The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 314: Accepting (4)

"Why are we trusting him to not take Rafael somewhere to fight him?" Annalise asked, looking out one of the kitchen windows to spot her father’s return with Rafael.

"Because your father knows we would be angry with him if he lied about just wanting to talk. I would love to stay here to wait for them with you, but I must get a few things for dinner. I can’t have his first meal be bad," Celine said, looking around for the basket she used when going into the market.

"To be fair, I don’t think his mother can cook, so you do not need to try too hard. Your cooking is already good. If you think too much about it, you might ruin it. I wonder if grandmother will be here," said Annalise.

Annalise wanted Celeste to meet the grandson of the man Iris loved. Rafael might have some stories about Iris that would make her grandmother happy to hear.

"She rarely comes down for dinner, but we have a special guest, so she might be here. I hope she comes early so she won’t have to fight through the crowd already gathering. Your father needs to bring Rafael early too. This all needs to go well so I want all of you to be on your best behaviour. I will be back soon," Celine said, deciding to pick up a basket on the way since she could not find her own. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

Annalise continued to look out the window for any signs of her father or Rafael. She ignored the small crowds of people confused about how the fight ended gathering around her home. They would eventually find out about the truce and her relationship.

She couldn’t focus on them right now when she was concerned about Rafael and her father coming back in one piece.

Annalise ended up moving away from the windows since standing around wasn’t going to make them come faster. "I should tidy up to distract myself," she said, inspecting the kitchen. Unfortunately, her parents always kept the house tidy so there was nothing to clean.

Annalise walked over to the dining table to sit down and stare at the door for the second it would open. "They wouldn’t fight each other," she said, having faith in the two. She tapped her fingers on her arms to calm her nerves. "I should go to sleep- Father!" Annalise yelled as the front door opened.

Phillip smiled, enjoying the warm welcome. "I’ve missed this excitement whenever I come home. A hug would make it even better," he said, spreading his arms wide for Annalise to come to him. A memory of her younger with a dress full of dirt appeared in his mind.

Phillip was pained to watch Annalise stand up and walk by him to check the man behind him. "Wonderful," he muttered, dropping his hands to his side. If only he knew she would be ignoring him like this, Phillip would have enjoyed every second of her greeting him at the door with a hug in the past.

Annalise closed the door after Rafael stepped in to have some privacy from the confused prying eyes outside. "It doesn’t look like the two of you tried to kill each other. That’s good. You should take off your armour to get more comfortable," Annalise said, holding Rafael’s hand to lead him to her bedroom.

Phillip grabbed Annalise’s shoulder to stop her from walking off with Rafael. "I want the two of you in where I can see you-"

"Don’t be ridiculous," Annalise said, using her left hand to pull her father’s hand off her shoulder. "I am not a child nor are we foolish to do something when you and mother are around. I am taking him to my bedroom to wait while I try to find something that will fit him. Leaving him in his armour is just going to attract too much attention."

"You and your mother should have thought about that before you invited him for dinner. I’ve got a lot of explaining to do to the people outside. Where is your mother? Stop touching him," Phillip said, eyeing Annalise’s hand on Rafael’s arm.

"Father, do not start this right now. I am taking him to my bedroom to have a word with him and to find him something from your clothes to wear instead of his armour. You have nothing to fear about the two of us being alone. Mother went to get a few more things for dinner. I will see you soon," Annalise said, pulling on Rafael’s hand to lead him to her bedroom, but before she could make the first step up the stairs, she stopped.

Annalise let go of Rafael’s hand and walked back to her father to give him a hug. "I forgot to give you a hug when you walked through the door. I’m sorry I didn’t greet you first," she apologised. Her mind had just been more focused on making sure he hadn’t stabbed Rafael again. "I will see you right after I speak with Rafael."

Phillip still wasn’t thrilled to let the two of them go alone where no one could see them, but her hug convinced him to leave them alone for now. He hated the realisation of how grown Annalise was now for him to have to back away now that a man was in her life.

Phillip enjoyed the hug, relishing it in case they might become fewer in the future because her attention would be on Rafael. Phillip glared at Rafael behind Annalise’s back. It wasn’t like Rafael was some little child so why did he need so much of her attention?

"I am going to explain to everyone outside why he is here and what happened today. You and your mother left me with the hard part like always. I don’t want him outside and I don’t want anything happening in my home. I will ask your grandmother if something happened," Phillip warned.

He didn’t always believe his mother could see things others couldn’t, but this time he would completely believe her if she said Rafael tried something with Annalise in his home.

"So, what you are saying is I should start thinking of getting my own home so I can do whatever I want there? I suppose it is time I start to live on my own so you and your mother can have privacy. Understood," Annalise said, stepping away from Phillip to go back to Rafael.

Phillip reached out his hand to stop Annalise. That wasn’t what he meant. It wasn’t near time for her to get her own home. When was she going to get rid of her habit of not understanding what someone meant? "Annalise," he softly called her name.

He didn’t know what he could do or say as he watched her lead Rafael upstairs. He preferred the days when Annalise wasn’t interested in boys. All he ever had to worry about in the past was her being too excited to get into a fight. Now he had to worry about that along with her being excited to move away.

"Where is Celine?" Phillip wondered, needing his wife to cheer him up. There had to be somebody who would listen to what he was going through with his daughter nearing the time she would be away from her parents.

When Phillip opened the door and saw a small crowd waiting for him to hear about Rafael, he thought of going to see his mother instead. Now he understood why she chose to move from her old home to live closed off from everyone.