His eyes brimmed with deep affection as he gently took Nian Yan's hand. "Thank you for saving my life."
The raw emotion in his gaze was way too intense to ignore. Startled, she quickly snatched her hand back. "You're my guardian, so please don't be so formal with me. And, well, if you ever decide you don't want to be my guardian anymore, we can just be friends. Friends don't need to be so polite either."
Leon immediately caught her drift. She was gently rejecting him. But there was no way he was giving up that easily.
"Could you at least tell me what kind of guys you like?"
For a moment, Nian Yan honestly drew a blank. Back on Earth, she had spent every single day hustling just to make a living. Romance was the absolute furthest thing from her mind. Even now, her dating experience was a big fat zero.
"If I really had to say, I guess I'd like a guy who treats me well, and he'd have to be absolutely, entirely loyal to me, heart and soul." That was the best vague answer she could muster up. "But honestly, I'm not even thinking about marriage right now."
She hadn't held out any hope for marriage back on Earth, and coming to this world, there was also the massive lifespan gap to worry about. What if she couldn't even live to see her five hundredth birthday? Wouldn't she just end up breaking her partner's heart?
"As long as you don't despise me or try to chase me away, I just want to stay by your side. I don't care what my title is. Anything is fine."
Leon's tone was so devastatingly earnest. He was practically begging. Since he had already put it like that, Nian Yan could only let him have his way.
Awkwardly, she scrambled to change the subject. "So, how did you suddenly lose control anyway? Did someone make you angry?"
Leon looked a little ashamed. "My rampage levels were already running dangerously high at seventy-four. And then yesterday, my uncle demanded that I leave you and take another A-rank female as my mate instead. So we got into a massive fight over it."
Hearing this, the smile completely vanished from Nian Yan's face. Leon's uncle didn't approve of her. In a flash, her mind dragged her straight back to Earth, right back to that toxic family where absolutely everyone resented her.
"If your uncle doesn't like me, then you shouldn't like me either."
Leon went into absolute panic mode. Desperately, he grabbed her hand again. "I'm the one who likes you. It has absolutely nothing to do with him. My uncle has been emotionally dead inside since the day he was born. Honestly, he doesn't like anyone. Please don't hand me a death sentence just because of him. It's not fair."
The Empire's Grand Marshal, Felix Ryan, had spent his early years leading the military to fend off invasions from other advanced civilizations. He was utterly ruthless and decisive in battle, earning the absolute loyalty and terrified respect of all his subordinates. People called him the god of war. But despite his fame, he remained unmarried to this day, all because of that extreme emotional detachment.
Leon frantically tried to distance himself from his uncle's coldness. "He has zero right to interfere with my love life. Even if you truly had no spiritual power at all, I wouldn't listen to him anyway. Besides, you might awaken A-class mental power. If he knew that, he'd never object to me pursuing you again."
Saying that, he pulled out his terminal and directly sent his uncle a video call invite.
Felix answered the call and only saw his nephew. He had no idea Nian Yan was standing right there off screen. He had already seen the video of her soothing the black mamba. Combined with the report from the Control Bureau stating that Leon's loss-of-control index had dropped, he guessed that Nian Yan's mental power was probably about to awaken, and that it would be way higher than A-class.
Hearing this, Leon took a deep breath, suddenly shooting a sharp look at his uncle. "Wait. Doesn't that mean you'll have to serve the same wife as me?"
After all, an S-class male might be able to settle for less and pair up with an A-class female, but double S-class males simply couldn't. Over the last few centuries, the Empire had already seen several double S-class males completely lose control and degrade into mindless beasts because they couldn't receive any mental soothing. The other surviving double S-class males were also hanging by a thread. Felix was the one with the lowest loss-of-control index and the best overall condition. But after all these years, those numbers had definitely added up to a dangerous level.
So if Nian Yan really did awaken S-class mental power, she would be his absolute only option.
Felix raised an eyebrow. "Calm down, Leon. I'm not going to steal your little female."
He had stayed unmarried all this time because he simply didn't want to deal with females. A cold and detached man like him was only fit to be a war machine. He wasn't cut out to serve a delicate female.
"Let's spare ourselves the drama of an uncle and nephew fighting for favor." Then he stated firmly, "Even if I don't compete with you, there are way too many males who will. Females always crave something new. From now on, she's going to be surrounded by all sorts of males. With so many temptations around her, her interest in you will definitely fade over time. At the end of the day, S-class females are just in too high demand. If you chose an A-class female, you might still have a shot at being the primary husband. It's not too late to change targets now."
At this point, Leon didn't even dare to look at Nian Yan's expression. He opened his mouth a few times, trying to get his uncle to shut up, but failed miserably.
That was until Lu Zan knocked and came in. "Dinner's ready. Leon, you've been dragging her into a private chat for way too long. Don't make her late for dinner."
Felix's voice came to an abrupt halt.
In the dead silence, Nian Yan slowly leaned into the video frame, offering an awkward greeting.
"Hello, Uncle."