The Knight's Mysterious Maid
Chapter 143: Strange day (2)

Chapter 143: Strange day (2)

"Is playing with the seal on envelopes your hobby? I can melt a few to entertain you after breakfast," Annalise offered since he was playing around with the seal so much.

Rafael did not answer her as he was preoccupied with trying to prove that the letter had not come from Edgar. If anything, it would be a stupid trick Tobias was using to get him to travel to Lockwood.

"There has to be something wrong with Edgar," Rafael concluded.

If Edgar had sent him this, there had to be something wrong with his head. Edgar was the face of not wanting to get married. So much so that he liked to avoid his mother so he would not hear about marriage.

If there was something wrong with Edgar’s head, luckily there was his butler Alfred to watch over him until this marriage talk was sorted out.

"There is no invitation," Rafael said, searching the already empty envelope for one.

There was a tiny, tiny chance he would believe Edgar was getting married if not for the baron’s name. Rafael recalled the baron having two daughters, but he could not think of their names. The last time Edgar was here, he did not seem too happy to visit the baron under the king’s order and he wasn’t thrilled to see his daughter.

It was Rafael who convinced him to go.

Rafael wished Edgar was a little less vague and more detailed about how it was that he suddenly wanted to get married after claiming he was planning to find a young relative to raise to take over his estate or take a young boy from an orphanage.

Annalise tilted her head trying to understand why Rafael was searching the empty envelope. Was there some kind of secret message that was supposed to fall out? ’Is the strange message the king sent a trick? There must be a real message hidden in the envelope,’ she realised. ’Or maybe Rafael hit his head harder than I thought.’

"Is there something I can do for you with the letter? I can search it for whatever is missing," she offered.

He was starting to look like he was losing his mind in her eyes and she was the cause of it.

"There is no need," Rafael replied, giving up on trying to understand Edgar’s motives. It would be pointless since Edgar had always been strange with how he thought.

Rafael didn’t see why Edgar would get married to the daughter of the man he was investigating and wanted dead. How should his future wife feel about her husband wanting to kill her father?

"Then why do you look puzzled?" Annalise asked, placing the tray down on the bed.

"Because my friend is getting married," Rafael answered, finding the words to taste bitter as they left his mouth.

"There is a lot about etiquette that I need to learn, but I at least know that this is a joyous time, isn’t it? Shouldn’t you read the letter with a smile? Start preparing a response and perhaps a gift. Unless I have that wrong?" Annalise muttered, trying to remember what Thomas told her.

It wasn’t much different from what she did at home except for there being a large feast hosted by the two families who were about to unite and become one. Her family would also have to visit to give their congratulations and blessings.

"If it was a different one of my friends, it would be easy for me to celebrate right away, but this one is not so simple. I will need to send a letter back to him after breakfast. Something is wrong not only with him wanting to get married but the woman he has chosen to marry. It has to be some kind of mind game with the baron," Rafael considered.

Edgar was a man who liked to toy with others. Rafael wouldn’t put it past Edgar to claim he wanted to marry the baron’s daughter and then he called it off at the very last second.

Annalise started to pour the strong coffee drink for Rafael. She was careful not to have it spill on his bed since the sheets were recently changed and she did not want to have another maid washing it over because of her. "You can-"

"Sit," Rafael said, placing the letter and envelope to the side.

"Yes- What?" Annalise questioned, puzzled by why she had to sit on his bed. "Oh, I should hold the tray."

"You are to eat," Rafael said.

"Eat? Your food?" Annalise asked, hoping for more clarification on what he meant since she could not possibly eat his food. "Is your head alright?" She whispered.

Even she knew that maids did not eat food meant for Rafael. She heard the tales of some Lords ordering for food to be thrown out and not given to the servants after a big dinner was disrupted and nothing was eaten.

Annalise witnessed and knew by now that Rafael was different, but still, this was strange for her.

"Each time I have asked you what you have eaten, you always answer bread. How am I to walk around with a maid only surviving on bread? If you were alone last night, I’m afraid you wouldn’t have made it out of that hole on your own," Rafael said. He cleared the bread and pastry from one plate to have it empty for Annalise.

"I would have," Annalise replied, confident that she would have made it out.

"You wouldn’t."

"I bet you that I would have. Throw me in a hole and you will see. I didn’t need you to push me up yesterday. I was fine on my own!" Annalise argued, still caught up in the fact he lifted her up when she did not need him to.

Rafael stopped to inspect her face. "You must be really angry about that since your cheeks are looking red. Did I embarrass you? Is that it? The woman who didn’t need anyone’s help was pushed up out of the hole by me. I must remember that moment."

"I am angry like you said. You are mistaking my anger for me being embarrassed. Please stop thinking about the hole and eat your breakfast-"

"I will not eat unless you eat," Rafael replied, folding his arms. When he lifted her yesterday, she felt like she was at a good weight, but if she kept up with just bread, she might ruin it.

Annalise gripped the tray. If she could, she would grab his mouth and shove the food down there, but being the good maid that she was, she smiled. "I have already eaten breakfast with the other maids. This food is for you. I cannot eat your food."

"You can since I am offering it to you. It is not like you are to eat all of it. I am hungry and I cannot eat the longer you take. Do you wish for Mavis to find out that the warm breakfast she prepared for me has turned cold and I have not eaten? I have all day to wait here, Annalise. I am not the one who might lose my job," Rafael smiled.

"Didn’t you say the people in this manor would see you being nice? This isn’t nice," Annalise muttered, wishing she had left him in the hole and kicked dirt down into it to cover his body.

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m

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