The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 365: Friends (1)

"That’s three for me so far. Who’s next?" Annalise asked, pointing the sword she borrowed from River at the crowd of knights which had formed to watch River earlier. "Christian! I’ve been waiting for this."

"I respectfully decline," Christian answered, putting his hands in the air. He would be a fool to pick up a sword to fight her and have Rafael on his ass about it later.

The first three knights to step up for the challenge had wanted to see her in action and were going to go easy on her because she was the lady of the manor, but when the fight started and Annalise started to laugh, they all knew a grave mistake was made.

Christian was just standing around to watch Annalise fight someone else. He found her to be a little crazy and still tried to understand what Rafael liked about her, but he had to admit that she was good at using a sword. Logan had every right to panic.

"Rafael!"

Christian looked away from Annalise to Rafael approaching them with Beatrice by his side. He couldn’t believe how the knights called Rafael’s name as if they were on the verge of crying.

It wasn’t like they were forced to stand here and fight Annalise one by one. Rafael had given a break to rest before they were to get back to training. If Annalise was to train them in the future, then there would be a problem. Christian would prefer Rafael’s way of training over whatever Annalise would have in mind.

Christian knew that she was out to get him for some unknown reason.

"You should wear a coat. It is cold outside," River said to Beatrice.

"I see that," Beatrice teasingly replied, looking at his chest. "It is not so bad. Why is it taking so long for us to get snow?" She asked, looking up at the sky. She was ready to play around in the snow and look at how it would cover her garden.

"It might start tonight which is why you need to get your coats," said River.

Rafael left Beatrice with River since he had something important to take care of. "Are you scaring my knights, Annalise?"

"What kind of knights are they if they are so scared of me? I defeated two of them even though I was wearing a dress. Shouldn’t I be awarded for this?" Annalise asked. "I defeated them quickly, but it was thanks to them not going all out. Maybe to avoid angering you. Do you want to go up against me?"

"Maybe another time. Did you fall?" Rafael asked, picking a piece of grass from her hair.

"Just once. One of them managed to push me back and I fell," Annalise answered.

"Really," Rafael replied, looking behind her at his knights. "They seem so lively that I should have gone ahead with starting back training."

Annalise heard the knights groaning and knew she had to save them. "Or better, would you like to take a walk with me now that you are free?" She asked.

"I would," Rafael answered.

Annalise carefully placed the sword on the ground since she planned to come back to finish fighting all the knights. "Your parents got so distracted by each other and walked off," she said, watching River and Beatrice walk back inside.

"They might be going to get coats. Your coats will arrive today. It might start snowing tonight as my father said. We have a bit more wood to bring inside to help keep the manor warm during winter. Are you cold?" Rafael asked, touching her cheek with the back of his right hand.

"A little bit, but I want to walk around with you a little longer. If I can’t manage a little cold, what kind of warrior am I? I might have one coat in my bags. I have not finished unpacking my things because I have been so distracted and Heidi isn’t going to stay in my room alone with Herbert. You do not need to follow us," Annalise said, looking over her shoulder at Thomas and the others.

"And where is your maid who is meant to be by your side?" Rafael asked.

"I sent her to get something for me from the market. Some of the candy we bought at the festival," Annaluse whispered, wanting to hide it from Rafael.

"You shouldn’t eat so much and I don’t know if she will find them since there are new treats around winter. You should drink something warm when we go inside."

"Being wrapped up in a blanket and drinking warm tea does sound nice. I can’t wait to see what the manor looks like when it is covered in snow. I want to go down by the river," Annalise said, pulling Rafael’s hand she was holding to lead him there. "I have to get more rocks from the water before it freezes."

"The water will be too cold for you to stand up in to gather rocks. We’ll be lucky if there are any good ones to the side. Do you only like pretty rocks?" Rafael asked as he had not seen her with rocks other than the ones from the river.

"I like any rock that looks pretty or has a unique shape. The desk in my bedroom is quite boring right now so I want to decorate it with knives and rocks. It is getting colder the further we walk," Annalise said, inching closer to Rafael.

They were too close to the river to turn back, but the cold air was starting to nip at her skin. It was sounding much better in her head for the two of them to go back to her bedroom, throw wood into the fireplace, and lay around all day until her coats arrived.

Rafael let go of her hand and wrapped his hand around her shoulder to help warm her up. "When you were scaring my knights you didn’t look cold. Does your body forget about everything else and focus on the fight?"

"Maybe. I didn’t realise it was so cold even when I was sitting down watching your father. Maybe we should take a walk to the river another time and go back to bed. Unless you are busy. I can linger around your study or find something else to pass my time since the knights don’t want to fight anymore," Annalise said, stopping as she couldn’t bear the cold any longer. Her dress was not suited for the cold weather.

"What kind of warrior are you?" Rafael asked, smiling at the sight of her hugging her body. "I can waste a day in bed. It’s time to go back inside."

Since Annalise didn’t know how to spend her days because the knights weren’t training and she was only friends with the maids who had to work, Rafael would spend as much time as he could with her. He was finally going to follow his mother’s advice to take more breaks.

As the two returned inside the manor, Annalise walked holding onto Rafael’s arm which was surprisingly warm. She started to think that he wasn’t human and was some sort of giant pretending to be human.

"There you are," they heard Mavis’s panicked voice. "There is a guest at the door for Lady Annalise."

"For me?" Annalise asked in disbelief. Why would she have a guest?

"The young lady Giselle seeks an audience with you. I was looking around to get your answer," said Mavis.

Annalise wanted to go through with her plans of going back to bed with Rafael, but knowing she couldn’t always spend time with him when she was bored, she decided to speak with Giselle. "Tell the guards to let her in," she said.