C++ is a multi paradigm language, it is not “object oriented” necessarily.

also, there is nothing wrong with C++. it’s C with additional language constructs and the STL. use as much or as little as you want of it.

also, there is no such thing as leaking a pointer. you can leak a piece of memory.

at the end of the day you need to understand operating systems and how memory management, CPUs and instruction sets work and lots of other low level stuff to build software using C or C++. Rust might temprarily help with some challenges or shield off certain otherwise advanced challenges but in the end there is no way around learning how the machine you write software for works. if you don’t want to deal with that, go build websites.