The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 380: Settling the past (1)

"I cannot come here with you? Am I to stay here and be bored?" Annalise asked, watching from the bed as Rafael put on his armour. "You will have me miss out on seeing your father fight and kill Travis?"

"We’re not going to kill him tonight. We’ll take him somewhere for my father to take care of him then. If you behave and don’t sneak out while I am away, I will take you to see Travis when he is put in a cell," Rafael promised. It was the only thing he could offer in exchange for her staying behind.

"Well, that is boring. I’ve been wasting so much money getting Ezra to gather gossip about Travis for nothing," said Annalise.

Rafael stopped getting dressed as it was news to him that she had been sending Ezra somewhere. "Where has he been gathering gossip, Annalise? Since when has he been leaving the manor?"

"You don’t pay attention to what’s been happening in your manor because Ezra has been spending a lot of time in the market for two days now. He enjoys it because he always returns with things I don’t think he needs. I’ve just been keeping up with what Travis does and truthfully, he lives a very boring life," Annalise said, wishing she hadn’t wasted money on Travis now.

All Travis did was go around speaking with men like himself, creating new friendships and talking about Rafael. Annalise considered him to be one of the worst enemies she had ever come across because there was no thrill with Travis. If he had hired her, she would be plotting on Rafael better than anyone had ever seen.

"That’s what you’ve been spending the money I put aside for you on? On me? That money was for you to enjoy yourself," said Rafael.

"I thought it was for me to do whatever I wanted so I paid Ezra and Thomas to do what I wanted. I still have a little left to spend on myself. I didn’t think Ezra would be so cruel to make me pay him extra. I want to join you," Annalise said, going back to their previous topic.

"If you join us, I will be distracted by watching your back. I know that you can fight," Rafael said before Annalise could remind him. "I won’t stop you from taking part in other fights, but this one worries me that you’ll get hurt and rather than being by my father’s side, I would be looking over my shoulder to see if you are okay."

"And I will be sitting here worrying about who is watching your back. I can stay at the back watching you. That is better than me having to sit here and know nothing. I don’t want to stay here to defend the manor as you said. There are plenty of knights here to do that and if they can’t defend it without your lead, they aren’t smart enough to be here," said Annalise.

"You are treating me like I can’t defend myself and I know it is out of worry that I might get hurt, but you have to remember that like you, I can protect myself. I’m the future leader of my people. If I didn’t meet you, I’d have bigger fights than this one with Travis to worry about. Fights I would certainly win," Annalise said, getting up from the bed.

"I will wear armour and stay far out of your way until you have Travis. I would like to find Siena and get her out of there because she’s not happy. Would it convince you if I take Ezra with me? Please," Annalise pleaded with him, trying her best to change his mind with her begging. "It concerns me that you will want me to sit at home like this while you go out to fight so I don’t get hurt. That isn’t right for me."

Rafael pinched the bridge of his nose as he came to a decision he hoped he wouldn’t regret. "You must get armour from one of the-"

"I already borrowed one of their armour. I was only waiting for you to accept me coming with you or sneak out later with it on after you’ve left. I need to get ready quickly," Annalise said, leaving Rafael’s side to get dressed in armour.

Rafael didn’t like that she was going to sneak off if he had stuck to saying no, but part of him had an inkling she would sneak away from the manor after he left. Before they would leave their bedroom to join his father, he had something important to talk to her about.

"I don’t doubt your ability to protect yourself, Annalise. I know that you are a good fighter but I find myself worrying about all possibilities of you getting hurt with this one fight. I wouldn’t always try to keep you in the manor because I know that’s not the person you are. It is truly only this fight that worries me because Travis might have a gun," Rafael confessed.

"Right. I’ve been hearing a lot about those. Well, Thomas has and he is interested in trying to figure out how to make it. It’s easy to kill someone with. Of course, your uncle would have one. It is all the more reason why I want to be nearby in case something were to happen to you so I could get you out of there. I’ve never fought anyone with a gun so I will stay out of your way," Annalise promised.

If a gun was used by either side, Annalise wanted to stand back and watch the damage it could cause because then she would have to start thinking of how her people were to defend themselves against these weapons if the truce was not agreed upon.

"You also don’t need to worry too much about me thinking you are trying to shelter me. I am not angry that you were trying to keep me here to be safe. It was a little cute to see you be protective though it was a little annoying. Knowing that there might be a gun makes me understand your feelings more. Next time, tell me that you are concerned about the gun," Annalise suggested.

She had been a little confused as to why he was so worried about her crossing paths with Travis, but now the presence of a gun answered her question.

"Do you have a gun of your own to use if needed?" Annalise questioned.

"There is one gifted to me by Edgar, but I will not use it. The law has not passed for us to use guns so I will stick to what I know," Rafael answered.

"Sometimes fights call for us to forget to follow the rules. I think we should bring it to match Travis," Annalise said, wanting to fight fire with fire. Travis wouldn’t be so cocky if he knew they had a gun.

"I don’t know how to use it and no one among my knights has ever used one. The wrong person could get hurt if I were to use it. We should learn from what happened at the border," Rafael said, reminding her of them almost being wounded by a gun in the hands of an idiot.

Rafael walked over to Annalise rushing to get on her armour to hug her. Though she would say at the back, he couldn’t help worrying about her. "If you hear a loud noise you are not familiar with and you do not hear me coming out of his home, I want you to leave."

"I can’t promise you that, Rafael. I am not returning to the manor without you. You better not get injured again," Annalie said, poking her finger at his right cheek. "I’ll hurt you and the person who injured you for making me worry."