The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 393: A day with women (3)

Annalise returned to the dining room which Beatrice had changed around for today. There was a larger table as Beatrice said, decorated with flowers, fruits, snacks, drinks, and little gifts Beatrice prepared.

There were more chairs on the side for after they ate and no one wanted to sit at the table. There were also other rooms open for them to move into later to do games Beatrice prepared.

Beatrice had decorated the dining room with many flowers because she wanted to make it look like a garden. Since they could not sit outside in her garden because of the snow, she worked hard to create one indoors.

At some point after her arrival, Annalise heard Beatrice say she wanted to create an indoor garden for moments like this when the snow stopped her from going outside.

"It is pretty. It must be nice to have Beatrice since she does so many wonderful things for you and you are not married to her son. I know many women who would love to trade places with you because their mothers-in-law are terrible. You must share your secrets with me," Giselle said, picking up Annalise’s hands to hopefully get her luck to rub off on her.

"I have no secrets and it is strange that I am getting so much good luck. It feels like something is going to go wrong soon. I’m afraid I am not the best person to help you. Maybe you should get advice from Beatrice. She has been married for a long time and her love story is exciting," said Annalise.

"I should. Her marriage seems to be perfect from what I have seen. Who are these women, Annalise? I only know your maid," Giselle whispered as they walked further into the room.

"This is Siena," Annalise said, introducing Siena first since she was the closest to where she walked with Giselle. "You might have seen her at the competition held by Rafael."

"I don’t recall but it is nice to meet you," Giselle said, shaking Siena’s hand. "How did the two of you meet?"

Siena looked at Annalise wondering if they should say the truth. The room would become awkward if it was revealed now that she was once set up to marry Rafael.

"I met her on the day of the competition and then out of town," Annalise answered, leaving out the rest of the story for now.

"I see. I didn’t roam the competition so I might not have seen you and if I did, it’s been so long that I forgot," said Giselle, trying to think back to that time.

"It is fine. I didn’t do any socialising that day and I haven’t been around the town since I came here. I look forward to getting to know you," Siena said.

Siena appreciated that Annalise did not share how they met with her friend yet. Everyone else in the room knew, but Siena wanted Giselle to spend time talking with her before knowing. Then she could understand why Annalise kept her around instead of disliking her presence.

"Sutton and Vera are knights from the manor," Annalise said, moving on to introduce the other women.

She had spent time with these two here and there during her trip back from the border. It was the first time she got to have a conversation with the two and since then she had wanted to spend time with them.

’Lady-"

"No," Annalise stopped them. It was still slipping out of their mouths to call her lady when she only wanted to be addressed as Annalise. They were following Rafael’s orders a little too well and now she wondered if there was a punishment for not properly addressing her. "Just Annalise. Forget whatever Rafael has said."

Vera and Sutton looked at each other. Lady was what Rafael wanted Annalise to be addressed as, so they followed what he wanted. It wasn’t going to be easy to address her as Annalise when they had already gotten used to putting the lady in front.

"I hope to be your friend and I don’t need my friends addressing me as lady. Rafael won’t mind it. I promise," Annalise said, hoping it would convince them.

Annalise wanted to inspect what Rafael was doing or using to have his knights so against not following the tiniest order.

"We will try," Vera answered. She looked forward to creating a friendship with Annalise.

It wasn’t every day she came across a woman who shared her love of swords and other weapons aside from the other women already in the knights. It was good to hear that Annalise would take her father’s position as leader and defend the land.

Vera had signed up to one day move to the new manor so she could see more fighters like Annalise. It had been incredibly hard to be taken seriously as a fighter and even harder to become a knight. There were many jokes about needing a maid for her to spar against since the men would be too much for her.

Vera along with Sutton hoped with a lady and leader like Annalise around, there would be more women coming around since the number of women in the knights was small.

"Good. Now that we all know each other’s names, we can sit and talk with each other. I’m sure we will all have something in common," said Annalise.

"You can sit anywhere you like. I did not assign seats," Beatrice said as she entered the dining room.

All the women picked their seats at the table and started to serve themselves some of the food and drinks.

"I hope it is all to your liking. I don’t mean to be biased, but my cook makes some of the best treats in town. I find myself getting up in the middle of the night wanting to eat the cake we have left over from dinner or some of the sandwiches he might have prepared during the day. I’ve also prepared some wine," Beatrice said, pointing to the end of the table.

"My husband and son don’t drink much and we’ve gotten a few bottles as gifts so please feel free to take any since I have no use for them. Is there anything anyone would like to speak about? This is a space where no one would judge you unless you want to be kicked out of my home," Beatrice said.

"There is something I need to talk about. Before we move on to enjoy this party, I need to share something with Giselle and Siena who are the only ones left in the dark about who I am. I don’t want anyone who knows to be careful about it slipping out," Annalise said, feeling a tad bit nervous about what she was going to share.

She had let Beatrice know to give Cara an invitation, but she did not show when it was time for Annalise, Heidi, Vera, Siena, and Sutton to leave the manor.

Annalise meant to share it with Siena days before since they were spending a lot of time together in the manor, planning a trip they were going to take and Siena joining the trip to Lockwood, but she couldn’t bring herself to share about the border.

"What is it?" Giselle asked, looking around as the sudden change in the mood at the table worried her.

Siena also shared Giselle’s feelings. She had been with Annalise all week and it hadn’t felt like something was wrong or there was important news to be shared.

"I am from the border," Annalise said, getting straight to it.