The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 304: Second chance (1)

"I know you are still angry with me, but just let me help you. Are you aware that you are bleeding? Let me help," Annalise said, trying to reason with a stubborn Rafael.

She watched him walk on his own into the cave she found, still holding his side. Annalise walked behind him to be ready to help if he lost his balance. She said she would be patient with him forgiving her, but he was wounded right now. Now was not the time to be turning her away.

"I’m sorry that my father attacked you. He has a little bit of a temper and it grows when people like you step foot on our land. Also, he might have found out about us. He’s probably worried about me being used," Annalise explained her father’s actions.

It was expected because of the dirty talk that came out of border guards’ mouths in regard to women. If her father didn’t react the way he did, it almost would not be normal in her eyes.

Annalise was angry her father attacked Rafael when it was obvious he was trying to help them, but she understood her father’s anger. His concern was why she didn’t want to tell him yet and now she thought of who let it slip to her father.

Celeste, Celine, and Thomas all needed to have a good excuse.

"If only he knew that his daughter was the one to welcome me to touch her. You didn’t need to take me away. I could have ridden back to my knights-"

"And yet, you were silent during the long ride here. Take off your armour so I can try to tend to your wound. We need to stop the bleeding," Annalise said, stooping down in front of where Rafael sat on a rock. "I don’t think he pushed it too far in."

Rafael focused on Annalise, watching how her hands trembled and she fidgeted as she tried to get a good look at where he was hurt. Of course, her father would try to kill him. It fit the current predicament they were in. "This might have been avoided had you told him."

"Are we really doing this again? If I told my father, I wouldn’t have been able to meet you today. Then the two of you would have been fighting right now, looking to kill each other and not realising how important you two are to me. After this, I need to ride back to make sure my father is safe, and I will try to bring your knights to you," said Annalise.

Annalise moved back to give Rafael the space he seemed to need to take off his armour. "Please take off your armour before I use force to take it off for you. We don’t have a lot of time here. They could be slaughtering each other now."

The two of them couldn’t stay away for long since they were the voices of reason in all of this.

Rafael started to remove his helmet and chest plate before she could add more pain to him. He kept sneaking glances at her, watching her take off the helmet he gifted her, and shaking out her hair.

"Why are you staring at me? Think I’m pretty?" Annalise asked with a smile at the end. "Armour makes everyone look much better. I was lucky to have found armour belonging to some dead guards from the border that fit me. It doesn’t look as bad as I was thinking at first," she said, staring at his wound that was clear to see now.

"It looks like his sword did stab you a little, but your armour breaking cut you," Annalise said, inching closer to Rafael.

Rafael set his armour and the shirt he wore under the armour to the side.

"My head is spinning," Rafael said, putting his hand on the rock he sat on to keep himself balanced. His body was getting weaker. "Was there poison on his sword?"

"My father normally does not resort to putting poison on his weapons. He saves it for others, but just in case he changed his mind today, I have the answer," Annalise said, fishing around her armour for where she placed a small bottle. "In case we get wounded by our own weapons, we have the antidote on us. Aren’t we smart? I think it fell out of where I placed it."

Rafael quietly watched Annalise stand to do a weird dance to find the bottle she spoke of. "I’m failing to see how smart you are," he commented.

"I can hear it moving around. I had no plans to use it, so I didn’t properly place it inside like everyone else did. Give me a moment," Annalise said, deciding to take off her armour. "I still think it’s unlikely my father’s weapon poisoned you. You would be dropping dead right about now. Maybe the pain you are feeling is from you resisting being with me now."

"That is unlikely," Rafael answered.

"Fine, then it’s simply that your body is hurting from the wound. You are just a normal human like everyone else. Since no one hurts you often, your body must be shocked by the unfamiliar feeling of pain. There it is," Annakise said, bending down to pick up the bottle which fell from her as soon as she took off her chest plate.

She picked it up and removed the cover of the small bottle no bigger than her thumb.

Annalise held out the bottle for Rafael to take. "It’s not the best-tasting antidote. Try not to let any of it spill. I don’t have another bottle and it would be a long ride to get to my mother for another one."

"Why am I not surprised that your mother has some sort of involvement with poison?" Rafael asked and then placed the opening of the bottle to his lips to drink whatever was inside.

While Rafael was busy drinking the antidote, Annalise ripped up his shirt to use it to press the wound to help stop the blood from flowing out, and then she used the rest of his shirt to bandage him up until she found someone who could properly treat him.

"Are you really going to be upset with me for a long time? You are drinking that without any concern. You do trust me unless you are waiting for your body to not hurt to attempt to kill me? I don’t think I betrayed you that much for you to want to kill me. It is good to see that you trust me even if it is not a lot," said Annalise, knowing he still trusted her because he drank what she gave him without thinking it might be poison.

Annalise looked away from the bloody mess she was taking care of to Rafael putting down the bottle. "It is going to take a while to wrap you up, so do you have any questions for me? I will be honest. My hand is shaking too much," she muttered, trying to calm herself.

His wound wasn’t bad enough for him to die. Rafael was going to be fine but seeing him bleeding and then him thinking there was poison worried her.

"Do you really love me?" Rafael questioned.

"I lied to my father to see and ran off when I finally got the chance to lead my people. Yes, I do love you. That’s why it has been bothering me so much that I didn’t tell you the truth. I have never been so afraid like I was thinking of how you would look at me when you find out. Wouldn’t it hurt you to imagine me looking at you like you were the vilest thing in this world?" Annalise asked.

She never had so many negative thoughts until she had feelings for him.

"It wasn’t just you. I thought all the friends I made in the manor would treat me differently even though they got to know me and claimed to like me. I’m really sorry I couldn’t bring myself to tell you the truth, especially during the times you expressed your feelings for me. I can’t go back in time so I just have to wait for you to not be angry," Annalise said as she finished up wrapping his shirt around him. "We need to find you a needle, string, and a good doctor."

Rafael stared at Annalise. He was still hurt by her fooling him, but he could not stay angry with her when it was obvious she put everything on the line to make things right. Riding off with him in the middle of a fight might have her in serious trouble when she returned to her father.

"If you promise to be honest from this point on, I can forgive you," Rafael replied.