The Knight's Mysterious Maid
Chapter 138: Fun (1)

Chapter 138: Fun (1)

"I have found you some water. I need to return the cup when you are finished," Annalise said, handing the cup over to Rafael. She looked behind him at the young woman frowning. "The lady seems to be sad. Even the dog looks sad."

"Is this your way of asking if I hurt her feelings? Grace will be fine. It will not be long before she walks over here so we do not end on a bad note," Rafael said and then he drank the water. The sweetness of the candy had long left his mouth, but the water was welcomed.

"Oh," Annalise replied, surprised that he was right as the young woman marched over to where they stood. She seemed to have unfinished business with Rafael.

Grace approached Rafael and held the back of his shirt. "I didn’t mean to come across as judgemental with what I said. It is just something that I do not see every day with a man walking around with a maid dressed up like this. It is only us ladies that do it and even then our maids are dressed in a uniform. I apologise for what I said. Please do not be angry with me."

Rafael finished the last of the water and gave the cup back to Annalise. He wasn’t upset with Grace since there was a line drawn between young ladies like herself and their servants. They weren’t seen as equals so a maid dressing up in fine clothing would have them losing their minds.

"You should return to your father before he starts to worry about you. I am not angry with you, Grace. There was simply nothing for me to explain to you. Do not overthink it. You look on the verge of crying and I do not need to have your father questioning me now. I will pay you a visit if you do not cry and return to your father’s side," Rafael promised.

"You cannot take back your promise. I will tell your mother if you do," Grace smiled as Rafael wanted. She turned to Annalise who looked confused by the conversation. "It is nice to meet you," she greeted Annalise to show she had no issue with the maid. "Excuse me."

"What is the purpose of the dog in her hands?" Annalise asked after Grace got far away to not hear them. The small dog did not look like it could hurt a fly.

"It is a pet. There are people who choose to take a liking to animals that would not have someone else passing out at the sight of them. You don’t seem to be fond of dogs," Rafael said.

"I happen to like dogs, but the one she has is just sitting in her hands and it is so small. It doesn’t look like it could protect her if needed and if I am not mistaken, there were bows in its fur like it is some kind of doll. If she wants something cute to dress up, why not just get a doll? I prefer to have a big dog," Annalise replied, shaking her head at the memory of the small dog.

Rafael looked around at the other women holding small dogs."They are more of a decoration to their dress than a pet. Most will hand the dog off to a maid when they return home and hardly look at it. Bigger dogs would remain at home. No young lady wants to be running through the market after a large dog that got away or trying to get the dog to behave."

"It is ridiculous to have the ribbons in the dog’s fur and carry it around like a bag instead of letting it get a chance to walk around," Rafael said, agreeing that it was treated more like a doll.

"For all we know, the dog doesn’t want it to change. It is pampered more than most people. It is carried around and dolled up while others work daily. I envy it now," Annalise said, wishing she could change places with it for a moment. She had a feeling that it was given the finest meat to eat.

"Were you with your brother?" Rafael asked as he could not help his curiosity. "You do not need to stay by my side for long."

"I was for a small moment," Annalise admitted since Rafael saw them. "But he has already left to enjoy himself. I am to accompany you so I want to stay until I am not needed. I have been working hard to show that I can do this. Mavis told me that you might let me keep this position. I had a hard start working as a maid, but it is finally going well. I do not want to stop now."

Rafael bit his tongue as this was the last thing he wanted to hear when he had made up his mind to remove her as his maid and find her a guard. Though she got the job only because of Delilah, she did her best under Mavis’s instructions. There was a bit of guilt about changing her from being his maid because of the feelings he had for her.

He was so confident that whatever he felt would go away soon, but for him to need to remove her from his side meant he thought they would stay if she was around. He did not want to snatch the job away from her when she was being trained for it and because he could not control his feelings.

The thought of her being saddened by the news that she would no longer be his maid cut deep into his heart as if someone stood before him with a knife pushing it in. Rafael now decided to let the feelings pass slowly and only remove her as his maid or fire her once the Delilah problem was over with for good or she did something that warranted her being fired.

"We need to take back the cup and then there are people who walk around with strange pets that you might enjoy. All kinds of strange lizards," Rafael said, walking off to go further into the market.

Annalise followed behind him. "It is starting to feel like you thinking that I like strange animals is almost as bad as you calling me a pervert. I grew up surrounded by the animals I like. For a man who spends so much time travelling around the kingdom, the fact that you do not enjoy nature is a bit of a letdown."

"I enjoy nature. I simply do not like to move animals from where they are comfortable to scare anyone," Rafael replied.

"I thought what happened with the snake and beetles was supposed to be forgotten. I’m going to hear about that for as long as I am in this town," Annalise muttered, looking off to the side for something other than candy to catch her eyes. She was yet to find anyone selling knives or weapons she could just look at.

"It is hard to forget that as revenge you went into bushes to look for a snake when the men I picked to get rid of them fought tooth and nail to get the job passed to someone else. I apologise if it comes off as an insult. It is not meant to be. I am intrigued by what animals you like even though there are times that I worry about what I might one day find in my bedroom," Rafael said.

Annalise was now reminded of something she needed to point out before she got blamed for it. "I should say this early so there will not be any fingers pointed at me. I saw a large web in your bathroom and I am certain the spider is still in there because I saw another web after I removed the first."

"Unless it hitched a ride on me, I did not put it there. I destroyed its home so I have ruined all chances of us being friends and it coming with me willingly. I will get it," Annalise said, balling up her fists to show how determined she was.

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