Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

"They are coming to kill you tonight!"

"What did you say?" The man who was shouting and throwing tantrums turned still and his face lost all the colors.

"It is as you heard! When I was coming here I overheard the conversation of two knights. They were given orders to kill you since you are not eating your meals!"

"Ha! I knew they were mixing poison in my food! If only that dumb girl had shared her food with me!" a murderous look appeared in his eyes.

He sat back on the bed and analyzed the situation before him.

"If they can poison my food. So can i! What i need is time, if i survive tonight, i will mix poison in their food tomorrow." he became silent once again and then a crooked smile formed on his lips,

"Come to think of it. Why shall I accept the post of a mere baron when I can be the duke in charge?" The maid was stunned when she saw the vicious look on his face.

"There is no way we have access to their kitchen and it is very risky.

I will not be able to do it since I do not have any authority in the palace!" the eyes of the old man flickered but he nodded his head surprising her.

She had thought that he would shout and force her to do so but he was surprisingly calm as if he had sorted out everything already.

"You do not need to worry about it. I know that you are only an errand girl.

I have a few letters. Go and deliver them for me. This would be enough!" He took out the parchment and an ink nib from his coat.

The parchements were crumbled and had a foul smell but he still wrote on them with an evil smile on his face.

"You can give all the letters to Olivia. That brat is still waiting for her marriage with Leo. tell her this would be the last task she had to do for me and then she will be able to marry the lover of her life.'' Though the maid was still skeptical over Olivia, she nodded her head and took the letters.

"Hey, you! How long are you going to stay there?" The knight knocked the door, making the maid jump at her place.

"I am coming." Edward nodded as the maid hid the letters in her dress and walked out of the cell.

"Why did you take so long?" The maid flinched when they looked at her with a suspicious gaze but then started back with a cold look on her face.

"What do you mean? I was cleaning the room. If you think I took time, clean it yourself for the next time!" snorting at both of them she turned and left with slow steps in a confident manner.

But as soon as she passed the passage, her legs turned wobbly and she almost stumbled on the ground.

When she had thought of supporting this old man for some gold coins. She had never thought that he would plan to kill the whole family one day.

Fear started to crawl in her heart. What if they caught her and punished her with a death sentence.

"No! I will run away after delivering this letter. I have nothing to do with it!" She wiped her tears and stood up.

The old man had in charge her with so much gold to keep it safe. But now that he was thinking of ruling the family of the duke, it wouldn't matter to him if he would not get back that money.

With that thought, she stood up again and walked out of the dark place.

Making the excuse of bad health she left the palace and took a commoner's carriage at rent to reach the summer place where Olivia was resting.

It took her a lot of effort to convince the knights that she was sent by Evangeline to pass some letters as the carriage did not have any crest but in the end, her uniform and the crest drawn over it helped.

Passing the letters to Olivia she turned back to leave with her permission.

She took the carriage straight to her home and took a breath of relief.

"Phew, it was easier than I thought. I guess I was fretting over nothing." Since she lived alone there was nothing much to pack except the bag of gold she had taken carefully and covered them with her clothes.

"Thank you for waiting for me. This is an extra silver coin for your exceptional services.`` The coachmen were waiting outside of her house when she was packing and she happily took it.

"I want to go to the nearest town." she spoke in a soft voice and the man nodded.

It had already been late at night and her body was slowly feeling the exhaustion after working and fretting all day. As the soft winds started to touch her, she felt drowsiness taking over her senses.

Since they were still too far, it would not matter if she would take a small nap!

With that thought, she closed her eyes readily. Her eyes only opened when she felt that the carriage was not moving anymore.

But her eyes widened when she opened and looked around.

"Tsk! Did you really think you could run away like that?" the cold voice of the knight made her flinch.

"You have a lot of gold here. I wonder if a maid that was only assigned to clean the basement could have so much gold with her?" asked Arden as he stood up and stood in front of her.

"That, sir Arden, is my inheritance left by my father. I was going back to my hometown due to an emergency. I had sent a letter from there. I am telling the truth!" The man sneered as he held her hair and pulled them to raise her hair and she winced.

"We already have proof of your crimes. It would be better that you spill all the truth so that I can give you an easy death or.."