"Cause we humans are driven by greed & self-righteousness. We don't see danger until it's too late & then we lost everything in the blink of an eye."

Heinrich just looked at his son, who was looking at the window with an everlasting smile, like he was reminiscing some old memories. It seemed he had become more mature than himself in a month. His words were precise & carried a deep meaning. His expressions, movements, gestures, everything was different. It was like he was not the Leonhart whom he had known for 20 years.

"You are Leon, right?" asked the Duke in a suspicious tone. He was now uncertain of his own son's existence.

"Yes. Yes I am." replied James hastily. He couldn't explain this reincarnation stuff to others, but also couldn't stop them from noticing the changes.

"It's weird, you know. I am your father. I know you for past 20 years but now it feels like I don't know you. My Leon can't possibly figure this out. He is a worthless piece of garbage, after all. But you... You did it like it was nothing. He doesn't even know how to spell economy, but you explained like you have been doing it for years. Your words, expression, smile, laugh everything is different."

James's face became increasingly paler with every word escaped Heinrich's mouth. Was his cover about to get blown? And then how he was going to explain all the stuff, which was even impossible for him to figure out. Was all the things he just said gave away his identity? Still, there was no point in thinking about this. If the push comes to shove, then he was going to explain everything, but until then he would try his best to maintain this facade.

"So let me ask you again, who are you?" asked the Duke with a grave expression. Things were not adding up & he had to find out why?

"Do you liked me when I was worthless?" asked James, countering Heinrich's question, fixing his not so convincing demeanour to a convincing one.

"Nope, I like you better, still things are not adding up."

"About that... I started changing myself. I wanted to get better at everything." replied James with a beaming yet fake smile.

"But that doesn't explain how you knew economics all of a sudden."

"I... I read about that in the city library."

"We don't have a city library."

"That.... about that... Now I remember, I read that in castle library. Yes, I read there."

"We don't have books on economics in there." Replied the duke with a deadpan expression.

Hearing the words, James's expression became more paler than before. What the hell was this guy even wanted? It was like he was dead set on finding out who he was. And even if he told him everything, it was not like he would understand everything & they would laugh happily. That was definitely an outrageous thought.

"So..." seeing Leon's dumbfounded expression, Heinrich spoke once again. After he brought the topic of his identity, Leon's behavior was becoming weird. He was confident a moment ago, but was not anymore.

"I think we should focus on the topic at hand. And about who am I? I am Leonhart Tristan Von Esper, your son. That's abundantly clear." said James in a heavy tone for added emphasis. He was mustering every ounce of courage he had to speak those lines, as there was no choice left but to act like Leonhart, who seemed like a courageous guy.

"Really..." Heinrich still had some doubts, but there was no point in pursuing it, as there were more relevant matters left for him to handle.

"Yes."

"Fine then. What now?"

"I think I gave you the gist of everything you have to do to resolve this situation. Now the only thing left is to act."

"Yes... You are right." nodded the Duke.

"I should take my leave then..." James wanted to get out of this room as soon as possible, other the man in front of him could do anything to get the truth out of him about who he really was. And that wouldn't do well for anyone.

Heinrich nodded once again, adding nothing & Leon left the room, leaving him alone in thoughts on how to solve the matter.

***

Existing the room, James headed straight to his room, with no turn in any direction. Opening the door, he directly jumped in to the warmth of the too comfortable mattresses. He was mentally exhausted after that serious discussion with the duke. & needed some sleep. But sleep was not that easy to come.

10 days had passed since he called the emperor moron but nothing significant had happened except those threatening letters, but he could feel something bad was coming, as it was too calm & definitely a storm was brewing somewhere.

Disrespecting that guy was definitely a dangerous move, and James knew it. Starting a war because of puny things was not a new thing cause a war was waged between Greece & Bulgaria in his world just because a dog crossed the border. Pretty brilliant thing to do.

Also, those nobles won't change anything because he told them to cause they were far too idiotic for their own good. And he messed up in a very unnecessary situation. Was his decision right or wrong? He had asked this question to himself countless times, but... Well, there was no point in thinking about that now so, let's forget about that but what about Elizabeth?

It was her birthday party, a day for her to celebrate, enjoy & he ruined it. From the very day James returned, he felt guilty about this. There was no mobile or internet in this world by which he could send a message without getting intercepted by anyone & sending a letter would be too problematic cause what he was going to write, 'Sorry I ruined your party & disrespected your father because I got angry. And please forgive me.'

That would be one of the most useless things to write & the emperor would burn that letter anyway before she could even get the chance to read it. So writing a letter to say sorry plan was rejected & there was no plan to take its place, so he did nothing.

Thinking about all this was taking a toll on his brain & soon his eyelids fell down & James was sound asleep

***

The Next Day.

Inside the throne room of the Esper duchy, there were probably 14-15 individuals wearing various dazzling noble robes were sitting on their designated chair chit chatting with each other. They were the advisors of the duchy who were here from all around the region to discuss the matter of Leon disrespecting the Emperor & how to solve that.

It was not a new thing for anyone across the empire to hear about the man named Leonhart disrespecting someone, but humiliating the most powerful guy in front of the noble society was a daring thing to do & everyone agreed on that. If the ruler wanted, he could issue a social disgrace for the Duke's family, but the catch was that the Duke was not a man who would agree with such things.

And possibility of a war also couldn't be avoided as no one was backing down from their stand. The Emperor & the other duke's were now threatening Heinrich to give his son to them so they could punish him but he was not buying any of that crap. Evry letter they received, the reply was 'I don't give a damn about that.'

Things were taking a turn for worse as the sighting of a tiny portion of Arlet's army moving to the west had been reported by the people & if it was true, then it won't end well for anyone. They were diplomats & their job was to control the ruler of the land who was a violent person & by any chance, if a war break out, then things would be pretty chaotic within days.

"What should we do about this...?" asked a man in his fifties with brown hair & green eyes wearing a red colored noble clothing.

"I don't know. Things are getting worse with each passing day." Replied a man with white hair & brown eyes.

"Guys, we can't just sit around & do nothing and let them take Esvet, right?" asked another man from the group.

"No, we can't just sit around still, What more can we do except give advice?"

"Yeah..."

Soon the massive door to the entrance opened & two men entered the room. One was a tall, robust man in his forties with blonde hair and blue eyes who was walking confidentially as if he owned the place and technically he owned it and another was a man in his twenties with elegant facial features and black hair with blue eyes.

The man with black hair was shocked to see all those people & their faces also turned sour after seeing him, cause he was Leonhart, the man responsible for all this chaos. If he hadn't spoken those words, then nothing would have happened & they could all sleep in their homes peacefully. But No, he had to do that & now they were all here to clean up his mess. It was not a new thing for them to deal with, but certainly this time, it was not that simple.

"So, gentlemen, you all know the reason for this meeting, right?" asked the man with blonde hair sitting down on his throne & also gestured all of them to sit as they were all standing for showing their respect. As for Leonhart, he just stood beside him, saying nothing.

"Yes, Sire."

"So what are your thoughts on how should we approach the situation?"

"If I may... Milord," said the man with white hair politely with a kind smile.

"Yes."

"We should approach the situation with more caution & must try to solve it diplomatically, otherwise no one can stop a war with the emperor."

The duke nodded, saying nothing & the men with brown eyes again continued.

"Like the emperor has ordered, we should send Lord Leonhart to the palace where he must ask for his forgiveness & accept the punishment. By doing that, we will definitely be able to solve this with no violence." Said the man with a fake smile plastered on his face.

"Good... But how do you plan to solve the upcoming civil war....?"

"Milord..."