Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle! - Chapter 80 - Sir Valen

This is the story of Lara, a young woman from modern times, raised with one singular purpose: to exact revenge on the family of the general who destroyed her own.But fate had other plans. On her way to carry out her mission of vengeance, a twist in the plan led to disaster. Lara was struck by a military truck escorting the very general she intended to assassinate.When she awoke, she found herself in an entirely different world—one where her identity and purpose were starkly different from the life she had known and how she had been molded to be.Abducted by human traffickers, she outsmarted them and escaped. Then, she encountered a mysterious martial arts master whose ancient skills far surpassed her own. For two years, she trained with him in the remote mountains. One fateful day, while hunting deep in Mount Ourea, Lara stumbled upon the Prince of Northem, disguised as a commoner. He was gravely injured while pursuing a notorious group of bandits. Lara saved him then vanished without a trace.Haunted by his savior, the Prince of Northem searched for her but to no avail. Duty called, and he rejoined the Northem army, embroiled in a fierce battle against the bandits and soldiers of Estalis in the Alta-Sierra mountain range.Amid the chaos, Lara was mistakenly swept onto the battlefield, disguised as a soldier. The Prince of Northem, intrigued by the disguised warrior, recruited him as his guard.During the battle, fate played another cruel hand. Lara came face to face with General Odin and his two sons—only to discover that General Odin was the spitting image of the general she had been trained to assassinate. Could the man from her world be a descendant of this brave general?Torn between her mission and her newfound reality, Lara faced an impossible question: How could she kill her biological father?Her internal conflict deepened when she uncovered an elaborate plot to frame General Odin and his sons as traitors. The true culprits? His own subordinates and trusted allies.In an ironic twist of fate, Lara found herself becoming the 'protector' of the family that, in modern times, she was supposed to ruin.After the war, Lara returned as a hero, ready to reveal her identity to General Odin, but she learned of another betrayal. Her cousin, Mira—the orchestrator of her abduction—had taken over her identity. Mira lived in her home under the guise of comforting Lara's grief-stricken mother because of the death of her only daughter. Not only that, she also did a lot of scheming and eventually claimed Lara's betrothal to Prince Alaric.With her identity stolen and her mission turned upside down, Lara faced a new challenge: reclaiming her life and honor and protecting her new family.

Her brother, who was the one who caused a coup d’etat, had sliced her throat. After she returned to the time before she died, she decided that she would somehow tame him and survive!

But..

Did she tame him too much?

***

“Brother, why don’t you get married?”

There was no reply from him, instead the glass that he held popped and cracked.

“Oh no! You’re bleeding.”

“Why should I get married?”

“Eh?”

“I already have you.”

Why should you get married, you say? You have to get the Empress so I can leave this castle! Sezh laughed strangely.

“Sezh.”

At that moment, she stumbled and Raytan pulled her body into his arms. His red eyes started to gleam suggestively while looking down at Sezh who was trapped in his arms.

“You know we are not real siblings.”

Melanie Collins was the perfect wife—caring, strong, and dependable. For the last few years, she had managed her husband’s messy family, and business alone while waiting for her husband to return from studying abroad. But when he finally came back, Melanie’s world fell apart—he wasn’t alone. Along with him was his 'best' friend.Broken and confused about the change in her husband, Melanie didn’t know where to turn. And then she stumbled into another cold reality. Everything she had believed was a lie.Seething with anger and humiliation, as she tried to come to terms with the betrayal, an unexpected person steps into the picture, intent on seducing her and conquering her.The only problem? The man was her ex brother in law...And against her better judgment, she is attracted to this bad boy...But as Melanie tried to make sense of the changes, she discovered there was more going on than she ever imagined. Had both brothers loved really fallen in love with her? Or was she just a pawn in a bigger game?excerptSince he had already been leaning against the table, he simply slid onto it, and with one swift motion, he hooked his boot around the leg of her chair and pulled it—pulled her—closer.The sudden movement made her jolt slightly, and when she looked up or rather when she looked ahead, she found herself staring directly at the zipper of his jeans... She looked up then and met his gaze.He caught her chin,“ Would you like to check if I am only pretending, sweet melon?”Melanie stiffened. And then pushed back her chair suddenly, so that Adam almost lost his balance, as she stood up.Before he could balance himself, she placed her hand on his shoulder, her fingers brushing against his neck. Adam stiffened, his eyes glittering as he waited to see what she would do next. And she, of course surprised him as her other hand, slowly settled on the inside of his thigh. And then, the hand on his shoulder started to move. Her fingers tracing the side of his neck before lifting as she shot a glance to the corner of his mouth. The little piece of metal glinting there. She flicked at it lightly, barely a touch, but Adam could feel the heat all over his body, as she leaned in close, her lips barely a few centimetres away...so that they could both feel each other's breaths…She smiled slowly then. “Careful, Adam,” she murmured, her voice playful, but carrying the unmistakable edge of a challenge. “Keep pushing, and I just might call your bluff.”

Warning… Matured content!!“You,” Augustine began, his voice firm and direct. “I'm making you an offer: we get married, immediately. This isn't a request, it's a demand.” Augustine's uttered with a piercing gaze.Charles scoffed. “What type of bullshit is that?” He fired back.***Augustine Wales is a cold CEO who is known as the most successful and influential business man in Country H.His name alone commanded respect, his steely gaze and cold demeanor strike fear into even the most hardened of hearts. He was a man of few words, each syllable weighted with the power of his position.On the eve of Augustine Wales 29th birthday, he received an unexpected call from his family, their demands clear and uncompromising: find a spouse, or forfeit your stake in the family's vast wealth and influence.In that very moment after receiving the phone call, the gaze of Augustine fell upon a young man named Charles Donald and without thinking twice, Augustine immediately made a proposal to Charles, but was met with a swift rejection.Augustine's proposal was rooted in desperation but little did he know that fate was drawing him toward a future he never could have predicted.“What will happen when Augustine Wales, the powerful CEO, finds himself unexpectedly falling for Charles Donald, a humble cleaner in his office?”“When Charles' deadly secrets rise to the surface, will their fragile bond shatter, or will their love prove strong enough to weather the storm?”