Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

"My lady, I am too tired and want to retire for tonight. Please excuse me!" She stood up abruptly as she did not want to be an extra in the gathering of the family. 

Leo frowned when he saw the girl running like demons were chasing her. But most importantly, the sparkle that had come on her face after looking at the seafood vanished in a second, even her eyes turned dim.

Though he was furious at her will to separate herself from the family, he did not say anything as she stood up ready to leave.

"Where do you think you are going? Huh?" asked Eli in a stern voice that Even knew better than the warm voice she heard just a minute ago.

"That.. I am going to my room to have some rest." her voice turned lower and lower as the stern eyes of Eli did not stop staring at her.

"How foolish of you to think you are not part of the family?" she looked at Evan like she was a fool, "better come here and sit down before i punish you!" 

'Why are all three of them so authoritative?' Although their faces did not match, their actions were so strikingly similar like the pieces of the same clothes with a bit of variation in Eve, but both Eli and Leo even looked at her with the same intimidating eyes and the way they sat and talked were mirroring.

Evan nodded her head and walked back to the place where she was sitting with a smile on her face as her heart felt warm.

"Yes, come and sit. After all, we need someone to peel the crab for us!" he said in his commanding voice with a blank face as he looked at the girl whose expressions changed in a blink as if the wrong button had been pressed!

"..." why in the world would she peel the crabs for him? Are there not so many maids that could do it for him? More importantly, he had a pair of hands, just like her.

If he wanted to eat crabs, he should be the one doing it. 

"My lord, a gentleman peels the crabs for his lady, not the other way around!" his eyes flickered listening to her righteous tone. 

Though he knew that she was only trying to find the lame excuses to not work for him. But when she used the word, his lady, his eyes flickered.

The word sounded so nice to hear, that he did not mind peeling crabs for her all his life, what was crab? He would even cut her steak if she would ask him to.

"Mmm, then pass me the plate. I will peel the crabs for you." and without waiting for her to pass, he picked up the plate even before picking up the glass of wine and started peeling one for her!

"..." where was she? Who was he? Where did the real Leo go?

She was sure that real Leo would not agree to him but even offered her rewards or threatened her to do his bidding. Since when had he been so obedient to listen to her gibberish and follow her commands.

She was so stunned that she did not even Realize when he was done with a piece of crab and passed her the plate to eat.

"Here, start eating while I work on the other!" though his voice was still cold like always, why did she feel like he was indulging her!?

Could it be that he had mixed poison in it to shut her up forever. No! She shook her head at the foolish thought but did not dare to raise her hands and pick it up to eat.

What if he was testing her? 

'That shows how much I was scared of this cold prince!'

Without noticing the change in her behavior, he was diligently working on the second piece of crab with only work thinking that she was his.

Even both sisters were surprised that their haughty brother, who was habitual of being so authoritative that sometimes even they felt that his EQ was diminishing, was working so hard to impress the girl who did not even know that she was being courted.

"Cough cough! I think she would not be able to meet more than you have peeled!" muttered Eve as she could not bear their public display of affection anymore. It felt like they were pouring cold water on the head of their single sisters.

Leo raised her head and looked at the still full plate in front of Evan with a frown! Was she not eating like she had not seen food since ages in the house of that old lady! Then why was she slow now? Did she not know it was the first time that he was peeling crabs for someone else?

With a cold face and frost voice, he asked her, "what happened? Why are you eating like a snail? Hurry up and finish the plate this instant or…" his stern voice was clear that he would find a way to punish her if she would not eat them.

"..." how eating food suddenly became the mission of her life and death.

"That! I have eaten enough during dinner!" she could even feel the strings of her dress tightening due to the bulge of her stomach as she had eaten a lot more than required.

"..." when Evan felt cold on her neck, she raised her head to look at him only to see that his face had turned darker than the bottom of the pan which had been left on the fire for a long time.

She was sure that if she would not eat the crab, the dinner would be the last meal she had ever eaten.

"But since you have did so much efforts in peeling the crabs, i would not stop until i finish the whole plate.'' Then she picked up a big piece of the crab and put it in her mouth.

Without even chewing into it, she replied with a flattering smile on her face, 

"Wow! The taste of crab improved by a thousand fold because you have touched it my lord!"

"......."