Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

"That would be enough for now." Eli closed the book which had contained the name of all the royals and higher nobles she should be respectful to.

"Once the party is over, I will talk to my father about your education and training." added Eli as she looked at the paper on the hands of Evan. it was worse than the time she used to write when she was a small kid. She was still sure that Evan would not be able to handle the pressure of being a duchess. But she did not want to argue further with her father. She was sure her father would realize it by herself slowly.

Evan had learnt reading as she enjoys those parchment and romantic love stories that have been popular recently but she had never thought that it would be important to write. Moreover the writing classes were too expensive, it was for rich commoners and nobles only. So, it was obvious that she did not know it.

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"Evangeline." The grim voice of Eli broke her attention and she looked at the girl who was looking upset.

"Do not speak unless needed. I will tell everyone that you are a shy person. Being called shy is much better than uncultured." though Evan knew that Eli was talking about her benefit only. She had a mission to complete. She had to show that she was not only uncultured but greedy and mean too.

She felt bad for disappointing Eli once again but then she consoled herself telling that Eli would be happy too if she would be able to find a better girl for their family.'

"Do not do something foolish. Or I will not stay silent this time." Eli knew the look in Evan's eyes very well. It was the same look she had when they went to the market.

Evan blinked and then controlled her facial expressions and then nodded yet Eli kept looking at her with narrowed eyes which made Evan guilty from inside. Her stomach churned and she felt the need to tell her the truth when there was a knock on the door.

"My lady, his highness is calling you in his studies." Eli gave a last look to Evan and then nodded and left the room.

Evan took a breath of relief. Today was a tiring day. Eli started with having lunch according to proper table manners then they practiced her walking style, and then her sitting postures. It ended up with studying the name of nobles which she was sure that she was not going to remember and ended with having dinner with the use of proper cutleries again.

It felt more exhausting than doing all the chores of the house and working in the garden. She plopped on the bed thinking that sleep would take her in its arms but reality was far away from it. She kept tossing and turning in bed while listening to the tick tock of the clock from the clock tower which they had in their estate. She was surprised when she found out about its existence. She had always thought that only a church could have the luxury to have one like their town.

Standing up, she decided to explore it since was not able to sleep anyways. She stood up from her bed and peeped out of the door. To her relief the knights on duty were not there. She hummed her favorite tune as she started walking towards the garden which would lead her to the clock tower in the end.

The room was so lit with fire that she did not realize it was cold until the cold breeze made goosebumps all over her body. Holding the sheer outer robe tightly, she walked, continuing to rub her hands.

The knights at the duty looked at her but then continued to stay where they were as if they were sure that she would not be able to run away even if she wanted to. She was glad that they did not force her to go in. she was feeling suffocated with the thought of hurting Eve and Eli again so as his highness, who always looked at her with affectionate gaze.

Keeping the upsetting thoughts at bay, she looked at the stars that were twinkling in the sky. It was a beautiful starry night with the cold breeze that made her smile eventually with the nostalgic look on her face. If it had been her house, she would have been sitting on her swing in the garden and talking to the stars.

After walking for a long time, her hard work finally paid off when she saw the clock tower in front of her. It was more magnificent and taller than she had thought. She had to stretch her neck to see its end which was touching the clouds.

There was a large door to enter. to her good luck, it was opened. She saw the stairs that would lead to the upper part. She felt intrigued to know how the estate would look from that height. She had never been somewhere this high. Though tired, her curiosity took better of her and she started climbing the stairs slowly as it was too dark.

"I should have brought the lantern." she cussed as she had to depend on her senses in that dark room. What felt like an eternity, she finally climbed all the stairs. At one point, she wanted to give up, but she was glad that she persisted when she looked at the window near the large and magnificent watch. She walked closer and looked out of the window. The view was more splendid than what she had ever thought. The land was twinkling like stars in the sky and the lake was shimmering as if the moon had given all its glow to the lake.

She was so lost that she did not notice she was already standing on the border with no railing around it when the clock struck and she lost her balance.

"Aahhh"