Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

"I do not want to die, Ethan!" she held the front part of his shirt and tugged it hard. Tears started to flow again from her eyes as she shook her head vehemently as if she was struggling for her life.

Her actions ached his heart. He looked at her worried figure with unease. He wanted to help her but looked like he had only worried her further. She was in hysteria.

Even if he would try to explain to her that he would put all those ruffians into prison so that they could never come to her, she was not going to believe him.

"Alright, alright, I will do as you say. I will do anything for you but please calm down." he pulled her towards him and buried her into his chest yet her body kept trembling with fear.

His hands held her tightly as if trying to assure her that she was not alone. While his eyes scanned the room. The room that was full of art and beauty was a mess and bare of everything.

Paintings were gone. And many things were broken. She was right, if they could do this much to the house that belongs to a noble, what if they killed her next time.

"What if we tell Adele? After all, the house belongs to hers. You are the only caretaker of this house." he suggested and the laughter on her face soon turned into a frown.

She had thought that she had trapped this fool well with her story and she would be successful in completing her plan today but he was more intelligent than she had thought.

But she would not accept defeat today. She had decided that he had to give up no matter what!

"No! We can not tell the mistress. Her marriage with the crown prince had been broken.

He had announced that he would only marry your sister. Not only that he had tried to throw her out of the palace. As a fallen princess of another empire, she had nowhere to go.

If she would be tangled in my affairs, who would save her? I did not want to hurt the kind woman who had helped both of us when we were in need." She pulled herself apart from his chest and spoke in a soft voice while looking at the floor.

Worry and remorse filled her face when his eyes softened. She was in such a mess yet she was thinking about others instead of her. Why was she so kind? She had always been thinking about others. That was why she faced so many troubles. He shook his head and as he felt bad for her innocent heart.

"The crown prince is too harsh and cruel. How could he go back to his promise of marrying a princess who was taken by them?`` If not, then she would have not been that worried. He frowned as he could not find any other solution to the problem.

Yes! That was the chance she was looking for.

"Oh Ethan! Do you not know." she bit her lips and a look of hesitation filled her face but then she shook her head as if she was crossing the line, "oh, no! It is nothing." she tried to stand up so that she did not need to look at him but just when she moved, he pulled her back closer.

He could see that she was trying to hide something from him and he did not like this feeling. As if someone was clawing his heart.

"What is it? I do not know many things but I expect you to tell me. At least, you should not treat me like a kid or a stranger.'' He already had enough of that kind of behavior in the palace.

Today was the exception when Leo filled his every query. Otherwise, he came to know about things from maids or Theo only. None of the family members thought it was important to tell him too.

"Oh, I did not mean that. It is just.. I did not want to make it feel like I am badmouthing your sister, Ethan.

Lady Elizabeth, she was decided as the concubine of the crown prince but she continued to throw tantrums and create a scene in the palace daily.

She told the crown prince that she would annul it if he did not make her his empress. The crown prince was smitten by her. So, he forgot that he had made promises.

He even forgot about the empire's reputation under the threat of your sister. It is said that she even tried to beat the maids of the palace and fired many of them who supported the mistress.

She had tormented the mistress there a lot as if she was the empress and mistress was the concubine." an audible sigh escaped her lips as she shook her head while summarizing the whole scene. It looked like she was only touching the surface of the matter but Eli had done so much more.

But could it be possible? He remembered her as a cold but kind woman. She was the only one who tried to reach him. And he was the one who avoided her since he still did not know how to behave with a woman who had taken his place for so long.

But he never blamed her truly since she was in the dark too. But if Hannah was telling the truth.. No! His heart still did not believe it.

"Ethan, lady Elizabeth is not a noble anymore since she was a swapped child. I think she is worried that your family would send her away if they come closer to you. That was why she was trying to secure her seat as an empress and hiding the face of her birth till then.

Is.. is she the reason that your father had still not announced you as his child?

Oh.. I must be thinking too much! You know better about her since you live with her. I was just worried about the mistress and myself!"