Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

"That.. Martin, my lord has the habit of joking. You should not take his words seriously!"  Evan replied with a fake laughter as she glared at the man to support him but his face only turned darker. 

She should have known that he would never support her.

"....." even Martin did not know how to behave. Even if they were cutting each other's words and glaring at each other. They both seem to look too close to each other as if they had known each other for all their life. The girl had never behaved this carelessly before.

Even her smile seemed to be more genuine and carefree. Though the face was the same, she was not the Evan he used to know. While lost in thoughts, he forgot to take his gaze away from her face.

Cold blizzards started filling the room when he saw the unwavering gaze of the man settled on Evan. 

"So, mister Martin" he called the man in a frosty voice who finally turned to look at him.

"Shall we talk about the business now?" Leo turned to look at the sacks and walked to the one Martin was making when they entered.

"Have you already sold your gains?" though the grains were still in his position there might be a chance that he had already signed the contract.

"Ah yes! I forgot to tell you, we have come here with high hopes that you would sell all your crops to us." Evan looked at the man with starry eyes and blinked.

"...." so, she was not there to meet them. Did she even miss him or remember him even once? And here he was trying to search for her all this time that even investigated the knights who were trying to know about her.

"What happened? Have you already sold them!" looking at his upset face Evan face sunk too and Leo turned to look at both of them.

His face turned sour when he found Evan was looking at the man with such a  cute face that he wanted to pull her and hide her behind him.

"No! I have not. And if you want I can sell all of that to you at a price lower than the market!" replied the man but instead of feeling relieved, a frown formed on the face of Evan that confused the man.

Did she not say that she was here to buy the grains!? She even looked at her with such a pleading gaze that even if he had offered the grains to someone else, he would not have minded to go back on his words and cancel the contract for her.

He did not want to disappoint her when she had come to him for help with such a face. Then why was she not happy now?

"What happened, did I say something wrong, Evangi?" he asked in a careful manner as he forgot about the presence of a dark cloud for a second.

"Of course, you did. Why would you sell your grains at a cheaper price when the whole town knows that you have the best grains? 

In fact, the man is rich enough to charge a bit higher price since you are the one who is helping him in need." Leo's expressions turned uglier when he heard that!

She had not even married to him yet she was trying her best to increase his income and that also by declaring so openly!

Even Martin was startled. He had thought that Evan was closer to the man but then why did she ask him to charge more and earn more without caring about the expenditure he had to bear while she was still so worried about him!

Could it be that he had misunderstood something? A goofy smile formed on his face as he thought about that, 

"In that case, let me charge a fair prince since I will not feel good if I try to gain from someone's need. I have a conscience too." he replied with a big grin on his face.

They were chatting so casually and even laughing at each other's words that they even forgot about his presence again. From the start, he had been ignored again and again.

"Then the price is settled. By the way how many crops are there in total?" asked Evan as she tried to count the sacks.

"That is 2000kg of rice and maize and 1000 kg of wheat and barley! If you want I can help you in getting good offers at meat too." he offered, finally looking at Leo and the man nodded.

"Hmm, and what would be the total price of everything?" he asked as he took out the gold pouch from his coat. 

That would be enough for this month until he found a better source from the other towns. 

"Oh, that would be around 2000 silver coins. But if you want, I can give you a collective discount." but before he could tell by cutting the prince Evan frowned and shook her head.

She knew that Leo could afford much more than that and would not mind paying the full price.

She walked forward to Leo and looked at the gold coins in his hands.

"I do not think that my lord would have any silver coins. So, 2000 silver coins would be 20 gold coins. But since you are giving all this at once, my lord would not hesitate to offer a generous price of 30 gold coins right?" she asked as she looked at him with starry eyes but his face turned dark when he heard that.

Did it mean that she was worried to death when he was earning one less coin and gave him a lecture on the value of money, but when it came to him, she did not mind paying 1000 silver coins extra in the name of tip? Could it be that Martin's money was like her money, but when it came to him she did not mind at all!