Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

—-------------

Tell me did you seduce the guards of the treasure room to get your hand on all this. I will make sure that all of you will be given the death punishment."

"......"

While everyone was standing there stupefied looking at the contents of the box, the voice of Gabriella was like a cold slap bringing them back to their senses!

Leo had not left looking at Evan for even a second as if he wanted to dive deeper into her soul.

Gabriella stood up but with a trembling body and walked towards evan. Her eyes were blazing fire. And as if lured by a siren, she could not see anything else but her rage to kill the girl standing in front of her.

She raised her hand ready to slap the girl but before she could hit her, Evan finally came back to her senses and held Gabriella's hand.

She cussed Leo in her heart to steal such rare jewels for her. Even if god would say that the jewels belong to her, no one would believe it. Even if he had covered everything with mud and soil as if he had excavated it from the grounds, there was no way that she could possess such rare jewels! And here she thought that he finally had brains when he thought of this plan!

She was raining and crying like crazy in her heart, but her face was blank and cold as she held the hand of Gabriella who was shooting daggers at Even with her eyes.

"You still dare to stand against me? Are you not afraid that I will kill you right here for stealing my ancestral property?" Gabriella shouted in rage. Her chest was heaving up and down with madness. 

No one had ever seen her this mad ever! It felt like she would kill everyone who was present there if they dared to meddle in their affairs right now.

Even Leo, whose eyes were glued on Evan, turned to look at the raging Gabriella with flickered eyes. As if the puzzle was getting complex with every new step he took, he could not fathom what it was all about.

"Why are you so sure that the jewels belong to the Thawyne family?" Although the jewels were exquisite, it did not mean that every rare jewel belonged to their family only!

Gabriella turned and looked at Leo with the same blazing eyes. It took her a few seconds to understand what he was asking about. But then her eyes only turned redder with the question.

"Ha! Do you think that I had taken birth only yesterday in the family? I had been handling the affairs since young of this family. These jewels!" She pointed her finger at the box and then walked towards it. Crouching on the floor by herself without carrying for her image and demureness, she picked up the antique gold coin that had not even caught the attention of anyone in front of those sparkling jewels. 

"This is the coin that was demonetised almost 19 years ago. Only a few coins were left for memorials in a few royal families as it contained the picture of grandfather rather than royal family. Even the emperor would not have a single coin of this type. Only we and the families that had been loyal to us had one as a sense of respect towards us.

Then how could she have it when no one even knows who her parents are! Such filthy blood could not belong to a reputed family. Where did she get it from, if not from stealing?" her voice was filled with longing and pain as she looked at the coin and even Leo's face turned sombre when he listened to her explanation. 

He closed his eyes for a minute to collect himself. Everyone knew what their family had suffered long ago but never knew that there was a coin that represented their glorious time too.

But when he opened his eyes again, it had gained that tranquillity and peace.

"Since the coin is so rare, you must have an idea how many coins did we have in our treasure!" asked Leo in a slow voice and Gabriella looked back at him with abusive eyes!

"So you are still trying to protect the girl?" she tilted her head in such a scary way that everyone around her trembled, "if it had been in the past i would have allowed her to be your lover looking at the attraction you had towards her, but now! I will not even allow her to live more than a few days in the dark prison! I will make sure that she dies a miserable death!" her voice was so cold and low that everyone felt a shiver run down her spine!

  They knew it was not a threat like before, but a promise! 

Even Evan realised that the matter had turned much more grave that it was all thanks to this man who had taken that gold coin to add in her reward. Could she blame him and tell the truth in front of everyone. But would the risk be enough to save her life. She was feeling torn. Her face's smile was uglier than the cries yet she decided to stay calm till the end. If it got worse, she would ask him to dig a tunnel for her in the prison and send her to the neighbouring land where she could not be found!

"If only the coin was stolen from our treasure!!" added Leo with the same cold voice, his eyes that had only been calm a few seconds ago glowed like the devil from hell that had come to take lives from earth.

The simple argument had turned into wars of the demon gods and every living being was trembling for their lives in the room with shaky knees. 

Even Eli was having a hard time in keeping her composure but Leo was still not ready to give up, "so I will ask again, do you have any idea how many coins we have in our treasure?"