Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

"Then then, will I get more reward? Even the rewards of yesterday are due!!" she fluttered her eyes as she asked for it. She wanted to calculate, but she was still not sure about the value of stones she had received first. "And if possible can you give me half of it in gold coins and the rest in silver coins with a bit of bronze coins too?" her eyes were filled with gold. She was only thinking about money when she was talking to him. He could see that she was doing everything just for money.

Normally, Leo is disgusted with these kinds of women, but when he looked at Evan whose mind and heart was only filled with getting money from him. He found her rather cute. Only she could be dumb enough to care about a meagre sum of money from him when she could have it all by getting married to her. 

"Hmm, you do deserve another reward!" he nodded with a straight face and her face filled with glitter of gold. She could see the gold and silver coins and then open her own classes and have her home back. Then she would not be dependent on anyone and would not need a man to rely upon.

"And your reward is. I will show you the whole academy by myself."

"............" who wanted to see the academy, it was not like she would study here. She needed gold coins so that she could buy a house.  Who wanted the company of an iceberg? To freeze herself to death.

The smile on her face turned so ugly when he announced his company as a reward that he was sure, if possible she would have beaten him and thrown him out. He squinted at her and she laughed embarrassedly.

"I am honored, my lord." she replied as she looked everywhere but him. But he knew that it was her act. She was not happy to be with him at all.

"Then i will accompany you the whole day." he added, though he felt strange by saying that and his eyes darkened, he could not resist teasing her. The way she glared at her yet tried her best to smile at her.

"Ah.. no! I could not do that. The knights must be waiting for your guidance. I will manage by myself. In fact, I had seen enough of the academy. Why don't we go back to the palace now." she replied with a sigh.

If that was the reward, she would rather not have it! She would rather stay at the palace and have a rest than stay with him all day!

"Why? Do you not want to see the academy or take admission in it?" asked Leo as he had seen how much she enjoyed music and dance last night.  His eyes turned to her when he noticed that she was not even looking at her. 

She was looking at the rooms and her eyes had enlarged like a kid who had gone to the fair for the first time. Yet she did not want to stay there. Was it because he was giving her company? His eyes squinted at that thought and his whole aura turned colder.

Evan rubbed her hands as she suddenly felt the chills, "hmm! I have to leave this place after proving myself as a wicked woman. So, it is better that I did not take admission in the academy. Nobles are not accepting me when I am going to be your wife. Then how would they accept me if I would be a mere commoner with no background of nobles. I am happy as long as I lead a simple life." her unintentional words created a stuffy feeling in his chest. As if someone was crushing it. His eyes darkened and he held her hands rather abruptly.

She looked at him with confusion and then around him. 'Don't tell me that we have to do all the drama again!' Going out with him was rather exhausting. She was feeling like all her energy had been drained and she could not even walk further.

But no matter where she saw, there was no one who was coming towards them or staring at him. There are a few who had their eyes on him but it was not like people always behave like a lovey dovey. She did not understand why he had acted so suddenly. 

But before she could ask anything, he had started dragging her. She had to almost run and walk together to match his footsteps. But he did not even notice her struggle to match his footsteps as he continued to move forward!

"Where are we going? And why are we in so much hurry?" she asked when she started feeling breathless and only then did he realize that she was having difficulty walking.

He slowed down but did not reply to her. Finally taking a breath of relief, she looked around. They were walking back to the building from where they had met Olivia. She had not even seen the garden completely and he already wanted her to have another battle with Olivia? Even the thought left a sour taste in her mouth.

"I think it is already enough for a day. If we continued the drama further. People would be suspicious of us that we were doing all this intentionally. So, I was thinking we should let the act be for some other day!" She raked her brains to think of a more subtle and flattering way to persuade him. She did not want to spend all her time fighting with others.

"Who told you that we are going to fight with others?" he asked with a snort and she looked at him with furrowed brows. Did they have any other work to do too?

"Then" she asked when he did not explain any further. But he still stayed silent. She waited for a bit but when he did not reply she halted and stared at him as if telling that she could not move further if he would not tell her where they were going!

"We are going to complete all the formalities of your admission."