The Knight's Mysterious Maid
Chapter 72: Not drunk (2)

Chapter 72: Not drunk (2)

Rafael finally took a sip of his wine and continued to watch Annalise. "Is it strong?" He asked.

Annalise stared at her almost empty glass. "It is sweet, but I’ve heard not to let that fool you. It is a good drink. I’m jealous of what you get to drink daily."

"I’m not much of a drinker. I mostly indulge myself when there are guests or have one glass every few nights. I don’t find it good to get into the habit of drinking so much. I have seen what the obsession that follows does to someone," Rafael said, thinking of a former knight who loved to drink so much that it cost him being a knight.

Annalise placed her glass on the balcony wall. "I agree that walking around, being unable to balance yourself, and slurring words is not a good look. The wine was nice, but I should not have any more. You can drink as much as you like. I will look for the butler if you need help to your bedroom."

Rafael brought his glass to his lips to stop himself from smiling and giving away that there was no alcohol so soon. "I will try not to drink so much for you or Edwin to carry me," he said.

Annalise sensed that there was something wrong with Rafael since he kept staring at her like he was amused by something she said or did. Did he think she could not help carry him back to his room? He was bigger than her, but she would manage to drag him to his room. It might take an hour to get there, and his body would wipe the floor clean, but he would get there.

Instead of asking what was amusing him, Annalise looked off to the side at the maids and knights having a good time around the fire. There were sticks placed around the fire with what looked to be meat on them.

Annalise hoped it was one of the chickens since they had not listened to her. She warned them about a fire, and now look. One of their own might be getting eaten now. Slowly roasted by fire.

"You can still go down to join them for food and drinks. There is plenty to share since the knights usually store up many bottles of wine or rum for moments like this. A few of them went on a hunt this morning for something to eat. It will help them prepare for the hunting contest-"

’There is a hunting contest too!" Annalise exclaimed, excited by this. She caught herself soon after and cleared her throat.

"If you were to join us, the Callahan house would win it. I would bet my good sword that you are not only good at catching snakes. Unfortunately, women are not allowed to enter the contest since-"

"It is a man’s sport. Women should stick to looking pretty and bearing children, right?" Annalise sarcastically answered.

The other side of this kingdom had terrible rules for women, in her opinion. They would faint if they were to see the women at home fighting amongst themselves with weapons for fun. With how dangerous it was to live at the border, it was important to know how to protect yourself.

Rafael couldn’t argue with Annalse, as it was just as she said. There was no written rule that women could not join the hunt, but it was understood that if a woman asked to join, she would be turned away. There wasn’t a woman in town bold enough to try asking or forcing her way into the contest.

No woman of status would do it since it would cause their reputation to be affected. There were a few times when women of low status wanted to try, but before they could sign their name, one of their relatives, friends, or a stranger who thought it was prosperous for them to join would grab their hand and drag them away.

Women were told to focus on serving their husbands and having children. Rafael heard men say they did not want a woman who might rival their skills. Still, there were a small handful of female Callahan knights.

To Rafael, as long as you passed the test and knocked someone onto their ass, you could join his knights. He had to deal with many complaints from the men in the palace court who claimed he was ruining the minds of women by letting them think it was alright to pick up a sword and join the war. The men in court became silent when he asked them to take the place of the women they wanted to leave the knights.

"I have placed myself in a bad mood. It must be the wine," Annalise said, looking at the dreaded bottle. "It makes me want to stand on the balcony and see if I can jump down to be perfectly fine without landing on bushes."

Rafael leaned sideways over the wall to get a good look at how far she would fall. Which part of her sober mind was telling her to jump from the second floor? Was it the part that tells her to pick up a snake to carry out revenge? "I would not jump from here if I were you."

"I can make it," Annalise said, holding over the wall to look at the wall. Rafael would never know it, but she survived the jump she made when she snuck around in his study. Here, there weren’t the soft bushes to help with her landing, but she would bet that she could jump from here and be fine.

Rafael took Annalise’s glass from in front of her. Not only should she not drink alcohol, but she should not be given juice to drink since it was making her act like a drunkard. It was fascinating how the mind worked for her to be thinking of jumping from where they stood. If her sober mind would have her wanting to do something so dangerous, what was her drunken mind like? Would she try to fly?

Rafael knew he had to end this earlier than he would have liked because of the way Annalise stared down at the ground below them like she was trying to determine how much it would hurt her to jump. "You are not drunk or anywhere near drunk for you to consider jumping from where we stand," Rafael revealed.

Annalise didn’t think she was drunk since she only had two glasses and the wine wasn’t strong, but it was doing something to her. "If I drink more, certainly I will not." Annalise changed her answer as Rafael slowly shook his head. "There is no alcohol in this, is there?"

Now she understood why he was so amused by her earlier. Little did he know, she would jump from this balcony whether she was drunk or not.

"There is none. Not even the smallest drop. It would be a strange occurrence if this made you drunk," Rafael said, shaking the bottle.

Annalise folded her lips, feeling like she was being played for a fool. She bowed her head and started to walk away to go back to her room.

Rafael silently watched her turn around to get her glass and pour more wine into it before finally leaving. She could have the whole bottle just for entertaining him. Rafael placed his glass on the wall and looked out at the sky. Now that she was gone, he was left alone with his thoughts.

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