A beautiful lady with long black hair & glistening sapphire eyes was walking down the vast corridor of the castle carrying an annoyed expression on her face. Every one who was working or doing something just bowed down respecting her authority, but she didn't even give them a nod as she was too busy searching for her son.

From a very young age, she had taught him to always respect woman & he did. Never once had they heard from anyone about him harassing any woman for fun or pleasure. He had become a degenerate, worthless piece of garbage, still never disrespected any woman.

But now those people were alleging him of impregnating the Marquess's daughter, which was a total lie as his track record gave away everything. Something was going on behind the scenes & she could feel it.

Those testimonies were too good to be true, as those people were just there at the exact moment, which was totally unreal. What was the maid doing in her room in the dead of night? Or what the other maid was doing near the room? Why they waited for a month before bringing the topic up?

There were countless question, but she was sure that it was all a part of a well-thought out plan to tarnish their image. With the approaching civil war & further complication in the contract, this would perfectly serve as one of the many catalysts to ignite the fire among the people.

Leon was already famous for being an incompetent person who could do nothing & how could he even lead this duchy to a better future? And if this word got out, then the least amount of hope people had upon him would also bicker.

Now everything was going according to their plan as the duke had agreed to accept that girl as his daughter-in-law & it was in plain sight that Leon was not happy with it.

"Leon..." called the duchess to her son, who was just about to open the door to his room.

"Yes." replied Leon with a stoic expression on his face.

"Let's talk inside."

Both of them entered the room where Adeline was lying on the floor, holding a bunch of papers. She was reading with a focus, as if deciphering something which could lead to her getting a noble prize, which was impossible as that didn't exist in this world & she was already a noble.

Seeing the duo, the girl with blonde hair didn't get up or do anything. She just looked at them with an impassive gaze & kept reading those things. Melissa sat on the sofa & Leon sat on the opposite side, directly facing her.

"So... What just happened?"

"Like you saw, I don't know what happened. I have no clue about that."

"Tell me the full story about what you wanted to tell your father earlier?"

"So..."

James explained the full story from how he reached their house to how Lina came to his room & did the things you already know. Also, he added, it was all planned by their family & forced her to comply. Today's situation was no different as he saw her confused expression when the Marquess told everyone that she was pregnant as it was also a bummer for her.

James explained all theses things to the duchess as he needed someone on his side to support him & to believe in his words. He couldn't fight with the duke alone.

"So you are telling me that her family told her to do this?" asked the Duchess in a questioning gaze.

"Yes, she told me & I warned her not to tell anyone that I didn't fall for their tricks, but as you can see, that didn't work." replied James with a sigh. Trusting someone really was a hard thing.

"I knew it. I had faith that you wouldn't do something like this."

"You did?" asked James, looking at her with a shocked expression. He expected her to ask more questions about it, but she just accepted it.

"You can be an idiot, but you never broke my trust or the morales I taught you since you were a kid." said the lady with black hair with a smile. She had complete trust in her son.

"Yes." Nodded James, but he felt something warm inside as it was the very first time after a long span someone had put their trust in him.

"Another reason I believe in your words is because Abercrons are getting too close with Arlets for quite a sometime by now, which is suspicious & they are not even trying to hide it. They are helping the Marquess in various things, from loans to food to even a marriage proposal."

"Marriage proposal for whom, Lina?"

"That's another complicated matter & we will not talk about that. Still, you should know that those are not good people. They had always tried to tarnish our reputation & I believe this is also one of their many plans."

"Does father don't know about it?" asked Leon in a confused tone. If she knew about it, then the duke had to have some idea about it, but he delivered his verdict without thinking about anything.

"He knows, but I don't understand why he didn't listen to you. What is he thinking?" said the duchess with a sigh, leaning on to the enormous sofa.

"You know, I can't do what he told me to. I can't accept her as my wife out of nowhere."

"I know. For now, just calm down & I will talk to your father about this. We have to do something, otherwise whatever those idiots are trying will end up pretty badly for us."

"Yes."

With that, Melissa got up from her seat & began to leave but her steps halted as she once again looked towards her son, to say something.

"No matter what happens, Leon, I am with you."

"Yes Mom." said James with a smile. She and his long gone mother really were similar. No matter how bad the situation was, she never left him alone. Trusted him, believed in his words. And now Leon's mother did the same.

Just like they say, "When you are looking at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know".

***

Inside a fairly illuminated luxurious room, three people with stern expression were talking about something important.

"So what's the plan?" asked a man with violet eyes & snowy colored hair.

"There is no plan. Our every plan has failed & what do you want us to do now?"

"Nothing. I want you to do nothing."

"Listen dickhead, you always stay in the shadows & we all do your dirty jobs. So who do you think is going to get his ass kicked by that massive army?"

"There is no army."

"What, no army? They literally have like 10,000 man ready to kill anyone."

"You idiots. Espers are dismantling their army bit by bit for the revitalisation of their state, as it's consuming too much of their resources. So within 2-3 months, there will be no army." replied the man with amber-colored eyes with greyish white hair.

"Wow! Those guys have brain, huh?"

"Yeah, but who came up with that plan?"

"My sources are telling me it is the duke who planned all this. But..."

"But..."

"But it is very unlikely. If he was the planer & then he could have done it like 10 years ago. They were in far better condition compared to now."

"So..."

"Someone else is behind it. I don't think Heinrich has the brain to do this."

"But he has balls, purely made of steel." said the man with violet eyes.

"That's not what we are talking about here, Theo. So let's focus on what is necessary. Our primary goal is to finish Leonhart within 7 days. He has some plans to visit Nortion in 3 days &..."

"We can finish him there."

"But how..."

"If you don't fucking interrupt me every goddamn time, then I can definitely answer you." Shouted the youth.

"Sorry."

"Yeah, so he will be in Nortion & the only way we have left is frontal assault."

"What do you mean, frontal assault? We can't possibly do that." Asked the man with teal colored eyes & brownish-purple hair.

"Yeah, it will be too risky & if anyone of them survived, then it won't take them long to find us. And yes, you should remember that we are trying to assassinate him. Assa-ssi-nate. We are not trying to start a war." said the man named Theo.

"You morons, when are you going to listen to my full plans? Have some fucking patience & let me explain first."

"Go on."

"Idiots. So tell me how many times we have tried to kill him? It's been like 10 times by now. First, we tried to poison him, which didn't work cause of that maid. Second, we tried to throw him outside the window of your castle, which also didn't work cause you, Lord dumbass Theo, were too busy chasing the princess. Third, we tried to..."

"Ok, that's enough. We understood that we don't have any option. Still, it will be too risky to..."

"That's why I am telling you to listen to me first. Then you guys can shout as much as you want."

The other two nodded, saying nothing.

"We are going to do a frontal assault, but with a lot of people. Tell me Karl, how many guards does he always have around him?"

"5 in their uniform & another 5 in disguise."

"So how about we let them fight with 50 or 100? How many chances are that they will make it out? Quantity can sometimes beat quality if used properly."

"How the fuck are you going to get those men? Sorry dude, but I ain't gonna do that. I have dirtied my hands too many times with those failed plans of yours."

"And I am not even asking you. Karl, you did the job I told you before?"

"Yes." said the man with teal colored eyes, handing out a letter to the man.

"Perfect. Now the only thing we have left is to make it look like an accident."

"And how are we going to do that?"

"You said that guy is head over heels for your sister, right?"

"Absolutely"

"Then write a letter to him informing..."

"Already did." said the man named Karl.

"Nice man. I like you better than this moron." Replied the man with amber-colored eyes with a smile. He liked the individuals who understood the situation & acted upon it. And one of the many few was Karl, who knew what he had to.

"Hey..." Theo tried to object but couldn't as the man spoke again, cutting his words mid-sentence.

"But write another letter after this little talk of ours informing what he has to do next? Ok?"

"Sure."

"So the plan is..."