The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 252: Found (1)

"Annalise."

Annalise tried to find a spare pillow to cover her head with so she wouldn’t have to listen to the person calling her name. She was still tired and needed a bit more sleep before she would need to wake up to tend to Rafael.

"Annalise, you need to wake up unless you want my mother to find you here."

Annalise opened her eyes, now remembering that she was not inside the room assigned to her and that she was to wake up before Beatrice or the servants found her in Rafael’s room or coming out of it.

Annalise closed her eyes and used her hands to rub her face to help rid the sleepiness and get rid of her blurry vision. "Did I sleep too long?" She asked, opening her eyes to look out the window.

There was light out, but the sun was still making its appearance in the sky so it was early. The only people awake had to be the servants arriving to be on time helping to serve breakfast and doing early cleaning.

"No," Rafael answered.

Annalise sat up to get a better look at Rafael. He sat at the small table instead of lying on the bed with her. "The better question would be if you slept last night. You said you sometimes can’t sleep."

"I didn’t get to sleep a wink last night because a pretty woman was in my arms last night," Rafael replied, catching the pillow thrown at him. Sleeping next to her was a new kind of torture. One he wouldn’t mind his enemies doing to him if they were to ever capture him.

"It is too early for you to be a flirt," Annalise said, sliding off the bed so she could make her way out of the room before they were caught.

Just because it was early and no one had come knocking yet did not mean she was safe. Annalise would only consider the night successful when she made it to her room without being seen by anyone.

"I am going to my room now. Where is the blanket?" Annalise asked when she reached the front of the bed and the blanket she wanted to hang out was nowhere in sight.

"I took care of it already. I told you that I couldn’t get any sleep last night so I had to find something to do."

Annalise thought he was joking about it. "Shouldn’t you be saying something lovely like you were finally able to sleep because I was in your arms?"

"Are you medicine?" Rafael asked.

"No, but had I known you were not able to sleep last night, I would have woken up and hit you over the head to make you sleep. I don’t have what I need to make the tea for you to go to sleep. Are you being honest that my presence made it hard for you to sleep or did something happen in the middle of the night?" Annalise questioned, staring him in the eye to search for any lies.

"Nothing happened," Rafael replied, getting up from the chair to get everything she stripped out of in the bathroom.

While Rafael was away, Annalise went to the window to look out at the road and where the knights were walking last night. There were still knights standing near the already opened gates and they seemed to be in a good mood. Nothing was out of place which meant nothing happened while she was asleep.

Hearing Rafael come out of the bathroom, Annalise asked, "Did being pressed against me last night make your sword sharp? Is that why you found it hard to sleep?"

"Annalise, would you please stop giving it odd names and just say what you mean? Hurry up and go before I have to hear any more names," Rafael said, handing her everything that belonged to her.

"Saying that only makes me want to think of more names. You must quickly learn the type of woman that I am. I enjoy making you uncomfortable," Annalise whispered as she neared Rafael to take her things.

He was always walking around like he owned the world so when she had the chance to make him bothered, she would take it.

Before Annalise could walk past him to get to the door, Rafael held her hand to stop her. "Since you are so worried about my sleep, you should come back here tonight to aid me."

Annalise smiled, amused by the fact he thought she was going to come to him again. "You want me to come to your room tonight so that I would have to be sneaking out of your room in the morning like a thief? Rafael," she called his name in a sweet tone as she patted his left cheek. "If you want to see me again, you must come to me. I will lock my door an hour after dinner so try not to get caught up."

Rafael liked the challenge she presented him with coming to her room early when his mother might still be walking around the house. He was going to be there in Annalise’s room tonight since he could easily get his mother to be distracted by his father.

Rafael enjoyed every second of Annalise being clear with letting it be known that she would not be doing the chasing. He was the one following her commands.

Rafael walked to the door to be ahead of Annalise so that he could check if anyone was in the halls. His mother would hear about the two of them together if a maid were to see Annalise. His mother had this terrible talent of being close to maids wherever she went to hear their gossip.

Rafael opened the bedroom door and stepped out first to look down both ends of the hall. "It is clear," he said.

Annalise didn’t waste a second and went straight to open her bedroom door so she could end being secretive. Why couldn’t it be this quiet when she wanted to sneak around his study and bedroom?

Annalise stepped inside her room and turned to face Rafael who was leaning up against the frame of his door. Without a goodbye, she closed her door. She had enough of him from last night to now. It was time to get back to being alone and not having him on her mind.

"I need to be mentally prepared for Beatrice taking us shopping," Annalise sighed.

She hoped that she would go back to being Rafael’s maid today so she would not be trying on any dresses. Siena would be joining them thanks to Beatrice inviting her so hopefully Siena would make a useful distraction for Beatrice.

Before Annalise could walk away from the door, it crossed her mind that if she were to go back to being his maid, she would have to walk behind Rafael, Siena, and his parents like all the other maids did. It would almost be like the ball all over again.

"Wasn’t one night enough?" Annalise muttered, walking away from the door to go to bed so she would have a bit more sleep before the long tortuous day.

Annalise dropped her dress and everything else she took into Rafael’s bedroom on the floor right before her bed and then fell face-first onto her bed.

"Ow," Annalise groaned, rolling onto her side to pull out the necklace from where it poked her. It was only now she realised that it was still on her.

During everything she did with Rafael last night, she wore the necklace. Annalise looked at the small sword pendant.

"You witnessed too much last night. You poor little thing."

As much as she liked the helmet Rafael gifted her, it would be this necklace she would keep close to her every day to serve as a good memory of him.