Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

"Do you think Evangeline's background is not worth us even after looking at the jewels she had?" Gabriella frowned when she heard him. Her brows furrowed into a thin line as she asked him.

"Had she not stolen that too?" her tone was sharp but looking at his red eyes she turned silent and pursued her lips.

"Here I thought that you will finally be able to look at reality! Do you really think that she is strong and brave enough to steal from our treasure or are you doubting the knights I have trained personally?" she looked back at the parchments when he asked her so.

She knew in her heart that it was impossible for a mere girl to steal from them. But she could not believe that she is the owner of such rare jewels too.

"Did you…?" but before she could ask he shook his head.

"I pledge on the name of my family that I had not given her those jewels." He would not have been trying to explain to her if he did not need her help. But he had no choice, no matter how he investigated the girl, the results were always nil!

As if she had fallen from the sky one day, her origins could not be found.,

"How could this be! So she is one of those families?" her bewildered aunt mumbled as her grip on the parchments tightened. The soft papas crumbled and started tearing under her strong grip.

Leo's eyes narrowed at her worried figure, she was looking like she had seen a ghost but all his concentration was on the words she had said,

"One of these families? What do you know about those jewels?" She trembled when she heard his pressurising voice but she was not affected at all as her mind turned into a mess.

She stood up abruptly from her seat, "no! There is nothing. I did not have any idea of what you were talking about!" she replied while shaking her head again and again and then ran away from the room with hasty footsteps.

"Aunt wait! I know that you are hiding something.." he tried to stop the leaving lady, but she did not pay any heed to his pleading as if she could not hear him at all.

Spellbound by the sound of the siren, she could not hear any sound around her. Stumbling a bit, somehow she disappeared from the room, while he continued to stand there with a dark face and complex emotion on his face.

His eyes were deep and serene, just like a pool of spring water. Figuring out what he was thinking was unfathomable, yet one could not help becoming immersed in those eyes.

—

"What happened, what is the urgent matter you were talking about?" asked Eli as she sat on the seat of the duchess. In front of her there was a large pile of documents she had to check and a list of tasks she had to complete.

"My lady, the contract for the food we had given to the baron was rejected. He said that the lack of rain had disrupted the production of grains and the prices of food had increased. Since others understand his problem and offered him more prices, he sold the supply to them.

So, he can not supply food to us at that cost.`` The man was looking embarrassed while disturbing her to talk about such matters.

She frowned as she tilted her head and looked at the document. Of course she knew that the rain was less this year but she did not hear any news about less production of grains. But even if that was the case, it was not any urgent matter that required her presence.

"Then pay him more. It is not like we can not afford a bit higher amount for grins!" she asked with an annoyed voice as she stood up. She had to discuss Evan, that was the urgent matter.

"Wait! My lady. The baron said that since we had not offered him a good price, he had sold all the grains to the other families and he did not have any left for us!" the voice of the man was almost turned into a crying state when he said so.

Even Eli was stunned when she heard that. It had been years since the baron was taking care of all the needs of their family. As the family of barons was one of the vassal families of their house in the past before her mother helped them in raising their status as the baron.

"The man had forgotten his origins. If he did not want to supply us food then it is his choice. It is not like he is the only one to supply grains. Buy all the food and grains from anyone else in the market." her voice turned colder and her voice was sharper as if she would beat the baron if he would ever come in front of her.

But the man only shivered further but did not say a word. She raised her head and looked at the man coldly as she knew that the problem was more complicated than this.

"What else happened?" she asked with a gloomy face and the man trembled.

"My lady, I did not know what was happening but trust me I had tried everything. I contacted all four other families that work in the food grains but none of them had so much food grains that could full the need of Thawyne family individually or collectively.'' Since their family was the training ground of knights their usage of the grains was ten times more than any other noble family but this was the first time they were facing the trouble of food  grains in all these decades.

"You mean to say that the family of the duke did not have enough food to feed its staff and knights! Are you kidding me?"

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