Morgan's Conditions

"Are you Morgan?"

Leon watched the woman emerge from the mirror.

Her dark blue-black dress gave her a somber, chilly air, while the black veil over her face added a touch of mystery. It was only a thin layer of fabric, though, and the eye could easily see through it.

The moment Leon saw Morgan's face, his spirits lifted.

The wicked temptress the people of Britain called her was worthy of being Artoria's older sister. She really was beautiful.

Her features were eight or nine tenths similar to Artoria's, but unlike Artoria's sweet, innocent charm, Morgan had a bewitching allure between her brows. She was tall and voluptuous, radiating the irresistible charm of a mature woman. She had a richness to her that was impossible to miss.

At first glance, beneath that beautiful exterior was the unmistakable air of a wicked woman. She wasn't exactly sharp-tongued or spiteful, but there was a blatant sense of danger about her.

Sweet and alluring, yet deadly poisonous.

"Do you think I'm beautiful?"

Morgan's voice didn't match her mature, wicked-woman aura. It was cool and aloof, with a hint of madness mixed in.

"Beautiful. Very beautiful."

Leon's deep voice rang out. He stared at Morgan without blinking, his gaze full of appreciation for her beauty and the possessive desire of a man determined to make her his.

He strode over to her in two steps, bowed slightly, and held out his hand.

"Morgan, be my wife. I'll give you unsurpassed pleasure and joy." Leon made his bold move without a trace of shyness.

If his earlier plan to marry her had been driven by his desire to collect beautiful women and serve his political goals, now he was simply overcome by her looks, with not a single ulterior motive.

"My mighty Lion King, a valiant man like you is the one I wish to wed. I'm willing to become your wife."

Morgan raised her arm and gracefully laid her hand on Leon's rough, large palm.

"?" She was just agreeing like that?

Morgan's immediate acceptance was completely beyond Leon's expectations.

In his imagined version of events, the love, hatred, grudges, and entanglements between them would have required at least five or six hundred thousand words of back-and-forth before they finally reconciled and lived happily ever after. That was how a love story was supposed to go.

Leon had already prepared himself for Morgan to resist to the death while he resorted to despicable coercion.

Instead, Morgan had agreed so readily that Leon felt uneasy. He suspected she had another motive.

And a big one, too.

"Lion King, you want to marry me, but there are a few things I need to tell you."

The faint furrow in Leon's brow relaxed. He gently held Morgan's delicate, smooth, pale hand.

That was more like it.

If Morgan agreed this easily, she was bound to have an ulterior motive.

"Go ahead."

Morgan said, "First, as you know, I'm currently married. I want you to kill my husband so I can marry you."

"Ah?"

Was the very first condition going to be this scandalous and sordid?

Leon couldn't help thinking, What kind of Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian nonsense is this? Even if I'm not exactly an upright man, I can't bring myself to stoop so low.

But when he saw Morgan's malicious, cold face beneath the black veil, he immediately changed his mind.

"Fine!"

Then again, Morgan was wicked, but was Leon himself any better?

He wasn't some paragon of virtue, either!

Besides, he'd have to campaign against Scotland sooner or later. If he killed the King of Orkney on the battlefield, Morgan would be the spoils of war he claimed. Then he could make her his queen. It would all be perfectly respectable by the standards of custom, national circumstances, and the law.

There was just one thing. Watching Morgan say, with an expressionless face, that she wanted her husband dead, Leon felt a strange twinge of worry. Wasn't Morgan taking things a little too far?

Would she treat him the same way someday?

"Second, I have two children, Gawain and Agravain. They're both talented, and I want you to make good use of them. Then I'll fall in love with you."

His future wife was a wicked woman bent on killing her former husband, and she came with two children... After thinking it over, Leon wondered if he was being a little too much of a "cuck."

But when his gaze fell on the veil again...

Sigh.

"Fine."

Wu Zetian, Liu E—neither had been their husbands' first wife. They'd still had happy marriages and gone on to accomplish great things.

Besides, Morgan's two children were exceptional talents. Gawain was a brave, fierce warrior who excelled on the front lines, while Agravain was shrewd and levelheaded, with a clear mind for handling affairs. They were both rare talents.

Put that way, it wasn't such a bad deal...

Actually, it was a steal. He'd marry one woman and gain two capable subordinates, one civil and one martial. The odds were almost as good as Liu the Boar's.

Besides, with Leon's build, if his bride were a virgin, she might bleed to death on their wedding night.

Better to marry someone who'd already had children.

Roomy!

Leon nodded. "Your children are my children. I'll treat them like my own sons."

Morgan's breathing hitched slightly. She looked up at Leon. He was a large man, but his youthful face made him look only a few years older than Gawain.

There was such a small age gap between father and son... Well, that wasn't necessarily unacceptable.

Caesar had been five or six years younger than his son-in-law Pompey, and no one had made a fuss about that.

"Third, I want you to rule all of Britain. Then I'll stay by your side forever and ever."

This time, Leon didn't even need to look at her to agree.

"Fine." Unifying Britain and Ireland was something he planned to do anyway.

Morgan had brought it up now, but Leon could guess what she'd do next without even thinking.

Once Britain was united, the king would die suddenly and a child would inherit the throne. The country would be thrown into turmoil, and the people would be unsettled. To keep the regime stable, the queen would rule as regent...

Now that sounded lovely.

"My beautiful wife, how do you plan to kill me? A cup of poison, a curse, or an assassin?"

At his words, Morgan looked momentarily startled. She hadn't expected him to see through her plans so easily.

"What, are you surprised?"

Leon explained his reasoning, and the surprise on Morgan's face only grew.

"You—"

He'd guessed right. That was exactly what she'd planned.

Leon would unite Britain, and then she'd poison him and seize control of the country. That would make her the true ruler of Britain.

She'd already prepared the poison.

She'd even made detailed plans for Leon's corpse and his soul after death.

It seemed the lion before her might be huge, but he wasn't stupid at all. In fact, he was quite sharp. She would have to reconsider her plans carefully.

"Morgan, if that's what you're thinking, I suggest you give it up as soon as possible. Why? Because poison, curses, and assassins are all useless against me."

Leon had lived with his mother in the forest for eight years. He'd been raised on her milk from infancy, which had given him a body immune to all poisons.

When Luther adopted him, his mother had also given him a blessing that protected him from every evil curse.

Leon wasn't sure if the blessing against curses was real. He'd never encountered anyone who tried to curse him.

But his poison resistance was no joke. He'd actually drunk poison potent enough to kill him, and the worst it had done was give him diarrhea.

As for sending someone to assassinate him?

Heh.

Wasn't it a little too generous to the physical abilities of fifth-century humanity to think that a handful of ordinary people could challenge a Primarch?

"I didn't expect you to see through everything. Do you still intend to marry me, Lion King?" Seeing that her plans had been exposed, Morgan had given up hope.

But Leon's next words gave her a glimmer of hope and made her heart tremble.

"Of course." Leon had said it from the start. He liked wicked women and poison-hearted vixens.

He wanted to marry Morgan for two reasons: first, he coveted her beauty and lusted after her body—Leon admitted he was shameless—and second, he wanted to take in Gawain and Agravain.

Morgan looked at Leon. A strange glimmer passed through those cold, emotionless blue eyes.

Even knowing she wanted to harm him, he still dared to say he would marry her!

Could it be that he really loves me?

Nearby, Merlin had witnessed the push and pull of this crazy couple's twisted love and hatred, and couldn't help covering his eyes.

Were either of you in your right mind?

One of you wanted to kill her current husband, while the other knew his future wife planned to kill him, and still accepted it...

What kind of people were they?

Ugh, disgusting!

Their lack of morals and sheer madness were utterly unbearable to watch.