The Knight's Mysterious Maid
Chapter 75: Returning a favor (2)

Annalise looked down at her hand, which was turning red already. If he had grabbed her any tighter, her hand might have been broken. She told Thomas that she might be able to take on Rafael, but she was wrong.

His earlier grip on her hand made her think twice about attacking him first. She should only fight Rafael if there was a dire situation where her background was revealed and she had to fight her way out of here.

Annalise tried not to let it show that her hand was in great pain. She didn’t want Rafael to have a moment of seeing her in pain that he could look back on and one day taunt her over. "It was my fault for touching someone while they slept. A knight at that. I would have reacted the same way if someone tried to touch me in my sleep. I will go-"

"No," Rafael said, wanting to hold her hand to stop her, but he was reminded of the fact she would pull away whenever he tried to touch her, and he had already hurt her by grabbing her a second ago. "That needs to be looked at. I will help you."

"It is fine," Annalise said, making the mistake of waving her hand around to show that her hand was not hurting. The tear that slipped out of her right eye and her wincing as her hand moved did not convince Rafael.

"Come with me," Rafael said, getting to his feet. Since he had injured her, he could not leave her until her hand was taken care of.

He wanted to question why she was here again, but it was more important to deal with her hand. Rafael could already hear his mother yelling at him for hurting a woman, even if it was just an accident.

A big part of what happened to Annalise’s hand was her fault since not even the knights would approach him while he rested without making their presence known. Rafael was always prepared for an attack, even in his own home. Nowhere truly felt safe, as there were many who wanted to take his life.

Still, he was going to accept full responsibility for what happened to her hand since she didn’t know about him being so ready to attack.

"I’m fine," Annalise said, trying to overcome the pain. She wouldn’t be going through this right now if she had just killed him.

Rafael lacked the patience to deal with her trying to convince him she was fine when there were clearly tears in her eyes and her body stiffened when she moved her hand. Rafael reached out to tap her hand and got the reaction he anticipated.

Her mouth fell open, releasing a hissing sound, and she glared at him. If she were to have claws, she would be attacking him with them right about now. He thought of kicking the door open to let others know he was out there with her.

A pain shot through Annalise’s hand after Rafael tapped right where there was a growing redness. Hadn’t he injured her enough? She spared his life, and in return, he was causing her great pain.

"Wasn’t there another way to prove your point?" Annalise asked, falling backwards to sit on the floor. She kept her hand out of Rafael’s reach so he could not cause any more pain. She had a good idea of how much it must have hurt Connor to be punched by Rafael.

"No," Rafael answered. "You would have been stubborn and kept denying that it hurt."

Rafael looked up at the sky, which had turned dark. He was lucky not to have the rain wet him because of where he sat and how the wind was blowing the rain away from him. "Come with me, or would you rather sleep in a bad position tonight to avoid hurting your hand?"

"What is it with you always acting like the hero?" Annalise asked, not seeing why he couldn’t take no for an answer. She could take care of herself. The pain might have been gone by now if not for him tapping her hand. She wanted to yell that fact at him, but right now he was still her employer.

"Why can’t you just accept help?" Rafael retorted. Even with the Connor situation, it felt like she was angry that he had helped her. He got wanting to take care of yourself, but these situations caused for her to get help. "Not only do you cause trouble, but you are stubborn. A terrible mix."

"I am neither!" Annalise argued, deeply regretting not ending his life when she had the chance. Then again, trying to touch him had placed her in this situation.

"Why can’t you just accept that not everyone wants your help? Instead of trying to help me when you are not needed, you should go to bed. I will clean up the bottles and take care of my hand. Trust me, I have hurt myself more than this, and I have recovered easily. See," she said, spreading out her arms to show that she was still in one piece.

Annalise wanted to slap herself for being so foolish to move around the hand that was already in too much pain.

Rafael didn’t know what to say to her causing herself to be in more pain. He was almost amused just by sitting here and watching her. He had forgotten what had been on his mind to make him get the two bottles beside him.

"I have a cream from the palace that should have your hand feeling better in no time. If you deny my help and your hand does not heal by morning, you will not be able to work," said Rafael. He would make sure she was paid, but he knew the threat would work to get her to accept his help.

Annalise did not like the sound of that, considering she had not exactly proven herself to Mavis and Edwin that she was a good maid for either one of them to rely on. And for her to be injured while around the Callahan knights would not give her any peace of mind.

"I will apply the ointment myself," Annalise said, giving in to letting him help her.

Rafael already knew that she wasn’t going to let him apply it to her hand, and he was never going to offer his help when it was clear she did not like to be touched. Still, as he looked down at her trying to get up without using her hand to push herself up, he felt inclined to help her get up off the floor.

Annalise looked at the hand placed right at her eye level for her to hold to get to her feet. Turning it down would just start their little argument all over again, so she accepted his help without any complaints.

The sourc𝗲 of this content is fre(e)NovelFire