The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 443: Challenge (1)

After a day of fun, Annalise returned to her home with her friends near night to be just in time to help her mother for dinner. When she entered the home, Annalise sensed that there was something amiss because of the way her mother was acting, Rafael was nowhere in sight, and her father was now missing.

Annalise stayed behind to speak to her mother while the others went up to get out of their now dirty clothes and cleaned up.

"Mother, did Rafael come by while I was away? I did not see him all day," Annalise said, slowly walking up to her mother who was already working hard to prepare dinner.

"Rafael? He did not come by here. Why would he come here when he already knew that you would be out with your friends? Did you have fun?’ Celine asked, wanting the conversation over with so she wouldn’t let what she knew slip out of her mouth. "You should go wash up and wear something nice for dinner."

"I understand that I need to wash up, but why do I need to wear something nice for dinner? Will we be having guests? Even then what I normally wear has always been fine. Did something happen when I was not here? You are not looking at me and when I came through the door, you were quick to look away," Annalise said, now standing beside her mother. "Mother, please tell me." freёnovelkiss.com

"Nothing happened. I just think it would be nice if we all dressed up for dinner. I won’t have to prepare dinner for the knights because they have gathered what they need to make their own dinner. They have settled in quite well. Go get washed up, Annalise. Your clothes are full of dirt," Celine said after finally taking a good look at her daughter’s appearance.

Celine wasn’t worried before, but now that she saw how Annalise looked, there was much that needed to be done before Rafael would soon arrive. She knew that she should have gone to look for Annalise and bring her home to get dressed for dinner, but then that would have been suspicious.

"Something is happening, but I won’t get to hear it from you. I am going to get washed up," Annalise said, giving up for now.

There was a greater need for her to get washed up than to find out what her mother and the others were doing.

’Are they planning for me to eat alone with Rafael? We were not together all day so it is likely they are doing this for us. That would explain why he has not been around all day,’ Annalise thought, trying to put together what was happening.

It would be like her mother and Rafael plotting for her to get dressed up so they could go out to enjoy the night together. What concerned Annalise now was why wasn’t her father around. Was he keeping an eye on Rafael and when Rafael showed up her father would be right there beside him?

Annalise touched her face, too tired to think about what everyone was up to. She left her mother’s side and started to head up to her bedroom to pick out what she would wear tonight, which would be pants, and awaited getting to soak in water after the others.

Celine sighed in relief that Annalise had questioned her and learned nothing about what was to come. She could hardly contain her excitement when her daughter was soon to be engaged. If there was some way for her to watch it all happen she would gladly be there to not miss seeing Annalise’s reaction, but she had to leave the two alone.

Celine could not wait for Annalise to return and tell her how it all happened. Phillip had failed to tell her what Rafael had done so far which led her to think that they were putting together something big.

A knock on the door interrupted Celine’s imagination of the proposal and knowing it could only be Rafael or Phillip, Celine stopped what she was occupied with and rushed to the door.

When she opened it, it was Rafael dressed in casual clothes. Clothes he would wear around the house. She thought he would have been more dressed up, but she didn’t question it because she had a feeling Annalise was not going to get all dressed up unless someone made her.

"Good night. I’m sorry that I am a bit late," Rafael apologised as he was behind the time he was to come for Annalise.

"Annalise came home not long ago and went up to get changed so you are right on time. You can go up to see her if you want," Celine said as she closed the door behind Rafael.

Each time Rafael came to visit there was a little crowd outside. Tonight was not the night for anyone to be following Rafael or Annalise.

Rafael looked at the stairs which were off-limits for him according to Phillip. "I will be quick before Phillip comes."

"Oh, don’t worry about him. He will be on his best behaviour tonight and not trouble the two of you. Go on up and please get her to pick out something suitable for the night. I don’t know what she was doing today, but she’s made a mess of the pants I just got for her. I won’t keep you here,’ Celine replied, going back to preparing dinner to keep herself distracted.

Rafael went up the stairs to find Annalise’s room. He placed his right hand in his pocket to feel the ring he would finally get to show Annalise tonight. If no one spoiled what was going to happen, she was in for a good surprise.

It would be perfect if they could leave before Phillip came because Rafael had set up the proposal away from where Phillip had placed decorations. Annalise could see Phillip’s effort later when the real proposal would be over with.

Rafael reached the familiar door to the room he had visited before and knocked on it. He didn’t say anything to surprise her when she opened the door.

When the door opened, he didn’t get the reaction he was looking for.

’So, you finally make your appearance. Did you go on a trip with my father and lose him somewhere so you could be here outside my door?" Annalise asked, folding her arms.

"I gave you space to be with your friends all day. From your messy appearance, I can see that you enjoyed it. Were you rolling around in mud?" Rafael questioned, curious about her dirty pants.

Annalise turned around, leaving the door to continue getting undressed. "We rolled down a hill which had a lot of grass, some snow, and mud. There were other places we went which might have had mud. You should have seen how they didn’t care about their appearances and had fun. Which reminds me, is there a special reason I must get dressed up tonight?"

Rafael closed the door and walked to the bed to sit on it. "There is nothing special as far as I know. I did let your mother know that I plan for us to skip dinner and be alone. She looked a bit disappointed in my clothes when I arrived."

"That’s why," Annalise said, finally having the answer. What Rafael said pointed out a few lies from her mother, but Annalise decided to dismiss it. "She will be disappointed again because I am going to wear comfortable pants since we’ll be out. Just in case we need to run away to be out of sight of my father."