The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 323: Puppet (1)

Rafael parted ways with Annalise right after their talk of her no longer being a maid so that she would return home before the sun officially set and the land would be dark. Rafael was not as familiar with the land as Annalise was so he also needed to leave quickly to find the path he was learning to use.

On his way back, Rafael came across guards walking around adding fire to lanterns on posts so they could see who was trying to approach the camp. He heard his name being called to sound his arrival and give him entry into the camp without being attacked.

Rafael rode inside the gates of the camp and went straight to where his knights were. He passed guards who were looking at him, some curious about what he went to do and some wanting answers to when they were going back out to fight.

Since the guards had been hellbent on avenging Martin, they were not made aware of the truce yet.

"Good to see you back in one piece," Christian said, coming out of his tent to greet Rafael. He figured the only person riding around on a horse near his tent had to be Rafael. "I feared your father-in-law would try to kill you again. No Annalise?" He asked, looking around for her.

Christian was surprised to see Rafael returned. He made a bet with Michael that Rafael would not be returning tonight. Now he had to give Michael of all people money.

"He can’t bring a woman here. Well, other than the women among the knights. It would be unfair for him to walk around with Annalise when we are here to work," said Logan. He had been waiting around Rafael’s tent for when he would return. "I don’t want to be jealous of him getting to spend time with a woman."

"I would be jealous if that woman was not Annalise. We had to deal with a bit of noise while you were away. For the most part, many of the guards have changed their minds about going out to avenge Martin. Percy was the one to sway them by speaking of how they could save themselves from dying for a man who is already dead. A man they didn’t really like," Christian said, informing Rafael of what he missed.

Christian had a plan in mind to deal with the idiots requesting they go out to fight, but another knight Percy used fear to silence them. Christian liked his idea better but watching Percy paint a vivid picture in their heads of how they could die if they engaged in a battle was something he thoroughly enjoyed.

They made sure to mention that the guards would be at the front needing to avoid the poisonous weapons their enemies used. It was also brought up if Martin would have looked to avenge any of them killed in battle.

There was silence among the guards as they remembered the words from Martin when many of their peers had fallen. Sometimes the bodies were left where the men had died even if they could be retrieved and if the bodies were retrieved, they were not given a proper send-off.

Christian noticed that many of the guards were just following what those with higher ranks were spouting. Men who disliked Rafael for reasons Christian was yet to understand. He narrowed it down to there being an issue that Rafael was friends with the king and saw to be given special treatment or they did not like that Rafael refused to come to the border whenever they requested him.

Rafael got off his horse and took off his helmet. Rather than call it a night and get ready for bed, he wanted to deal with this headache now so Phillip would allow Annalise to leave. "Gather the men still wanting to pick a fight," he ordered Christian.

"We don’t have to," Christian replied, looking at a small group of guards making their way to where Rafael stood. Christian moved from the front of his tent to stand before Rafael to block the guards from getting to him.

He was itching for a moment to use his fists to knock out a few teeth belonging to the men who didn’t know when to shut up and it seemed now, the time had come. Christian found them to be even more foolish to storm over to where Rafael stood with an expression like they were walking to kill him when they were surrounded by knights.

"Rafael!" Joel, the new captain replacing Martin yelled. "I need to speak with you. Get out of my way," he said to Christian. He was tired of the knights acting like guard dogs for Rafael. "If he is so talented as the rumours say, why does he need you to protect him?"

"He doesn’t, but I would rather he would not waste his time on someone like you. Besides, we would have to be fools to let you approach our commander when it looks like you are ready to fight," Christian said, folding his arms to show that he was not going anywhere unless someone moved him.

What the guards failed to understand when it came to why the knights acted this way when someone was looking for trouble with one of them was that they had grown to be more of a family. If you wanted to mess with one you had to deal with all of them coming at you.

Before a fight could start, Rafael stood beside Christian. For once, he wasn’t annoyed by the guards seeking him out since Joel’s arrival would help him deal with ending the guards wanting to fight faster.

"Your knights are always ready to pick a fight-"

"Says the man who joined in giving us a cold welcome. You were not pleased to have us here after requesting the king send us to help you. Your men have been saying a whole lot of shit, trying to pick fights to see if they are better than my knights. You don’t have a reason to complain when my knights have been giving you the same behaviour they have received," Rafael said, putting an end to Joel’s complaint before they could start. "I’ll say it one last time. We are not avenging Martin."

Joel clenched his fists and turned around to look at his peers who were pressuring him to continue this. Martin’s father had connections in the palace and if he learned they had not tried to kill who took Martin’s life, they were all screwed.

They all didn’t have friends in high places and those with families who worked in the palace did not want to be the reason Martin’s father cut ties with their fathers.

Joel had a card to play against Rafael to have him help get them out of this position. Joel took a step forward to Rafael, ignoring Christian. "We all saw that you rode off with a woman none of us know and you returned with her. Then you disappear after some meeting with the leader. Tell me, what would happen if everyone were to learn you were charmed by one of those women?"

Rafael didn’t respond to Joel since he didn’t care what would be said about him and Annalise. It was true that he liked her. True that he met with Phillip. What about those two facts being said by others would make him bothered?

After not getting a reaction out of Rafael, Joel decided to push further. "Think of what will be said when the people of our kingdom hear you stopped a fight with our enemy for a woman. Do you really want all of your great victory stories to be replaced by that? Honestly, I have spotted a few beauties over there, but like everyone else, I am waiting for when they might be turned into slaves."

Christian shook his head at Joel’s stupidity and slowly inched to the right to get away from Rafael to give him some space. He knew what was coming after spending years around Rafael. Rafael was normally calm and unbothered, but there were moments when he would lose his temper and attack to the point of taking someone’s life.

"I don’t know how it happened. Maybe she’s a good fuck but she isn’t worth it- You!"Joel gasped, startled by Rafael grabbing his throat. Instinctively, his hands moved to try ripping Rafael’s hands off of him. He struggled because of Rafael’s grip. "Are you crazy? Over a barbarian woman?"