Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

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"Write a reply that we have accepted the invitation and prepare a few gifts for his family. And since we are here for the night. I want to take a walk to the town and make sure everything is fine before leaving." he replied as he lit the candle and burnt the letter.

"Alright, I will make the necessary arrangements!" Though the aide was shocked to his wits by the strange behavior of his lord, he was trained to not ask questions and not react to every action.

It had been ages since he was working for him to know when to interfere and when not to.

William raised his eyes and stared hard at the man. After a long time, he finally spoke, 

"There is no need. I will go disguised to check the real condition of the town. I did not want anyone to be aware of my presence for doing so. So, I can not take the carriage and knights with me. You and two other men can come with me but we will be separated there so that it would take less time to check the whole area.

I want you to find out if there are some people who were manipulating the commoners against royals, telling them that they were not taken care of during the drought and much more…" oh so that was the matter. That was why his highness was so furious.

The aide took a sigh of relief in his heart as she realized he had thought too much about it. Controlling his wild imagination, and getting rid of his foolish thoughts, he nodded his head.

"Yes, my lord. I understand. I will do the appropriate thing and we will leave with the back door so that even the staff did not know about your absence!" His tone was once again professional and confident since he deduced that the old man was like an informant or someone who wanted to warn them.

He once again admired the foresightedness of his master that he was able to realize who the old man was and even too sudden actions,

Every noble that thought that his master's and royal's family relationship were estranged was food.

With a smile, he walked out of the room when he received a curt nod from his master who was still lost in his thoughts.

As the aide walked out of the room, the man looked at the burnt letter with his eyes swirling with strange emotions. He closed his eyes and pinched the space between his eyebrows.

"It is just because of you! If only you have trusted me! Now look what had happened!" he whispered in a soft voice.

His voice was more field with grievance than complaints as his face with a look of longing. How much time has passed when he finally stood up and walked towards his closet.

Taking the clothes of a commoner out, he disguised himself and wore a large cloak over his face.

Instead of taking the main door to go out, he walked towards the attached store room and jumped out from its window.

His aide and two more knights were already waiting for him. They turned and bowed their heads when they felt his presence. He nodded and all of them took their horses and rode silently. 

The knights wanted to ask what was the reason for the sudden visit to the town when they had already checked twice but did not dare to look at the solemn face of their master. 

After walking to the outskirts of the town, William pulled the reins of his horse and stopped there, followed by the other men.

"We all are going to separate from here. If you find anything amiss then report to me immediately. I will be near the town center!" 

"But my lord, what about your safety?" asked the aide with worried voice. Even when they go out in disguise, one of the knights had always stayed with William from a long time. He did not want any contingency to happen suddenly. 

But his worried voice was only met with a mocking and cold laugh that stunned all of them again. 

"So, you think it's just because I work in administration. I am weak and can not protect myself against weak commoners?" The dominating aura he was releasing was too much for all of them to bear.

"No master, but what if it is a trap and we will walk straight into it? We have to make sure you are safe then!" The aide tried to reason though he was finding it difficult to continue to reason with his master whose face was turning darker every passing second.

"So, not only do you think that I am weak but I am also a fool to not be able to discern between a trap and real facts! I did not know that my own people think too lowly of me!" the lips of the knights parted but not a single word came out.

Only he knew how much he admired his master. But it looked like no matter what he would say, his master would find faults in it. He was doing that intentionally!

"I can never think like that even in my dreams, my lord. I apologize for going against your decisions." he bowed his head and rode his horse towards the town without saying another word.

The knights exchanged glances but bowed their heads and left from there too following the aide. Since the man who had spent all his life with William was not able to reason then where did they stand..

Once William was assured that they had gone, he sighed as he felt bad for them but instead of taking his horse towards the town center as he had told them, he walked towards the woods on the other side.

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