Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

"Gone are the days when I was alone.. I have you in my arms now.."

"..."

As if her whole personality had changed, the moment she closed her eyes, her whole persona turned profoundly. She was looking lost for a long time. Her face was like a spring breeze, that was scratching the heart of Leo. He could not move his gaze away from her.

How he could see a new form of her every single day!  But that was not the only thing that had taken his attention. It was the song she was singing. This song! He had heard too many times before!

Though he was not fond of music at all! But this song was part of his childhood. Her mother used to sing this song often. Whenever they did not sleep or whenever his father requested, his mother had only sung this song. Even when they said that they were bored of it! She only replied that it was her favorite song! Though it could be just a coincidence that she had sung the same song too. But he still felt that there were too many coincidences surrounding her. Even her meeting with Miss Parker when she ran away from the palace!

Was it just a coincidence that out of all the places she reached the home town of Miss Parker and met her there. Evan even managed to come in her good books in such a short period of time!

He could not help but think there was something hidden behind all those layers, he could not get grasp of. He had to test her further to know more about her! For that he had to keep her around him! After getting resolute about his actions, his eyes finally started to clear but whenever he looked at her. He felt a sense of attraction which he could not explain. His heart started to deny that she could be wrong!

He wanted to get rid of this feeling, but he didn't know how!

A loud applause broke his train of thoughts. He looked at the three ladies who were looking astonished by her performance.

Then the old lady looked at Leo. Her eyes were still filled with shock as if she was still in stupor when she muttered.

"Now I know why your father had chosen her. She reminded me of your mother, Leo." her voice was low and distant. Her eyes were filled with longing as if she was missing a very closed person in her life.

Her words made Leo's face hardened. So, he was not the only one who had felt the resemblance. Was that the reason even he was not able to take his eyes off her?! If it was natural then it was fine. But if she was trying to form that resemblance then why? What was she planning?

Knock, knock..

The knock on the door finally brought their attention back to reality. A man with the uniform of the academy entered and bowed his head in front of three ladies.

"You called for me, mistress?'' His voice was filled with respect and obedience. The eldest lady nodded and then pointed at Evangeline.

"She is a new student at the academy. I want you to register her name for the class and arrange a room for her.'' The man looked surprised by the simple instruction. It was normal for kids to get admission there. The academy was famous for courses for both men and women.

They had archery, knighthood and horse riding skills for men, while dancing, singing, and playing instruments. While basic etiquette and painting for both. But it was already more than half of the year and most of the things had already been taught. There was a strict rule to not give admissions even when half of the year was about to end, yet the dean of the academy was breaking the rule by herself.

The man had remembered that the rule was not broken even when the princess had asked for that a few years ago. His eyes lingered on Evan for more time than required. He did not find anything extraordinary in her except her exceptional beauty that could only be described as ethereal and breathtaking.

He even tried to recall the name but nothing seemed to strike his mind, when his eyes moved away from the girl and fell on the man beside her who had already narrowed his eyes on him. He could feel the pressure he was putting on him. Was this because of Leonardo, the man whom the whole empire knew as the ice prince of death, whose voice was no less than the call from Netherlands!

But it still did not make any sense for him.

"Is there any problem, count Edgar?" asked Miss Parker and the man finally turned to look at them and nodded.

"My lady, half of the year had already passed, the courses would end soon. Then how are we supposed to take new admissions?`` There was dissatisfaction in his voice that could not be hidden by his polite words. But before Miss Parker could reply to him, the eldest lady waved her hands.

"You do not need to worry about it. She is talented and skilled enough to not need the daily classes. In fact, I am afraid that she would even be able to teach soon if she wanted to." her words stunned the man who only took it as over exaggeration. He could not believe that a young girl around 17-18 years was qualified enough to teach when she had not even taken the basic classes. But he did not want to argue with the eldest woman. It would have been fine if it had been miss parker or Monique Wahimilton, but the eldest lady was higher to him in status and age both not to forget that she was the owner of the academy. So, he could keep his reluctance to only himself and nod his head.

"Yes, my lady." He was about to bow and leave the room when Leo's raised his hands.

"Wait a minute. When did I permit that my finance would live here?"