The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 465: Normal couple (1)

The next day, Rafael was the first one to wake to get started on unpacking the food Celine prepared for them to use on the way to a nearby town.

Annalise was still fast asleep in the tent and before she would wake up, Rafael wanted to do as much work as he could so she wouldn’t have to bother herself with trying to help.

He took care of the horses as they needed to be moved to graze on grass and be given water. Rafael packed most of what they didn’t have to use right now and placed some of Annalise’s clothes by her feet so she wouldn’t have to search for what to wear today.

Rafael prepared himself for a lecture about treating her differently now that they believed she was pregnant, but how was he to not treat her with more care now? Since last night, every possible bad scenario that could hurt her flooded his mind. Annalise needed to give him at least one day for his worrying to go away.

Less than an hour later, Annalise had woken up. They shared the food and got cleaned up before heading to the first town on their path.

"When we reach town, the first thing I would like to do is sit in warm water and then enjoy a nice soft bed. I forgot how bad sleeping outside could be even with a soft blanket," Annalise said, raising her hands in the air to stretch her body. "I did enjoy listening to all the sounds made during the night. We should push our bed closer to a window to hear nature sing to us."

"Then you’ll hate the cold air," Rafael replied.

"That’s why we would have a fire going," Annalise countered.

A fireplace in the room would help with the cold air coming inside.

"I wouldn’t mind sleeping outside again as long as we have more blankets and something extra soft to lay on. I’m shocked that no one bothered us while we slept. Or did we have trouble and you took care of it without waking me? Wait," Annalise said, realising the one thing that would make that impossible. "I would have heard the noise."

"You didn’t wake up when I got out of the tent. You always wake up when you hear me moving around on the bed, but you didn’t tonight. You are losing your touch," Rafael said, keeping his eyes ahead to avoid meeting Annalise’s eyes.

Rafael could feel the danger beside him.

"It is either that you want to see me cry or you wish to die. You beat me during our sparring match and now you claim I am losing my touch. I advise you to sleep with one eye open because you may find that I am still the same," Annalise warned Rafael.

Still, she didn’t like that she hadn’t sensed when Rafael had woken up. She would have liked to get up to help him. Since they started to share a bed, she had started to ignore the noises made during the night.

Last night Annalise enjoyed laying with Rafael and listening to the sounds of the night as she said. It was one of the best sleep she ever had and it was possible that she didn’t wake because she knew Rafael was around to deal with danger.

She let her guard down and enjoyed all of her sleep instead of being somewhat awake to listen to who was coming close. If Rafael was not around, she could not be in deep sleep.

"How long will it take for us to reach the town?" Annalise asked, changing the topic. "We’ll need to get some food for the other days won’t be near a town. We are already running low on anything that is not fruit or vegetables. I want to have meat for dinner."

"It is three or four hours away with the pace we are going. The map your father gave you is wrong about how close the nearest town is. Soon this land might have more small villages closer to the border now that the war is over," Rafael said, looking around at the fields they passed.

There was much to be done with the land.

"There seem to be a few farmers living far off the road. They must be confident that the king’s men wouldn’t let enemies reach them," Annalise said, trying to get a good look at the tiny homes in the distance.

"Some made homes here because no one would fight them for the land when they were so close to war. They’ll travel to the nearest town to sell what they grow and come back home. It sounds like a peaceful life," said Rafael.

"Something tells me that you would enjoy us settling down somewhere with just the two of us and our children. I would love to see you act like a farmer. I might enjoy caring for animals and growing food, but we both have busy lives. Maybe when you are no longer a knight and I pass on my role as leader, we can be like these people and settle somewhere quiet," Annalise proposed.

"We’ll see," Rafael said because Annalise might find something that she liked later on. She might not want to move out of the home they will have for many years.

The ride to the town was full of talk about the future. Of what they would do when they reached a certain age.

Annalise could not stop looking around as they rode through the town that was different from the others she had seen. Each town seemed to have something special about them. The houses were built the same, but something about the towns made them different from each other.

Annalise didn’t know what it was at first glance but she was eager to find out.

Rafael led Annalise to an inn that was out of the way for where there were crowds. Here they could avoid questions about who they were and where they came from when all they wanted to do was get settled in.

Since he was not wearing his armour, Rafael hoped that he would not be quickly recognised so he could further avoid a crowd. He had passed through here a few times so his face was known, but if he kept moving it might take those around them a little longer to realise he was back and with Annalise this time.

Annalise got off her horse and inspected the others tied outside the inn. She tried not to pay much attention to the people passing by staring at her or at Rafael who was standing out because of his height and face.

Looking around, Annalise noticed that there wasn’t anyone as tall as Rafael. She understood now why women were slowing down as they passed by where Rafael was tying the horses.

"They have no shame," Annalise muttered.

She wasn’t standing far away from Rafael so they should be able to tell that she was with him.

"Is it my clothes?" She wondered out loud, looking down at her shirt and pants. They might think he wouldn’t settle for such a woman, but they were wrong.

The pants and shirts she wore had easily seduced Rafael.

Annalise went back to ignoring the way they eyed Rafael as there was nothing she could do. Rafael was a handsome man so this was something she needed to put up with often. She went back to her horse to start taking her bags from the side. She was ready to go inside to find her bed and lay there for an hour.

They would only stay in the town for one day as they would be leaving in the morning so after a quick nap, Annalise wanted to explore to see what made this town different from Lockwood and Ashbourne where Rafael’s manor was.

Annalise followed Rafael inside the inn since he claimed to be close to the owners after visiting the town a few times. It was easy for him to find the husband and wife who were always busy running around taking care of their visitors.

Inside the inn were men and women either enjoying a warm meal or drinking away their money.

"You can take a seat here to look outside while I get us a room and something to eat," Rafael said, setting down their bags next to a chair by the window.

Annalise gladly sat down so she could continue to look outside at the town. Right now she considered skipping resting for an hour or so and going outside to look around.

There were still eyes on her even as she sat in the inn and Annalise was starting to become annoyed with it. She wanted to be like any travelling couple who blended in where they went and not have anyone staring.

It wasn’t like this town never had travellers passing through. Rafael had already explained that many of the knights, border guards, and farmers stopped here often.

"Rafael Callahan is here," Annalise overheard one woman say as she entered the inn with her friend. "I hear he is here with a woman and someone spotted a ring. Do you think it’s true?"

"Oh," Annalise realised, looking down at her hands. Rafael was already recognised and her ring was more visible than she thought. Now all the attention made more sense, but she still did not enjoy it.