Although the family was in a difficult political situation and had to spend a lot of money. The Ford family still was doing well for itself, second only to the ducal households. And being the sole heir Leon had no shortage of resources he required.
Leon who was now a 17 year old, was arrogant, self-centered, impulsive, short-sighted and well for lack of a better term stupid. He was arrogant as he was the sole heir of a ducal household and when he was young was touted as a prodigy as his talent with the sword was second only to the royal family and was also talented in magic.
But all of this got to his head and he never worked on them, he was also spoiled by the Duke and was sheltered from any conflict or criticism. This made him think that he was invincible and that no one could stop him.
Leon realized he had to change but not too drastically as it might alert the people around him.
Leon had realized that there were 4 problems which would cause his death and the downfall of the Ford family
1. Leon's fiancé- Noelle Crassus
Leon's fiancé was the daughter of a Marquis. She was beautiful lady with dark blonde hair, and brown eyes. She was extremely popular in the high society and had many powerful friends.
The Duke and the Marquis were going to work together on many projects. These projects if done correctly would make massive amounts of money and would keep a steady source of income into the respective households for generations.
However, it required the Duke and the Marquis to invest a lot of resources, time and use many of their connections. So, if one of them decided to pull out it would make all the time and resources they spent useless.
So, as a gesture of goodwill and trust the Marquis used his daughter. He got her engaged to Leon to show his commitment to the project.
However the Marquis was going to betray the Duke and call off the engagement, thus destroying their reputation and making the time and money the Duke spent wasted.
2. The Duel
Leon who was arrogant and proud was easily manipulated by others to get what they wanted. The commoner faction in the National Academy also used this to their advantage. They had always wanted to prove their worth, and thus by doing so wanted more Commoner students to get admitted in the academy.
Leon was the leader of one of the noble factions within the Academy. So, they used Leon. They provoked him and made Leon challenge them to a duel. They also convinced Leon that the loser's faction would completely support any 1 proposition made by the winner's faction in the Student Council.
Leon lost the duel, and was gravely injured. With the help of his faction the Commoner Faction made the academy admit more commoner students into the Academy. This destroyed his already bad image in the academy. The Ford family was once again humiliated and lost some of their supporters.
3. Military Service
Military Service was a great way for noble families to show their loyalty to the throne and show off their heirs. The heirs of several noble houses would participate to show their skills in battle.
But Duke Ford did not allow Leon to participate in the service as he had lost an arm and was gravely injured. This was not taken lightly by the nobles. They openly criticized the Fords. At this point the Ford family was at rock bottom and they had no allies that would stand up for them.
4. Drugs
When Leon entered the Academy he started consuming drugs and other illegal substances as he saw some of his peers do it. Before he knew it he was in too deep. To be able to buy more and have easy access he agreed to become a dealer.
The Academy's Student Council held a covert investigation and found damning evidence as well as witnesses. The organization he worked for disappeared and all the blame was put on Leon.
He was sentenced to death as he had been accused of being responsible for drugging thousands of students, many nobles included and for the murder of several investigators and students who tried to find the culprit.
His father tried to appeal against the death penalty but with almost no support the decision did not change. Leon was executed.
'I need to solve these problems if I even have a chance of surviving.' Leon thought.
'Where do I start?' He wondered. 'The duel is a month from now, so I need to train. But before doing anything I need to get rid of the rats in my house.'