Supreme Spouse System.

Chapter 689: The Era History Buried

The Era History Buried

Leon folded his hands behind his back, pacing a single slow step before stopping.

"And this connects to Guardian Village... how?"

Max did not hesitate this time.

"Because Guardian Village did not merely hide," he said. "It was positioned."

Rex nodded once. "The shared Forbidden Forest between the four kingdoms... that is where it lies."

Leon’s expression did not change. But something in his eyes sharpened further.

"Hidden in plain sight," he murmured.

"Protected by what the world fears to enter," Max said. "For generations."

"And Gary found it," Leon said.

"For a time," Max repeated.

Leon’s gaze flickered.

"For a time."

Max held that look.

"He was guided," he said carefully. "Not by us. Not by accident. Someone led him close enough to suspect."

Rex added quietly, "And once suspicion took root... Gary did the rest."

Leon stood very still.

"So he sensed something," Leon said slowly. "Destroyed the village... and only afterward realized the truth."

Max’s voice lowered.

"Yes."

A faint tension crept into the air again—unspoken, restrained.

"By the time he understood what Guardian Village truly was," Rex finished, "it was already ashes."

Max’s eyes did not waver.

"And that," he said, "is the part history does not record."

Leon said nothing.

His mind was already moving—threads connecting, possibilities aligning, dangers unfolding beyond the chamber walls.

Max’s eyes darkened.

"Not entirely."

Leon caught the shift immediately. A hush fell through his hands, resting on the chair’s edge - those amber eyes narrowing, cold and sudden, as if light caught steel mid-draw.

"What do you mean?"

A breath crept into Rex, dragging behind it a silence that pressed down.

"In that era of chaos... something descended."

Word by word, he held back. It sank in slow.

Leon’s brow furrowed.

"Descended?"

Lux gave a single nod, her typical calm replaced by tension across her face.

"A being not born of Galvia."

Heavy quiet pushed at the edges of the room.

A flicker passed across Leon’s eyes as he looked from one to the other - weighing. Myth, you call it," he said

"No," Max said softly. "We are speaking of the beginning."

Heavy silence pressed in, shrinking the walls without warning. A shift in the air made space feel watched, though nothing moved.

Now his voice dropped, Max went on, all formality gone.

"In that age of warlords, when kingdoms rose and fell in a single season... one day, without omen or warning... a man appeared."

A question hung on his lips - Leon speaking, yet sounding unsure before the words even landed.

A soft twitch moved Rex’s neck, just enough to say no without sound.

"That is simply the form he wore."

Still silent, Leon eased backward a little. Yet his gaze stayed fixed on them.

Max folded his hands.

"He sought to rule."

"And the warlords resisted," Leon guessed, his voice steady.

"They did," Rex said. "They laughed at him first. Called him a wanderer. A madman. Then they tried to kill him."

Lux’s lips trembled faintly as she spoke.

"He defeated them. Alone."

Leon’s spine straightened almost imperceptibly. "Alone?"

"Yes," Max answered. "Entire armies. Champions. Bloodlines that traced back to the First Kings."

Rex’s gaze hardened.

"He broke them one by one. Some bent the knee. Most died."

Leon did not scoff.

The elders were not telling this as legend told to children around a hearth. They were recounting it as inherited truth—something preserved in secret, guarded like a wound that never fully healed.

"And he became ruler," Leon said slowly.

"For a time," Max answered.

"For a time?" Leon repeated, catching the hesitation.

Lux looked away first.

"He did not care for thrones the way men do."

Leon’s eyes darkened.

"And what did this... being want?"

Rex spoke now; his voice stripped of all ornament.

"Crystals."

Leon blinked once. "Crystals?"

"Elemental crystals," Lux clarified, her fingers tightening slightly against the edge of the table. "He searched the entire continent for them."

Leon’s gaze shifted between the three of them. "For what purpose?"

Max exhaled through his nose. "We do not know. He never explained himself. But whatever he sought... he believed those crystals would grant it."

"Grant it what?" Leon pressed. "Power? Freedom? Dominion?"

"No one survived long enough to ask him," Rex replied quietly.

Leon’s mind began stitching pieces together, old fragments of rumor and half-buried records.

"Did he find them?"

"No," Rex said. "Centuries passed. He searched relentlessly."

Leon’s jaw tightened slightly. "Centuries?"

Max met his gaze without flinching. "He did not age."

The air in the room seemed to grow heavier.

Leon stood abruptly.

The movement was controlled—but sharp.

He paced once toward the window, hands clasped behind his back, then turned and walked back to them, boots echoing softly against stone.

"You expect me to believe," he said evenly, though a thread of disbelief cut through his tone, "that this continent was ruled for centuries by an immortal outsider seeking elemental crystals... and history says nothing?"

Max did not raise his voice. "History says what it is permitted to say."

Leon stopped mid-step.

Turned slowly.

"Permitted by whom?"

"By those who survived," Lux answered. "And by those who wanted the truth buried."

A small pause followed by a question. What came after that? Leon asked, his gaze tightening just a bit

Lux took a breath. Her words stumbled out, thin and unsure. Violence had come from him

Rex picked up where she faltered. "When the crystals did not appear... when no hidden vault revealed itself to him... he turned against the people."

A look of steel crossed Leon’s face. Yet silence stayed in his throat.

"Entire mountain clans were erased," Rex continued. "Coastal cities burned to their foundations. Villages annihilated in search of hidden caches. He believed someone was hiding them from him."

"He suspected betrayal?" Leon asked.

"He suspected everyone," Max replied. "Paranoia consumed him."

A small jump ran through one side of Leon’s face. That forest nobody talks about? It matters now, he told me, voice low.

He gave a single nod. "That’s right."

Quiet now, his words came slower. "Make sure every syllable cuts."

He paused, filling his lungs slow, like bracing for something long buried starting to move.

"In the midst of that devastation... five individuals emerged."

Ah, five? Leon’s gaze jumped

Five, that was it," said Rex, nodding slowly

"Heroes?" Leon said, but his voice sounded doubtful.

Lux shook her head faintly. "Not heroes in the way bards sing."

What now? Leon asked again.

Firm came Max’s words, steady as stone. "Storms they were," he said

Furrowing his brow a little, Leon said just one word: "Explain."

"They appeared without warning," Rex said. "Each in different regions. Each possessing power that rivaled the outsider. No banner. No allegiance. Just force."

"They didn’t rally armies," Lux added. "They didn’t make speeches. They simply... struck."

Down went her voice at the close, like the past still pressed against her chest.

Staring back at him, each elder’s eyes stayed steady. Not a flicker of stretch in their tale. Myth had not crept into what they said. Just solid truth sat there.

"And they defeated him?" Leon asked.