The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 416: Like looking into a mirror (3)

"I think you should go back to your wife now. It looks like she wants to spend time with you. Our conversation has gone on long enough," Annalise said after looking at Alessandra and Rafael’s way.

Tobias had gone to Hazel’s side and the woman Eleanor was standing beside the duchess guard Reed. It was only Annalise and Edgar who had not made their way back to their respective partner.

Edgar looked directly at Alessandra, seeing how she was pleading with her eyes to come to her side. ’These days it’s good to make her a little needy so she comes to pull me away. A little jealousy doesn’t hurt anyone. I’ve been bearing with the growing attention she gets."

"Rafael can tell you that jealousy does hurt. I flipped him over my shoulder when he tried to make me jealous," Annalise confessed.

"Did you? Name your price to do it again," Edgar said, only willing to believe it if he saw it with his own eyes. He wouldn’t waste his time trying to lift Rafael as he did with Tobias. It would be entertaining to see her challenge Tobias and then send the man flying on his ass.

"You think I would flip Rafael for your amusement just to get money? I am not a woman who cares for money, Duke Collins. How many guns do you have?" Annalise asked. Surely a man as rich as he was had guns he could give away.

"Guns are not to be used-"

"Are you telling me that you have not used one even for the fun of it? Annalise asked, knowing if he responded no it would be a lie. She was catching on quickly to the people around the duchess being idiots to know that Edgar was constantly protecting her. He must have a gun somewhere.

Edgar was almost tempted to give her a gun to see what she would do with it, but then he would have Rafael on his ass. Rafael wasn’t particularly fond of guns, so Edgar felt he wouldn’t be thrilled if Annalise were to get one from him.

"I’ll share a secret with you, but you have to repay with something in the future," Edgar proposed as nothing was free for him unless you were his wife, Alfred, or his child.

Annalise nodded her head, agreeing to it.

"I gifted Rafael a gun so it is somewhere in his manor. You entered the room the day I gifted it to him so you should know what the box looks like. That is all I will share. Keep it between us that I told you about the gun. Now excuse me, I am going to my wife before I come to regret staying away later," Edgar said as he walked away from Annalise.

Edgar had to give Rafael a pat on the back for bringing someone into the group who he could hold a conversation with. Someone he wouldn’t be quick to send away if she were to come to his estate to visit Alessandra.

He had much to discuss with Annalise about the weapons she used or seeing if her style of fighting was any different from his when it came to using a sword. In exchange, he would teach her how to use a gun if she were to find where Rafael put his.

"Having fun?" Rafael questioned Annalise as he approached her. Seeing Edgar go to Alessandra, he got up to give them privacy and to finally be alone with Annalise again. "You and Edgar seem to be getting along well."

"Are you jealous, Rafael?" Annalise asked, hoping it wasn’t something he felt.

"No," Rafael replied, pushing Annalise’s hair out of her face. He looked away for a moment at the plants in the garden to see if the wind was too high and that was why her hair was coming out of place. "I like that the two of you were getting along. As long as you weren’t plotting something together. Why were you looking the king’s way as you spoke?"

"Why were you watching us so much, Rafael? It is not good to eavesdrop," Annalise said, playfully patting his chest as she walked around him. She was not going to share that they spoke about guns for Rafael to hide the one Edgar gifted him.

Annalise was going to find the gun first and then tell him about this conversation. She was lucky that Mavis had let her serve Rafael the day Edgar stopped by so she knew what the box looked like. She had an idea of where the box was placed and now she couldn’t wait to go back to the manor.

A gun from Edgar must be the best of the best. She liked Rafael and Edgar’s friendship more now that she knew about the fun gifts Rafael was receiving.

Annalise walked further into the garden to out of sight of the other couples. They had been around the others since they arrived and now she wanted a moment alone with Rafael.

"Did you ask him about a gun?" Rafael inquired.

Annalise folded her lips, not wanting to answer him because he would sense her lie.

Unfortunately for her, the silence confirmed that she did.

Annalise had been mentioning wanting to see a gun for a while now. They didn’t walk around the market yesterday to look for a new weapon to use so the best person to go to was Edgar. Rafael was aware of the many guns Edgar had in his home. He wouldn’t be surprised if Edgar had killed a few of his enemies with a gun secretly.

Rafael didn’t want Annalise to be messing around with a gun as they were so easy to use wrong and injure yourself or someone around you. He hoped that Edgar hadn’t gone ahead and promised her one.

"They are dangerous," he reminded her.

"I am aware of that," Annalise replied, knowing that she could seriously hurt herself because she knew nothing about guns. "I don’t want to use it. I want someone who knows how to use it to show me and then I will hand it off to Thomas for him to try making it. I want him to inspect the gun before we head back to the border so we can take the supplies needed."

"Would he truly be able to recreate it?" Rafael questioned. He heard her mention Thomas was good at recreating things just from inspecting them, but he didn’t think Thomas was good at making a gun.

"Of course he can! His father was the best at doing it and Thomas inherited the skill. That was why it was good he came along with me. His father wasn’t happy at first, but when I was leaving, his father was making plans to create everything Thomas described and drew out. If you need something created, just ask Thomas. He shouldn’t hate you any more to not help you. I hope," Annalise muttered.

Rafael didn’t think Thomas was ready to do favours for him. He saw the looks he sometimes received and knew that there was still some dislike over him taking Annalise away.

"Slow down," Rafael said, reaching out to hold her hand. "We can look around the garden together."

"Of course," Annalise said, stopping to be right beside him so they could walk together. "It’s a shame tomorrow won’t be as peaceful as today when I go to the court."