Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

"Since you are the heir of the family, I leave the decision to you. Will you do justice or take her side once again?"

"........" a mocking smirk formed on Leo's lips when he listened to the words of his aunt. He placed one of his hands in his pocket and tilted his head while leaning on the wall.

His gaze was cold and her eyes were shining evilly, "on one side you had left the decision on me as the heir of the family and on the other side you are tell me that only announcing her guilty would be justice and if she was proven innocent then i am taking her side?'' His words were blunt and when mixed with his mocking gaze, it humiliated Gabriella.

Humiliation and anger started to rise on her cheeks, making her whole face turn red and she shook with anger, "you! What else do you need? Can you not see that the earrings were found from her room?" she pointed at Aurora's hands who were still holding earrings as a trophy she had won after hard work.

His gaze moved to Aurora's hands and then towards Evan. 

He had thought that she would be panicking by now, but what he saw were fierce eyes like a wounded tigress that were ready to rip apart anyone that came closer to her.

"I can not believe it. Just because the earrings were in my room does not mean that I stole it. The knights had been standing in front of my room all the time. Ask them, did I come out of my room even once after lunch?" she looked at the knights with the same intensity and they trembled too.

Why did they feel that her fierce gaze was stronger than the cold gaze of Leo? 

"You are still trying to force the staff to support you? What a pathetic person!" 

"Matriarch, the lady is telling the truth. She did not come out of her room even once!" Though the knight was scared, he still replied truthfully due to his conscience.

"So, you can take the guarantee that she was in there all the time? Have you checked even once that she was there? What if she had gone out by the window and went into my room and took the jewels and now is using both of you as the alibi to save herself?" her aura was authoritative and domineering that both knights felt at loss of words.

Of course, they would not dare to peek into the room of a lady. That was against their ethics! And each room's balcony is joined. So one can easily go to others room with the window of balcony. So they could only look at Evan with apologetic face.

Evan knew that they were helpless, if they would still support her, they might lose their jobs. So, she passed a warm smile to them and shook her head.

They felt guilty yet relieved at the same time as they shook their heads, "no! Matriarch. We had not checked if the lady was in the room or not. We can only assure that she did not come out by using the door.'' They both bowed their heads and took a step backwards.

"Now! Do you have anything to say?" she folded her hands in front of her chest and looked at Evan with a raised brow, as if challenging her!

Then she turned again at Leo, who was standing there silently, 

"It only happened because my brother did not have enough time to look for the affairs of the household and Eli is still not experienced enough when it comes to judging the characters of others.

If i would have been managing it! Nothing like this would have happened!" her tone was filled with a bit of disappointment but her eyes were not at all upset!

Leo's face turned solemn in an instant. His eyes turned colder. That's all the maids took a step back.

"Even if I agree that she had jumped from one balcony to another like monkeys, have you left your room unattended today, Aunt? How did you not notice her presence when she came to your room?" asked Leo with a hint of impatience.

"Because I was taking a nap. Of course, I will not notice if someone walks into the room like thieves!" The situation had turned completely standstill with both parties not agreeing to accept the defeat.

"What about the maids and knights that were serving you?" asked Eli this time, but Gabriella shook her head again.

"I never ask the knight to stay in my room when i sleep and Aurora had asked for the maid to help her in taking bath since Leo called her STINKY. So I was sleeping alone in the room." she did not forget to glare at the man in question while putting enough pressure on the word stinky. 

Leo tilted his head and looked at Aurora. Now he could understand what had happened. But he did not have any proof and he knew that his aunt would never accept his theory. She was an arrogant lady who would only judge the characters through their position.

"Why would Evangeline steal simple earrings when she had a treasure on her name? Wouldn't it be an insult to her dignity?" His words left everyone stunned!

Even the girl in question frowned and perplexed as she did not understand what he was talking about? She did not leave with a single penny on her name! How could she have a rare treasure!?

"Tsk tsk.. Even if you wanted to lie, you should have thought of a better excuse. How could a commoner with no men to have properties on his name be the owner of a rare treasure?" Her words were full of disdain as she looked at Leo who even dared to lie for the girl! Just what kind of magic had she done on everyone.

"I might lie, but do you think the emperor would do so too?"

".........."