The Knight's Mysterious Maid
Chapter 95: Family (2)

Chapter 95: Family (2)

Annalise bit into another of the pastries Rafael gave her, enjoying the sweetness of the filling inside. It was much better than the bread she ate this morning. She left a few so she could wrap them up in a piece of cloth and take them to share with her friends. They should get to taste a bit of what they served to guests.

Charles was kind enough to bring her a clean cloth big enough for her to wrap them in.

Annalise ate all of the fruit and drank the juice while only eating three pastries. She quickly placed the pastries on the cloth so she could tie them before Rafael could see how many she had not eaten.

He might not believe that she was full from the fruits and three pastries that she ate, but she was full. Annalise felt energized after eating so many. Now she wanted to go to the market and buy more fruits to be placed in her room.

Annalise felt inclined to thank Rafael for offering her the food. She didn’t realise how much more she needed to eat until he left her with the food.

"What are you doing?"

Annalise wished she was the only one who could be light on their feet since she missed Rafael coming inside. She froze right before she could place the last of the pastries on the cloth. What was it with Rafael always showing up to catch her doing something? She was starting to believe it was him who made the noise outside his study when she was inside.

"I told you to eat," Rafael said, peering down at Annalise in the middle of stashing food.

"I have eaten," Annalise replied, pointing to the empty plate of fruits. "I am saving the other pastries for later if you would allow me. I can share some with my friends back at the manor."

"There are plenty of pastries in the kitchen. Once I am here, they start making many of them. Eat some more, and then you can get a few more from the kitchen when it is time to leave. The ones you have now will be cold long before we leave," said Rafael.

Annalise looked down at the small pile of pastries. She was full. She didn’t want to indulge in so many at a time. "I am not ready for more. I have already eaten a few, eaten all the fruit, and drunk most of the juice. The pastries are sweet, and eating so many with the sweet juice isn’t good."

"Then drink water."

Annalise felt confused by the conversation she was having with Rafael. He was the one with status and she was just the maid here. She was meant to be serving him and asking him what he wanted to eat. Did he take one look at her and think she might be weak, so he was feeding her so much?

"Are we ready?" Beatrice asked, coming in from the balcony to stand beside Rafael. "Good, you seem to be finished eating, Annalise. I wanted to take you and Rafael to see my garden before you go. Charles will take care of your plates so do not worry about it."

Annalise stood up from her seat since they were going to leave and tied the cloth around the pastries. She didn’t need to take any more from the kitchen like Rafael said. What she had was more than enough to share with friends.

Charles walked over to the table to help Annalise and said, "I will hold them for you until you are ready. Go on with them."

"Thank you," Annalise said and then she moved to stand behind the family as they walked. What would it take for her to replace Mavis with Charles?

"You can take as many vegetables as you want, Rafael."

"We just had many vegetables delivered from farmers. If I take any more, they will spoil by the time I am ready to use them," Rafael replied.

"Your knights eat every second of the day. It will be good to have some extra to keep them fed. It is not like I am giving you a carriage full of vegetables. My garden is not that big. Take a few to give to some of your friends and they can give to their families. I will have them packed into your carriage whether you like it or not. Be sure to tell them that I have carefully grown each one with love," Beatrice said, keeping a tight hold of Rafael’s arm.

Annalise watched from the back, amused by the family dynamic. Beatrice was quite different from the high-class women she saw. She learned enough about the town to know that a woman of Beatrice’s status would never get her hands dirty in a garden when they had servants to do it.

River, the man who had faced off against her father many times, was far from being like the stories her father told. She knew everyone had a different side to them when they were at war and at home like this, but if she did not know this was River Callahan, she would walk right by him and never assume this was him. They were living so carefree.

Annalise looked off to the side as she followed them, not wanting to watch them enjoy their time as a family while she was here alone. She was far away from her own family because of the war.

She wondered if there would ever be a day when she could be as the Callahans were with her family. Talking about growing vegetables and not bringing up the border in every conversation.

’What am I doing?’ Annalise wondered. None of this was in her plans when she left her home and travelled all the way here. She was meant to be gathering as much information as she could from Rafael, but here she was enjoying the treats he gave her and finding nothing to send to Thomas. ’When is he going to talk about the border?’

Annalise wanted to remain positive by thinking that since she was Rafael’s maid now and she would be following him around, she would hear a few things about the border, and then there was killing the king when he would come to the town.

"Annalise."

Annalise was startled by the sound of Beatrice calling her name. "Yes, Lady Beatrice," She responded.

Oh, poor thing," Beatrice said, feeling apologetic for scaring Annalise. "I didn’t mean to startle you. You were so quiet back there that I worried about you. The two of you go ahead to the garden. I want to talk to Annalise alone. There is nothing to worry about, Rafael," she added to ease his mind.

River patted Rafael’s arm and asked him to leave so he could finally get answers about what he was hearing about the border. He had long put down his sword to live quietly with Beatrice, but the palace still sent him letters from time to time, and he kept up with the kingdom’s battles since his son had to go out to fight them.

"Those two are so overprotective," Beatrice commented, admiring her husband. There was always a warm feeling in her heart when she saw River and Rafael walking side by side. She remembered River holding onto Rafael’s tiny hand to help him walk. "Do you think I have a good family, Annalise? One that anyone would be happy to join?"

"Umm... Yes?" Annalise answered, confused as to why she was suddenly being asked this. Beatrice didn’t need to worry about anyone wanting to join her small family since Rafael was so sought after by women. Both sane and insane.

This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦