Nora’s tail continued to sway in a lazy, steady rhythm behind her, and every now and then a soft pleasing moan would escape her lips as Austin found a particularly satisfying spot to press on.

This caused Nora’s fingers to curl gently in her lap, as her expression melted into one of pure happiness.

She was so happy right now that even Austin couldn’t help but grin while stealing glances at her face every few seconds.

By the time Austin had finished with both of her feet, he gently moved up to her calves.

By now, Nora had gone almost completely limp in her chair, her head was even tipping back slightly as her breathing grew slower and more relaxed.

Seeing this, Austin couldn’t help but ask. "How do you feel?"

"Mm~" A cute moan was all she could manage in response, but Austin took that as a really good sign.

Despite not being a pro at giving massages, he was genuinely happy to see these kinds of reactions from Nora.

"I’ll take that as a ten out of ten then." Austin smiled as he continued.

Meanwhile, Nora’s opinion differed, because to her it was certainly a hundred out of a hundred, and she simply melted into the chair as Austin laughed softly, giving each of her ankles a gentle squeeze before lowering her feet carefully to the floor.

However, just as the warm and quiet atmosphere of the room was settling around them, and Austin was pondering whether to give his wife a shoulder and possibly a back massage, something totally unexpected occurred.

*Knock* *Knock*

A knock sounded at the door.

Noticing this, Austin’s smile slightly turned into a frown as he called out.

"Come in."

Though he wasn’t happy about the interruption, but since the person at the door could be Rowena, he decided to at least welcome her in.

After all, this wasn’t his own mansion, so he couldn’t simply ask the owner to give him thirty more minutes until he had finished pampering his wife. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Anyways, Austin simply focused on what he was doing, which was holding Nora’s ankle gently while awaiting whoever was stepping into the room.

To his surprise, it wasn’t Rowena who entered, but a maid, who immediately froze the moment her eyes landed on what was happening in front of her.

As a shy young elf in the mansion, she had never seen a man kneeling on the floor with his wife’s feet cradled in his hands.

She could even see that Nora’s dress hem had been pulled back just enough to reveal a generous portion of her calves and thighs as she sat relaxed and flushed on the cushioned chair.

Seeing all of this instantly made the shy elf’s face turn red with embarrassment, and she immediately dropped her gaze to the floor, realising she might have intruded on something intimate.

"F-forgive the interruption, Sir Austin." She managed to say before continuing.

"Y-you have guests waiting downstairs, Sir Austin."

"Guests?"

"Yes, sir, and they’re waiting for you." The maid explained, and Austin nodded in response.

"Thank you. I’ll be down shortly."

Hearing this, the maid bowed deeply, perhaps a little more deeply than strictly necessary, before retreating from the room with impressive speed.

Within seconds, she had swiftly pulled the door shut behind her, and the moment the latch clicked, Nora opened one eye.

"Hmm? You’ll be heading out?"

"It seems so."

"Aww~" Nora pouted cutely, and Austin simply smiled before leaning forward to press a warm kiss to her lips.

"I’ll be back soon, okay?"

Hearing this, Nora nodded and her expression settled back into a smile. "Okay, hubby. I have to feed Luna anyway, so take your time. We’ll be waiting for you."

Austin glanced over at the cradle where Luna was beginning to stir, then back at his wife, and he couldn’t help but linger for a moment on the image of the two of them together in the warm morning light.

The thought stayed with him for just a second before he shook his head and straightened his clothes.

Then he squeezed Nora’s hand once, planted a kiss on it, and stepped out of the room.

Time passed, and Austin stepped into the sitting room downstairs, but the moment he arrived, he instantly noticed two figures rising from their seats as they sensed his presence.

The first was Legolas, who looked far less like the walking zombie Austin had grown used to seeing and far more like an agile, youthful elf.

Next to him stood Commander Aldren, the dark elf stared at Austin with a look of relief on his face.

Legolas, on the other hand, was the first to approach Austin with a look of relief and happiness etched on his face.

He hurried across the room to grab hold of Austin’s hands before saying. "You’re awake. You’re really awake!!"

"Yeah, these human bones of mine are made of steel." Austin tried to joke, but Legolas could only smile faintly.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you standing right now. After that worm swallowed you whole, I feared the Countess was going to have my head, so I chased after that thing through the tunnel it had dug. It was so dark down there, but I kept running. It was too fast though, and I lost it, and I thought I would never...." Legolas swallowed his words, regretting that he had ever thought Austin was dead.

Meanwhile, Austin realised what his elf friend was about to say, so he smiled softly before saying. "I’m fine, Legolas, truly, and I heard you worked really hard trying to find me. Thank you for that."

Legolas immediately waved his words off, because what was the point in trying so hard to find him, only to fail in the end?

Austin noticed the troubled look on his friend’s face and he placed a hand on Legolas’s shoulder.

"I understand you missed me a lot, so I’ll take it that you’re missing me this much because you can’t wait to work hard for me again, but don’t worry, I won’t disappoint you. I’ll be working you to the bone now that I’m back." Austin announced with a sinister smile, and this only made a vein pop up on Legolas’s forehead.