The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 397: Time to leave (1)

"Welcome back. Did you enjoy your time out?" Edwin asked as he opened the door for Annalise, Siena, and Heidi to enter.

Sutton and Vera left the carriage and went straight to their quarters to see what the other knights had done for the day.

"I did. Beatrice is a good host. She prepared a lot of fun activities for us. A few of us might have gotten drunk and done some embarrassing things but I won’t say who. Who is the letter for?" Annalise asked, now noticing the white envelope in his hand.

"A letter from the palace came during your time away and since Rafael is not here, I am giving it to you since you have been asking about one. I hope there is good news," Edwin said, handing the envelope over to Annalise.

He knew nothing of what news she had to get from the palace, but he hoped this letter was it. It had to be important since she and Rafael kept looking out for letters and quickly sent one back.

Annalise stared at the royal seal on the letter and didn’t open it right away. She worried that this might not be the one to finally welcome her to the palace to talk about the truce. For there to not be a fight if she were to go to Lockwood.

Siena placed her hand on Annalise’s shoulder and said, "It will be fine. You should open it and get it over with."

"Right," Annalise said, slowly ripping open the envelope. The worst that could happen if this was not the letter she needed was that she would go back to waiting.

Like Siena and Edwin, Heidi hoped that Annalise got the message that she could finally step foot in Lockwood. It was exciting to be present to see history change with two enemies willing to speak with each other and move on.

Annalise opened up the paper and started to read what was written.

"Well," Siena said, wanting Annalise to say something. They were all holding their breaths waiting for her.

"It is fine for me to go to Lockwood now. We can leave when we want," Annalise shared the good news.

The king’s past letters had led her to believe that this moment was coming soon, but she couldn’t believe that it was finally happening that they could start packing to go to Lockwood.

"I’m happy for you," Siena said, excited that everything was going well for Annalise. "Now you only need to think of a day to leave and start packing. Hopefully, Rafael will return soon for you to share the good news with him."

"I hope this is not a day he will return late. I can hardly wait to share the news with others. As soon as Rafael returns, please tell him to come to me," Annalise said to Edwin.

"Of course," Edwin answered. "The town guards came by today but since neither you nor Rafael was here, they went away. You should expect their return soon. It was something to do with Travis."

"Did you send out the letter for me?" Siena asked.

As much as she wanted to hide where she was from her father, she wanted to send a letter to her mother to let it be known that she was safe. Siena had no idea what Kayla might say to her family.

"I did. It was just in time to be sent out of town right away. Heidi, Mavis wished to speak with you so you should hurry off to be back in time to help Annalise for dinner," said Edwin.

"Oh yes," Heidi said, remembering what Mavis told her in the morning. "Excuse me," she said, hurrying off to find Mavis so she could get back to hearing about Annalise having to go to Lockwood. She hoped that Annalise would need her maid so that meant she was also going to Lockwood.

"And if you would excuse me, Lady Annalise and Siena. There is something I need to inspect," Edwin said, slowly backing away from them and then turning around when he was a good distance away.

Siena and Annalise were left standing at the front door.

"If you need, I can help you pack what you will need. I have never stood before royalty but I can give my honest opinion of what will look best," Siena said, offering her help.

"Wouldn’t any dress I have upstairs work-"

"It will not!" Siena exclaimed.

Annalise stared at Siena, startled by her sudden outburst. "You looked as if you would fight me. I like it! You have a good fighting face. If you wish to pick out a dress, feel free. Be warned that Beatrice might come looking to see if it is a good dress. If it was up to me solely, I would wear armour to terrify everyone. Even the king."

"I urge you to refrain from scaring the king," Siena said, worried about a war breaking out in the palace.

"Then you would not have liked that I almost tried to kill him. We were enemies then so it’s fine. You will also need to pick out some dresses since you will be going with us. Remind me to tell Heidi that she must also pack. There is much to do and though I am excited, I feel tired," Annalise said and then took a deep breath.

"You have many to help you with what you need. I will take care of the dresses and Rafael will take care of how we get there. You only need to think about the truce and think about enjoying Lockwood. It is a fun town to be in since it is the capital. It is good that I have not spent the money I have left over," said Siena.

She couldn’t be happier that Annalise was inviting her along on this trip. It would have been so much better if Kayla were around to join her. They had spoken about going to Lockwood one day so often and now only one was going.

Siena could only hope that her father or mother would pass her message along to Kayla.

"I overheard you speaking to Beatrice about what you should do with your parents. You don’t want to cut them out of your life but you don’t want to go back to listening to what they want. Have you already figured out what you would do if your father were to show up at the manor any day now?" Annalise asked, tucking the letter back into the envelope as she spoke.

Siena stepped inside to get away from the cold and then answered, "I know that I will not let him try to talk over me and tell me what he thinks is best for me. Even if my father were to understand how I feel and would let me choose my husband, I still plan to travel around with you. See what the border is like and then I will settle down to get married."

"Sounds like a good plan to me. If you need help with getting him to understand you better, I am always here to scare him. We should go up and get warm until dinner. Oh! He’s back right on time. Do you think he times the perfect entrance?" Annalise asked, watching Rafael ride in like the grand war hero he was.

"Maybe. That was perfect," Siena agreed with Annalise. "I will leave the two of you alone to spend time together. Should you need me, I will be in my bedroom."

Annalise kept her gaze on Rafael as Siena walked away. He must have sensed that there was good news so he came right now or he was planning his return for the time Beatrice said the party would be over.

Whatever it was, she was happy to see him because she would have gone out looking for him to tell him it was time for them to start packing to leave.

She hid the letter behind her back so he wouldn’t know the source of her excitement right away.

Annalise waited patiently for him to get closer to the manor, get off the horse, and then hand the reins off to someone else.

"Is that smile simply because you are happy to see me or is it for something else?" Rafael questioned, enjoying that she was in a cheerful mood even if it wasn’t because of his return. Rafael greeted Annalise with a quick kiss on the lips.

"I am happy to see you but there is something more that is the cause of my happiness. It is time," she said, revealing the hidden letter. "We can now go to Lockwood to speak about the truce. We can travel well ahead of the day to be settled in."

Rafael took the letter from Annalise’s hands and read what was inside. "We must start packing," he said, sharing Annalise’s excitement. They were one step closer to her not having to hide who she was and not worry about war at the border.