Inside the office of Duke Esper, two individuals were chatting. One was a man with blonde hair & blue eyes carrying an indifferent gaze & another was a youth with black hair and blue eyes carrying the same indifferent expression. Anyone form a far could tell who they were because of their matching facial features & eye colour.

"So mind telling me, why are you here?"

"I want to go to Nortion."

"Any particular reason. Like you won't just go..."

"I need to fix this old school farming system & add some changes, which can solve this entire food crisis in the future."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"It's simple. I just have to..."

The youth explained every bit of his plan in detail & the duke just listened, saying nothing. His thoughts were all over the place, but still he listened to what his son was presenting to him.

"So you are telling me it will work, just like that?"

"I am no farmer, but I know it will work. You just have to wait & watch." replied Leon in a confident tone.

"Fine. Do whatever you want."

"Thank you."

Saying that, the youth began to leave, but his steps halted because of the words escaped Heinrich's lips.

"You know, Leon, I had so many hopes from you. I still have, but you always let me down. Never once I have seen you do something, which I can be proud of. And the biggest thing of all is, it is my fault. I was not a good father. I was unable to teach you proper manners. I was..."

"All I can say for now is reality can be often disappointing. If you think your son is worthless, then I won't stop you, but I will say it once again. I am not the Leon you once knew & I will make things right, no matter the cost."

With that, Leon left the room, leaving the Duke to his own thoughts. But soon he started smiling for some nameless reasons.

"You really are my son." said Heinrich to himself, looking towards the ceiling. He was losing hope for his son to become the duke, but these words he just heard, the determined expression he saw changed something.

Leon was not the old Leon anymore.

***

After 4 Days

A carriage carrying the insignia of Esper duchy was moving along the road, surrounded by dozens of guards in horses wearing steel armor. Anyone from this country could tell whose carriage it belonged to or who was inside it.

Inside the carriage, 3 individuals were present. One was a youth with black hair with blue eyes looking outside to the changing scenery with an expressionless face. Another was the maid named Sophia & the final one was an unexpected guest named Lina, who didn't even dare to look anyone in the eye.

It's been a couple of hours since they started this journey towards the town named Nortion to the east. The main reason was to teach the relived soldiers on how to do farming. It was not necessary for James to be there, but he had to implement the four-filed system for more food growing capacity.

So he personally requested the Duke to allow him to go there. Heinrich was angry at his son over various matters but didn't out voice them at the time because this journey carried far more significance than other things.

James got the approval after presenting the new method of farming to the duke. He was nervous but had to do what needs to be done, so he marched out to the office & everything went right.

Still, there was a problem & that was what the Marquess's daughter doing here? She had no role in this journey or had anything to do in that town.

"Lina?" asked Leon, averting his gaze from the window towards the girl, who was looking outside with a distressed expression on her face.

"Yes," replied the girl, looking at him but never tried to match his gaze.

"Why are you here?" James had to know the reason behind her accompanying in this not so enjoyable tour.

"I... I will tell you when we will reach there." said Lina in a trembling voice as she couldn't just blurt out everything in presence of that maid.

"Why? Why can't you say now?"

"I can't."

"Fine, but you will tell me everything otherwise it won't end well for anyone." said James in an indifferent tone as it was pointless to push that girl & he knew she was hesitant because of Sophia who was just looking at the duo with an innocent look on her face.

Lina nodded, saying nothing because sooner or later Leon was going to figure out the truth & it wouldn't take him long to piece out this not so complicated puzzle. Then this whole game of hiding the lies would not end well for her.

"Sophia, how long are we gonna sit on this?"

"We just began our journey. It will at least taka a day."

"So the evening, huh?"

"Yes & you can lie down if you want."

"No, thanks. I don't want that nightmare again." said James, looking towards the window, remembering his aching back with a painful expression.

***

Finally, the carriage reached the town Nortion in the evening, with no further incidents. Leonhart got out of the carriage & was greeted by the Lord of the region named Count Palatine Wigeric & his family consisted of his wife & four children.

James was guided inside the castle, where he was given a too lavish room like everywhere he went & now he was used to this. But besides that there was an issue & that was Lina was also with him, looking here & there.

Just what that count was thinking by giving the two the same room. Was he on his honeymoon or what? Still, there was no point in dwelling over it, so he asked the question which held the most priority at the time.

"Did you guys send that letter to everyone?"

"Which letter?"

"That letter where you announced everyone about what I did, which is a total lie & you know it." said James with a sigh, sitting down on the massive bed. It had been 4 days & everyone in the entire empire knew about the incident like it was all pre-planned.

They deliberately sent the letter to each & every noble family before appearing in front of the duke as if they really wanted everyone to know this bizarre, illogical argument. And the fact was, every soul who heard this just agreed, as if they were expecting Leon to do something like this.

Just how much this guy had blown up his image?

"I... don't know." replied the girl. She only heard her parents talking about sending a letter to the palace, but after seeing this arrangement, she also got the idea that everyone had already heard it.

"They didn't tell you. I thought you were all in this together." Asked James in a sarcastic tone.

"No. They never told me anything. I just did what I was told to."

"So you are not pregnant."

"No."

"Then all the drama you did in front of Hein... I mean the duke. Was it was all fake?"

"Ye... Yes." nodded the girl. There was no point in further hiding it as it would create more problems for her as she was now in Nortion, where the root of all the problems lied.

"You know Lina. I was always bad with trusting people & see what happened now. I trusted you & you broke it. Now I have to pay the price. My reputation is in ruins, but for why? Cause someone thought it would be fun to play a prank."

He was a duke's son who carried a significant authority over the people of this region. Because of that fear, no one was saying anything, but what if something like this had happened in the past, when he was just an ordinary guy living in an ordinary city?

His whole life could have been wiped out in minutes without him ever knowing what exactly happened.

People always believe bad words about someone without ever thinking about whether it's genuine or fabricated. But they will always doubt if they hear something good about someone. That's how this society worked.

This whole wide society accepted Leon as someone who could do that, without knowing the whole truth & this was the price he paid.

"It's not funny. It really hurts when everyone thinks you are the bad guy without ever hearing your side of the story." said James with a faint smile on his lips.

His value in front of Heinrich had decreased substantially. He was Leonhart's father & seeing his pained expression; it hurt James. Along the way, he had developed many feelings towards this new found family & one of that was respect.

He respected Heinrich like how he did to his own father, but after seeing that defeated expression, James only felt shame. No son ever wanted to let his father take the fall for his shortcomings, but now he did. Leon's father's reputation got tarnished because he raised a son who forget his own morale.

This was the price he paid for trusting someone.

"I am Sorry Leon. I didn't mean to..." After seeing Leon's smile, which couldn't hide his hopeless expression, Lina's guilt deepened. She never wanted to be a part of anything, but she was forced to & now another person was hurt because of her mistakes.

"I know. It's not your fault. It's just sometimes I feel really hopeless about everything." replied Leon with a smile.

"So yeah. If you want to take a bath, then feel free to, cause I am going to the count for changing this room. We both won't be able to sleep if we stayed in the same place. So Good Night." said James, getting up from the bad & moving towards the door.

Tiredness of the journey & the mental stress of these pointless topics was taking a toll on his body, which needed some rest & couldn't just sleep here beside some girl. It would b too awkward for both of them.

"Leon, Please don't." Responded the girl quickly standing in front of the door.

"Why?"