The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 277: Last day (4)

Annalise slowly opened her tired eyes, trying to get used to the sight before her as the carriage was in complete darkness. "I fell asleep," she muttered, upset with this.

"You were tired," Rafael said. He continued to hold her so she would not roll off the seat and fall to the floor. "You got a good rest."

Annalise rubbed her eyes to get rid of her tiredness. "I didn’t want to go to sleep yet. I wasted so much time. We are near the manor already," she said, noticing some familiar homes. It wouldn’t be long before they returned to the manor. "I should have told you to wake me if I fell asleep."

"I wouldn’t have woken you up. Just get some sleep, Annalise. It is late," Rafael said, covering her eyes with his hand. There was nothing for her to see or talk about right now. He would like to have a conversation with her since they were about to be separated, but he would rather she sleep if she was tired.

Annalise sat up so she was no longer resting on his shoulder. She could always rest later after Rafael left the manor. She blinked her eyes repeatedly, trying not to fall back asleep. She was going to stay awake for the rest of the ride.

"You are torturing yourself, Annalise. It is good to know that you wish to spend a little time before my departure, but I would rather you sleep. I wouldn’t have left without waking you and saying goodbye. You are not going back to sleep, are you?" Rafael questioned as he watched her do everything she could to stay awake.

"No, so you should save your breath. Just let me stay awake. We are almost at the manor, unfortunately," said Annalise.

Hearing this, Rafael wanted to ask if she didn’t want to join him in going to Lockwood, but she had been speaking of her parents frequently, so he didn’t want to take part in changing her mind.

"I would have liked to hear that you were trying to savour every second with me-"

"Don’t get ahead of yourself. I wanted to see the lands we passed since I fell asleep on our ride out of town. Don’t look at me like that," Annalise muttered after seeing Rafael smile.

What she said was partially true. She wanted to see what she missed when they travelled out of town, and she wanted to spend time with Rafael. She hadn’t lied to him in her eyes. She was just making sure that his ego was not getting out of hand.

"You are not a good liar," Rafael said, pulling her back to be closer to him.

’I doubt that,’ Annalise thought. The only person to guess she was lying was his father and that was at the very last moment when she was leaving so Annalise didn’t think that counted.

"I don’t know how long I will be away from the manor. If you return and I am not here, you can travel to Lockwood to stay with my mother. You only need to ask Edwin and he will prepare a carriage to take you to where my mother will stay. She no longer wants to stay in the palace so I am using a mansion belonging to a friend," said Rafael.

Annalise couldn’t help but think about the fact she was being given access to the palace now that she was leaving. She didn’t gain much information staying in the manor and now that she had a chance to enter the palace to get to the king, she didn’t want to take it.

At one point, all she ever wanted was a way into the heavily guarded palace to get to the king to either speak to him or kill him so this kingdom would be left without a ruler and be sent into a panic. It would have been a nice plan to kill him since the queen was not pregnant with an heir.

"I don’t want to think of the palace right now. I will hear plenty about it from the maids after you leave. Please remember to inform Edwin and Mavis that I would like to leave the manor today. It will help me to avoid the maids asking about the trip or having to listen to their foolish assumptions. Also, wouldn’t it make you feel better to know that I will be getting out of town right away to be far from your uncle?" Annalise asked, sitting up to face Rafael.

"I would prefer if you would let a knight escort you," Rafael answered.

Travis wanted to take the woman he believed to be his lover. He didn’t know what Annalise looked like since he sent someone into the manor to search for the woman people claimed to be his lover, but it might not be long before he turned his attention to Annalise.

Annalise had to be known as his personal maid by now. To get information about his daily life, Travis might want to have a conversation with her. To either bribe or threaten her into bringing information to him. Though Rafael knew that Annalise could protect herself, he had to consider the number of men Travis had for his use.

"That won’t be necessary. That will be too much attention on me and if I show up at my parent’s doors with a knight by my side, all hell would break loose. I promise you that I will be fine. I will not stick around and attract too much attention to myself. Besides, he will be more interested in where you and your mother are going," Annalise said.

Right now, Rafael had to be concerned about him and his mother being followed instead of worrying about her. She had her own stalkers to worry about. Stalkers who she was surprised had not yet attacked the carriage. She was to be grateful they had not attacked Rafael and his knights, but their silence puzzled her.

She was a little upset with how silent they were since she was certain her father ordered them to do whatever it took to bring her home. They could take on the knights, especially with her here. Why were they waiting so long?

If she was with them and she had to bring home someone important, she would have struck at night when Rafael and his father were asleep.

Annalise tapped her fingers on her arms as she thought of what excuse they could have. Were they waiting to spot Thomas or did they think they would ruin some plan she had if they showed up?

Annalise sighed as it was a weird position to be in. Not wanting them to attack, but then thinking they were not following their order. "Why are you pinching me?" Annalise asked after feeling his fingers twist her skin.

"Because you seem angry about something. If it is my departure, I might consider sending a letter to the palace that I can not travel if you throw yourself on me and cry. A better trick would be if you trap me in my room and keep me pinned to the bed," Rafael suggested.

Annalise stared at Rafael in disbelief. "Have you truly always been this way?" She asked.