Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

"It is okay, Lady Evangeline is here for negotiation. We need some peace to decide how peace could be ensured in both houses again."

The servants exchanged glances. Though they were worried about Olivia, they could not speak against their master, especially in front of the guests.

So, they picked up the bag reluctantly and bowed their heads.

"Phew, it was easier than I thought!" Evan's whose whole body was stiff, slumped on the chair as if she was exhausted when the maids left the room.

"I have thought being a villainess is cool, but acting mean and speaking rudely is exhausting. Even my bones are tired!" She wiped the non existent sweat from her forehead as she looked at the snacks and hurriedly picked up a muffin to gain her strength back.

"They might come back earlier since they are worried for me. So you do not have much time. Are you sure you are going to waste it by eating a muffin rather than meeting the man? He has been waiting for you since eternity."

Evan's hands halted as she raised her head to look at Olivia with a tinge of guilt. She had known how she loved Leo all her life yet they were using her and making her villain in their love story when she had been of immense help.

If not for her, they might not have married.

"Olivia..'' She did not know how to apologize to the girl who was sitting there with her head raised high and her back straight. If only she would have been strong like her.

"Save it for your husband. But if you are feeling any guilt, then sign this letter for me.

Now I am going to bed. If you both get caught then I would not be able to save you anymore." speaking in a cold voice, Olivia picked up a plate of snacks and walked out of the garden. She knew that Leo was already waiting on the door without turning back.

He was fidgeting this whole time like a fish without water.

Just as she reached the door, she saw his figure looming over her head and shook her head.

"One more thing, I know that it is your first night. But do not make many strange voices. I am still an innocent woman." with a chuckle she teased both whose face instantly turned red yet she could see the mirth dancing in his eyes.

Strangely, she had thought that she would feel heartbroken by looking at his eyes filled with love for any other woman and thinking he was going to spend the night with her but she felt nothing.

As if the love she was holding for him all her life was never there at the first place.

Her own thoughts made her amused as she walked out of the room while looking at the snacks in her hands.

"Tsk! Why did I even pick them in the first place. I am not at all hungry." she muttered as she thought of throwing them out of the balcony when she bumped into the strong wall.

"Huh! How did a pillar.." came in the middle of the corridor' rest of the words died in her throat when she raised her head.

Arden was standing there while looking at her with a foolish expression on his face.

"If you did not want to eat them, can I have some? I am hungry!" her brows furrowed but her eyes turned cold immediately as she threw the plate on his face.

"Sure, we are habitual of giving food to beggars anyway!" she sneered as she looked at him and turned to leave.

Arden held the plate carefully so that nothing would fall out of it and then ran behind her.

"Lady Olivia, I am sorry. I know that I was wrong to judge you and come to a conclusion without communicating with you properly.

Please forgive me, I know that it is hard. But for once!

You can give me any punishment you want but do not be this cold, Lady Olivia?" no matter how many times he called her, she did not turn to look at him.

With every word he said, her expressions only turned darker. Her hands had clenched into a fist and a sneer formed on her face.

"Please, I will do anything you say, bring you anything you want! But forgive me this once or I would not be able to forgive myself too.`` When they lied that Leo had received a letter about Hazel and left the church to roam around, Leo told him the truth.

How Olivia had received the letter from Evan's adopted father and how they have made a plan to show the marriage was canceled and that Evan hates all of them now so that they could catch the old man.,

Not only do they want to catch him but they want to find all the moles in the palace and other allies of the old man. They would find a way to prove his sins and send him to prison later.

If not he was continuing to blackmail them over one or another thing or he might even attack other members of the family out of desperation.

Though he understood that it was needed and as a subordinate, he could not tell him in advance as they had not told the duke too, he still felt guilt filling him when he remembered how badly he had treated Olivia, without giving her a chance to explain herself.

"Olivia, please, I beg you!" He ran faster and held her hand before she could open the door of her room.

He knew if she closed the door once, he would not be able to convince her to open it till they were gone.

"Let go! Are you forgetting your place again!" she yelled as she stared into his eyes with a cold look.

She did not try to struggle or show any kind of emotion on her cold and empty face but it was enough to break his heart.

"I know that I am forgetting my place. I have forgotten it long ago when I fell in love with you."