Besides even if Rebecca believed Leon's words and decided to help him, that won't lead to anything.
In the novel, after king Maximus announced the engagement between both of them, he promised her if she needed anything, and he'll do it for her.
After all, he was too happy then. King had just managed to tie the Blake family to himself, and now he had even more power and control over everything.
All this happened because of his daughter, who agreed to this marriage at once, and didn't even question anything.
It was then, that Rebecca put forth her promise that she made with Leon, and how she agreed to help his mother.
King glanced at the people present in the hall, who also heard his words, unable to refuse, he agreed to her request.
Then king asked Baron Darren to take royal healers and they'll go take a look at his wife,
Obviously it was all a charade, Maximus put in the party, to maintain his image. He already knew about Baron's wife being cursed and in need of help, that motivation to help is what he used to keep Baron in check and work for him without anything in return.
He gave orders to royal healer never to try their best Or fully heal her, even if they could. He did help stabilize her condition and gave some purifying artifacts, that stopped her body from deteriorating itself, due to the cursed mana in it.
The world only knew, king Maximus tried his best and did everything, but even royal family couldn't lift the complex curse placed on Baron's wife.
With just that one celebration, king Maximus managed to secure Raven and Blake family support due to engagement. With his fake act of kindness he managed to get public support and a loyal Baron who would die on his orders without asking anything.
It was a good deal for him, and he was all to happy with his daughter, who made all this possible.
-
A smirk came to Rio's face thinking how much king gained in that novel, and how much he lost because of his interference.
As for Baron and his family, there was no need for him to do anything about them. He had already seen protagonist's father at the table. And seeing how he was gullible enough to fall for Baron Misha's sweet lies and schemes, there was no need for him to be mindful of him for a while.
Protagonist's mother, Celeste Lightborne, was still cursed and knowing her plotline, Rio was sure she won't die from this curse, even if no one did anything to help her.
After all, she was cursed so she can suffer for a lifetime, if she died just because of that, how would her enemies take pleasure in her pain. She'd live, and that's why Rio didn't worry about her too.
Of course he wasn't heartless enough to let her suffer, just because he wanted to change some stuff in the novel. He never met her, and she never did anything bad to him, he couldn't hate her just based on a novel he read.
So he did decide to help her, instead of the king or royal family, he was planning to use Blake family who would help the baron and save his wife.
Though he knew the way to lift her curse, she'd have to wait for a while, cause her plotline isn't something he wanted to start now, when he wasn't ready himself.
It might seem foolish to some about why, he, who's living as a villain, was helping the hero, who's supposed to kill him. But he didn't think so.
The purpose of doing this was also, so he could increase the positive image of Blake family in the empire.
Though the crowd of normies will never be able to even lay a finger on him, but he had seen the effects of danger the bad rumors and fake prophecies could bring to him.
So he wanted to atleast maintain that kind image of everyone until he was strong enough to protect them.
So even if someday something happened, the flock of ants won't be foolish enough to stand against his family easily.
Selling Pura Corpus potion cheaply in Damascus would do the trick too, but he wanted more acts of kindness to maintain the image.
This act of helping Baron's family, can also make Leon grateful to him and Blake's. Giving him another safeguard for a while.
(He had no plans to be friends or buddies with the hero. But if he could avoid some stupid conflicts, he would do it.)
-
"Bad brother, what did you do?"
Rio's thoughts about plotline were stopped as he heard Amelia's voice. He had pulled her with him for 2 reasons. First, he didn't want to leave her alone for an instant, fearing maybe she'll bump into protagonist if he let her be.
Even though, they'll both only talk for a little time, and nothing dangerous would happen to her.
He didn't want to let her near the creatures who are known to have a halo of wisdom degrading and harem surrounding them all time.
'Who knows if those halos are real, and suddenly Amelia turned stupid. No he can't let that happen right.'
Second reason, was that he wanted to give Rebecca some alone time, she needed to carefully think over everything he said herself and not he influenced by someone else.
That's how he'd know if she could see the world, the way she does years later in the plot.
He could let everything go, like it did in the plot and have her grow after suffering many things, or he could just help her by shouting facts at her face - the choice was hers, which path she'd wanna take.
"Did you bully Rebecca. I told you before, I'll beat you bad if you did." Amelia said, warning her brother.
"I didn't do anything. I just told her the truth and she couldn't understand it. It's not my fault, is it?" Rio replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"Then why was she so angry?" Amelia asked back. She clearly saw how angry Rebecca was. She was about to go forward and calm her down, but this brother held her hand and dragged her away.
"How would I know. Now, don't ask too many questions, and fix your appearance a little." Rio said as he bent down and wiped her mouth and hands which were still not cleaned after she finished eating, cause she got too busy watching a drama instead.
"Where are you taking me. I haven't even eaten anything yet. I'm hungry." She said, she came to this hall, so she could eat everything away from her mother's eyes. But this brother first dragged her to watch a fight, then he faught himself with Rebecca and now dragged her away.
Aside from those handful of popcorns, she hasn't eaten anything yet.
"We're going to the main hall. You can eat whatever you want there." Rio said, and started walking again.
"But there's mama there. How about 5 minutes. I'll just take a quick bite." Amelia pleaded, but this time her tricks didn't work as Rio replied.
"Mother's busy. You can just eat there. No excuses. Now follow me."
With a pouting face Amelia followed him to the main hall.
-
'Who does he think he is. Shouting at me like that. Does he think I don't know anything.'
"World's not fair princess. You're the one who's not fair. Lazy white panda."
"Just you wait, once this is over, I'll tell aunt everything about you. We'll see how she twists your ears then. Who told you to fight with me."
Rebecca remained lost in her thoughts and complaints, standing alone in the party. Though some kids approached her wishing her birthday and all formalities, but those saw her a while ago shouting, stayed away from her.
Feeling the stares of everybody around her she decided to leave the party. She already had enough of everything anyway.
After getting away from all the crowd and chatter, she came to her favorite garden and sat there.
"When will this party end?" She thought, as she looked at the message from her mother, that she should join them in the main hall in an hour for cake cutting.
She just sat there, thinking about her earlier fight with Rio and everything he said, while plucking out flowers. It was then that she heard a voice which snapped her to stop.
"Excuse me. Do you know how can I go to the main hall. I was outside, and now I couldn't find my way back to the event hall."
"What?" Rebecca shouted in anger, thinking it was probably some new maid or someone else pestering her.
"Y_ you can just tell me the way, I can find it myself." Leon said in a hurry, stuttering as he spoke. He wasn't lying, he was a bit scared there.
He just woke up after getting a full beatdown, he didn't want to get beaten by a girl this time. She really looked angry too.
"You, you're that boy who got beaten inside right." Rebecca said, after taking a clear look at him. Seeing him, her previous anger rose a little bit. It was all this boy's fault. If he didn't get into that fight, she wouldn't have an argument with him too.
"Ah yes, I'm Leonard Hear.."
Leon was about to introduce himself as courtesy, when Rebecca cut him off saying "what're you doing here. This area's restricted for the guests. And what happened to the guards who were with you. Did they let you out."
Listening to her constant barrage of questions, Leon was first stunned, but seeing how she started glaring at him angrily, he replied "The guards were there, I was just in a hurry looking for someone, so I ran away. And while doing so, I got lost and ended up here."
"Casssie, send him back to the hall." Rebecca said, to nobody, making Leon confused about who she was talking about.
He looked around but didn't found anybody, he was about to tell her that, she was alone here, but when he looked back he found a girl in black clothes standing behind her.
"As you wish master." The girl in black spoke.
"You can go with her, she'll take you to the party hall." Rebecca said, but then she remembered Rio's words about how those boys would beat him up, if they found this guy again, so she added
"And don't go starting off other fights. Those kids from before might be looking for you there. So just tell her about your parents and she'll take you to the main hall."
Surprised Leon was about to follow the servant girl, who appeared out of thin air, when he remembered something and asked.
"Are you the one who saved me earlier?"
###
A/N - if u have some complaints, do tell me. And i am in dire need of some positive 5* reviews to boost my morale. Cuz my lazy personality is affecting my will to write, so motivate me.
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on (f)reeweb(n)ovel.com