Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

Evangeline had just finished her planting when she heard a knock on the door. She frowned as she was sure there was no one who came to her house let alone this time. Rubbing her hand on her dress, she walked into her house from the backyard.

Walking to the door, she hesitated for a minute and then opened the door. Opening a bit, she peeped out of the door, only to find a person she had never seen before.

"Yes" she said with a doubtful voice when the man forwarded a letter to him.

She looked at him with a frown, he was wearing a uniform with a royal sword emblem on it. He was not from this town.

"What is it?" she asked the man when he did not speak a word at all.

"This letter is for you." said the man, the obvious as he continued to hold the letter the same way.

She pursued her lips and then took the letter from his hands only taking one hand from the small gap. While she held the door tightly from her other hand. The man was still expressionless and was looking a bit intimidating due to his old age and grey hair. Her eyes were so intense as if he would kill them just by looking at her.

She closed the door with a thud and then leaned on the door as she opened the letter.

"Your father died in an accident in the northern empire while saving the duke of the empire. Your presence is required for the burial ceremony and mourning." The letter was short and simple. Yet it was enough to break her heart. Tears flew from her eyes, and the letter fell from her hand and flew in the air and fell on the fireplace. Her knees turned weak and she fell on the floor with a thud.

Her body started shaking with pain. And her small sobs turned into wails soon. Her whole life started to slip from her hands like the sand.

She blinked only to see that she was sleeping on the floor. Her face and body was covered with mud and tears. Soon the memory of last night came gushing in her mind. Her father, her father was no more!

She opened the door in a haste only to see that the man was standing right there like a statue. As if he did not move at all from last night.

"Have you read the letter?" he asked and tears started flowing from her eyes again.

"We need to go." His voice was curt and strict. There was no emotion in his voice, not a single bit of sympathy could be felt.

She stood there uncertain of what to do. How to react, how to behave. She just needed a hug, a shoulder to cry on! But she did not have anyone.

"We need to go, miss!" said the man again and she finally nodded.

The man nodded back and they walked out of the door. When she moved out, her father's voice rang in her ears.

"Evangeline, never go out without locking the door!" her steps halted and she turned to see the open door with a tear stricken face.

She walked back and closed the door. Her hands were shaking as she was trying to close the door. The man looked at him with a sigh and then walked closer to her and took the lock from her hands.

He locked the door and held her hand. Holding her hand, he took her to the carriage and made her sit on the seat. The carriage started instantly. She looked out of the window, the strong wind blew her hair but it brought some senses back into her.

She has lost her only kin, her only family. Closing her eyes, tears continue to flow silently. All the time she had spent with her family passed through her eyes like a show.

"We are here, miss." said the man and then opened the door.

She nodded and walked out of the carriage.

There was a big palace in front of my eyes. She had never seen such a grand building from her eyes. The palace would accumulate the whole town of hers. It was covered with the glow of gold and silver. The palace has a bridge, which has a lake below it.

There were a dozen servants standing on both sides. They bowed their heads as we entered. the tower was touching the sky and she had to stretch her neck to look at its end.

When she crossed the bridge. There was a huge garden on both sides. It was covered with flowers she had not even seen before. She was sure the place was beautiful, yet all she could think of was her father.

The man led her inside as the servants kept bowing their heads.

"Wait here, miss. I will tell the master about you." he said and she wondered why he had not asked the servants to do so. But all she could do was nod!

She stood there silently looking at the walls that were filled with the portraits of young and old, but one thing was common, they all looked royal to her. She did not understand how her father died suddenly and what it has to do with these kinds of people.

Evangeline, though lived in her small world, had heard a lot about these nobles, but there was not even a single good line in it. Therefore, she did not have any good impression of theirs!

She could feel the gazes of the servants on her. She looked subtly only through her peripheral vision only to see disgust and disdain in their eyes.

It turned her conscious of her and she was sure she was wearing worse clothes than the servants with all the mud and sweat. She held her dress in her hands tightly when she heard footsteps coming in her direction.

"This is the girl you asked me to bring, your highness."