The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 322: A moment alone (3)

"Do you really have an answer to how we wouldn’t have to travel back and forth to see each other? I don’t want you to stop being the commander to come here and I can’t leave my father to find someone else to lead after him. I was hoping to put off this conversation for a while, but now it is starting to worry me about what we should do," said Annalise.

She needed to hear his plan so she could finally put an end to her worrying about it.

"I don’t plan on stepping down from commander soon and you won’t have to deny becoming leader. I will ask the king to give me land close to the border to build a new manor for the Callahan knights to reside. I will give up the land he recently bestowed upon me behind the manor. That is the only answer," Rafael replied, looking around at the land which he might see as home in the future.

"But then you would have to move away from a town you are so familiar with to here where there is no one around you. When you need supplies, you will need to travel for a few hours to get to a town," Annalise reminded him.

Life near the border wasn’t wonderful because there wasn’t a nearby town or other homes since no one wanted to live where there was war.

"You should know me well by now, Annalise. I am not exactly fond of being around too many people. Here it doesn’t seem like a bad place to build a new manor. With the knights here, there would be no attacks. It is the only solution we have right now," Rafael said, believing it would work.

The Callahan knights were becoming bigger each year and since the manor was already meant to be expanded, why not start fresh here?

Annalise didn’t like this idea because Rafael wanted to pick up his life and come here just so they wouldn’t have to travel far when they wanted to see each other. "I think we should think of other ways-"

"Are you going to have your people leave their homes to come to where I am, Annalise?" Rafael cut in, bringing light to how many people she would have to make move." There is no other way for us to be near each other, to one day live with each other unless one of us moves, and it is just better for me to move. I can ensure there won’t be conflict at the border. I see no issue with me moving."

"But the knights have families in that town and then there are your parents. Your servants. I don’t want you to move your whole life here and I don’t want your servants to lose work because of you moving. I think it is inevitable that we will have to travel to see each other. I can get used to it. How much can happen while I am visiting you?" Annalise asked, smiling to attempt to convince him that she was fine with this.

Rafael didn’t believe her smile. "You’d be surprised."

"I can still ask for my father to watch over the land while I am away. There are plenty of people I can depend on to look after here while I visit you. Maybe I should do like your king and have a court. I wouldn’t call the people my father meets with a proper court. It would take some of the responsibility off my family’s shoulders. I will make it work," Annalise said, determined to find an answer that would work best for the two of them.

"If nothing works, I can just have a child right away and make them lead," Annalise laughed. "I am joking. You don’t need to look so scared. I won’t force you into being a father."

"That is not the reason behind my reaction," Rafael quickly spoke before she continued to misunderstand why he looked surprised at the mention of a child. "I was surprised because I didn’t place you to be one to think of a child whether serious or joking about it."

"Well, you are right. Other than when other people ask me about settling down and starting a family, I have never thought about children. I am not ready to be anyone’s mother with the way I am now. Then there is also that we have not been together long. Though, we did do the act that would have me pregnant," Annalise said, recalling that she let him finish inside her.

She was fully aware of what would come from that one moment and did not regret it.

Rafael also thought of that moment and wondered now that he heard her say that she was not ready to be a mother, if he should have brought up back then what would come from what they did.

Rafael didn’t mind children as long as they were respectful of those older than them. He didn’t like children who were allowed to do as they please, destroying everything they put their hands on, or speaking as if they weren’t taught manners. Children who were a bother like their parents.

He spent a lot of time at the orphanage over the years so he had gotten used to caring for children and liking them. Rafael was simply careful over the years not to have a child since those relationships were not serious so a child should not come out of it. He had also been at a point in his life where he spent more time away from home.

"So, should I stay away from you? Avoid sleeping in the same bed as you?" Rafael asked as he walked over to Annalise. He watched as she took a step back to keep some distance between them.

"That is not what I had in mind. Why are you coming toward me? Shouldn’t you be leaving?" Annalise asked, stepping back to be away from him. She was barely getting over the desire to finish their conversation about their time in bed being tamed and now he was coming toward her.

The way he looked at her was what made it hard to not want him at the moment. She was a sucker for a good-looking man.

Annalise soon bumped into her horse which was grazing on the grass and though she only had to go around her horse, Annalise stood still, watching Rafael close the gap she created. "We shouldn’t have all this grass here. Ow!" Annalise whined, touching her forehead where Rafael flicked her with his fingers.

"I did not come close to you for that, Annalise. Your father truly does not need to worry about me. I would like to spend the night with you, but I must go back to get the guards under control so that we can leave. I look forward to travelling with you and my mother will be excited to see you again," said Rafael.

Annalise placed her hands behind her back to tap on her horse, hoping it would move to give her some space to escape Rafael, but her horse seemed to be working with Rafael as it stayed in place, keeping her cage between it and Rafael. "I’m a little worried about how your mother will react. She is a kind person, but this might be too much."

"My mother will be surprised but she will not stop liking you. Do not think the worst. We can also make a trip to the manor to see your friends you left behind," Rafael said, using his right hand to push back a few strands of her hair that the wind had pushed out of place. "When we return to the manor, you are fired as my maid."

Annalise’s shoulders dropped as she was expecting something else to come out of his mouth. "That is not very romantic. Here I was thinking that something special was going to happen but I am getting fired. To make things worse, the man I love is firing me. Shouldn’t sleeping with the young master mean that I will be promoted? As headmaid?"

Rafael chuckled and humoured by how upset she was to be fired. "I didn’t know you enjoyed being a maid so much that you wished to continue. Your task of gathering information is over, Annalise. There is no reason for you to act as a maid when we visit the manor. I will make it known that you are to be treated as the lady of the manor."

"Oh," Annalise said, excited again. "Telling your servants to treat me as the lady of the manor will have them thinking that I might one day become Annalise Callahan."

Rafael rested his head on her shoulder to enjoy her warmth before they needed to part. "It is best they get used to what will come in the future," he answered.