The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 319: Family dinner (5)

"I hope you are strong enough as you look to handle any child like this one," Celeste said, looking at Annalise. "The number of times I almost lost her. Thankfully she knew her way back home."

"What?" Celine questioned, hearing this for the first time.

"Don’t act all surprised. You once told me that you lost Annalise and asked me to hide it from Phillip. It ended up that Annalise was up in a tree trying to figure out how far she could climb. As I said, I hope you can handle it or maybe you made your parents worried too," said Celeste.

"I don’t remember causing my mother to worry other than the time she learned I wanted to be a knight like my father or when she thought I wouldn’t have friends. My mother was still getting used to taking care of a home without servants so I didn’t want to add to her stress," Rafael answered.

He had always liked to stay away from people unless he really enjoyed their company and because he was a little bit taller than the boys his age none of them tried to pick on him to his face so his mother never had to stop a fight or listen to complaints from parents.

There were things said behind his back by children repeating gossip they overheard from their parents, but that did not bother him. He ignored it to not have his mother worrying about him getting into fights.

"It would have been nice had Annalise been a quiet child. I don’t know how much you know about her ways. I would love for her to just sit down and not pick up weapons like her father. I hope you won’t find it odd that she has a habit of wearing pants since she hates dresses. I had a lot more pants and shirts made for her than dresses when she was a child," said Celine, remembering the state of the few dresses Annalise had.

After Annalise constantly returned home with her dress torn at the bottom because Annalise was running and her dress got stuck on something so she pulled on it, Celine switched to pants.

Celine had some knowledge about places like Lockwood and how the people dress thanks to listening to what was brought back to Phillip. Annalise would certainly toss out any dresses she had to wear pants and then she would bring attention to herself.

Celine was all for being comfortable, but she loved dresses more than pants. She was considering asking Annalise to bring home a dress from one of the towns she would have to pass through with Rafael to see how it would look on her.

"I don’t mind if she wants to wear pants. I also know about her love of wearing armour," Rafael replied. Annalise wanting to wear pants over dresses fit the person she was. If that’s what she wanted, he wouldn’t say anything about it. The way she was different from everyone else was something he liked about her.

"Isn’t he charming? As much as I love to wear pants, I wouldn’t wear them away from home to give others something to talk about. I plan to be mindful of the things I do so you don’t have to hear foolish gossip," Annalise said, looking to her left at Rafael. "Normally I don’t mind what others say, but I don’t want to give them something to taunt you with. I will only wear pants inside the manor."

When it is revealed who she is, many would distance themselves from Rafael and question his judgement in choosing to be with her. Annalise wasn’t worried about what would be said about her, but there was something that upset her when she thought of Rafael having to bear what would be said about him.

Celine brought the last dish to the table with Phillip walking behind her with jugs full of water and juice. "When did you get this mature, Annalise? I would have liked to be around when this change happened."

With what little Celine saw from Rafael, there was no reason to be against the relationship. He wasn’t aware of who Annalise was when she worked for him and fell for her. Rafael also had Annalise thinking more about how her actions affected someone else. Seeing the two interact, Celine realised how they came to like each other.

If only she could get Phillip to stop being so sour about Annalise moving on to start a new Chapter in her life.

Celine sat down on the opposite side of the table right in front of Rafael. It was better for her here so Phillip couldn’t kick Rafael under the table and act like he didn’t do it. "So, how will your parents react to Annalise being from here? I don’t want my daughter to be looked down on by her in-laws."

"In-laws? Mother, we are not getting married. I didn’t mean never," Annalise added after Rafael looked her way. "Eventually, in the future. We’re both not in a rush to get married like everyone else is. If you haven’t noticed, life isn’t over if we don’t get married in the next year or so."

"More than a year? The two of you will be staying together when you visit each other, but you won’t get married during that time? Honestly, you two are making such a big commitment to travel to see each other and use your relationship to convince the king there can be peace. I don’t see why marriage isn’t in the near future, but I can wait," Celine said, distracting herself by starting to put food on her plate.

Annalise leaned over to Rafael to whisper, "Do you see the resemblance between her and your mother now? She is also marriage crazy but it has more to do with her wanting to see me get dressed up."

"I can wait. I had already made up my mind that you wouldn’t get married unless it would be with Thomas. Oh!" Celine covered her mouth. "Forget what I said, Rafael."

"Why? I was also starting to think Thomas might join the family. I’ve already forgiven him for leaving with Annalise and since he might have been the one to leave me the note, I still think he is a good choice. The poor soul has been in love with you for years and has to watch you be with an outsider," Phillip said.

Celine placed her hand on Phillip’s lap under the table and gave it a squeeze. She was close to considering becoming a widow since her husband was acting a fool. It was partially her fault for bringing up Thomas and not thinking of how Phillip would try to make Rafael jealous.

"It cannot be helped that Thomas never made any effort to court me. I don’t want to hear about who anyone thinks I should be with when I am with Rafael. Father, I am really close to borrowing something from grandmother that will have you sleeping while we enjoy dinner. You said you were going to try for me," Annalise said, hoping her reminder would have her father stop.

"He can’t help it. Your father is a petty stubborn man. That he inherited from his father. I would love it if as you all argue, you pass the food around so I can eat. I didn’t just come here to meet Rafael. I want food," Celeste said, over the small arguments and ready for food. "I would also like to add that I have a small bottle with me and I don’t mind using what is in it to make any one of you sleep."

"You can all start picking out what you want. I won’t stop you from eating. Phillip," Celine said, turning to her husband. "Stop it. She is getting frustrated with you again and it won’t be long before she storms out of here. She is not our little girl anymore. You were just thinking of passing on the position of leader to her. You need to get used to her interest in him."

Phillip felt an ache in his chest whenever he tried to think of this all being normal. He focused on Annalise who was frustrated as Celine said, but then she turned to Rafael and smiled at whatever he said. It even hurt to watch Rafael putting food on Annalise’s plate.

To end his purposeful picking at Rafael and trying to separate the two, Phillip picked up a plate with vegetables and held it out to Rafael.

Rafael looked away from Annalise, surprised by the gesture from Phillip, but accepted the plate. It came off as a sign that there would be peace from this point on.

Rafael had to start pulling on the plate to get it out of Phillip’s hands since Phillip forgot to let go. Rafael watched Celine’s hand move and not long after, Phillip let go of the plate.

"Enjoy the food," Phillip mumbled. He would save his complaints for when he was alone in bed with Celine.