The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 281: Loved until the end (4)

"You can’t do this to me. You just got back," Cara said, hugging Annalise to stop her from leaving the manor. "I was waiting patiently for you to tell me everything that happened on the trip. Is it too late for you to change your mind?"

"I’m not staying, Cara. I’ve already made up my mind that it is time to go home. The knights out front are enjoying themselves watching you hug and cry for me. They must think we are lovers," Annalise said, holding Cara and moving around so Cara’s crying face would be hidden from the knights.

"I told you that you could never be lovers, and I am not crying," Cara said, stepping away from Annalise to wipe her eyes. Now was not the time to look a mess when the knights were watching.

"My shoulder feels wet," Annalise replied, patting her shoulder where Cara leaned on her. "I will pretend that it isn’t wet to save your pride. Please tell Jonah, Heidi, and Devin that I am sorry I could not tell them goodbye. Jonah and Devin are too busy in the kitchen to be disturbed, and it is bad timing with Heidi having the day off and spending last night with her family."

Annalise didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to everyone who made her time in the manor fun, but she figured it was better this way. If she had to go to them one by one to say goodbye, it would make it harder for her to walk away.

"Stop trying to impress the knights and give Devin a chance. He is always asking about you and goes out of his way to serve you extra food at dinner. I think he suits you," Annalise said, playing matchmaker for Cara.

"Devin likes me?" Cara asked in disbelief. She had a feeling that he did, but he never tried to court her so she thought of it as a joke. Or maybe she had not noticed it. "Well, if he wants to be with me it takes more than giving me a bit more food and talking about me to others. He should come to tell me about his feelings. I will ignore that you told me about his feelings."

Cara wanted someone with a backbone around her. Not a man who found it hard to speak with her. If they were to spend a day together, was he going to speak up or continue acting like he didn’t have feelings for her?

Annalise couldn’t argue with Cara there since she felt the same way. It was about time Devin told Cara of his feelings before someone else stepped in to sweep her away.

"You two will figure it out while I am away. I need to go now so I can find my brother early. I have asked Rafael that you be the one to take care of his room in my absence and he agreed, so you will be like his personal maid now. Are you going to cry because if you are, it is definitely my time to get out of here," Annalise said, taking two large steps back from Cara in case she planned to pounce.

"Go before I do," Cara said, trying not to cry. She turned away from Annalise and walked inside the manor before she would plead with Annalise to not visit her parents and leave her with the other maids.

Annalise shook her head at Cara’s actions. She couldn’t believe that after Mavis stuck her to Cara’s side to learn the way the manor worked they had become so close. She was going to miss Cara trying to get her to dress up.

Annalise walked out the front door to start leaving before her mind might change. As she walked toward the gates, the knights were already leaving on their horses. Beatrice was seated in Rafael’s carriage with River standing by the door bidding her goodbye.

The man who made her experience many new things stood in her path.

"Each time you look at me, I can read your thoughts that you wish you didn’t have to go to the palace. You should stop giving me stories to tell of how I had you falling so deeply for me," Annalise said to Rafael as she approached him

She carried two bags filled with everything she owned in her hands. Not a trace of her would be left in the manor when she stepped out of the gates in a moment. Well, aside from the ribbon she saw still tied to Rafael’s sword. The ribbon was no longer alone as Rafael had tied one of the charms she bought.

Annalise stopped at an arm’s length from Rafael. Now that they were around so many people, they could not share one more kiss as a goodbye. They shared plenty in his bedroom from her trying to wake him for breakfast.

Though they had been telling each other what to do and not do while they were away from each other, now was the time for a proper goodbye, but Annalise didn’t know what to say. Instead, she decided to do something rash contrary to what she thought about them not being alone

She was not going to come back to the manor anyway so she wouldn’t have to hear about what the people watching would say about her actions.

Annalise dropped her bag in her right hand as she closed the gap between her and Rafael. She then tiptoed to place her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down to her to give him one final kiss goodbye. It was an innocent peck that was short compared to the other times that they shared a kiss.

"Goodbye," she whispered as she let go of him. "Your knights are probably going to question you about this endlessly so I will apologise now. I thought a kiss would be a more fitting goodbye or would it be better if I started crying and falling to my knees, begging you to come back safely? Grabbing your foot would add so much more."

Rafael smiled, quickly coming out of his shock from Annalise kissing him when they were not alone. He took it that she was not worried about others knowing about them now. He preferred it this way for any men in the manor who wanted to court Annalise to know now that she was taken and likewise.

He didn’t mind that the knights would act like little boys and tease him about this. Speaking of making them train from morning to night would do the trick to silence them.

"It doesn’t suit you to cry so dramatically over me leaving. It would be a sight I want to be wiped from my memory," Rafael said, eyeing the necklace he gifted her sitting perfectly around her neck. "You should leave now while all the attention is on me and my knights. Find your brother and get out of town."

"River!"

Annalise stepped to the right to look at the carriage after Beatrice called out for River despite the fact he was standing right in front of her. Annalise would bet that her scream had nothing to do with something River did or said but with her kissing Rafael. "I need to go before your mother jumps out of the carriage. Goodbye!" Annalise said, picking up her bag from the ground.

"I also apologise for the questions your mother will ask you," Annalise said as she walked around him to go out the gates and begin her journey back to the border. "It was fun knowing you," she whispered.