The Knight's Mysterious Maid
Chapter 115: Gentle touch (1)

Chapter 115: Gentle touch (1)

Henry tried to catch his breath as he looked up at Rafael who seemed surprised by what he did. He did not want to hear any apology from Rafael. The deed was already done and Rafael had made an enemy out of him. There would be no striving for peace in the future since Rafael had disrespected two Harrisons.

Henry just wanted to get out of there now, but he feared having to pass Rafael to get out.

The door of Rafael’s study was opened by Edwin. The butler feared that the silence meant Rafael was trying to kill the man and to avoid having the town guards in the manor to inspect a death, he opened the door to save Mr. Harrison.

"Breakfast is ready," Edwin announced. He feared his thoughts about Rafael killing the man was true since Henry was breathing heavily below Rafael who was silent. He came just at the right time. "Young master," he said.

"I will be there shortly. Have him escorted out of the manor right now. I have given him enough warnings to leave so if he does not move when you ask, have some of the knights put him in the dungeon," Rafael said as he walked out of the room. "Lock the door when you are finished."

He had to get out of his study since seeing Henry still angered him. He just might kill him if they stayed in the same room.

Rafael now wondered why the two families had been friends for so long when Henry was like this.

Instead of going straight to the dining room to have breakfast, Rafael went to his bedroom where he left Annalise. No matter how you thought about it, this was her fault. Not what happened with Delilah, but having him speak to Henry.

Rafael slowed down as the realisation of something hit him. He had gone against his decision to not speak to Henry just to get a favour from Annalise. He already knew the conversation with Henry would do nothing to help with getting Delilah from going after Annalise, yet he still went to speak with Henry and ruined his morning. All he got in return was Annalise owing him something.

It sounded good at the moment to propose she would owe him something and listen to her agree to it, but now that he had finished talking to Henry and thought about what he just did, he found himself to be a fool. Never before would he have engaged in a conversation with someone when he knew that they would annoy him.

Rafael reluctantly took a step forward to continue going to his bedroom to see Annalise and have her go down to the dining room with him once Henry was no longer on this floor to see what she looked like.

Rafael opened his bedroom door and expected to find Annalise sitting at the table for his return, but she was not there. He stepped into the bedroom and looked around for her.

Like a child caught by their mother, Annalise sprung around and showed an innocent smile, while placing her hands behind her back.

Rafael closed the door so that when Henry would pass, he would not enter. "What were you doing near my swords? You were to sit and wait," he said.

"I did sit and wait for a little while, but then I got curious about your swords. I wondered if they ever needed to be cleaned from dusk so I-"

"You touched it and it cut you," Rafael finished for her. Hearing her mention his swords and her hiding her hands gave it away. "I clean them myself so no one who does not properly know how to handle a sword would be cut by it. You never need to clean them. Let me see your hands."

"I am fine, honestly. There is no need for you to see them. We should go down to-"

"Annalise," Rafael raised his voice to get her to stop. "I am not in the mood for us to act like you are not hurt. Your hands," he said once more.

Annalise was taken aback by the tone of his voice. He sounded like he was angry, frustrated, or both at the same time. She didn’t think that it had to do with her since he should have just come back from speaking to Delilah’s father.

She slowly removed her hands from behind her back to do as he said.

Rafael noticed the blood dripping down the palm of her right hand. She couldn’t have just touched the blade of his sword. She must have grabbed it since there was no other explanation for why her hand was bleeding so much. The fact that she stood with a smile while her hand was bleeding puzzled him.

"Have you no fear? Is there anything in this world you are afraid of?" He asked, going to her side to get a better look at it.

"Flowers," Annalise answered.

Rafael stopped right before he could touch her hand. The answer he was expecting was no. "Flowers? The thing with the petals?" He asked since this could not be the same flowers he knew of.

Annalise nodded her head. "What else is known as flowers here?"

"Let me get this straight. You will hold a snake, and dig around for insects, but it is a flower that you are afraid of. Did I get that right?" Rafael asked, feeling like he was missing something here. The more he spoke to Annalise the stranger she became. "Shouldn’t it be the other way around with you loving flowers and fearing snakes?"

"First off, snakes are not bad as long as you handle them right and do not accidentally step on one. They are good creatures once you care for them well. Oh! And you are not around them when they are hungry. You should watch when last they ate and now have any small pets around-"

"Annalise, stick to explaining why you are afraid of flowers before I lose my mind trying to guess," Rafael said.

No matter which way he thought about it, he could not connect how she was scared of flowers. Flowers of all things.

"Not all flowers," Annalise said, thinking he was surprised that she would try to avoid all flowers. "Only the ones that make my skin itch. It is a terrible feeling and my skin turns red. It is hard for me to resist the urge to scratch where I feel itchy so I run away from those flowers whenever they are near. It’s a shame since they are so pretty."

"What?" Annalise asked after a moment of silence. "Do you not believe me? Unfortunately, I do not wish to show you that it is true since I do not want to deal with scratching at my skin."

Rafael didn’t have a response to why she was afraid of flowers. It still didn’t make sense for something so harmless to be what scared her. How could anyone be asked about their fear and the first thing to come to their mind was a flower?

Somehow, her answer fit her. He just had to get used to the fact that everything about Annalise would never be normal.

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