Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

She had felt the fury all the time. So this was her chance to shine again and show her the difference between the nobles and commoners again. Olivia raised her head and smiled complacently as she looked at Evans when everyone was applauding and praising her.

However, she became very uncertain when she saw her look of confidence.

It was as if she was very confident in her success. But soon she shook her head when Evan started playing the tune, she could see the lack of knowledge. So it was all the fake bragging all this time! She chuckled and so did others.

"Oh my, I seriously believed that the girl knew the piano the way she was behaving confidently." 

"I must say she is a good con artist!"

"I wonder how the duke had chosen her for their one and only son. Even the daughter of a baron would have been better than her."

"Ha! What could you expect from a house without the duchess. No matter how much they try, they are not able to work well." 

"I pity them. They should have bowed to Olivia and accepted her when she showed her wish to marry at their house.`` The sarcasm and ridicule was filling the room. Eli and Eve looked around with embarrassment. Their cheeks were burning red; they did not have the courage to look above and meet anyone's eyes.

But Leo, who should have been enjoying the scene, was no different. Though he wanted everyone to ridicule Evan and he knew that the name of his family would be included but when this was happening, he felt his insides clenching. He could not accept it at all. His rage grew and he knew that if they did not shut their mouth, his sword would start dancing in the room. 

That was it! He did not care about anything else but the name of his father and family.

"Evangeline." his loud voice bright everyone's attention to him and so as Evangeline who was having trouble playing the wrong tune. Never in her life had she thought that playing the wrong tune was more difficult than playing the right one.

"If you win, I will double my promise. So, you better win." her eyes widened as she heard him speak. Didn't he want her to lose at any cost. Now he was offering her double of the offer! That meant four times of the initial jewels. Forget about the home she shared with her father. She would be able to have a big villa at that cost!

When she was stifled with shock. Everyone, even Eve and Eli, looked at Leo with confusion. They did not understand what he was talking about and they were sure that Evan would not win. He was playing worse than even a 5 year old kid. They shook their heads and scorned while Eli moved and put her hands on his shoulder.

He was speechless at their behavior but did not react. They would understand in a bit anyway. Yet he did not understand why he was so confident in her that she would be able to win now that he had asked her to. Even he was confused at his thought process. Since when had he started to trust others that easily.

His deep and soulful eyes stared with fixation at the beautiful silhouette on the stage.

A look of confusion swept past his eyes.

"Everyone, I apologize for wasting your time, but it had been weeks since I last played so I was just warming my hands. Hehe" she laughed awkwardly at the lamest excuse she had ever given. They all mocked and laughed but she did not care as she could show them now what she meant.

She looked at the piano with glittering eyes, it was one of the finest pianos she had ever seen. And she was looking forward to playing it.

Her hands roamed on the piano as the hands of a man playing with the body of his lover. She was swinging with the tune as if she had become one with it while her hands jumped back and forth on the black and white keys.

When the tune played, everyone's gazes were concentrated on the stage. Her fingers looked like freely dancing fairies.

Her agile fingers combined with the pleasant tune as well as her outstanding and beautiful appearance.

The way she sat there was like a pleasing set of scenery, nothing more beautiful could be imagined.

The difficulty was all toward the end of the tune.

The pianist needed to concentrate with all her attention due to the fast tempo.

Compared to Olivia who played with one strong beat, one weak beat, and only barely followed the score, Evan's performance was more natural and smooth.

A beautiful picture of their childhood formed before everyone with a fairy dancing to the music in the background.

It was aesthetically beautiful and moving.

The entire ballroom fell silent.

The sounds of sarcasm and ridicules had unknowingly disappeared.

Everyone held their breaths as they watched Evan's performance on the stage, unable to take their eyes off of it. Their hearts seemed to have been clutched by her performance as her hands halted to a stop.

They had unknowingly experienced the four types of human emotions, namely: happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy, from the other side of the universe along with her music.

  The song had many versions playing in the empire, Olivia had played the version common in the inns, but everyone still enjoyed it as they knew the difficulty of the song. Even the players there practiced daily but Evan played the original one that was never played by any musician except its maker. Eli and Eve were too stunned to not even take breath. They were holding it unconsciously as if they were afraid that their sound of breathing would disturb her.

The look on Leo' eyes deepened when he saw this scene, and his fingers, which were gripping his wine cup, tightened silently.