Inside a luxurious room, which was illuminated by a fair amount of candles, two individuals could be seen sitting, facing each other. One was a beautiful girl with a disheveled nightgown and teary eyes, and another was a handsome man with a stoic expression. If someone would see this scene from a far, they would have thought these young couple were having a lover's quarrel, and the girl was at fault for something.

But in reality, it wasn't; it was far more sinister than that. The girl, named Lina, had tried to seduce the man named Leonhart, and now he was trying to get answers from her about what just transpired.

"So... What's just happened now?" Asked Leonhart in a serious manner. He was bad at conversations, but not an idiot. He could talk seriously if needed, and now was one of those times.

"I... I am sorry. It's all my fault." said Lina in a pleading tone. The plan she came up with had failed completely. Leonhart resisted the temptation of seeing a naked woman, which was beyond her planning. As a person unfamiliar with these things, she did not know how to handle the situation.

"Yes... I get that. But tell me why you did that?" If James let this slide, then the people behind this could accuse him of literally anything and he would have nothing to defend himself. And he was not ready to take that much risk.

His policy for this world was to live a quiet life, not to get tangled in some political bullshit. And if he wanted his policies to see the sunlight, then he had to take some drastic actions. He was being serious after a very long time.

"I...I..." Lina couldn't just blurt out that her family was behind all this and what if others find out? It would ruin their reputation for sure. But what if Leonhart did something to her? His family was not all talk, they really were the most powerful in the entire empire. They could literally finish off their family tree in a matter of days.

Noticing that she was being hesitant, James asked in a comforting tone. At the very least, he had to find more about the people who were behind it.

"Listen, I won't do anything to you. Just tell me why you did that?"

"..."

"Lina..."

"Yes..."

"Tell me."

"Will... Will you promise you won't do anything to me or...my family?" said Lina in a very slow voice.

"Ok... I promise I won't do anything. Now tell me why you did that?"

"Fath... Father, mother and Karl told me to do it." Replied Lina, like a scared kitten.

"Whaaaaat? Why?"

"I...I don't know. I did what I was told to."

"They told you to come to my room and undress."

"No... they told me to do anything to seduce you and I thought of that."

"So undressing yourself was your plan."

"Yes..."

"God. Why you even thought that was going to work?" said James, massaging his forehead. If seducing him was her plan, she could have done something else, not just straight to undressing yourself. She really did not know about what she was doing. But the more pressing matter was to find out why she did it?

"Tell me, Lina, why you were trying to seduce me? "

"They told me to."

"So, you just did whatever they told you to do. Why you didn't say no?" James couldn't understand why she agreed on this stupid plan. In his time and age, forcing someone to do something was not a thing anymore, but here it was like a God given order.

"I said no, but..." said Lina in a very slow tone. She was getting scared of the consequences she would face, If the word got out that, she told everything about her family to some stranger.

"But..." James realised she was getting scared thinking about the aftereffects, but he pushed the matter. He had to know why or the whole discussion would be pointless.

"They didn't listen."

"What? What do you mean by they didn't listen? It's your life...It's your choice."

"Choice...! That's the only thing I don't have." said Lena with a faint smile. It was like a joke to her. She never did something on her own, always did whatever someone else told her to. At first, she thought they would be happy if she did what she was told to, but it was never enough. They were never satisfied.

She didn't even have a choice to wake a little late or to eat a sweet cake or to take a stroll outside. Attended hundreds of parties, greeted many powerful people, walked elegantly, wore exquisite clothes. But was it her choice? Did she want to do all this? No, she never wanted.

She cried, argued, protested... but nothing. For them, she was an object who had nothing of her own. Only to get influenced by others.

"..." Hearing her words, James fell silent. She had the same look in her eyes as the princess back in the castle where he met her. And now the painting made more sense. These girls really had no choice on their own, did what was told to do. This world really differed from what he had ever known.

"I...I...am sorry."

"No... No, you don't have to. It's my fault to begin with." It was odd for Lina that Leonhart didn't give a lengthy speech like others about how she should fight for her choice and freedom, but never helped in anything. But she was grateful that he didn't.

Still, the main issue was not solved. What he was going to do after this?

"So it's not your fault. You just followed the what your family told you to."

"Yes."

Everything happened so far now made sense. After receiving the news of Leonhart's arrival from the Esper Duchy, the Marquese's family got together to discuss the plan of using Lina as a means to seduce him, so they could accuse him and get what they desired. These people were not simple as he thought them to be. But what now? He couldn't just let them go like it was nothing?

"Lord Leon..." Seeing Leonhart deep in thought, Lina spoke again as she got scared of what he might do to her or to her family. No matter what anyone says, he was the infamous man who burned down over a hundred of prisoners who had committed various crimes, cause he thought it was fun.

It shook the empire to its core as it was considered a genocide, but the families who always wanted to kill these people were grateful for what he had done, but most of the empire didn't approve. Still, he was not convicted of anything, cause there was no proof of his doings and the influence of Esper house helped. From that day onwards, he was known as a sadistic bastard who found pleasure in killing people, as his ground kissing reputation went even more down.

"Yes."

"You... You can do anything to me. I won't say anything to anyone. Please don't hurt my family." said Lina in a pleading tone, mustering every ounce of courage she had.

"Like I said, I won't do anything to you or to your family." Said James with a sigh. He was a man of his words, and he would not break his promise but also wouldn't let this incident go.

"Thank you." said Lina, standing up and bowing down. She expected Leon to demand something from her or to take her as his mistress, but he didn't. Again, she was grateful.

"But Lina, remember you won't breath a word about this elsewhere. All you saw was me sleeping, then you just left. You understand." James had to be careful about everything from now on or else anyone could use him for anything. These people were not trustable.

"Yes, Lord Leon. I swear on my name as Abercron, I won't say anything." said Lina in a determined tone.

And with that, Lina left Leonhart's room, leaving James thinking about what he should do now. It was night, literally 12. His body was aching all over the place from the carriage ride and needed some rest, but to his luck he just finished arguing with a stranger.

James got up from his chair and lay down on to the bed, praying not to be disturbed again for some other bullshit like this. He never thought once in his life that someone would try to seduce him, but now someone really did. It was really awkward and funny at the same time.

"She really was an idiot." muttered James, before closing his eyes and soon he was sound asleep.

As for Lina, she returned to her room, changed the nightgown and lay down on the bed, stretching her arms. Her whole interaction with him was awkward and embarrassing. It was not how you meet someone for the first time. Still, he acted like a gentleman and didn't even try to touch her.

She always thought of the man named Leonhart as a worthless guy with an obnoxious attitude who won't listen to any reasoning, but what she saw today changed the image she had of him a little.