The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 431: Permission to marry (1)

"Your father is so childish to not let Rafael stay here with you. As if the two of you aren’t sleeping together. Don’t look at me like that. I am your mother and I know what is going on with you. You didn’t think I would believe that Ezra kept an eye on you to make sure you and Rafael didn’t stay in the same room. If you bribe that man good, you can get away from anything," said Celine.

Celine sat on Annalise’s bed, folding the dresses which needed to be washed, and placing them in a basket. She wanted to hear more about Annalise’s time away from home and how it went in the palace.

"I do not want to talk about that with you, mother. Can we please talk about something else?" Annalise asked.

"Of course we can. There is plenty for us to talk about. I just hope you were careful not to get pregnant when your father is forcing himself to think that you are a good girl and did not share a bed with Rafael. You do not want to see that man cry. I don’t," Celine added as she had enough from the moment Annalise left.

"Why aren’t you assuring me that you aren’t pregnant, Annalise? Are you-"

Annalise covered her mother’s mouth with her hands before she could get loud and yell out something that wasn’t certain. "You must be quiet, mother. We are not alone at home. I am not pregnant. I don’t think I am because there aren’t any signs."

Celine removed Annalise’s hands from her mouth. "Sure there are signs. Like when was the last time you bled? You haven’t been away long enough to be certain but we can keep an eye on that to know. Did Rafael propose to you?"

Celine drew closer to Annalise to see if there was a ring hidden somewhere. The two were so in love with each other that she didn’t think it would be long before there was a wedding. Celine hadn’t missed how disappointed Rafael looked after hearing he would not be staying with Annalise.

Celine was going to fix Rafael having to stay away from Annalise in the morning after having a talk with Phillip. The two were grown and pushing them away would have them sneaking around to see each other.

"He did not propose to me and I would like you to not ask him about it. Promise me," Annalise said as it was like her mother to go around asking Rafael when she wasn’t around.

"I promise, but I truly think that since he hasn’t asked you to marry him yet, he must have been waiting to properly ask for your father and me to give him permission. If it is true, you have truly picked a sweet one. I am happy that he didn’t take you and run off to marry you when we weren’t around. Never bringing you back home," Celine said, trying her best not to cry.

"You are no different from father with all the crying. I wouldn’t have run off with Rafael and not come back to you," Annalise said, pushing the dresses out of the way to comfort her mother. "You know that when you cry it makes me want to cry. You are to be happy that I am back."

Celine wiped away her tears. "There are happy tears, not sad ones. It is not only that you have returned, but I am going through the realisation that you are ready to move from under my wing all over again. I shouldn’t have scolded your father so much for talking about Rafael stealing you away from us. I’ve not cried since you left, but look at me now."

"At another time, I want to hear about this Rafael stealing me away conversation you had with my father. I’m yet to understand why you and father cry so much. Even when I marry, Rafael and I will be here. He’s building a new manor near here so I can lead. Father should hug Rafael and lift him off the ground for wanting to move here," Annalise said, stopping to imagine Phillip lifting Rafael.

"You have him so in love to want to move his life here. When will I get to meet his family? I’ve been thinking of leaving with you the next time you go back to his manor. Your father will be fine on his own. We’ve gotten so many gifts now that we aren’t fighting daily. I put some dresses away in your room," Celine said, going back to putting Annalise’s dirty dresses in a basket.

"Rafael and I have also brought gifts for you. I’ll let you see what they are when Rafael is welcome to come here. The king proposed the idea of my marriage to Rafael to be used as a symbol of the truce. With us married to each other, neither side has to worry about the truce coming to an end. The queen and king will come here when I marry Rafael. Why aren’t you happy?" Annalise asked as her mother’s excitement vanished.

"I don’t like this. I see that you and Rafael love each other, but I would hate for you to think you need to stay in a marriage that turned sour all for a truce. I know you would sacrifice your happiness for the people here and many would disagree with me, but I want you to put yourself first. You only have one life, and I wish you enjoy all of it," Celine said, wanting this part of the truce to be changed.

"If Rafael and I were to become unhappy with each other we would go our separate ways and I would look for a way for there to still be some trust in the truce. I don’t want to talk about my relationship with him turning sour in the future too much. It will be fine," Annalise reassured her mother. "I have a gift from the queen you will like."

"I am still concerned about this deal you made, but we will talk about it later after you have settled in. That is a pretty necklace. I will have a pretty box to match made for you tomorrow so you don’t lose it. You must never train with this necklace on because it is too precious. What did you give the queen in return?" Celine asked.

"I," Annalise paused as she did not give Hazel a gift in return. "I did not give the queen something. Ow!" Analise groaned, touching her arm where her mother hit her. freewebnøvel.com

"Annalise Woods! When the queen gave you a gift, you should have offered her something. If you were wearing jewellery at the time, you should have given it to her. One of your swords would have been a good gift. How did I raise you?" Celine muttered, picking up the basket of dresses as she stood up.

Annalise didn’t understand why she had to be hit. She could simply give the queen a gift the next time they saw each other. "I didn’t carry a sword to the court. I thought you would have been happy to hear that," Annalise said, watching as her mother stormed out. "We should have taken our time coming back here."