The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 301: If you still love me (1)

"Why does it feel like morning came faster than normal? I shouldn’t have gone to bed early," Logan said, looking ahead at the large open field. He would have liked a little more time before they had to leave to engage in a deadly fight.

"Then you would be here complaining about not getting enough sleep. It’s better to get this over with so we can go home to a nice reward. I have to keep an eye on that idiot so his mother doesn’t kill me for letting something happen to him," Christian said, referring to Michael.

"If I survive this, but go home with a part of me wounded, my mother might finish the job of killing me. When we return, I am going to look for a woman to start a family with. Expect to hear about me having a child soon," said Logan, giving himself something extra to live for.

"Please don’t. I was hoping your bloodline would end with you. Don’t continue the stupidity. Save your children from being ridiculed in the future by not having them," Christian replied, smiling at Logan who wasn’t the slightest bit happy to hear this.

"Out of all of us, you will be the one to not marry or have children. No woman wants to ruin her life with you. Should we bet on who will get married first? Rafael isn’t allowed to join," Logan said since Rafael already had one foot through the marriage door.

"You win. I have no interest in marriage," Christian answered. He travelled too much and preferred not to have someone worrying over his return. His mother was enough. "We’re crossing over. I’m surprised we have not been given a warning shot."

Rafael looked down at the red markings made by the border guards to mark how far they could go without being attacked. His horse was the first to cross over to dangerous grounds since he was at the front.

Now that they crossed the line made with paint, they could get attacked at any moment.

"Get your shields ready!" Rafael yelled to the men.

His order was echoed by knights so those far away could be made aware.

Martin rode past Christian and Logan, despite Rafael ordering them to stay in formation with only him being at the front with Christian, Logan, and Martin right behind him to take his place leading should something happen to him.

"We shouldn’t go too far out. They might have traps awaiting us," Martin said, turning his horse around so it could start going back close to the line.

"Be careful where you ride your horse. We can never claim the border if we don’t march forward," Rafael answered, continuing to ride slowly whilst looking out for any signs of their enemy.

It was too silent for his liking when the people here were known to be territorial and liked to attack the moment their land was stepped on.

Rafael looked around at the tall trees in the area to search for Michael and the other knights who scouted the area in the middle of the night to look for a spot to climb to fire arrows and give warnings. Their five catapults already had five large rocks placed on them to be released at the right moment.

Rafael ignored Martin riding out of place and looked ahead at the trees in the distance. He raised his right hand to stop the men from moving forward as he finally spotted someone coming out on a horse from the other side.

They were clad in armour he couldn’t make out if it was one they made or one they cleaned off the bodies of fallen border guards.

"Shit," Martin cursed, looking on as one by one, barbarians came out of the trees and bushes. Some were on horses and some were walking with their large bows in their hands. "There’s more than normal. They were planning an attack."

Martin hated that he had to admit Rafael was right to march out this morning. They could have been caught off guard by a sudden attack and not had time to properly clothe themselves in armour. Martin guided his horse to go behind Rafael, back to his place beside Christian and Logan.

Rafael watched as an enemy of warriors started to fill the field and stopped when they reached a certain point. "Martin, is that the leader?" Rafael asked, keeping his eyes on the person to the front. They looked much smaller than what was described to him.

"I can’t see clearly, but he is a large burly man. I will have to wait for him to get closer to see," Martin replied. He squinted his eyes, trying to inspect the person at the front. He thought they did look smaller, but then he thought it was because of the distance.

"Christian, raise the flag," Rafael gave the order. He had seen enough drawings of the leader to know if they were being fooled. Judging from the frame of the person at the front, he was almost certain this wasn’t the leader unless the leader had changed.

Christian did as Rafael ordered and raised a black flag with the Castro crest on it back and forth. He waved it around seven times and then put it down to wait to see if their request for a talk would be accepted.

Time seemed to have slowed as they waited for an answer and Rafael was getting close to calling an order for the men to move again, but then there was movement from the other side. The person they assumed to be the leader started to ride in their direction.

"Do not move unless they attack," Rafael said, glancing Martin’s way before riding off to meet with the leader.

He was willing to listen to their demands should they have any besides asking that he get off their land and then he would state what the king wanted.

Rafael rode his horse at a fast speed to reach the halfway point he would stop to speak with the leader alone, but as he got closer to the leader, he made his horse slow down. He was certain the person riding toward him was not the leader.

Rafael stopped his horse a little way before he reached a good halfway point where they would both be of equal distance from their army. He stared at the helmet he would always be able to recognise since he was around when it was made. He couldn’t mistake it for another since he had it made to match his own for a special woman.

When he stopped, he expected that the person riding toward him would stop, but they did not. It helped confirm that his mind was not playing tricks on him.

Seeing their size more clearly and the helmet, Rafael knew who was riding toward him. He grabbed the reins of his horse to guide it to go forward. It was starting to make sense why their goodbyes felt so off.

He had been perfectly fooled.

"Annalise," he called her name, not caring to act like he didn’t know who was before him. He tightened his hold on the reins as he thought over their moments together.

His mind tried to find the moments filled with lies. The moments he made a fool of himself by speaking of his feelings for her. The moments he promised to take care of her. Rafael was close to laughing at himself, but there was no room for laughter with the anger coming over him.

There was a growing pain in his chest as she got closer to him.

Annalise stopped right beside Rafael. After steadying her horse, she took off the helmet he gifted her. She knew that he would be able to tell it was her as she rode toward him once he saw the helmet. "I’m sorry," she first apologised. "I didn’t mean to-"

"You did," Rafael interjected, his voice came out harsher than he wanted, but he was too angry to speak calmly to her. "You meant to do whatever you are apologising for."