The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 448: First to crack (1)

"You and my father seemed to have become close today. He didn’t try to stop us from going to share a house. Did something happen when I was not around? More than the two of you sparring," Annalise said, curious about their time together.

Annalise liked seeing that her father and Rafael were getting along. They were both two very important men in her life and it would have put her in a weird position if her father continued to not like Rafael. She never wanted to pick between the two. If it ever came to that, she would prefer to hit them.

Annalise still expected for Phillip to be petty sometimes, but she saw that he had accepted Rafael more now.

"Nothing happened aside from us fighting. He might have seen that I would be able to protect you if needed after I won our match," Rafael replied.

"I don’t need protection, but I guess if there are days that I don’t feel my best it would be nice to have a handsome guard by my side. Whatever happened with my father, I want it to last. You are both important to me and I always want you to get along. I wouldn’t anticipate there wouldn’t be a few insults if I were you. My father is still petty," Annalise said.

"I know how to get rid of his pettiness one day," Rafael said, already having a plan in mind to make Phillip want his help.

"What is it? You cannot just stop there. I hope you are not speaking of grandchildren. I wouldn’t put it past my father to whisper things in our children’s ears about you, but they are the way to his heart. You should see when he plays with the children who come to visit him," Annalise said, picturing how her father would be running around with children who were tiny compared to him.

"Then I will be petty and tell the children to cry because of grandfather not being nice to me. Two can play his games," Rafael said, smiling as he would be the victor in the end.

Annalise stared at Rafael in disbelief. "I am starting to understand how my mother feels. Men and your strange battles. I will not help either of you when it goes terribly wrong. I like how we speak of children as if we will have many."

"It is possible if we visit your grandmother," Rafael joked, earning Annalise poking him in his side. "I hope her thinking that I am incapable does not spread to others."

"My mother wouldn’t get involved in such a thing and my father, well.." Annalise paused to think about the chaos there would be. "Only my grandmother would think about that. Never drink from her again. I won’t. I don’t want to think about what could happen afterwards."

Annalise slowed down as they reached an abandoned house she was familiar with. She remembered the man who lived here and moved away to be alone. "You bought this from his son. Was it expensive?"

"I am yet to understand how your money works, but to me, it was not. He took a few jewels and 100 gold coins from me," Rafael replied.

"Hmm. He gave you it a bit cheaper than others would have paid for it. Perhaps he did it because no one seemed like they were going to buy it. The gold coins would be worth a lot when he travels through the Castro kingdom. He could live there for a month or two if he spends the coins wisely. It appears that a few people are gathering coins to use in the Castro kingdom," said Annalise.

A few people who were curious about the Castro kingdom were planning trips, waiting for the truce to be done officially so they could travel and explore.

"I don’t know who let it slip about the town we will build, but I was approached by a few people who wished to move over when the town is going up. They wish to start building a home there. I wanted it to be a secret until we had most of what we needed, but I enjoy seeing some are ready for change," Annalise said, more excited about the future now.

She still worried about how her people would be when travelled far from home to the Castro Kingdom, but she had high hopes the town would show how they could all live together.

"I wish that I could lift you in, but your father has packed us a mountain of food for me to carry," Rafael said, stopping in front of the door, contemplating if he should put down the food.

"It is fine. I will hold the door open for you," Annalise said, going ahead of Rafael to open the door which was unlocked. "Gentlemen first," she said, stepping to the side for Rafael to enter. "I told you to let me carry some of the food, but you insisted on carrying them as if you thought my father was following us to see that you did not. Let me help you."

’I am already inside. We need to have light. Wait here," Rafael said, putting the baskets of food down on the lone table they had which he managed to find thanks to the light coming from outside the window.

Rafael had thought ahead to at least gather candles and firewood for the fireplace to use in the beginning before the house would be set up for them to properly use.

Annalise continued to look around the inside of the house while Rafael wandered off somewhere. She was able to see thanks to the light coming from outside.

By tomorrow night, she knew this house would be lit up and have everything they needed thanks to Rafael and her father. They might compete to see who would decorate it first and then her mother would join in to add little things she knew they wouldn’t think of.

Though she knew the person who used to live here, Annalise had never been inside. It was surprisingly more spacious than it looked on the outside and with a second floor they were yet to explore, she knew it would suit them until the other home was ready and there was no need to get rid of it as they could always come here to be closer to her family.

"I should take out the food while he is gone," Annalise said, returning to the table to start spreading out the food. The excitement from getting engaged and learning that Rafael bought a house had distracted her from how long ago it was since she had eaten. "How many people were they planning to feed?" She muttered.

Annalise heard Rafael returning to the front door and looked away from all the food to see what he had left for. "Wood. We should start a fire right away because it is a bit cold here. It would have been good for you to tell my father about the house earlier. He could have decorated it here for us. He would have gotten everything we needed, but it is romantic to be in the dark with a few candles and light from the fireplace."

"I thought you would have enjoyed going around together to look for what you want to put in all the rooms," said Rafael.

"Right. I’m sorry," Annalise apologised as she had not thought that it would be nice to decorate their first home together. "We can go before I spend time with my father. What are you doing?" Annalise asked, puzzled by the sight of Rafael taking off his shirt. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com