The Knight's Mysterious Maid
Chapter 161: Haunted (2)

Chapter 161: Haunted (2)

"That man is haunting me even when I am not in the manor," Annalise concluded.

When she once thought of good men, she thought of her father, men from back home, or Thomas, but now Rafael had somehow made his way onto that list.

"Only because he shut up those fools," Annalis muttered.

She had seen enough of his kindness to not deny he was a good man, but he was still her enemy and she knew that if he were to find out that she was not who he believed her to be, his kindness would vanish. He only had kindness for who he saw on his side so she shouldn’t get caught up in placing him to be a good man.

Annalise sighed, preferring to have drowned so she would not be forced to think about this now. She must have lost her mind somewhere in the water and she had to find it now. Or maybe she had long lost it in Rafael’s study when she offered to make him tea.

Rafael having trouble sleeping had nothing to do with her. She should have offered to hit him with something over the head to knock him out whenever he needed to sleep instead of making tea that would take more than three days to find what was needed.

"Father would have his head for clouding my mind. I need something to drink. I deserve it after the day I had," Annalise said, picking up water in her hands to wash her face and hopefully rid her of the thoughts she had now.

Annalise picked up a stone from under the water to start scrubbing her skin with. Knowing that the filthy man who touched her was now dead was not enough to make her feel better about his touch. She did what she had to do to lure them out from where they stayed and thankfully, they did not touch her more than they did.

"How do those women in brothels sleep at night after having to take those men to their beds?" Annalise questioned.

She would have burned down the brothel and gotten far out of this town if she were in the shoes of the woman who helped her tonight. Annalise was reminded of why she didn’t like to be touched by the men from this side. They were disgusting.

The border had its fair share of men who were cast out, but something about her enemies touching her was not something she could stomach.

It was unfortunate that she had made a deal with Rafael that he could touch her just as she touched him.

So far, he gave her no reason to fear his actions when they were alone and she did not see him welcoming women to his home for the sake of warming his bed.

Annalise knew not to place him in the same box as men like Ethan and Claude because he had not touched her inappropriately when they were alone, but the warnings from her father filled her mind now.

It was no wonder that there was a rule about mixing with people who were not one of them. Still, Annalise wondered how the people who had left the border to explore this kingdom were fairing.

Many of them had not returned and there were rumours that they had settled down, creating families with people on this side who helped hide who they truly were. Her father and many others before him said that they had sealed their fate to never be welcomed back to the border, but there were a few women and men allowed back with their mixed children.

Annalise continued to rub her skin until it burned from the roughness of the stone and then the cold water beating against her skin soothed the pain. Having had enough of almost rubbing away her flesh, she started to undress so that she could wash the blood out of her dress.

Naked and alone, Annalise rinsed her dress under the water until it was spotless. Her mind wandered to the promise she made to Rafael to not go out alone like this. Bathing where anyone could pass and see her like this. Unfortunately for him, he only made her promise about the river behind the manor.

There were holes in what he told her to do like not being able to pick up snakes or beetles to scare someone with. There were many more animals she was fond of and she was a bit of an artist to make up fake creatures with cloth, grass, paint, and whatever she could get her hands on. It was only that she did not want to be fired so she did not use her other talents to scare someone.

"How long are you going to watch me, Thomas?" Annalise asked, continuing to bathe herself instead of looking at the trees where Thomas hid. "When did you spot me?"

Thomas remained behind the tree he used to hide from her. "I had been following the border guards for news and I saw two of them walk out of the brothel, following the person I now know was you. I thought it would have been my chance to get information and then kill the two since they were plotting from the others."

"I see. I believe you always have this strange talent to know where I am, even if I hide my appearance, and show up to protect me," Annalise said.

Thomas gulped, looking down at his shoes as he heard the splashing of water as Annalise bathed. "I have known you for a long time. It is easy to pick you out from a large crowd. Why did you go into the brothel for the two of them? It is not a place where you belong."

"The better question was why didn’t you join in to help me kill them?" Annalise asked, looking up at where Thomas stood. She had a feeling he wanted nothing more than to run away because of how shy he was, but he could not because he wanted to stand to watch out for anyone passing.

"For whatever reason you made them follow you, I did not want to steal your satisfaction of killing them," Thomas answered.

Annalise smiled as it was like Thomas to not want to interrupt her kill. "I think that you were actually watching the manor and saw me leave. You were following me from the moment I stepped foot out of it. I do not believe that out of all the border guards in town, you were following the two I was looking to kill. I am not angry with you keeping watch of the manor at night, but you have other things to do-"

"If I was not watching the manor to make sure nothing was happening on the inside that would place you in trouble, I would have missed you travelling with those two men. They wanted to take advantage of you. You are the leader’s daughter. Not any man should speak of wanting to bed you or touch you as they like. Do not do this again. It is bad enough that you are that man’s maid," Thomas said, trying to conceal his anger for Rafael.

He did not trust that man to keep his hands away from Annalise.

"He stopped those two men from speaking of wanting to take advantage of our women-"

"To look good I am sure," Thomas interjected.

"No," Annalise replied, disagreeing with Thomas. "I try not to be fooled that he is putting on a show, but now that I hear you say it, it sounds wrong. What you see is what you get from Rafael Callahan. The rumours were certainly twisted with the opinions of others. He has never tried something inappropriate with me."

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