The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 292: Iris (3)

"Grandmother, are you just crazy like everyone says you are?" Annalise questioned as she watched her grandmother take a deep breath and smile for some reason. She was either crazy or smoking something she shouldn’t.

Annalise stood up when Celeste reached her hand under the table where she always kept her favourite tick. Her body could not take being hit with a stick after how long she walked to get there.

"You’ve returned home without your sense. You are lucky I don’t know where I moved my stick to. Sit back down, Annalise. We are not finished yet," Celeste said, taking the cup of water since Annalise didn’t seem interested in it. "We must have an important talk."

Annalise sat back down, but she pushed her chair away from the table. Her grandmother might want to use her hand since the stick was nowhere to be found. "I apologise. What should I do about Rafael? I cannot leave again. Father won’t let me out of his sight and I have a lot of responsibility before me now. I have to prove myself as a good leader."

"Tell me, child. If you had a sibling, would you care to lead us? The responsibility falls on you because your parents only had one child. If there was another, would you have returned?" Celeste asked.

Had Iris not been sick, Celeste didn’t think she would see her friend again. Celeste wouldn’t have been angry if it was the same for Annalise. For her to not see Annalise again. She wanted everyone to follow the path calling out to them.

"I could not just stay and never see my family again. My parents would think that I am dead," Annalise answered. The short time she stayed away had clearly stressed them out.

"You could have sent Thomas back to say you are staying, but then that boy is so in love with you that he wouldn’t allow it. I am going to assume that Thomas isn’t aware of your little love affair," Celeste said, wishing she had something to snack on while listening to Annalise.

It had been so long since she listened to a story about a forbidden romance.

"He is and he wasn’t happy to know about my feelings for Rafael. He wasn’t happy before I started to like Rafael. He promised to keep it a secret for me. About my feelings, but there was a lot more that happened. Honestly, I greatly regret that I did not tell him the truth. I wouldn’t be sitting here wondering what his reaction might have been. I would know," Annalise said, thinking their last goodbye was the perfect moment.

"I’m a little upset that you didn’t. If he loves you, you could have used that man to your liking-"

"Grandmother," Annalise sighed.

"You know what I mean, Annalise. They swear their loyalty to their king, but you’d be surprised what people would do for the people they love. Maybe to protect you, he would have spoken to the king about having a civil conversation with your father to end this. Perhaps a marriage between you two could have served as a truce that we wouldn’t attack each other," Celeste said.

"I didn’t think of that then. I was just worried about his reaction. I am sure Iris found it hard to open up to Nicolas. Feared that she might be imprisoned. Deep down, I know that he might have accepted me, but then that one negative thought always won. There is nothing I can do right now. I am home, and I have a lot to focus on," Annalise said, standing up from her seat.

"The granddaughter I helped raise would not look so defeated right now. You snuck out once before. You can do it again. I would help you, and once your mother hears that you have fallen in love, she will help you. If escaping is not an option, why not send a message when you stand in front of our warriors with your father?" Celeste asked, not seeing it to be over.

She would do everything in her power to have them meet again.

"What if something were to suddenly happen to your father to make you have to lead-"

"Grandmother!" Annalise exclaimed, disliking her grandmother’s plan. "I don’t want to plan something that involves my father having to stay behind if there will be war. There is a chance Rafael will be coming to the border. As long as no one tells my father about him, I will be there. I will plan something."

"Good. You were starting to annoy me with all this sulking. You need to keep an eye on Thomas. I have always thought he is a loyal friend to you, but I worry about his jealousy. I will have a word with him. This young man you fell for better be worth me having to leave my home," Celeste said, hoping she wasn’t doing this for nothing. "Is he a handsome fellow?"

"He is. He is also a giant," Annalise replied with a smile.

"It seems I passed on my good taste to you. Your father had me worried in the past, but then he found your mother and calmed my heart. I am getting old and quickly, Annalise. I wish to meet the man who has my granddaughter acting like a fool. You will give this old lady her last wish, won’t you? You wouldn’t let me die without letting me see him, right?"

"I can always count on you to make me feel guilty, grandmother. I don’t know if I can grant that wish, but I will try. There is one thing I forgot to mention. River Callahan found out I was from the border. If I don’t get the chance to see Rafael, his father might tell him the truth. It might give him all the more reason to come to the border," Annalise said, hoping that Rafael ended up near the border one way or the other.

"If it works out between the two of you, it is all the more reason why you should protect that box after me. I’m hoping for a different ending for you. One where you get to be with the man you love. Now, is there anything I should know about?" Celeste asked.

Celeste was used to Annalise getting into a lot of trouble, so falling in love with Rafael sounded like the least trouble she might have caused.

"There is nothing else. I have missed you dearly, grandmother. I wished you would have been there so I would have made a different decision. I would have told him the truth," said Annalise.

"If I was there, I wouldn’t have pushed you to tell him if you didn’t want to. That was a decision you had to make on your own. I am telling what could have come from your confession. Your concern about his reaction being bad isn’t to be dismissed. Annalise," Celeste said, stopping to keep her emotions together. "I had many friends like Iris who went out and found love. It didn’t all end well."

’Some barely escaped being imprisoned or death, while others were not so lucky. It is why a lot of us are not so curious about that side anymore. As soon as we reveal who we are, there is no telling what the reaction might be. Regardless of how much love there was before. I just want you to know that as there could be a bad reaction, there could be a good," said Celeste.

"I will try to use our feelings to have both sides talk to each other. I will find a way to speak to Rafael. I’m going up making my father turn crazy,’ Annalise said, imagining her father trying to kill Rafael. If everything were to go well, this would be one crazy family being created.

"The man is already crazy, Annalise. He became crazy when you were born and became paranoid about a mere fly touching you only for you to end up loving dangerous animals. He’ll be fine," Celeste replied.

If Phillip tried to interfere, she had the perfect remedy to make him still for a few days. She might use it without telling Annalise so Annalise could lead the warriors and sneak away to meet Rafael.

"Go to your bed here and get some rest. You’ll need a lot of energy for what is about to come," Celeste said, secretly making some plans of her own to help Annalise.