The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 216: Jealousy (2)

"I don’t know what anyone has done to you to make you feel that I will look at you differently in the future, but I would kindly ask that you do not group me with what others have done. You said you would enjoy me courting you. That you would get to gloat about it in the future. You didn’t become annoyed with me like you were with Logan. What has changed?" Rafael asked.

Annalise didn’t know what had changed other than the fact that she was starting to feel more guilty about knowing why he should stop liking her, but she couldn’t tell him. He shouldn’t waste his time on someone who was going to leave soon.

When Thomas returned, she was going to leave without a word. She didn’t need Rafael trying to stop her or having to experience tearful goodbyes with her friends. Rafael was wasting his time trying to court her. As much as she liked the gifts and enjoyed having the enemy fall for her, she had to let it stop.

Rafael had been unknowingly nice to her so she would return his kindness by getting him to move on.

"You shouldn’t waste your time with someone-"

"We were going good, Annalise. What changed?" Rafael asked, confused as to how their playful moment had become this. He couldn’t make sense of their conversation about titles coming to this. "Are you still worried about status? I can give you anything you want. You wouldn’t be a maid any longer."

"Forget what I said," Annalise sighed.

"I am going to keep courting you even if I am to be hurt one day. That is just the way it goes in liking someone. You must prepare to be hurt. I will be sure to remember that you warned me that I could get hurt and I won’t think bad of you. From this point on, it is my fault for what happens in the future. Deal?" Rafael asked, holding out his hand for her to shake.

"Wouldn’t it be better for you to just find a young woman who would return your feelings right away?" Annalise asked, sitting back as she was finished with his hair.

"I don’t care to have someone like me right away," Rafael replied

Silence fell among the two of them right after and it was Rafael who decided to disturb it first. He was taking the long path to get Annalise to acknowledge she had feelings for him even if they were small. Annalise wasn’t one to show her feelings so easily nor was she someone to acknowledge them. She needed a little help.

"Fine. I won’t court you any longer since there seems to be so much I am not aware of weighing your mind. It is time for me to go back inside to join the others. There are enough benches with shade for you to sit on" Rafael said, getting to his feet.

Annalise was surprised that he offered her a hand to get up.

"Don’t stare at my hand like that. I was not only a gentleman to you because of my feelings. I have always been this way," said Rafael.

Annalise accepted his hand and let him pull her up to her feet. Rafael getting rid of his feelings for her was what she wanted now, but she didn’t think he would get rid of them so quickly.

Annalise didn’t know why it felt like she was getting angry when this was how quickly she wanted Logan to get over his feelings for her. Rafael just gifted her a helmet that could not have been cheap. He had been patient in courting her and not making her uncomfortable. He certainly liked her more than Logan did since he knew what she liked.

Shouldn’t Rafael be a little annoying and try to hold out longer while courting her? He said that he would take responsibility for getting hurt in the future so she thought he would continue to court her despite what she said.

’Am I crazy?’ Annalise wondered since she should be happy she got what she wanted, but she wasn’t. ’I must have lost my mind when we fell,’ she concluded. Annalise looked at where they previously laid to see if any part of her body was there.

Rafael left Annalise without another word so she could think over where this would put them now. He had courted enough women to know to get them to admit to their feelings.

Jealousy could be dangerous since it was because of this that Delilah wanted to hurt Annalise, but now, it would get him closer to being with Annalise. Unfortunately, it meant he had to make use of Siena or whoever would try getting near him during this trip.

Rafael placed his hands in his pockets as he walked back to the front door. This trip will not come to an end without some change to his relationship with Annalise or it going right back to how they started as just a maid and employer. There would be no in-between.

Annalise watched Rafael walk back without her. He was more complicated than all the people she had come across on this side of the kingdom put together.

It bothered her that she was starting to believe that he wouldn’t change if he knew who she was. That he might give her a chance to leave and tell her he wouldn’t be so kind the next time they met.

Thomas was right that she should have left sooner so she wouldn’t have these thoughts right now where she believed Rafael would be different. She knew the truth so she had to keep some space between her and Rafael.

Annalise took a step forward to find one of the benches to sit on, but then she stopped. "Why does there need to be space? He can try anything he wants, but it will do nothing to convince me. Why did I have to care about his feelings? His feelings went away as the wind blew," she muttered.

Annalise sighed and continued to move to find one of the benches she could hit her head on to make her forget about Rafael and his feelings. He was moving on from them quite fast so why should she stand around thinking about them?

Annalise found a bench not far from where she was with Rafael and sat on it instead of hitting her head against it. She looked out at the nature surrounding her and felt at peace. Soon she would be returning to where she belonged so it was good that Rafael was done with his feelings.

They only needed to hope Beatrice let the moment of her laying on top of Rafael’s large body and-

Annalise started to choke on nothing after her mind started to wander too far. It was like when she was under the water after killing the guards and Rafael appeared in her head. Not having certain thoughts about your enemy was hard when he had a body that intrigued her. Why couldn’t he be fat and old?

Her mind tortured her now by making her relive the feeling of her on top of Rafael and his hands on her waist. Then the memory of them kissing when he was clad in armour came back to her mind. "Am I like a dog in heat?" Annalise questioned, hoping it was not the case.

She was not some horny woman.

"I’ve been surrounded by good-looking men for too long," Annalise said, standing up to begin her search for a good tree to hit her head against.