The Knight's Mysterious Maid
Chapter 171: Advice (3)

Chapter 171: Advice (3)

"Did you see the new maids that came not long ago? Some of them are already moving into their rooms," Jonah said as he poured water into a jar for Annalise. He looked forward to having more hands in the kitchen.

"There wasn’t anyone new on my way here. I was with Beatrice before I came here. I will get to see them at dinner. Jonah, I need some advice," Annalise said, deciding to get a second opinion since death was on her mind.

Jonah placed his hands on his hips, suddenly feeling suspicious of Annalise coming to him for advice. She only came to him to hide from Mavis or to get food out of him. "What is it? Thinking of quitting or is it love advice that you need?"

"I am trying to stop myself from wanting to strangle someone," Annalise said.

"Oh," Jonah replied, puzzled by this. He looked around the kitchen at the other cooks who stopped to look at Annalise. "That’s a new one. Is someone bullying you again?"

"No, but there is someone annoying me. There is a knight who has feelings for me and no matter how many times I say nothing will happen between us, he doesn’t quit. As a man, what can I do to get rid of him?" Annalise asked.

"Umm," Jonah answered, unsure of what he was to say to this. "Why not give it a try-"

"If I wanted to give it a try, I wouldn’t have thoughts of strangling him so I would be free of having to listen to him. What can I do to make a man lose interest in me? Do you not know? Maybe it would be better for me to find someone who has better relationship advice to offer. Thank you," Annalise said, reaching for the water meant for Beatrice.

Jonah held onto the jar to stop Annalise from leaving. He might not look it, but he had better advice than most when it came to relationships. "What makes you think I don’t have any advice to offer? I was a lady charmer back in my youth," he said.

"I believe you," Annalise said, once again reaching for the jar of water.

"It doesn’t sound like you do. Listen, whoever the poor soul is that is wasting his time with someone as grumpy as you are-"

"I am not grumpy," Annalise interjected.

"You don’t see it but sometimes you are. Now listen and don’t interrupt me. Some men think that even though women say no, they secretly mean yes. They think the woman is playing hard to get and sometimes they are, but most of the time they mean no. If your gentle approach isn’t working, let him down hard, but for heaven’s sake, do not strangle him. Understood?" Jonah asked.

Annalise slowly nodded her head. "Let him down hard," she muttered, pulling the jar out of Jonah’s hands. "I understand. I need to go now."

Jonah placed his hands on his hips, watching Annalise as she left. "I probably should have explained what I meant by letting him down hard to that girl. She might end up strangling the poor soul. Back to work!" He yelled to the cooks who stopped to watch him and Annalise. "Dinner will creep up on us and I won’t serve him food late."

Annalise walked back to where she had left Beatrice with Logan while thinking about what Jonah said. When her words didn’t work she would always use her hands to get the point across. Logan was the type of person who needed to feel that she wasn’t interested rather than hearing it.

"Annalise."

Annalise froze after hearing Mavis’s voice in her head. She was so lost in her head that she had not noticed Mavis approaching her with a group of women she had not seen before. Annalise forced a smile, hoping Mavis would not think she was slacking off and scolding her.

"I am taking water to Lady Beatrice," Annalise said, showing the jar.

"I assumed that. I was told by Edwin that you are looking after Beatrice while Rafael trains with his father. These are the new maids. The first group and then there will be a smaller group moving in this evening to help with dinner. We will finally have enough hands to help take care of the manor," Mavis said, feeling relieved for the first time since Rafael returned.

When Rafael left, she sent away most of the servants who were only supposed to be hired for a few months since when Rafael went away, he took all the knights with him and there weren’t many jobs to do. Now that he was back, the knight quarters were full, and there might be more knights coming, so she needed to hire more maids for the next few months quickly.

"Annalise is Rafael’s personal maid. You are not to bother her to deliver a message to anyone, help with your tasks, or do anything that would take her away from caring for Rafael. You are to do what you are tasked with yourself. If you cannot handle the work like everyone else, I will need to send you out of the manor."

Annalise folded her lips, feeling sorry for the new women who had to spend the day with Mavis to get used to their jobs. She had flashbacks of how it was when she first came to the manor and had to walk around with Mavis for the first day to know where she had to go and how Mavis expected the job to be done.

Some maids were lucky to be shown around by Edwin but this time, it looked like Mavis was doing it herself.

"I should get back to the lady," Annalise said.

Mavis nodded her head and started to lead the women toward the kitchen. She was going to do this quickly so they would be finished by the time dinner came.

Annalise walked by the big group of women who seemed to be around fifteen women. Some kept their eyes and ears on Mavis to get prepared for their work while others smiled at Annalise as she walked by most likely because of her being Rafael’s maid. She figured they assumed that if they were close to her it would do well for them.

Annalise now realised how newcomers would view her as ranking over the other maids. Two ranks below Mavis and the maids who were here for years. ’If only they knew the only special privilege I have is eating his breakfast,’ she thought.

Being her friend would mean nothing for any one of them except having fun when they weren’t working. A few of those smiles would disappear when they mixed with the other women or learned that she was just barely on Mavis’s good side. They should be looking to impress Beatrice or whatever young lady waltzes inside to claim Rafael’s heart.

With more women around, she hoped that one of them could catch Logan’s eye and get him off her back. She went back to thinking of how she would let him down hard. No matter how she thought about it, it sounded like she needed to throw him on the ground, and it made perfect sense in her head.

"I can do that," she whispered.

While Annalise walked away, one of the new maids stopped to watch her. In order to find the woman Rafael was hiding, she would need to get close to his maid.

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