The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 32: [Bonus - ] Almost caught (2)

"No more than an hour," Annalise said to herself as she closed her door.

After a quick change to something more comfortable for her to move around in, Annalise was ready to make the most of all the knights and servants being in the grand hall and the rest of the estate lonesome. If she could find something important about the border now, the night would not have gone to waste.

During her two weeks here, Annalise had not gathered any information she could send to Thomas on her day off so that he could return home to warn her father. It was time to make use of her working here.

Annalise listened closely to her surroundings so that this time she would not be caught sneaking around by anyone and be given a new nickname. She wanted it to end with a pervert and bush girl.

Annalise looked over her shoulder at the slightly dark hall. There was little light in the servant’s quarters now since they were all supposed to be working. She was quick on her feet to reach the foyer and then walk up to the second floor to either visit Rafael’s room or the study where he had seen her in the bushes. One of the two rooms must have something that would be of use to her.

Since the study was closer than the bedroom, Annalise decided to go there first and if she had time, she would visit Rafael’s bedroom. If she were to somehow become his maid, that was a chance for her to look around his room as she pretended to clean. There was never an opportunity for her to enter his study since Edwin was the only one to go inside.

When Annalise reached the study door, she looked around to see if there was anyone walking around before turning the doorknob.

’Locked,’ she sighed when the door wouldn’t open. Luckily, she came prepared as she would never underestimate Rafael Callahan. He could never leave a room that might contain information about war around the kingdom, open for his servants to enter.

Annalise quickly stooped down and fished her pockets for a special tool Thomas had made for her. A small thin iron tool which looked like the jewelry Annalise once saw women sticking into their hair. Jewelry that was said to come from far out of the kingdom.

This was why Annalise had picked Thomas to travel with her. He only needed to inspect something or watched how others used it, and would come up with his way of doing it. Thanks to his father, who was a blacksmith, Thomas developed a talent for making strange tools.

Thomas would never admit it, but Annalise knew he liked seeing the strange things used here in town and wanted to make them from scratch so they could be used back home. Unfortunately, her father wouldn’t allow Thomas to introduce them to everyone else since he didn’t want his people to live like outsiders.

Annalise heard a click and stopped to turn the doorknob once more. This time, the door opened. She sighed in relief, happy she had managed to do it this time, or she would have had to climb up the wall to try entering through a window.

Annalise got to her feet and quickly entered the room, locking it behind her just as she had found it. Just because she had not bumped into anyone yet did not mean that she could be careless with her actions. Instead of going back through the door, where she would not be able to hear anyone walking the halls on the other side, she would go out the window.

"It would have been bad for me if the door was locked because someone was in here" Annalise muttered.

She placed the tool back in her pocket so she would not lose it and looked around the room. There was armor placed around the room. Some with punctures from where Rafael must have taken a hit, and some that looked smaller for his now large frame.

Annalise figured that it was his way of showing off the fights he had taken part in. Her people were more fond of getting markings on their skin to show off their victories. Her mother forbade her from getting any on her skin, and though Annalse had been angry about it in the past, she thanked her mother now because those markings would have given away who she was.

Annalise walked to the table, which had only had a rock placed on top of it. She went behind the table, where there was a chair, and pulled open the first drawer. There were envelopes with the broken seal of the royal family.

Annalise took out four letters instead of all at once so she would not mess up how they were placed. Everything needed to be left as she found it, so Rafael would not suspect someone had entered his study.

Annalise opened the first letter, expecting to find something useful to her, but the more she read, the more confused she was about the letters sent to Rafael from the palace. The king spoke of matchmaking someone and requested Rafael visit the palace to see it. "This has to be a joke," she muttered, putting the paper back into an envelope and moving on to another.

Outside of being king and knight, she gathered that Rafael and King Tobias were good friends, so she must have just picked up a letter about them catching up.

Annalise opened another envelope and read the letter. "What?" Her brows knitted as she was once again let down by what was written. There was more talk of setting up the Duke with a woman named Linda. "Why is this what they are writing to each other about?" She muttered.

Where was the news about the border and what they planned to do? Where was the news about the king coming to town or Rafael having to go to the palace? Why were these two men talking about someone getting married?

Annalise pinched the bridge of her nose. This night was starting to feel wasted. The only information she found so far was that Rafael and King Tobias were two fools with nothing better to do. It was frustrating that while her father was always thinking of war, the king and Rafael had free time to send letters to each other about setting up their friend Edgar.

She didn’t have the time to waste searching through the letters for something worth reading. Annalise put the letter back in the envelope just as she had found it and picked up another. This time, there wasn’t talk of marriage.

"Grant is making a move earlier than I expected. I need you to be ready to come to my side should I need to fight him. Edgar is awaiting my order," Annalise softly read. "Grant? I heard that name, but where?" She tried to think.

The answer was at the tip of her tongue, but she could not place why it was familiar. Whoever this person was, they would be useful if they were willing to work with her people to get rid of the king. Anyone who was against the king could become her friend. For the king to need Rafael and the duke, it meant this person named Grant was not an easy opponent.

Annalise now had a task for Thomas. They needed to stop Rafael from ever receiving the king’s letter for help against Grant and try to meet with this person.