The Knight's Mysterious Maid
Chapter 101: Wild (3)

Chapter 101: Wild (3)

"How many other women do you know to go around stomping on a man’s foot, and then there is the way you dress. That is perfect," Nigel said, giving her a thumbs up after he noticed Rafael’s gaze. Like a predator that set its eyes on its prey it was ready to tear apart.

Nigel pulled on his collar to help himself breathe. "I apologise," he said, his words becoming lost in his throat. He thought nothing could beat the sight of Rafael angry with him, but the little lady in front of him caused pain in his chest.

If there was anything to stab him with on the table, she would be killing him right about now.

"What is with the two of you and these glares? You are perfect-"

"Come with me," Rafael said, grabbing a handful of Nigel’s shirt to pull him off the chair. Nigel was not seated for long, and yet he managed to insult Annalise and make her upset. More upset than the drunk man who held her hand.

Annalise banged her hand on the table. He should not have gotten her so angry so quickly because of two words. She needed to do better at controlling her anger when she heard the word wild being used for her. Barbarian was another issue, but for some reason, hearing wild always upset her. Even if it was being used playfully by one of the other maids.

All she heard were the men back home retelling the stories of the Blackwell guards using those words to insult them.

Annalise took a deep breath to calm herself before Rafael could return. She did not want to explain why what Nigel said had upset her. Annalise looked down at her hands as she relaxed them and spread out her fingers.

For the moment, her anger had passed, and if she were to hear those words again, she would not react. Annalise did not see how someone who did not know where she came from could take one look at her and refer to her as wild. She wasn’t dressed like everyone else in the room, but she was dressed like the common servants on the outside.

"Is it my hair?" She muttered, holding up a strand to inspect it.

Cara had once mentioned that she would be well-liked because she did not look like the other girls in town, but Annalise didn’t see how she was much different compared to everyone else. They all had their individual looks, so no one person looked like someone else unless they were family.

Annalise thought she blended in quite well here. Now she wondered if the problem was that she did not fully act like someone from this town. The only difference between the people here and her people at the border was that sometimes at home they liked to cover themselves in paint as part of having fun, and the clothing was not as detailed as the ones here.

’Is it because of my story of living on a farm?’ Annalise thought. ’Or because the women like to comb out their hair until it is straight? My hair has a mind of its own. Should I?’

Rafael released Nigel after a promise to keep his mouth shut when something stupid crossed his mind. He kept his eyes where he left Annalise in case there was another fool to approach her.

He was puzzled by the sight of her combing through her hair with her fingers, pulling on it until it looked like there were no curls, and then frowning when it went back to normal. She started all over again and ended with a frown each time.

"Nigel," Rafael said, his irritation with the man beside him reaching a new level. "You’re an ass."

"I come to work to get away from my mother saying that and end up having to hear it from you. Wonderful," Nigel replied. "I meant no harm by what I said about your lady friend, whom you are now calling a maid. I will visit the manor with the information you need in two days, but I will come at night so no one sees me. There are a lot of people I don’t want to know that you and I are close enough for me to visit your home."

"Two days. A second over, and I will come to collect you from your mother’s home, Nigel. If I find out that you have anything to do with the information about the war being told to the town, I will personally feed you to my dogs while you are still alive," Rafael said, serious about his every word.

The people who made him work harder had a death wish.

"I will be there in two days, I promise. There is no need for you to make any threats and killing me for being a second late is a bit much. You bastard," Nigel muttered as Rafael walked away from him. How could someone come into his place of business and treat him this way?

Nigel knew he had greatly pissed Rafael off with what he had done when he was a knight, but enough time had passed for Rafael to get over it. He had already paid the price by no longer being a knight, and he had moved on to now have this business. How many times could he apologise to have Rafael stop treating him like this?

Rafael returned to the table where he left Annalise and did not sit down. It was time for the two of them to leave since Annalise was having one horrible experience after another. "We are leaving."

Annalise gladly got up from her seat, ready to leave the awful place. In the corner of her eye, she saw the man who insulted her watching her and Rafael leave. She turned her head to watch him as they left and mouthed, "I will get you.’

It was up to him to understand what she told him and be prepared for when her anger returned and she would come for him.

Annalise looked away from Nigel since she was now passing where the man had grabbed her. Somewhere in between him holding her hand and her pointing out Nigel to Rafael, the man had disappeared.

Two men standing by the front doors opened them for her and Rafael to leave. If they were the guards, why weren’t they helping their employer when he was being smacked around by Rafael? Were they all scared to fight Rafael?

’I can take him-’

Her thoughts were interrupted by her walking right into Rafael’s back.

"I’m sorry," she apologised, stepping to the side to make sure it would not happen again.

"Do not let Nigel’s words make you think differently of yourself. He does not know what he speaks of. Aside from your love of snakes and insects, you are not wild. You are different, as you should be. If everyone was the same, it would be insufferable. So," Rafael cleared his throat, uncertain of what to say after this.

He felt the need to compliment her in case Nigel’s words upset her.

"There is an awkwardness that just fell upon us, young master. Aside from your mother, am I the first woman you ever tried to cheer up?" Annalise teased him.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺