The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 412: Harmless (2)

Rafael let go of Annalise’s hand to be the one to approach Tobias first."More like you harassed me with letters days before, telling me to attend or you would assign me to another feud after I told you that I needed a break."

Rafael was close to being like Edgar wanting to kill the king. He was always aware of how much Tobias depended on him and rarely had an issue with it in the past, but now that he wanted to just spend time with Annalise, Tobias’s constant letters were starting to annoy him.

"Now now. Don’t get too upset. Today is meant to celebrate Hazel and me having a child. Plus meeting with friends we don’t see often. Dominic and Heather should be here soon. Then there is Linda with her escort. Benjamin and all his children might be coming. Everyone is getting married just as I planned," Tobias credited himself.

Tobias had started a plan after he got married that all of his friends should follow and join him. He managed to get the hardest of the bunch married, though Edgar didn’t pick the woman Tobias had in mind. Tobias took all credit for Edgar marrying Alessandra as he was the one to send Edgar to the baron’s home.

"Uhmm," Annalise said, making her presence known as it seemed the king had not noticed her. He was focused on Rafael alone with a big smile on his face as he was excited to see his friend.

She almost regretted making herself known and ruining their little reunion.

Now the king looked past Rafael to where she stood and said, "He is so tall that I didn’t see you there. Welcome!"

Annalise curtsied before the king as Siena told her to do. She was grateful for Siena telling her what to do at the last moment because Annalise didn’t know much about the rules of the palace. Learning the ones for towns was already hard to remember. "Thank you for the invite. I hope you can forgive what happened between us."

Her plan to send Thomas to Lockwood to kill the king would not exactly be the first time she tried to kill Tobias. She was sometimes involved in her father’s plans and provided suggestions on how to get to the king and kill him.

Sometimes her plans were discovered before they reached Tobias or someone else who was at the wrong place at the wrong time was killed instead of Tobias.

They were enemies in the past so she was hellbent on killing him. She would bet one of her good swords that the king might have sent out plans to kill her family. As long as he didn’t know about her recent plan to poison him, they should be able to move on.

"You trying to kill me? Hardly, but if I want to keep my friendship with Rafael, I have to get over it. You are like Alessandra. Ruining all my plans," said Tobias, having a small dislike for Annalise just as he did when he first heard of Edgar’s marriage.

Not far behind the king, the Duchess Alessandra Collins frowned as this was a sudden confession. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Annalise snuck a glance at the woman she assumed to be the duchess. There wasn’t a mask like Rafael said, but she was still curious about it and wanted to know the story about the mask. She hoped it was brought up by someone because Annalise didn’t want to do it herself and come off as rude if there was a terrible story behind it.

Still, she couldn’t help but wonder why such a beautiful woman ever had to wear a mask. Were the beauty standards in this town weirder than the last?

"Well, my plans were for Edgar to marry Linda, but then you came along. That was quite upsetting. No offence, but it was just that I didn’t like your father. I hadn’t picked out a woman for Rafael yet since getting Edgar to marry took up so much of my time, but you weren’t my choice. No offence, but I hated your father too," Tobias said to Annalise.

Tobias liked to believe that his friends picked these women to piss him off. How could his best friends end up with the daughter of the baron he hated and the daughter of the man trying to kill him? He expected something like this from Edgar, but Rafael was a terrible surprise.

"Tobias," Edgar and Rafael warned, both close to throwing the king out the nearest window.

They were both equally tired of hearing Tobias say he was in control of who they would marry and that he disliked the families of the women they picked. To them, knowing Tobias was annoyed made them happy. It was a small reason why Edgar picked Alessandra.

Rafael held Annalise’s hand once again to lead her away from where they stood with Tobias to where Alessandra, Hazel, and a woman he didn’t know sat so Annalise could introduce herself to the women. And also for Rafael to get her away from Tobias before something stupid was said.

"Everyone wants honesty until it’s towards them..."

Annalise didn’t listen to what else the king was rambling about and as he went to his wife to check if she was fine, Annalise was going toward the duchess.

"Hello," Alessandra greeted Annalise with a warm smile. She looked forward to making a new friend and since Annalise was with Edgar’s best friend, it made her all the more interested in Annalise. That and the fact Annalise was from the border.

Alessandra wished to know what it was like there. She heard the rumours about the people there, but as someone who had many rumours said about her face that wasn’t true, Alessandra was not going to listen to what was said about Annalise or her people.

Many people still believed her face was cursed but didn’t dare to say it because they were afraid of Edgar and what he would do if what was said upset her. Alessandra hoped Annalise wouldn’t be bothered by those foolish rumours fueled by her sister in the past because she wanted to get to know Annalise.

"It is nice to meet you, Duchess Collins," Annalise said, sitting down in the middle of the duchess and a woman she was yet to be introduced to.

"You can drop my title while we are here. You are like a princess at home, what should I address you as?" Alessandra asked, wanting to be correct with Annalise’s title. Never would she have imagined being surrounded by royalty.

"There is no title unless you are calling for the leader. You can also just address me as Annalise," Annalise replied.

"I will do that. Oh," Alessandra said, looking away from Annalise to Edgar who was approaching Tobias for mentioning their children getting married again. If Tobias didn’t stop, he wouldn’t live to see his first child. "I hope there won’t be any fighting."

Annalise thought differently and hoped the king would upset the duke for her to see him in action. She almost wanted to cheer for the duke to fight, but didn’t want to appear like she was crazy.

As the group started to talk about another couple who was not there, Annalise was starting to lose interest until Edgar mentioned a woman in his dungeon. It would be a good day if she could see another dungeon.