“Um… could you perhaps… help me?”

Lucas de la Rosa. Second son of Viscount de la Rosa. Thirteen years old. The rival character of the protagonist.

Honestly speaking, he must have been my favorite character from the manga. I mean, he is a rival ok, but he isn't a stock shonen rival. He's a trickster. He's wild. He's as determined as a stock shonen hero, but he isn't dark. He would not mock the protagonist or put him down. In fact, as soon as they became allies after this arc passed they turned into really good friends. Of course, they butted heads numerous times and competed over the smallest of things, but their rivalry had always been beneficial. Without envy. Helping each other grow from it.

And he was bright too, in a different way to the protagonist. More subdued and thus realistic. He was sweet and I loved whenever the limelight was on him. I know he is a good person. I know everything he does now is because he can't bear to go against his father, But I also know...

“Why should I?”

“I am literally hanging for dear life here and you’re asking me that?!”

That he likes to get on people's nerves even in the most inconvenient of times.

“Don’t be an idiot, now it’s not the time!”

“There’s plenty of hay down there, so you won’t die if you let yourself fall.”

“There’s a pile of dung right there and you just want me to let go?”

He smirked. This asshole.

“I was very curious about the new prisoner father brought, but I never thought it would be a little girl like you. By the way, you smell.”

“I’m not a little girl! I’m already eleven years old! And I don’t smell, it’s the shit down there!”

“Your hair looks pretty greasy though.”

By the love of… ok, so I hadn’t bathed in a few days, but it’s not like I could help it. My family’s water well was dry and with the contamination of the river after the strong rains from the south brought the excess of magnesium out of the earth it’s not like we could afford wasting water like that. For heaven’s sake, we had to collect rain water and morning dew to get something to drink!

But a little brat like him wouldn’t understand, especially someone as sheltered as him.

“I wonder how are you going to get out of there…”

He wants me to beg. When I'm hanging eight meters from the ground, he wants me to beg. This is just too much!

But… wait a minute. If he came here to see the prisoner that means he did so as well in the manga… and he did nothing to help even though he knew what was going to happen to me. This son of a bitch. He's supossed to be a good person alright, but letting a girl die like this, just how much does he fear his father?

“I…” what do I say? “Do you know what your father will use me for?” I know the answer, but if he's going to condemn me anyway then I want him to tell me while looking at my eyes.

“Of course I know. By the way, thank you, since your sacrifice will help revive my mother.”

“How can you be fine with that?!”

Too much! You’re really evil!

“I’m not fine” he said while frowning. He closed his eyes and tilted his head, exhaling his breath as if he was already resigned. “I know it’s wrong to sacrifice a child like you for the life of someone else…. It is wrong to sacrifice anyone, for that matter. But father hasn’t been the same since mother died. He’s… he’s different. He never was much of a father, I admit, but at least when mother lived…”

He bit his lips, looking very conflicted. I get it, you want your family back, but that doesn’t mean it’s right to kill someone else to obtain it. It’s not right.

By the way, my arms are hurting. I don’t know how much I can keep hanging like this.

Lucas opened his eyes and looked directly at me, his gaze determined. “I don’t agree with this, but if there is no other way, then so be it.”

If there's no other way then...? Bullshit. This is complete bullshit.

“I have family too, you know…”

“But your family sold you, so they couldn’t be that nice, right?”

“…”

“And… you’re thin… and filthy…”

“Hey!”

“So your life couldn’t be that good either. Don’t you think it’s noble to give up your life for someone else’s happiness?”

“…” I literally had nothing to say to him. This was just getting more and more annoying. “Just help me already, my arms hurt.”

Lucas pursed his mouth, but luckily, he didn’t say anything else. He told me to wait, and then came back with a rope I have no idea where he got from. He threw it at me and with his help I was finally above ground.

Then, it was time to really talk about his screwed up ideas. After all, he was an ally of the hero. With this fortuitous encounter, maybe I can convince him of helping me escape?