Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

Knock, knock..

Evangeline looked above from the book she had in her hands, it was the detailed list of nobles and their family. It had their history, details of their estates and how much power one held in the empire with the extra notes made by Eli and Eve. 

The incessant knocking on the door hounded her ears annoyingly. With an annoyed face, she stood up to open the door she had closed to get some peace when the knight from the other side called, 

"My lady, my lord is here to meet you."

Her hands halted in mid air when she heard that Leo was waiting for her on the other side of the door. Her face looked distorted as if she had eaten something wrong and now her stomach was aching. She stood there for three seconds pondering whether she open it or not when the knight shouted again,

"My lady, the lord, did not like to wait so much!" The voice of the knight was full of pain as if he was suffering from any ailment. She realized that he must have a dark face to worry a knight like that. But why was he angry? Shouldn\'t she be the one who would be angry the way he behaved warm and cold with her?

As if there was a switch that had pressed, his personality changed completely. 

Hasn\'t he asked her to study a lot of things? Though she knew it was Leo\'s trick to keep her in her room, she happily obliged as she did not want to meet the new lady of the house anyway. But just when she thought that the day was peaceful, the man was here again.

She was so annoyed that she did not want to open the room. With that thought, she gave one last look to the door that was still knocking and turned back. Walking back to the sofa, she sat down with a slump and looked at the book that was on the table with a sigh. Picking it up, she started reading it but three deep lines formed on her forehead when the intensity of knocking increased. She was not able to concentrate. Did the man not understand, he was not welcomed here? 

She put her book back on the table and stood up to walk towards the balcony. 

"My lady, the lord is saying that if you will not open the door in ten seconds, he would take the reward back to his room." 

"........." her eyes widened and turned golden. As she turned and ran towards the door. Opening it, she passed a big flattering smile to Leo as if she was waiting for him for ages. Well she was waiting for the reward though!

A smirk formed on his face when he saw her face full of flattery. She was looking like a hungry dog that had smelled bone in the hands of its master. Her eyes were big and bright and her face was straining from making a big smile on it.

Soon her eyes left his face and looked at his hands. The big bright smile turned into a frown when she realized that his hands were empty. 

\'Of course, a noble like him would not hold the money in his own hands. There would be a knight or servant behind him holding all her rewards!\' she nodded and the smile returned back on her face.

But this time her whole face darkened when she saw no one but him standing there. There was no servant or knight behind him!!!

She glared at the man instantly with all the grievances in her. The small pet animal turned into a beast suddenly which was ready to tore the person into pieces.

"Where is my reward?" she asked with a glare but the man standing in front of her only snorted.

Avoiding her question, he entered the room with slow steps and looked around. His eyes crinkled when he saw that a bunch of books were lying on the table. Most of them were open with a page book marked or highlighted. But his proud face soon turned into a frown when he saw the untouched food on the table.

"Why did you not have lunch?" he turned back and faced her again but she was looking at him with blood lust. 

Her eyes were accusing him for all her grievances. He was amused by her expressions and a strange feeling was there, he could not describe in words!

"You should not avoid dinner for studying." he advised her in his cold voice with a blank face, that she was not even sure if he was caring for her or trying to change the matter of conversation.

But this time she was not ready to let go that easily.

"A cold hearted person had asked me to finish all my lessons before night, so i was studying that!" she snarled as she pointed at the bunch of books and he blinked.

"......" she was the first one who had the audacity to call him coldhearted and insensitive on his face, yet he found her cute with that glare. She was looking like a frisky kitten who wanted to scratch him.

"Sigh! Have your dinner then I will teach you a shortcut to learn all these names and their position in the empire." he said in a defeated tone as if a parent gave in to their kids\' tantrums. 

A sense of achievement filled her heart when she looked at his face. It was no more cold and blank but relaxed and soft. But then she remembered how he tricked her to enter in and a scowl formed on her lips.

"Who wants to learn a shortcut for remembering these names? Why am I even learning them? I am just waiting for my reward! Where is it? Didn\'t you say that you brought my reward just a minute ago!!" her voice was sharp as as she put both her hands on her waist and looked at him with sharp eyes. 

One wrong answer and she will pounce on him and beat him.

"You took 12 seconds!!"

"..........."