Guidebook for the Dark Duke

Chapter 32 - The Greedy Man

This person does not know what kind of person he is. The duke felt a gust of wind blowing by his side, with a hint of sadness and coldness.

“Yeah. Right?” The duke laughed. Subconsciously, he always paid great attention to his image in front of Evan. He wrapped himself with layers of illusions and he could not imagine what would happen to his truly dark heart if Evan found out.

Duke Wilson felt suffocated and he wanted to flee from this place immediately.

“I’m going out first, you have a good rest. A servant will come in to serve you later.” Duke Wilson didn’t dare to look into Evan’s eyes at all, so after saying this, he turned and rushed out as if he was running away.

Watching Duke Wilson’s embarrassed figure leave, Evan frowned. Is there anything wrong with what he just said?

After that, a servant from Cornwall Manor came in. Evan has seen him by the duke’s side before so he should be a senior servant.

“Reverend.” There was basically no expression on the face of the servant. He nodded slightly and stood in front of Evan, “I am Thomas, a servant of the duke and I will serve you these few days.”

Evan nodded but his heart sank, what does the duke mean? Did his own words just make the duke misunderstand something?

Evan regretted it, he just wanted to tease him with his words but he didn’t expect it to have the opposite effect.

“Please thank Lord Duke for his kindness. Please tell Lord Duke, I would like to ask him to tell my servant about my injury and he’ll come and take care of me. I wouldn’t want to bother Lord Duke.”

He didn’t like having a stranger around him. It took him a lot of effort to accept Tom. Now, he didn’t want to and he didn’t need to adjust to another person.

Thomas frowned as if he was offended, with some disagreement in his eyes but he still bowed respectfully, “Yes, Reverend.”

Thomas turned and left the room.

Duke Wilson did things very quickly. Half an hour later, Tom, Evan’s servant, came to Cornwall Manor. He walked in excitedly and saw Evan lying on the bed covered in bandages. His eyes grew wide in panic.

“Oh my God! Reverend Bruce, what’s the matter with you? They said you were injured but I didn’t know it was so serious!”

In a panic, Tom rushed to Evan’s side, trying to see his condition.

The servant, who led Tom in, pouted and seemed to despise such an unprofessional servant but he was still respectful to Evan.

“Sir, if you need anything else, please ring the bell and we will meet all your needs.”

Evan felt strange when he heard this sentence. Frowning, he asked, “Where’s your Lord?”

The Duke would rather send a servant over to pass the words than come to see him himself, this made Evan very uncomfortable.

“The duke is now dealing with official business and there is no way to come to visit you. He asked me to apologise to you.” The servant was still meticulous in passing the message.

Evan’s eyebrows eased unintentionally.

“I see.” Evan nodded, “If that’s the case, I wonder if I could have the honour to meet the duke tonight?”

Even so, Evan still hoped to have an excuse to see the duke again. Otherwise, if there was any misunderstanding, he couldn’t even cry.

The servant frowned and said in a low voice, “The duke is now in a meeting with Mr Johnson. When it is over, I will report back to the lord.”

Mr Johnson? Evan’s heart moved, Mr Johnson was meeting with Duke Wilson? In that case, he had to talk to the duke.

After the servant left, Evan fell into contemplation. He knows that Mr Johnson is Duke Wilson’s lawyer but he hadn’t thought about it before. Since Mr Johnson had concealed the church’s finances, he could have a problem with Duke Wilson.

Tom didn’t know about Evan’s worries. He still looked at Evan with a very exaggerated expression as he spoke, “Reverend, do you want to tell Mrs Sanders about what to do about tomorrow’s mass?”

Hearing Tom talk about this, Evan also came back to his senses. He’s like this now, not to mention mass, it is difficult to even get up. It looks like the church needs an acting priest to preside over the services.

“Let the assistant priest do the mass for me first. Someone from the diocese will come over in a few days.”

Evan’s assistant priest is a kid that just graduated and his name is Rodney, he is very simple and honest. He usually runs around behind Evan.

Tom also has an impression of this assistant priest but it’s not a good impression.

After the matter was settled, Evan sent Tom out. He needed to be alone and think about how to talk about this with the duke.

When it was about time for dinner, the duke finally came to Evan’s room again. Looking at Evan, who was about to have his meal, the duke looked embarrassed.

“I’m so sorry to disturb your meal.” The duke’s tone was still polite and restrained but his expression was different from the one he had before.

Evan felt puzzled, but there was no expression on his face. He just smiled and said, “The duke is too polite. I am very happy that you can come here.”

Evan decided to change his previous strategy of being slightly detached. Today’s duke still needs some inspiration.

Sure enough, when the duke heard this, his expression lit up. He clenched his fist excitedly and looked at Evan, his previously pale cheeks were slightly flushed.

“Really? Do you really think so?” His tone was hurried.

Evan nodded with a smile and spoke warmly, “Thanks to your care this time, my injuries can be healed little by little. My gratitude to you cannot be described in words.”

When he heard this, the duke’s excited expression eased a bit, but he still looked at Evan happily, as if he was looking at a baby.

Evan pretended like he didn’t see the duke’s expression and continued, “My lord, I want to talk to you about the church’s property.”

Duke Wilson’s expression became solemn as soon as he said this. He frowned and asked, “Have you found the culprit?”

Sighing, Evan nodded, “To be honest, I am really heartbroken about this.”

The duke’s eyes softened as he looked at Evan.

“A merciful person like you can’t understand the thoughts of a greedy person but please, don’t forgive him easily. A person who dares to steal money from the church has fallen to the point of hopelessness.”

Duke Wilson’s words were sonorous and powerful. Evan felt a little uncomfortable. Duke Wilson thought so highly of him but he didn’t know that the most greedy person in this place was actually him. (Now he feels uncomfortable)

“Alas…” Evan sighed helplessly, “This matter is now beyond my control. I wrote to the church the day before yesterday and I believe that the bishop will respond in the next few days.”

Duke Wilson nodded in agreement and said, “You’re doing the right thing. But I don’t know if you could tell me who this person is?”

Evan hesitated for a moment and the duke immediately said, “I know that you’re an upright person who doesn’t want to speak ill of others or damage the reputation of the church but you can trust me. I will never spread this out.”

Evan nodded. He paused for a moment and then said, “That person is Mr Johnson.”

As soon as Evan said these words, Duke Wilson’s whole complexion changed. First, he looked surprised and then, his face darkened.

“Are you telling the truth?” The duke asked very sternly.

Evan was stunned, “Sir, is there any problem?”

Duke Wilson but his lip and didn’t say anything at first.

When he saw this, Evan smiled, “Lord Duke, I can also tell you what you just said the other way around. In this case, you can also trust me. I will use my reputation to guarantee that I will never pass this matter out.”

“No, it’s not that I don’t trust you.” When he heard Evan’s words, Duke Wilson immediately defended, “I’m just afraid to make you worry even more.”

“Lord Duke, you are worrying too much.” Evan laughed, “My courage is not so small.”

Duke Wilson sighed when he saw that he insisted, “Since you want to know, then I will tell you. I just gave Mr Johnson a lot of money, asking him to help me solve the legal problems about my textile factory.”

“What?” Surprised, Evan looked at the duke, “Did Mr Johnson ask you for it?”

Duke Wilson nodded. He didn’t trust the things he said at first, but Evan’s words disturbed his mind. Johnson kept talking about this matter to him and in a bid to be rid of Johnson’s trouble, he recklessly wrote a check.

Duke Wilson’s eyes darkened. Although he didn’t care about such a small amount of money, he felt a deep shame for Johnson deceiving him in this matter. He will never let this person go.

“I really didn’t expect it.” Evan didn’t know what the duke was thinking about but he still sighed, “Mr Johnson is so bold that he even dared to deceive you.” He could guess that Mr Johnson would run with the money.

Evan was already quite sure about his guess and immediately said, “Lord Duke, please go and control Mr Johnson immediately. I’m afraid he will jump over the wall.”

Duke Wilson frowned, “What do you mean by this?”

Embarrassed, Evan smiled, “I confronted him before. He tried to deceive me into selling the church’s land and I realised his bad intentions. But my reaction at the time was a bit extreme. I’m afraid he knows he’ll be investigated.”

When he heard this, Duke Wilson immediately stood up, walked to the door and called a servant over and gave him an order, “Go and find Mr Johnson immediately.”

The servant was surprised. Looking at the fiery expression on the duke’s face, he said, “Sir, Mr Johnson has just left.”

Immediately he heard this, Duke Wilson’s face turned ugly.