Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

"You know I am paying 100 coins every hour to them for your reward. If you consumed more of theirs.. Will you go in a negative balance?"

'..............." not only did he want to force her to bear with them. But he wanted her to pay them. What kind of shrewdness was that? Her teeth gnashed and her eyes blazed fire. She cussed him with all the words she knew in her heart but she did not have the heart to waste more time as it would cost her more gold. But no matter how much she tried to behave nonchalantly. Her face started to grumble. The attack was so strong that she could not bear it.

Since Evan had closed her eyes, she failed to see the man whose gaze was still lingering on her face. A satisfied smile on his face, as he looked at her aggrieved face. His gaze softened as he felt how aggrieved she was when she had lost such a small sum of money. 

'Low IQ really had no solution.'

"Do not move your muscles and do not frown!" came the strict voice of the lady who was moving brush on her face, while the other one was pulling her hair. Evan was afraid she would be bald when she would open her eyes. Her eyes strained but the lady scolded her again and she had to control the urge to open her eyes and shout at both of them. 

She finally took a breath of relief when her hair was not touched anymore. But then she felt her both hands being held by a pair of hands. Her nails were plucked, filed and then painted. And then it continued to her feet.

After what felt like an eternity, they finally let her go but before she could look at the mirror of what they had done, they moved to the other side where the third lady was already holding a new dress and a pair of heels for her.

"Change your clothes into this, and then we will be done." She looked at the dress and then the dress in the hands of the woman and sighed. A frustrated expression filled her face.

"My lord.. The lady needed to change her clothes." One of the ladies bowed her head and asked Leo to leave the room politely.

"Mmm" Leo continued to stand there, leaning on the wall. While his gaze lingered on her face. Though she had always been beautiful, yet she was looking breathtaking right now. He only wanted to show his aunt that she could look better than those noble ladies to save Evan from her ire. But he could not look away from her face now. He did not even listen to what the lady said. He only nodded half-heartedly.

"........" they looked at each other in confusion. What did that mmm stand for? Shouldn't he go out to let the lady change.

"We shall use the partition then?" suggested another, as Leo did not move at all and others could only nod at her. They used a bed sheet to cover the net partition and then took Evangeline there. Only when she was away from his gaze, did he come back to his senses.

Leo realized that he had stayed with her for more than he needed. His aunt would be suspicious if she came to know that he was there till late at night and was there in the morning too. 

"All of you know how to leave the palace, right?" he asked and all three ladies looked back at him and nodded in unison.

"Yes, my lord!" He nodded back and then looked at his aide who finally came back to his senses too when he heard the cold voice of Leo.

He moved and gave a small pouch of gold coins to all three of them.

With that both Leo and his aide left. Evan looked at the gold coins in their hands and their ecstatic expressions. To say that her heart was bleeding did not do justice with her current emotions. It took all her efforts to not leap on them and snatch her reward. 

"Umm, how much reward did you get?" The girls looked back at him with the same polite smile.

"400 gold coins each, my lady."

".............." could she cry now! 1200 gold coins? She was sure more than half of her reward was gone! Why? To get her face painted?

She did not even remember when the ladies had changed her clothes and readied her. 

"You can look into the mirror now, my lady."  her eyes sparkled as she looked at herself. She couldn't help but touch her face in amazement. Was it really her? How could she look this beautiful? Well, at least she would be able to look at the face of this beautiful girl for once.

"Your skin is already glowing, my lady. So, I didn't need to put much effort. You are very beautiful."

"Then shall I get half of the share in your rewards?" she asked as she turned and looked at each of them expectantly.

",........" they all looked at each other awkwardly when they listened to her request.

"Haha.. the lady has a good sense of humor too. Hahaha '' she chuckled awkwardly listening to their reply too.

"You shall go, my lady. The matriarch did not like to wait. You only have a few minutes left." replied the ladies as they collected their things from the table. Evan took a deep breath. So he had tricked her again? Was that the reason that he did not let her open the curtains? She had not woken up late. He tricked her into believing that so that she could wake up and take hours in spending her hard earned money.

"Leo, you fraud! I curse you for getting a wife that spends your money like water and then you have to beg for every silver coin and be a beggar for the lifetime!!"

......."