The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 411: Harmless (1)

Rafael covered Annalise’s hand with his own to help calm her nervousness. "It will be fine. The palace can be scary when you are not used to it, but I will protect you. You’ll be surrounded by people who wish to make you feel at home."

Annalise smiled, wanting to show Rafael that she was fine. The people she was going to meet were his friends. She had to think about their reaction to her coming from the border. They might have sent an invitation to join them for a gathering, but there were things left to see like if they wouldn’t be tense around her.

"If it will help make you less nervous, we will only be sitting around talking, enjoying what food is prepared, get a little tour around the palace and then return home. I’m certain you won’t be in a rush to return home," said Rafael.

"Maybe. It is large," Annalise said, looking out the window at the palace in the distance. "Why does it need to be so big? So enemies would take a long time to reach the king? How many royals live there?"

"Not many, but plenty of guests are going in and out of the palace so there are many rooms. They would have prepared rooms for us and the knights if I had not gotten us a home. You will see why when we get inside and see how many people are there. I must admit that there are also useless rooms for showing off treasures or decor," Rafael said as he remembered a large room full of empty paintings.

"I imagine that there are plenty of useless things there. My home is so much smaller in comparison. Should the king ever visit the border, he might not feel comfortable. I won’t be getting a bigger home just to be like this palace," Annalise said, pressing herself to the door to try to see more of the palace.

"You are forgetting that we will be building a large new manor at the border. It will be bigger than the last to hold more knights and servants, but no one is looking for you to compete with having a home as large as the palace. If they were, I prefer the home you have with your parents," Rafael replied as it felt more like home.

Being in the palace meant you might be stressed with every step you took and it was so large that the royals did not see each other until it was time to eat. He knew that Tobias had been going out of his way to see Hazel as often as he could but before there were many rules to keep the two apart.

"I think you are just saying that because you love me, but it is true. I suppose the one good thing about a large home like this is having a big area to play around. I hope to get a tour of where their guards train. I won’t get too excited since they wouldn’t want to show their enemy that. Or show your weapons," said Annalise.

Annalise leaned back on the chair continuing to look out at the palace. "If you wish to buy me another gift please have it be a gun. I know that the king hasn’t passed for it to be used, but I want one to inspect it. To pass on to Thomas to see if he could recreate it."

"Have you started to speak to Thomas again?" Rafael asked as the two had been strange around each other.

"Not yet. I am going to stop his punishment today because he has suffered enough from us not speaking. I don’t think he will go behind my back again. I hope he will not after the trouble it caused. Not speaking to Thomas was like torturing myself because there was so much I wanted to speak to him about. There is some good to us not speaking," Annalise said, looking away from the palace to Rafael.

"I have seen Thomas making friends with some of the knights. That wouldn’t have happened if he were stuck by my side. Heidi has also been talking to him when she’s not by my side to try to get him to talk more. It all worked out for the best with some space between us."

Annalise watched the carriage go up right beside many steps and stopped next to a man awaiting them.

The door on Annalise’s side was opened for her by the man standing at the bottom of the steps.

"Welcome to the palace Sir Rafael and Lady Annalise."

"I will help her out," Rafael said, stopping the man from offering his shaky hand to help Annalise out. Clearly, he knew who Annalise was and he wasn’t the greatest at hiding how nervous he was. Would it have killed Tobias to send a servant who knew nothing?

Rafael exited the carriage first and went around to Annalise’s side. He peered down at the man who was in his way of helping Annalise and it wasn’t long before the man moved to give him space.

"You are scaring the poor soul," Annalise said, accepting Rafael’s hand to step out. "You’re a terrifying gentleman today. I love it. If only we could stick around outside longer to see his body shake and his knees turn weak."

"I can see one of Edgar’s carriages. If we were to stay out to see the man faint, we’d be late with meeting the others," said Rafael.

"And we can’t have that. Should we have brought gifts for my first time meeting your friends? I could have gone to the market before we came here, but then I wouldn’t know what they like. Tell me a little bit about your friends so I know what to talk about," Annalise said, wanting a little knowledge to know what she was walking into.

"If you wish to speak with Edgar, talk about guns. He will give you one if you can convince him. I don’t know much about the duchess other than she likes pets. She’s trying to convince Edgar to get a dog. The queen is more friendly than others believe. She might pry into our relationship and ask how you’ve convinced me to settle. Tobias is a nosy bastard," Rafael said, knowing Tobias would be asking too many questions.

Annalise liked how bold Rafael was to insult the king in the palace. It showed the friendship between the two and another time, she wanted to hear more about his youth with the king. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

A maid approached the two to help them before they could go the wrong way. "Sir Rafael. Please follow me to where the king and queen await you with their guests."

Rafael and Annalise followed the maid toward a room with the door wide open.

Annalise heard chatter and laughter coming from inside as they got closer.

Soon a man came into view and from the portraits Annalise had come across during her travels, she knew that it was the king.

He was speaking to someone and looked their way in the midst of his conversation. "Look who I managed to get to attend today," Tobias said, getting out of the way for Rafael to enter.