heavily on him it was like the promotion had crushed the old him.

A commander’s burden was something else entirely.

Strategy.

Logistics.

Diplomacy.

Crisis management.

Border security.

And above it all, the quiet, unrelenting weight of Leon’s trust pressing against his spine.

Beside him sat another figure—a contrast in softness, but only slightly.

Vice Commander Johny.

This person had hair too. His hair was not as neat as it could be. It fell down his head in lines and it was uneven on the sides. It looked like he had run his hand through his hair a lot. He did not bother to make it look nice again. His hair went around a face that looked very tired. This person had not been sleeping well. It showed on his face. His eyes were dark like the persons eyes.. His eyes did not look sharp and strong. They looked like a small fire that was still burning but it was not burning very brightly. His eyes were quiet and stubborn in the dark. The black hair and dark eyes of this person made him look like he was tired and stubborn, at the time.

The armor that he wore was not black it was trimmed in silver. The markings on his armor showed his rank. They caught the light when he moved. His armor was polished in the places that it needed to be it looked good for occasions but it was also scratched and dented in other places. These scratches and dents were from fights from times when he was close to the enemy. They showed that he had really been in battles that he had followed orders, in situations. The armor showed that he had earned his rank he had not just been given it. His armor was proof that he had fought hard to get where he was.

He didn’t sit as straight as Black. There was a faint slouch to his shoulders, the kind that came from carrying weight for too long.