Supreme Spouse System.

Chapter 703: Control The Board First

Control The Board First

Out of nowhere, he saw it: nobles clawing at control while commerce frayed thread by thread. Along the edges, fights broke out - sudden, sharp, like flames catching tinder.

"If Gary collapses outright, Moonstone splinters," he murmured, walking slowly along the stone path. "If Aurelian rises unchecked, he becomes a future threat."

His jaw tightened.

"And if I weaken both?" he asked the empty air. "Do I stabilize the board... or invite chaos from every direction?"

A quiet place, really, this kingdom - no war sounds here. Instead, it held itself up through thin agreements, tied tight by dread, ego, hunger, and cold feuds that still breathed underneath. Take out just one support without care and everything above crashes at once.

What stuck was how quiet Skyfall had become.

"They’re not idle," he whispered. "They never are."

A hush followed as he exhaled. Pine mixed with old dust in the stillness. Quiet, yes. But not honest.

"And William..." His voice lowered further, edged with irritation. "Smiling. Bowing. Gathering nobles in private."

What seemed like devotion behind closed doors wasn’t faithfulness. It was simply weighing gains.

He stopped walking.

A heavy red filled the sky, its glow spreading wide. Long shadows crept slowly over the cold stone.

"If I leave now for the forbidden forest," he said quietly, almost testing the words, "I hand them the space they need."

Space to whisper.

Space to plan.

A crack opened where things were finally settling. Everything shifted again without warning.

Fingers twitched by his leg.

He whispered under his breath. Not now

Fight sounds filled the air. Truth lived in how rough it felt. The knife appeared before you, clear as day.

Things slowed down in government. A grin came first - then the choke.

His steps started again, but softer now.

"Gary must remain standing," he said, thinking aloud. "But not strong."

"Aurelian must advance," he continued, "but not freely."

A ghost of a grin pulled at one corner of his mouth.

"And Skyfall... must believe I’m watching."

Each step needed thought behind it. Pressure applied slowly. Not too much force held back on purpose.

A crown slipped away while he sprinted after fame.

A single crisis made the king act fast - suddenly, three others appeared. His hurry had opened doors he meant to keep shut.

A breath left him by way of the nostrils.

"The board is shaking," he repeated softly. "So I stabilize it first."

Later would do just fine for the trees.

Power could wait.

Yet chaos didn’t pause. It moved without warning. Spreading fast.

A shadow stretched across the floor where Leon waited, one hand on the war table’s rim. Light barely touched the grooves of the map - each border a question, each alliance a maybe. His breath came low, measured, like counting heartbeats in silence. Stillness held the room long after he stopped moving.

"Chaos never asks permission," he murmured to himself. "It seeps in through cracks. Through hesitation."

One result didn’t help. The other left him stuck too.

Faster steps meant risk showed up early.

Should he wait any longer, someone else might just step in. The moment could slip away before he even decides.

A shape was what he wanted for the ending - steered, squeezed, held tight.

"Moonstone i need take control over quick as possible," he said quietly. "And Nagarath must stand firm before I take a single step beyond its borders."

His jaw tightened.

A quiet stiffness moved through him as he stood taller, hands locking over his ribs like a shield built without thought.

"Loose ends invite predators," he muttered. "And I refuse to be hunted in my own kingdom."

"I need them all positioned exactly where I can see them." His thoughts shifted - briefly, softer.

Fewer knots pressed into his back now. A small release slipped through.

Rias’s fearless smile.

Aria’s playful arrogance.

Footsteps apart yet moving together. Lira breathed evenness where Sona held her ground without sound.

Before others even saw what was coming, Natasha had already worked out the outcomes. Her situation wasn’t hers alone - others shared it too

Still staring, he held on to the pictures past when it made sense.

"They’d see the fractures," he admitted under his breath. "Even the ones I don’t show."

Frequently, Rias poked fun at his habit of dwelling too long on things.

Just to see that fire ignite behind his gaze, Aria would push him. She’d test his limits without warning. His reaction - always worth the risk. The flicker in his stare made it real. Not anger, exactly. Something sharper. Alive.

Lira stayed quiet, yet her presence near him somehow eased the burden. Stillness hung between them, though it brought a kind of relief. She did not speak, instead choosing to remain at his side. The silence stretched long, but it didn’t press so hard after a while. Her being there changed how the heaviness sat within him.

Suddenly still, Sona would sit, feeling the air shift like a held breath. Quietly she noticed how light dimmed on the leaves. The silence thickened just before thunder rolled through. Her eyes stayed fixed past the trees where shadows gathered early.

Few plans stood ready, just in case things went sideways. Natasha never waited for trouble to knock.

A small laugh slipped out before he could stop it.

"I had other plans for tonight."

Almost, the words tasted too rich.

A sudden picture formed - he walked into his room, plans gone quiet. Warm palms, soft giggles from the women beside him, eased the weight across his shoulders.

No maps.

No borders.

Far from quiet thoughts moving in his gaze.

Just warmth.

Just them.

A small curl formed in his fingers where they met the tabletop. The grain pressed faint marks into his skin.

"Hard to resist," he said, voice low. Still... maybe too much so.

The picture slipped away fast.

It always did.

His glance returned to the map, light from the lantern gleaming in eyes of gold.

"If I indulge myself now," he said, voice lowering, "they’ll be the ones forced to endure the fallout later."