The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 485: The answer (1)

The next day had a slow start with Annalise continuing to not feel well.

Rafael took over with waking Lydia who managed to go through the night without coming to them about feeling scared. He looked around the gifts for a dress that could fit her and got started on breakfast.

Annalise stayed in bed, only eating a few fruits Rafael brought to her and then came out a little later to help with bathing Lydia and getting dressed to go to the market.

Now three hours behind the time they were to head to the market, they sat in the carriage on their way there.

"Was it a good idea to take her to the market before we know the answer? Many will stare at you for not only walking around with me but with a child. I’m sure there will be talk of you having a secret family," Annalise said, only now realising how much of a shock the three of them walking together would be.

The ring on her finger should answer one of the questions others would have, but unless they were aware of Lydia being from the orphanage, many would be confused about Lydia being with them.

"I do have a secret family," Rafael replied. No one knew about the baby they were going to have months from now other than the doctor.

"I am serious. I am only now looking outside the little world we found ourselves in and thinking of how others will react to us walking around together. I don’t want to ruin her day of fun with all the attention. What if it scares her? Should we go back home or just go to the orphanage-"

"No!" Lydia exclaimed, interrupting Annalise. She hadn’t been listening to much of what Annalise was saying because she was interested in looking out the window, but then she had heard of going back to the orphanage.

Lydia wasn’t ready to go back to the orphanage. Not when she was having so much fun.

"You misunderstood me, Lydia. I am trying to not let our day be ruined. Your things are still at home so if we visit the orphanage, you would still need to go back with us to get your things. And, don’t you want us to ask if you can stay with us?" Annalise asked, using Lydia’s request to help calm her. "We can’t do that if we don’t go back to the orphanage, right?"

"No," Lydia said, realising that they had to go back so they could ask. "Okay, but are we going to the market?"

’There will be a lot of people watching us since Rafael is so popular. Everyone knows of him because he is a knight and likes to talk," Annalise said, finding a way to lie about the stares they might get. "You just need to ignore them alright? And don’t speak to strangers."

Lydia nodded her head.

"Then we can still go to the market to get paint for our contest and the books to read. You can’t run off when you see something you like or wish to hide from all the stares. If someone is bothering you, tell me and I will take care of them," Annalise said, holding up her left fist to show what she would do.

Lydia looked at Annalise’s hand and then at her face which was starting to show that she was sick. "But you’re sick. You can’t fight," she said.

"I’ve taken lives- Oops," Annalise said, covering her mouth. "Nothing. We should leave the protecting to Rafael since I am not well. That’s enough about that before I say too much," she whispered, tapping her mouth that didn’t know when to shut up.

Annalise didn’t need Lydia to learn that she had also taken many lives. For now, Lydia could go on thinking that it was just Rafael who was a threat.

"Don’t laugh," Annalise warned Rafael, purposely stepping on his shoe.

"I am not," Rafael said, covering his mouth. He would never grow tired of Annalise trying to hide the fact she could fight from Lydia. With this, he got to stop her from being so ready to hurt someone and potentially hurt herself or the baby.

"You are and you are going to regret it later. Do not be like Rafael, Lydia. He is sometimes not nice," Annalise said, moving her shoe from pressing down on his.

Lydia stared at Rafael, trying to figure out how he wasn’t nice now. Was it because he was laughing at Annalise and Annalise didn’t like it? She also didn’t like when someone laughed at her after she told them it hurt her feelings.

"We should get off here and walk in. It might help us to not gather too much attention if we don’t stop where all the other carriages are stopping," Annalise said, looking out at the small crowd of people walking toward the market.

Rafael tapped on the wall of the carriage where the driver sat on the other side. "Stop here," he said loud enough for the driver to hear.

The carriage slowed down and stopped to the side of the road.

Rafael opened the door to get out and helped Annalise out first then Lydia.

Already people were looking as they were surprised to see Rafael was in town. It was rare to see him here so soon when he normally came for the ball and then wouldn’t be here until months later with his family.

Annalise held Lydia’s hand and began walking forward so they wouldn’t stay in one spot to gather more attention. Rafael dealt with sending off the carriage and joined in walking beside the two.

Lydia looked up at Rafael when he came to her side. He didn’t have anyone’s hand to hold so she touched his before holding onto it so he wouldn’t be left out.

Rafael liked that Lydia had listened to what he said and held his hand when she wanted to.

The three of them walking together holding hands puzzled others around them as Annalise knew it would.

Now that they were walking together, Annalise paid little attention to those around her because she was watching Lydia. In the coming days, it might start to spread around that they were trying to adopt so then it would be known why they were with a child.

Unfortunately, it would not stop that gossip as Annalise knew others would be confused as to why a young couple were adopting before they were married.

"Where do you want to go first, Lydia?" Annalise asked, talking over the voices of the people around them who were purposely being loud by questioning who she and the child were.

"For the paint, so we can have our contest," Lydia answered.

"Right. That is important. We should also get the canvas and brushes at the same time. Now, we only need to figure out where the paint is so we don’t spend all day looking around for it. Do you know where we can get paint, Rafael?" Annalise asked, turning to him because he knew more about the town than she did.

"This way," Rafael said, pointing down the path he once saw a paint shop. "It might have books inside for us to get everything we need."