The Knight's Mysterious Maid
Chapter 63: Curious gaze (2)

Chapter 63: Curious gaze (2)

Christian got tired of hearing Michael call for help and reached out to grab Michael’s arms and pull him back to where he was safe. "How can you climb every tree you come across but not swim? We’ve travelled through water before, and the water here isn’t that deep," Christian said, trying to process how he almost killed Michael.

If Rafael was not around, he might have left Michael for dead.

"You caught me off guard, you bastard," Michael said, trying to catch his breath as fast as he could. He didn’t expect to be suddenly pushed into the water and lose his footing.

Christian saw right through Michael. "You got embarrassed that you thought you were going to drown for a second and carried it out till the end so the maids wouldn’t laugh at you, didn’t you?"

"My life flashed before my eyes," Michael admitted. He didn’t like what he saw. "There was a dog there for a split second, and I don’t like dogs. Is my wife going to like dogs, or was it saying I will just have a dog by my side?"

"Maybe it was there to attack you. It should," Christian muttered since Michael was such a disgrace as a knight.

Rafael shook his head at their behavior and decided it was time for him to leave. Once again, his attempt to leave was stopped by Christian grabbing his arm.

"My mistake," Christian said, releasing Rafael after the glare he received. He moved to stand where Michael was trying to calm himself. "Are you sure the dog you saw wasn’t actually a tall, snappy man looking to bite you?"

"Hold up, commander," Christian said, taking a risk to follow Rafael. He could not let Rafael leave yet without making something out of the fact that Rafael was here shirtless, and it was just what was needed to entice the maid.

"I am not staying," Rafael replied before Christan could try convincing him to. He stayed long enough for the men to not be so concerned about him.

This was just a small group of knights cooling off in the river. There were many more he had to look over to see if they did as he told them to and give them a break, just like the knights here. He was taking his mother’s advice to give the others more time off before he increased their training. The time was soon coming for those who were new to quit if they couldn’t handle his training.

If they couldn’t survive his training, they couldn’t survive being thrown out into a battle. Rafael wanted to decrease the number of mothers, wives, sisters, or children that wept when they returned.

Christian walked beside Rafael so they could have a private conversation. "Let’s have a man-to-man talk. When are you going to have a relationship with a woman? Even if it were to only last one night? You’ve been out on the road for weeks, and before that, you were here training. I don’t see you spending time with women now, and it worries me," said Christian.

Rafael resisted the urge to roll his eyes or to write a message that he didn’t care to be with women now and shove it down Christian’s throat to shut him up. What was wrong with him not wanting to spend his time with a woman? "Stop watching me and you won’t find yourself worrying," he said.

"I worry about you because of what some of the rumors are starting to say. That you might be interested in men since you are always surrounded by them," Christian whispered. It was a dangerous rumor for anyone to start since it could ruin a man by being grouped to something the church and society frowned upon.

The knights would also cut the tongue of anyone looking to ruin Rafael. Their loyalty was greater than anyone could imagine. Most would die for Rafael because of how he treated and cared for them.

Rafael stopped walking and faced Christian. Every day, there seemed to be something stupid assumed about him. This was being said since he did not show interest in the women around him. Was that the excuse someone he had turned away came up with since they didn’t see why he wouldn’t want them?

"I know that you are not interested in men since I have seen you with women before, but then you stopped and almost killed your mother since she believes that her chances of getting grandchildren are over," Christian said, remembering the lengthy lecture he got from Beatrice. He was starting to feel like she was his mother.

Christian’s mother never nagged him as Beatrice did. She would just give him a pat on the back and tell him not to die whenever he had to go out to fight again. He would nod his head and leave their home.

"You have been speaking with my mother privately-"

"The point is!" Christian said so they could skip over the fact that he did sometimes speak with Beatrice when Rafael was not around. He was not the only one.

When Beatrice Callahan called you to speak with her, you went. Unless you wanted to have her cry, her husband would show up out of nowhere to strangle you and then ask questions later. "Why aren’t you interested in women?" Christian asked.

Rafael was tired of this repeated question, but if one person knew his reasoning, then it might be the start of others stopping asking him. "The simple answer is that I decided that the next woman I spend time with, I will marry. Being a knight means that I am constantly away from home. It will take a special kind of woman like my mother to love me enough to wait and not just be by my side because of what the Callahan name can offer."

"Before you speak," Rafael raised his hand to stop Christian from talking. "I am still not looking to marry right now, so do not think of suggesting any women to me. I will look to settle down when I find someone I care for, and the kingdom does not need me leaving my home every few weeks to protect it. Worry about finding yourself a wife. Stop bothering me."

Christian had a different opinion now. "It’s good to hear that you plan on getting married in the future since there is no one else to carry on the Callahan name and make the next commander. Ignoring all the shit your parents went through with your mother’s family, they have a great marriage, so we could never understand why you were so against it."

"Everyone keeps mentioning finding a wife each way I turn. I was bound to hate the word," Rafael said. Women he had no interest in kept piling up at his door, even though he had turned them down. He was starting to consider being as blunt as Edgar to get rid of women who wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Rafael had to be this way with Delilah since she had gotten ahead of herself by trying to take a gift from a maid.

"Here I was coming to set you up with someone, and now I feel sorry for you. I will let the men know that you are carefully picking the next Mrs Calllahan. Some of them will think you are crazy since you could pick any woman trying to marry you to your bed and yet you waste it," said Christian.

"Not everyone wishes to be a whore, leaving behind a trail of children and broken promises," Rafael answered. As much as his mother wanted grandchildren, she would kill him.

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