Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

"This is my humble gift to welcome the presence of my lady." Evan gulped, she could not let go of the temptation of such a beautiful horse. It was majestic white with deep eyes. His hair was shiny and his taut muscles were looking strong. She couldn't help but move forward and ran a hand in its hair. The man was right! Though she did not have much knowledge about horses. Its touch was similar to the one Leo had last night. 

No! The ring she had was a pretense to be greedy. But if she would take the horse that she did not deserve then she would be greedy in reality.

Her grip on her dress tightened as she shook her head. The man who had a triumphant smile on his face looked shocked. He had seen the desire and amazement in her eyes so he was sure she would not let the horse go.

"My.. lady, is the horse not up to your standards?" although he asked, he sneered. How could a commoner be that presumptuous?!!

Evan shook her head, "you lied, baron. The horse is majestic but it is not the best horse in the vicinity." he sneered in his heart again.

"Perhaps my lady does not have knowledge of horses. This is the best horse that even the emperor would be delighted to offer to him. I thought that the lady has an affinity for horses, that is why I brought it to present to you. 

But I think I was wrong!" indirectly he was telling that she was a fool that did not know anything about horses and being too haughty when it comes to taking gifts and showing attitude. He would rather offer the horse to his majesty now. 

Evan got the meaning behind his sweet words. But she was not at all angry. She wanted them to think negatively about her anyway.

She looked at the knights standing in the corner and signaled him to come closer. He looked surprised yet followed her instruction with a blank face.

"Bring blaze here." she commanded and the knight stilled. No one had the permission to touch the horse of their leader and the lord of the dukedom. It was his precious horse that he even washed it by himself no matter how busy he was!

"Did you not hear me?" she asked sharply when the knight did not move. It was the matter of her haughty image. She had to punish the knight if he did not take her orders. Or else they would not believe that she was a wicked person. 

"I apologize my lady, he is new to the palace so he did not know about Blaze. I will go and bring it now." to her relief another knight came and bowed his head as he offered and she nodded,

He dragged the knight with him as he went to the stable to bring blaze.

"Why did you do that? Don't you know that lord would be furious if he came to know that others had touched blaze?" he could not help but ask while the other knight shook his head.

"She is his future wife and he had let her ride the horse yesterday. If the lord would be angry, we could take the name of the lady.`` He ignored the warning of the knight and opened the door for a blaze. But blaze took no initiative to come out.

It was a proud horse that only listened to Leo. the knights sighed as he looked at the horse.

"See, he would not even move." the knight shook his head.

"Then the lady would be angry and punish us. She did not have a mild temper to let go. You can not possibly tell the wife of my lord that the horse had refused to meet her!?" Surprisingly the horse neighed and came out of the stable when he heard about Evan making the knights shocked yet ecstatic. They held his reins and took it towards the party where everyone was waiting for the scene to unfold. Many were waiting for the baron to speak again and make fun of the haughty girl who was behaving high and mighty as she continued to reject gifts offered by everyone.

Evan smirked as blaze was brought to the party. She ran a hand in his hair and then looked at the shocked baron.

"What will you say now, baron Carlonites?" the baron gulped as he looked at the horse and without saying a word, he bowed his head that shocked Evan and the crowd.

"I apologize but I did not know that the infamous lord of the horse was the father of the horse I had!" she blinked at the unfolding scene when the white horse came closer to blaze and nudged his face to him. They both neighed as if they were talking to each other.

The commotion brought the attention of the Thawyne family towards the scene too. Eve, who was trying to listen to the conversation of Eli and Andrew and duke William that was trying to convince other higher nobles to support him when he would plead for the breaking of marriage of Eli again noticed the crowd and cheers in the party and frowned.

Duke William looked sharply at his aide, who gulped but came closer and whispered in his ears. He looked shocked as his eyes widened and the other nobles exchanged glances.

"Is there some problem, your highness?" asked duke Grasitias who was trying to find a way to get closer to the duke. He tried to explain his daughter but she was adamant that she would only marry Leo, and he knew that this would be the best family that would suit their status too so he did not object to her wishes in a strict manner.

The archduke shook his head with a merry laughter that was hard to see on his face these days when he replied, "My daughter in law is showing her skills in the party.. If you excuse me, I want to be its witness too."