The Knight's Mysterious Maid
Chapter 64: The problem (1)

Chapter 64: The problem (1)

Annalise touched one of the sheets she hung over a tree branch to dry. It was still damp, but close to drying.

Annalise thought of leaving it here to dry while she did other work, but something told her that she could come back to the sheets either missing, dirty, or destroyed, so she began to take them down so she could hang them around in the yard for someone to see if they were being missed with.

Most of the knights had left the water while many of the maids remained to avoid work. Annalise did not think it was a smart idea to stick around the river instead of going to do the work Mavis tasked them with when they were short of maids. The new maids and other servants had not come yet.

Annalise started to take down her sheets and pile them up in her basket where the rocks she collected were at the bottom. After walking around the water to collect rocks, the bottom of her dress had already dried so she could go right to work instead of changing.

"Annalise! Where are you going already?" Heidi asked as she approached Annalise. Her dress was damp from just getting out of the water.

"Enough time has passed for us to go back. The sun is hot so I will hang them in the yard for an hour or so. I suggest you do not stick around playing around with those knights. Their job will not be on the line like our own. It won’t be long before Mavis sends someone for us since a few maids have left," Annalise said.

She needed to avoid the slightest bit of trouble so it made sense to leave now while Mavis was not here.

Heidi looked up at the sky. It didn’t seem like a lot of time had passed when she was fooling around in the water but now she noticed how much the sky had changed. "I am coming with you. Give me a moment to get my sheets," she said, hurrying over to the tree next to where Annalise stood.

Heidi shook her head to get rid of some of the water in her hair. She needed to avoid Mavis at all costs since she was wet and Mavis would know she had spent more time than needed in the water.

Annalise dropped the last of her sheets into her basket and waited for Heidi before finally leaving.

"How large is the land Rafael owns?" Annalise asked, using this time to get information as they walked to the yard.

"It goes past the river we were just in. I don’t know how far but it is enough for the knights to train like they were really fighting amongst their enemies in the trees. There are markings on the trees that we cannot pass since the knights are training with their swords there. If you are looking to get yourself into trouble and want to find out how large the estate is, keep walking until you come across a stone wall," said Heidi.

Annalise looked behind them at where the mountains were in view. Something she wanted to do now was map out Rafael’s estate. It would be useful for her to know the many ways she could escape if needed or sneak someone onto the estate.

"So," Heidi nudged Annalise. "What is it between you and Rafael that has others thinking there is something?"

"Nothing happened. He has just been kind because of what happened with Connor," said Annalise.

"Well, he does care for us. He is the best employer I have ever had, and I have been working since I was twelve. It is hard to find someone who cares for us as much as Rafael does. That is why it angers me that instead of enjoying the work we have, we are always at each other’s throats, playing silly games to get someone fired," Heidi said.

Annalise placed her basket down when she found an empty line in the yard.

"Oh! Act like you are working hard," Heidi quickly said, panicking when she spotted Mavis coming toward them like a bull that saw red.

"You two!" Mavis said, pointing a finger at the two as she marched over to them. "Where have you been? Aren’t you aware you have jobs to do?"

"We are going to them now after hanging up the sheets again. They weren’t drying well where we had them, so we came here to hand them up again. Did I wash them well?" Annalise asked, picking up a sheet to show Mavis.

Annalise had an ulterior motive for showing Mavis the sheets she washed. In case someone would be bold enough to try dirtying her or Heidi’s sheets, Mavis was seeing with her own eyes that the sheets were clean right now.

Mavis inspected the sheet, which was without a stain. She was told by one of the other maids that the ones meant to wash the sheets were fooling around in the river with the knights instead of moving on to do their other jobs. When the new maids came, she planned to get rid of some of the maids who were always behind on their jobs.

Mavis was furious to hear that Rafael had been down by the river with the maids, acting like they were not at work.

Mavis expected Annalise to be one of the maids still down by the river, but she was surprised to see Annalise hanging up her sheets. She was late in doing so, but at least she was here instead of by the river. "It looks like you washed it well. Well done," she complimented Annalise’s work.

Mavis didn’t know what was causing this slow change in Annalise, but she hoped it wouldn’t stop. Annalise could find herself under Mavis’s wing if she continued to act this way.

Mavis shifted her attention to Heidi, who was clearly wet. She didn’t have to guess that Heidi was fooling around in the water. Fortunately for Heidi, Mavis was more interested in the fools who were still playing around in the river.

"Hang those out quickly and get to your other jobs. Do not let me pass and see you here," Mavis said and then continued to head down to the river.

Heidi touched her chest and sighed in relief when Mavis was a good distance from them. "I thought she was going to yell at me when she saw that I was wet. Thank you, Annalise. If you hadn’t started to leave and told me to come with you, I would be getting into trouble. Next time, I will avoid getting in the water with the knights and go straight to doing my other work."

Annalise was also thankful she trusted her gut to leave when she did. She felt sorry for the other maids who stayed behind, but it was their choice to play around in the water instead of returning to work, so they had themselves to blame.

"Why is Mavis suddenly looking for us? She never goes down to the river," Heidi muttered. For the months she worked here, if Mavis thought they were waking too long at the river, she would send another maid to warn them. "I have never seen her go down to the river."

"Maybe someone told her that something big was happening by the river," Annalise said, knowing one of the maids who left earlier would use this chance to get everyone else in trouble.

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