Chapter 443: Challenge (1)
After a day of fun, Annalise returned to her home with her friends near night to be just in time to help her mother for dinner. When she entered the home, Annalise sensed that there was something amiss because of the way her mother was acting, Rafael was nowhere in sight, and her father was now missing.
Annalise stayed behind to speak to her mother while the others went up to get out of their now dirty clothes and cleaned up.
"Mother, did Rafael come by while I was away? I did not see him all day," Annalise said, slowly walking up to her mother who was already working hard to prepare dinner.
"Rafael? He did not come by here. Why would he come here when he already knew that you would be out with your friends? Did you have fun?’ Celine asked, wanting the conversation over with so she wouldn’t let what she knew slip out of her mouth. "You should go wash up and wear something nice for dinner."
"I understand that I need to wash up, but why do I need to wear something nice for dinner? Will we be having guests? Even then what I normally wear has always been fine. Did something happen when I was not here? You are not looking at me and when I came through the door, you were quick to look away," Annalise said, now standing beside her mother. "Mother, please tell me."
"Nothing happened. I just think it would be nice if we all dressed up for dinner. I won’t have to prepare dinner for the knights because they have gathered what they need to make their own dinner. They have settled in quite well. Go get washed up, Annalise. Your clothes are full of dirt," Celine said after finally taking a good look at her daughter’s appearance.
Celine wasn’t worried before, but now that she saw how Annalise looked, there was much that needed to be done before Rafael would soon arrive. She knew that she should have gone to look for Annalise and bring her home to get dressed for dinner, but then that would have been suspicious.
"Something is happening, but I won’t get to hear it from you. I am going to get washed up," Annalise said, giving up for now.
There was a greater need for her to get washed up than to find out what her mother and the others were doing.