Did Not Leave Bruise

Who was this man and where did the duke go? Evan stared at his nonchalance with a baffled look and did not realize he had already descended stairs and walked toward the garden but her attention was taken by the whispers.

She knew this voice, the owner of it. Her whole body shivered and her first attempt was to hide after what happened last time but it was already too late. The man was standing in front of her, staring at her with rage darkening those honey eyes.

"Evangeline!" The one word was enough to straighten her. When she realized she was still in Damien's arms, she struggled to get free but the man splayed his hands on her back, calming her.

"Lord Midnight Star, I did not know you had entered my place uninvited." the man did not tear his cold gaze away from Evangeline. He was staring at her as if he wanted to kill her from his gaze. But strangely Evan felt better hearing Damien.

The man had not addressed her. But his voice had calmed her ditzy mind and cold nerves.

"Your grace, I apologize for my intrusion but you are holding my wife in your arms right now." his voice was dead cold and menacing, "i will leave as soon as you return my wife to me." return? Damien raised a brow.

"If i did not know any better, i would have thought that you are talking about an object, lord Greystone." the man flinched at the way he was addressed. He was addressed as a baron not as a monique anymore.

"Your grace!" Harold's eyes narrowed, "I have been looking for my wife for two days without a rest. I have asked every person in the village and it took me a great deal to believe that your aide had taken her. Ian was his name. Your grace, I do not know what the reason was but I understand it must have been an emergency. There is no way your grace would kidnap my wife. But the way you are holding her is making me uncomfortable." there was a hidden threat in his words and he knew Damien was not a fool to not notice it.

But Damien gave an extravagant and arrogant smirk to Harold in return. "So?"

So! Did he just ask "so"? Even Evangeline blinked at his actions. Though Harold was a marquees and Damien was a duke, it was about kidnapping a noble. Damien would not leave this case unscathed if he fell deep into it.

"Your grace." Harold walked closer, "I would like to take my wife home. She looks pale." Evan held Damien tighter when Harold touched her hands. The small action did not go unnoticed by both men.

"Evangeline, we need to leave." Harold warned in a cold voice but Even did not look at him. She did not spare him a glance, he did not deserve it and she need not be scared. Damien would handle it for her.

"Leave to.. Where? Where my step sister and your lover hired men to rape me?" she spat coldly when Harold stiffened. His jaw clenched and she noticed shock in them. He did not know? But he had warned her.

"If she did that, I would teach her a lesson, Evangeline. Come with me. We need to return to your home." he pressed when her lips shut into a thin line. "Or you want to trouble a duke for your tantrum." 

If she did not leave.. He would suffer strange rumors of worse, Harold could go to the royal court for justice. She took a deep breath and tried to move bringing a look of satisfaction on Harold's face but Damien did not let her go.

His grip on her tightened. He was holding her tightly while making sure he did not hurt her. His touch was strangely assuring. She remembered when Harold held her tightly in the past. It had always left a bruise on her hands and her shoulder. But he had told her it was because her skin was sensitive. It would have been like that if anyone touched her tightly. 

"It was not the case." she whispered when Harold frowned. His patience was only hanging by the thin thread. If it had been anyone else, he would have punched straight at his nose and broke it. But it was Damien, the man known for the iron bones. He was the only one in the empire Harold could not fight.

"Evangeline. Do you even realize that you are a married woman hanging in the empty palace of an unmarried noble and i, your husband found you in the arms of that unmarried noble. If things would go out.." he took a deep breath and stared at the sky, "good god! Come with me, Evangeline. This clandestine affair would ruin you and your family name." 

"You were wrong Harold, holding me tightly did not leave a bruise on my body." she looked into his eyes and whispered softly, stiffening him. Damien flinched at her choice of words. 

"Gerald, threw this man out. I would not entertain any uninvited guest in my palace." His voice was cold and extremely dangerous. Harold's eyes widened at that and he looked at Damien as if the cold man had lost his brain.

"Your grace, you can not throw me out while keeping my wife. This is kidnapping." he let out a breath of shock when Damien shrugged and started walking toward the garden.

"Wait, your grace.. Your grace." he ran but two knights blocked his path and looked at him coldly. Both were one feet taller and several inches wider than him. He glared at them, trying to intimidate them with his position but they looked at Harold as if he was a pest.

"Leave or we will throw you out, my lord. And trust us, it would leave more than a few wounds on your soft body."