The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 498: A seat at the table (1)

"He’s been hard at work since he returned to the manor over two weeks ago. Someone needs to pull him out of his study and get him to do something else. Even if it is to train," Mavis said, worried about Rafael overworking himself.

Nothing she said reached his ears and his parents had not visited for two days now to get him to take a little break.

Edwin agreed with Mavis but there was nothing he could do. Rafael had already expressed that he wanted to move to be where Annalise and the young child were. He too would be like how Rafael was now so he could be one step closer to his family.

"That sounds like the door. I will get it," Edwin said, leaving Mavis’s side.

Mavis sighed as Edwin was of no help. She had to give it another try on her own now that she was bringing Rafael something to eat. She knocked on the door of his study and waited for him to give her the order that she could enter.

"Come in."

Mavis opened the door with her right hand and entered the study. "I brought something light for you to eat while you work. Will you be coming out of your study for dinner or will you be eating here? Again."

"You can bring dinner here," Rafael replied. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

There were more materials he needed to buy for the manor that was slowly starting to go up according to the letter Annalise managed to send to him. There wasn’t a big change right away but the workers had started to build it thanks to him sending more of what they needed a week ago.

Rafael was now busy looking over letters from people interested in moving to the town and curious about where on the land they would be able to start building a home or a business. The responses needed to be quick to allow those wanting to move to be able to pack up their lives wherever they were now and head to the border to start building their new life.

"Is there anything more you need to speak to me about?" Rafael asked since Mavis was still standing before him.

"Oh, no. Edwin just went to the door so there might be a guest who made it through the gates," said Mavis. She was too scared to bring up him taking a break now.

"If it is someone bringing a message from the palace, send them in right away," Rafael said, keeping his eyes focused on the papers as he was going to finish his work by midnight this time.

"Of course," Mavis said, putting the plate down for him to hopefully eat what she brought.

As she turned around, she found Edwin smiling like he had struck gold. Mavis thought that he was starting to lose his mind. She didn’t question what he was smiling for but was startled when she stepped out of the room.

Edwin entered Rafael’s study after Mavis, happy to deliver him a message. "Rafael, there is a guest here for you. I cannot make them leave so would you be able to take care of the matter? It is quite urgent."

Rafael put the paper in his hand down and looked up at Edwin. "There is a guest you cannot get rid of and you are smiling? If my mother is playing another game, let her know that I am too busy to play."

"I want to play," Lydia said, running into the room before it was her time to come in as they planned.

Rafael stared in disbelief at Lydia running toward him. He looked to Edwin to see if he also saw her and now he knew why Edwin was smiling so much.

"You are working like mother,’ Lydia said, looking around at all the papers.

Rafael was once again shocked by hearing her refer to Annalise as mother. A lot of time had passed for Lydia to get used to now having a mother. He would have liked to be around when she started to be comfortable with addressing Annalise as such.

"I am finished working now. Where is your mother?" Rafael asked, lifting Lydia as he stood up.

"She said she saw an old friend she wanted to speak to. Grandfather and grandmother are here. Great-grandmother did not want to come, but uncle Thomas is here," Lydia said, trying to think of who else was here with them.

"How is he your uncle?" Rafael muttered. He didn’t mind that Annalise had fixed her friendship with Thomas, but how did that make him Lydia’s uncle?

"That is what mother said to call him because they are best friends. I watched over mother," Lydia said, eager to let him know she did well.

Rafael walked toward the door to find Annalise and her parents who were a welcomed surprise unless Lydia was speaking about his parents. There was an interesting story waiting to be told of how they were able to convince Phillip to travel from the border.

"We need to find your mother and then you can run around the manor to meet all the knights."

Lydia couldn’t wait to run around and explore the manor. She was told that it wasn’t a castle but it did look like one and there were a lot of knights. Her mother was also a queen so she could pretend that it was a castle.

As Rafael made it down the stairs, he heard Phillip’s voice and Annalise was by the door speaking to a maid he had seen her with in the past. If he remembered correctly, this was the maid who stopped speaking to her after she revealed her home.

Rafael walked by Annalise and the maid to give them some space to talk and went over to Celine to greet her.

Annalise watched Rafael and Lydia pass by and then turned to Cara again. "Is Heidi here? It won’t be long before she is running here once word reaches her that I’ve returned."

"She still tends to your room and now Lady Beatrice when she visits," Cara answered, feeling awkward standing next to Annalise. When she saw Annalise arrive, she had thought that Annalise would have walked right by her but Annalise came to speak to her. "She is not in the manor right now."

"I see. This might be awkward for you, right? I should give you more time-"

"I’m sorry," Cara apologised amid Annalise’s rambling. "I should have gone to you sooner when you told me about where you came from. I was just scared because of all the things I heard and forgot about how good of a friend you were to me."

Cara was reminded of all the good days she had with Annalise when Annalise had left the manor and there wasn’t anyone for her to enjoy spending time with since Heidi had also left. She hadn’t shared what Annalise told her with the others and her regret for not trying to accept Annalise’s truth grew each day.

Cara felt more guilty when Heidi spoke of all the fun she had with Annalise at the border. She missed the days the three of them would be working and talking.

"I hope you can forgive me for not coming to you earlier. I was a terrible friend and I understand if you don’t want to continue our friendship," Cara said as it was only fair that Annalise had stopped considering her a friend.

"I said that I would give you the space you needed, Cara. No matter how long it took for you to feel comfortable. It is not like you started to treat me poorly during that time. You just kept a distance. I prefer that than you starting to call me names and speak ill of me. We are still friends," Annalise replied, happy to have Cara back.

"As your friend and lady of the manor, I think it is time you take a break so you can meet my daughter. She has so many cute dresses that are going to make you lose your mind," Annalise said, inviting Cara to join her in introducing Lydia to everyone.

Cara smiled, trying not to cry because Annalise easily forgave her. "I do love cute dresses," she replied, following Annalise to meet the child Mavis had spoken of.