Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle!

"Hey, do not act like that. You always start shouting that others are cheating when you do not have enough money to pay.

This time I am not in the mood to give credit. Pay the amount you have lost." came the irritated voice from the other side while a few muscular men came forward and surrounded the young man who was shouting earlier.

"What are you talking about? Haven\'t I paid all the sum I owed to you a few months ago? You know my new mistress is kind and give me a good salary.

It is just that I have spent all of it today. Tomorrow I will pay the rest first and then I will start playing. Just let me play one last game.

Who knows I might earn enough that I did not need to delay your payment till tomorrow." though still irritated, he tried his best to control his urge to flip the table and beat others and brought a flattering smile to his face as he did not want to leave just yet.

He was sure that his luck would be good today, and if he tried, he might win the game.

He did not want to lose hope anytime soon.

"No! That would not do. You have said the same thing three games before too. You already have lost 700 gold coins today.

No matter how good your salary is, I am sure you can not earn more than that in a day."  he signaled his man who came closer to the young boy with an intention to hold him and throw him away but the man was adamant to not leave.

"No! Wait! I still have a precious thing with me. I will give it to you as a pawn. Let me go and try one more time. I am sure my luck would shine this time.\'\' He struggled as he kicked in the air and tried to move his hands too.

He was struggling hard to get rid of those two muscular men but it was all in vain since he was not strong enough to fight with one, let alone two of them.

The muscular man who was the boss of all of them and had asked to throw the young man out raised his hand in the air and walked towards the young man who was stripped right here.

He was almost standing on the entrance when both men stopped dragging him out looking at the signal of his master.

"Show me what you have. If it would not be worth enough, not only would you be thrown out but I would charge a hefty interest on the amount you have spent today.

But if it would be precious as you said, i will let you play the rest of the games for free.\'\' The man was sure that the young man could not have anything precious with him.

He was a rotten man who spent more than he earned gambling and did not have a family. Then how could he have a treasure.

He was only accepting the deal so that he could charge interest from him and rob him but the young man was still joyous and content to hear that.

He glared at the bodyguards who were holding him with a frown,

"Did you not hear what your boss said? Why are you still holding me? Let me go this instant!" with a haughty tone, he boldly ordered the man without a fear that they could break his bone that instant.

He was looking at them with disdain that infuriated them but under the knowing look of their master, they let the man go who patted his clothes as if he was touched by something dirty.

"You have no idea who you are going against? A fortune teller had told me that I am soon going to be the richest man of this empire. You are all going to bow your heads in front of me then!" he warned as he walked towards the old man with a big smile on his face who only had a look of disdain.

"I did not know what nonsense you are sprouting. I am rather interested in giving a look to the treasure you are talking about, Ethan!" the man yelled as a look of impatience filled his face.

His feet were tapping on the ground while his hands were crossed over his chest as he looked at the man with a look that was saying "you better have a treasure or i will beat you to a pulp." looking at the annoyed face, Ethan did not brag further and nodded his head vehemently.

"Of course, of course, here it is!" with that he took out a small box from his pocket and opened it.

The eyes of everyone around him gleamed with the sparkle of the small ruby ring.

Though the ring was small it was shining majestically and was a high quality rare stone. Just a look at it, and anyone could see it would go in millions.

But how could a man like him have such a rare jewel!

The man frowned at the thought of knights bragging into his gambling house and though he wanted to have that rare ring, he did not want to fall into trouble.

"You! Do you want me to end up in prison for trying to sell me stolen goods!

If you want to get caught by the knights, then go ahead. Why are you dragging me into it?" he howled as he asked his men to throw Ethan out of the room who tried to struggle again.

"But I have not stolen it. It was with me."