The Knight's Mysterious Maid
Chapter 53: Old friend (3)

Chapter 53: Old friend (3)

"I won’t be spending the night here, but I won’t say no to some dinner. For Caleb and Timothy as well," said Edgar.

"Prepare three extra seats at dinner. Four in case my mother arrives," Rafael said, as his mother would somehow learn that Edgar was here and would come for dinner. "Do you want something to drink, Edgar?"

"Do you have something that is to my taste?" Edgar asked, sitting down on the edge of Rafael’s table. He looked at the young maid, who was looking at the box containing something he brought for Rafael. Some people could not help being nosy. Luckily, Caleb had closed the lid of the box when the door pushed open.

"I might not be as rich as you, but I can still afford something you will enjoy. Have Edwin pick out a new bottle and bring glasses for us," said Rafael to Mavis.

"Annalise," Mavis said, looking over her shoulder at Annalise, who nodded her head and immediately left to find Edwin. "I shall get started on dinner right away, young master. If there is anything else you will need, please send for me, and I will assign a maid to take care of you."

"Young master?" Edgar mused as Mavis backed out of the room. "That’s an interesting title for you.’

Rafael rolled his eyes, as he was also not fond of the name. He would prefer if they would refer to him by his title as a knight. "Do not start," he said.

"Here I thought that you had finally given into the wealth that your mother’s family is offering you. Do they still reach out to you? Wanting to officially welcome you as part of their family?" Edgar questioned, picking up the rock from Rafael’s desk, which resembled the one he had on his desk back home.

Rafael did well for himself as a knight, and his father left a bit of money for him, but his mother’s side of the family had wealth for generations.

"They sent letters when I was not here. I threw everything away. They were fine with saying every insult they could think of when my mother married a knight and then forbade her from returning to her childhood home, but now that the Callahan name has grown, they want me to be welcomed into the family. I try not to march the knights there to slaughter them," said Rafael.

Rafael would not welcome the people who made life miserable for his mother into his life. Where were they when his mother needed help? She was thrown to the side all because she fell in love with a knight who loved her back, instead of the man they picked, who paid little attention to her.

"That is how this world works. You and your father have strong ties to the crown and nobles like me. Your mother’s family wants to have those connections therefore, they want you after missing most of your life. You should see how it is in Lockwood. They would show up at your gates daily to pester you. A nice head on a stick would get them to stop bothering you," Edgar suggested. It worked wonders for him once before.

"Are all you maids so nosy?" Edgar asked, remembering the maid who was here a moment ago.

"Not usually. They would normally keep their heads down when I am around or there are guests. She is the one I spoke of. The one with the snake, and then there were beetles in a dress that helped to scare away a young lady trying too hard to court me," said Rafael, still thankful that Delilah was gone.

He hoped that this would keep her away for a few days and in those few days, how his gates worked would change. Rafael was not going to allow young women to come alone after using their father’s names to get inside. He wished to avoid hearing that he ruined them or be scolded for letting them be around so many knights.

Edgar now held a different opinion of the maid now that he knew it was her using his tricks. "It reminds me of my youth," Edgar said, reminiscing about the past.

Rafael didn’t see it as a fond memory. "You got us in trouble a lot. I told her to stop scaring anyone who troubles her."

"And why the hell would you do that?" Edgar asked, finding Rafael to be a fool. This was the purest form of entertainment, and she was doing a good job of getting rid of the women trying to court Rafael. "You don’t know what fun is. If I lived in this town, I would hire her. There are a few fools I would like her to put a snake around. She doesn’t look to be from this town."

"It isn’t unusual to have servants out of town looking for better work here. I believe she comes from a small town. She has gotten into enough trouble for me to know a bit about her. My mother would want to take her if she were to be fired from here, so you don’t have a chance of taking her. How is your mother, Edgar? Your father sometimes sends letters to my father," Rafael said. Their fathers were once in the palace court at the same time.

"You would have to write her to know. I have been avoiding her since the talk of marriage came up. Forget about my mother, how do you like the gift?" Edgar said, signalling for Caleb, his guard, to open the box.

"The sword I like, but I have no use for a gun at the moment. Didn’t you fear the town guards inspecting your carriage and finding a gun on you? You know they are not allowed to be used," Rafael said, looking at the large weapon, which could take anyone’s life with a pull of a finger. This would not make their world better when bad people get their hands on it. It was already hard to keep up with those who use swords and other simple weapons.

"The law says that you cannot use them yet, it never said you cannot travel with one. You’re a smart man to not use it until the law changes. You are not fond of them, but there will come a time when swords disappear and your enemies will have guns. Consider this an early gift to give you a head start on how to use one. I heard from Tobias that the border guards want to use guns now to deal with those groups at the border," Edgar said.

Rafael found that to be ridiculous. They were well-trained men who shouldn’t have to rely on a gun to win this fight. Rafael had marched out to many fights and won them with only a sword. "They don’t need a gun to help them win. They need better strategies. They were supposed to find the leader and have him pledge his loyalty to the king. Then the war would be over," said Rafael.

"They’ve long abandoned trying to find the leader. Talking is pointless, and now they are looking to wipe out those groups. Tobias has not yet made a decision since he does not want guns used in his kingdom. If trouble at the borders becomes worse, he might be forced to. I don’t care what he decides as long as I am not asked to help with the border. I am done with war," Edgar said, as it didn’t suit him. He was not like Rafael, who enjoyed going out each time Tobias ordered him to.

Only when the kingdom desperately needed more help would he join.

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation once more.

"Young master, a little help please." Annalise’s voice was heard on the other side.

Rafael was the one to get up to see what it was she needed help with. He opened the door Mavis had closed when she left and found Annalise holding a bottle of alcohol and three glasses. She had returned so fast that he had to assume she ran to find Edwin and then ran back here.

"Thank you. I did not want to put them on the floor. I am sorry if I made you get up," Annalise apologised.

"Don’t worry about it. We should have left the door open since you were coming back with drinks and glasses," Rafael said, taking them from her.

Annalise placed her hands behind her back after Rafael took everything from her and tried to look elsewhere when he just stared at her. "Is there something else you need?" She asked.

Rafael looked away. "You are dismissed."

"Not so fast," Edgar said since he wanted to get a closer look at the maid who was finally making Rafael’s home sound fun.

"You are dismissed," Rafael quickly said to get rid of her before Edgar could ask her to bring him a snake or something else he would want to try scaring someone with.

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