The Knight's Mysterious Maid
Chapter 98: Nice (2)

Chapter 98: Nice (2)

Soon the awkward silence that Annalise hated when Rafael was around came back, and she was left to look out the window and occasionally hold the basket to stop fruits and vegetables from decorating the floor.

Rafael had not looked her way since she told him about not helping her, and she was strangely not certain if she preferred it to be this way with him since he had become more silent than usual. The talking helped her feel like she could breathe around him.

Annalise felt relieved to see the familiar market finally in view. Now they could get out of the carriage, which seemed to have become smaller and smaller the further they got away from his parent’s home.

The carriage stopped in the middle of the road, where all the other carriages letting off their passengers stopped so they could go park in a nearby area.

Rafael turned his attention to Annalise, who made no attempt to move when the carriage stopped. He tapped his fingers on the door to give her an idea of what he was waiting for. It was she who wanted him to stop opening the door, so why was she sitting still?

"In the short time it has taken for us to get here, have you forgotten that you have asked me not to treat you nicely? I agreed to it, and I thought it was understood that you would not be opening the door for me," Rafael said.

Oh, right," Annalise answered, scooting down her seat to be near him. "My apologies. I will be better at it next time," she said, pushing open the door and getting out to hold it for him.

It felt better this way, and as she expected, those walking by slowed down when they saw Rafael getting out of the carriage. The whispering and looks of excitement started.

Annalise understood that being a well-known knight would make him popular, but for him to stir up a crowd like this was weird. Annalise proceeded to close the carriage door, inspecting Rafael from head to toe as she did so. Looks and money was important here, but shouldn’t that be boring by now?

Annalise would admit to herself that when she first saw him, she was taken aback by his dashing looks, but then she saw him more often, and that feeling went away. She honestly felt it had stopped right after the incident in his bathroom that almost got her fired.

’What is it about him that makes a woman lose her mind?’ Annalise wondered, staring at Rafael to try to figure out his secret.

Rafael gave the okay for the coachman to leave and find somewhere to stay out of the busy road until it was time for them to return home. He then turned to Annalise, ready to tell her to follow him, and found her already staring at him like there was something wrong with him. She jumped when their eyes met and looked away.

Rafael dared not question what she was thinking about now. It had something to do with him, judging by her stare, but he had somewhere to be, and they needed to move quickly before some mother would push their daughter in his direction. Judging by an older woman forcing a smile and nudging the arm of the girl beside her, it would happen soon.

"Move quickly and do not look back, no matter who calls my name."

Annalise nodded her head, following his pace to get out of the way of the other carriages. She didn’t know why she couldn’t look back, but she did as he said and never once looked back when she heard his name being called behind them.

They did not slow down until they were far away from the safer part of town, as many would call it. Annalise ventured here to meet Thomas, so there was nothing odd about it. She had gone further than this, to places where she did not see the town guards roaming.

There was nothing bad about this area, in Annalise’s opinion. It still had shops that she could not afford to just walk into and expect to walk out with something. There were still young women dressed in fine cloth walking around, but there were men walking with them as guards.

Annalise kept her eyes ahead to try to predict which shop Rafael would walk into, but all of her guesses were wrong. They entered a tavern, which was unlike the others, where men went to throw their hard earnings away for a night of foolish words being said thanks to alcohol. A place where many women would lose their minds if they knew their husbands or sons were there.

Annalise had not made it far into the tavern and already had to close her eyes as a woman in a loose-fitting dress walked by her, giving a wink to Rafael. Was this a place to drink, sleep with women, or both? Annalise opened her eyes and spotted more women. Now she started to believe that they were in what was called the red light district.

Rafael kept looking over his shoulder to make sure Annalise was still behind him. This was a place for a certain type of man and woman with money, but that would not stop anyone in their drunken state from reaching out to grab Annalise and pull her to their side.

If not for it being safer to have Annalise by his side instead of leaving her outside to be taken like the other girls being tricked and hidden away in the red-light district, he would not have brought her inside. What he needed from here could not wait another day for him to not be here right now.

"There are women too," Annalise whispered, watching women with large fans cover their faces to hide their blushes as men dressed in little clothing spoke to them. "What is this place?" She asked out loud, purposely for Rafael to hear her. Could he not keep it in his pants? Did he really need to bring her inside? Annalise would have preferred to sit in the carriage.

"It is exactly what you see. Do not stare at anyone. They will think you are here to spy on them and tell someone you have seen them here," said Rafael.

"It is the middle of the day. They have picked the worst time if they did not want to be seen-"

"Young lady!"

Annalise’s hand was grabbed by a man who could not hold his weight.

"Off," Rafael grabbed the stranger’s hand to get him to release Annalise. He had not seen the man around before, but one thing was for certain, the man had been served too many drinks.

"Leave me and the lady be," the stranger hiccuped, keeping his eyes on the lovely woman before him. "She would not want to waste her time with me. I have stumbled across some wealth."

Annalise yanked her hand out of his grasp. "It seems you are drinking that wealth."

"Hardly. I have plenty more to spend after I have tricked the baron out of his money," he laughed.

Annalise did not have the slightest clue what the man meant, but she wanted to get far away from him. His money did not entice her, and his breath did the trick to scare her. "We must go," Annalise told Rafael. If she was touched again, the man before them might lose a few teeth.

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