"Why did you come here with me? What's the actual truth behind all this?" asked James, leaning forward from his seat, looking directly into Lina's sparkling purple eyes.

He had dwelled on useless things for more than enough time & now was time to tie the loose ends. First thing was to know the full extent of the Marquess's plan & to prevent it. There was no point in rolling the dice if he knew the outcome already.

Hearing the words Lina's face stiffened as her father had strictly ordered her to not tell anyone about it, but was there any point in hiding things from the man in front of her? He already knew what they had planned, and it was just a matter of time before he would know everything by himself, which would further break the least amount of trust he had in her.

"Can you promise me something?" asked Lina, facing Leon with a brave face.

"I need to know what that is before promising anything."

"Will you promise you won't throw me away after learning the truth? I have broken your trust, but can you give me a last chance?" Replied the girl with purple eyes in a very tender tone. She was guilty of causing problems for many people, but the biggest & the most awful dispute she had caused for someone was Leon.

He had been staged as a bad guy in front of the entire empire for something he had never done & the person at fault was Lina, who couldn't say no to her family's demands. She did everything she was told & in return, what did she get? Nothing, literally nothing.

She never had the courage to stand up against the people who had made her what she was. No matter how wrong things could be, she never objected.

How could she as there was no point in fighting? She was nothing without them. There was no existence of her without Abercrons. Who would recognise her if one day they left her along the endless road called life?

No one would. No one would recognise her without the name Abercron & this was the reason for her becoming someone who would do everything she was told to asking no questions. A perfect puppet to manipulate.

But now the guilt of being a nobody & causing problems for Leon was getting too much to handle. She needed someone to recognise her for what she was, not who she was? She needed someone to hold her in the darkness, show her the light, to tell her it was okay to say no.

And the only one who can do all these things was Leonhart who lived his life however he wanted having no care for this world. Never listened to anyone's hate or bad words or never waited for someone to show him the way.

Always did what he thought was right & the result... He became one of the most hated people in the entire empire. Still, he never cared. He was someone who shone by his own light. Made his name by himself through the way no one dared to walk on.

She met him for the first time when they were little kids. From the very day they met; he seemed like a stubborn kid who did nothing told by his parents. He said no to things he didn't like. Like talk to the guests or learn how to dance and many other things.

It lead him to some heated confrontation with the duchess, but he was not someone who cared about those stuff. This behavior only increased over time with his age, still he held onto his morals.

Couple of years ago, during a party where many noble families took part, Lina was forced by her family to dance with some unknown guy from some unknown family. She was never interested in dancing, nor ever liked it. So she protested & soon that turned into a petty argument which didn't go unnoticed by people present there.

Still, no one did anything & within a couple of minutes she lost the sound argument for bullshit reason, like how it could help them get some dealings. But at the last moment, when all hopes were lost, someone intervened in the conversation.

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He clearly explained the meaning of No' to her father & the Marquess had no way to counter the question so he just left the field, leaving them alone. And that person was Leon who was listening to the petty talk from the very beginning.

He was never interested in being involved in other's matters, but when she saw her losing a fully logical battle & all those people doing nothing, he stepped in knowing the conclusion already. His name was more than enough to solve matters like border dispute between noble families & this argument was nothing to begin with.

Lina kept staring at her father's back until he disappeared into the crowd. She turned around to face that person who helped, but the only thing he saw was a man with an indifferent gaze staring at her.

She instantly recognised who he was & she genuinely wanted to thank him for his work, but before she could say anything, Leon spoke some words which she never expected.

"You know I hate people who can't stand for themselves & you are one of them, so grow up a little and learn to say no."

Saying that line, he left like a gentleman & Lina just stood there blinking a couple of times as to process what just happened. He didn't speak about some otherworldly stuff, but just said what no one dared to say.

That day she saw that stubborn kid once again, but a different side of him. He was not that little kid anymore, but had become someone she always wanted to be.

...

"Will you promise you me you won't throw me away?"

"Ok. I promise. Now tell me the reason for this promise."

"Thank you." said Lina with a soft smile. If she was going to take the next step, then she needed him to stand behind her. And if Leon kept this promise, then she could finally protest against her family.

"You already know this, but I am telling you all again. Karl & father told me to do all this. They waited for a month planning this & then told me the day before coming to the duchy. I objected, but like always, they never listened to me. I pleaded, begged them to not to do this, but they did it anyway."

"Just like I expected." added Leon with a sigh, leaning backwards in his too comfortable chair."But why did you agree? If you had said no, then nothing could have happened."

"Did you understand anything I said?" asked the girl with greyish-purple hair in a troubled tone. She just explained to him the whole damn thing about them forcing her, but he was acting like an oblivious idiot who heard nothing.

"I understood that, but my question is why you did nothing? You could have stayed in your room protesting or have not eaten. But..."

"You understood nothing."

"What?"

"I didn't do all that because I had done all this already. No matter how much I try, I can't say no to them. They are my family. I am here because of them. They feed me, raised me, made me who I am. Do you think I can just say no like you?" rebutted Lina, raising her tone a little.

"But you knew it was not right."

"Yes, I knew."

"Then why?"

"Cause I can't do anything. Just how many times do you want me to say this? I can't fight with them because I am nothing without them. I need them to survive. I need them to live this life of mine. I am noting without Abercrons..." shouted Lina, but her words trailed off at the end.

She expected Leon to understand her helplessness, but he was acting like a moron, asking obvious questions. It seemed she had put too much hopes on him.

Lina hoped he would sympathize with her pain & help her, but who was he to help her? He was a duke's son who had nothing to do with this minor issue. He had a life of his own. Why would he even care?

"Sorry. It's just I thought you could have done something..." said James, realising he was being a dumbass for asking meaningless questions. This was a feudal society where these types of things were frequent.

"No, I am sorry. I thought you could have helped me, but it wasn't..."

"You need my help."

"Yes."

"For..."

"For fixing this mess, I put you in."

"And how are you planning to do that? It's not that simple & things have gone too far by now. Even if you say that you are not pregnant, they will accuse me of forcing you to say that. Like I said, things had gone too far to back down." said Leon in an indifferent tone.

There was nothing left for anyone to do. The only logical thing they could & should do was just wait and let the whole matter calm down, or that's what Heinrich told him to do. It was not that easy, but time was something no one can control & people would definitely forget this thing as there was more content coming with each passing day.

"Their plan was to destroy your image further & they had done it. It's a shame that I am the one who did everything & still asking you to help me."

"It's not exactly your fault but yes, you are one of the many people who did all this & we are still talking, facing each other."

Lina said nothing to this reply from Leon. She was responsible for his image going down even further, but couldn't just sit around & let things go as it is. She had to prevent Karl's other plans, as he was the one who came up with all these ideas.

"So... What now? What should we do?"

"Can you help me?"

"Yes, I can, but why do you need my help?"

"For me to stand up against myself."