Meanwhile, Rowena stood still in front of her window, finding it hard to decide what to do.

For the past five days, Rowena had spent every long day worrying about Austin.

She would even visit his room every night to check on him, wondering if he would ever wake up again.

But now that he was standing before her in her study, looking completely healthy with his usual smug smile on his face, Rowena couldn’t help but feel really happy right now.

Of course, she tried to maintain her usual calm and dignified expression, as was expected of a Countess, but unlike before, it was difficult to do so right now.

She couldn’t help but smile at him.

However, she still hadn’t moved to hug him.

"What’s the hold-up, my friend? Don’t you miss me?" Austin asked smugly while his arms were still spread wide open.

"I-I do." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Then come give your friend a hug, silly."

Rowena took a step forward but paused as she felt a warm sensation rushing up to her chest.

For a moment she genuinely wanted to move closer and hug him tightly, but the fact remained that even if he was her friend, she was still a Countess.

And she had always conducted herself as one, so to suddenly become affectionate enough to hug someone felt a little out of place for her.

In fact, it felt foreign, because the last person she had hugged was her late father, and that was centuries ago when she was still a little girl.

So to suddenly hug someone else felt a bit awkward, especially since she wasn’t a little girl anymore.

And so, Rowena sighed softly as she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart.

She was a Countess, and conducting herself as a respectable figure had been what she had been doing her whole life, so a hug shouldn’t be something she placed great importance on.

Yes, Austin was her friend, but it wouldn’t hurt anyone for her to maintain her calm and composed demeanour.

And so, Rowena smiled as she said softly, trying to pretend she hadn’t heard his request for a hug. "I... I am glad you are well again, Sir Austin."

"Really? So you’re not going to give me a hug? I was unconscious for five days and I didn’t get to see my beautiful friend. Now she’s standing right in front of me and yet she doesn’t want to hug me."

*Sighs* Austin sighed softly with a sad look on his face. "What a silly friend I have. Too bad she doesn’t miss me as much as I miss her." Austin teasingly uttered, still maintaining his arms spread wide.

Of course, his words struck a chord with Rowena, and now she felt like a bad friend who didn’t care about him.

But since she truly cared about him, Rowena didn’t want to seem like a bad friend, and she didn’t want to do anything that might make Austin grow distant with her, so she decided it would be better to make him happy.

After all, he had clearly missed her and she had missed him too, so a hug would do them both good right now.

And so, with this thought in mind, Rowena stepped straight into his open arms.

Seeing this, a huge grin appeared on Austin’s lips, and he gently wrapped his arms around her as he muttered softly. "Now, was that so hard, my silly friend?"

"Yes, it was." Rowena replied honestly as she relaxed against his chest.

For the past five days, she had blamed herself deeply for agreeing to Austin’s desire to join the goblin extermination.

If she had prevented him from going, Rowena knew nothing bad would have happened to him.

However, since it did, it had made her really unhappy these past few days.

But now that he was well again, Rowena couldn’t help but feel a huge wave of relief wash over her knowing that he was in good health.

And so, she closed her eyes and let out a long tired breath, because she hadn’t expected Austin’s hug to be nearly as therapeutic as it turned out to feel.

"You’re really something else, aren’t you?" Rowena muttered softly, still wrapped in his arms.

"What do you mean?"

"Calling a Countess silly. I’ve never heard anyone say that to me before."

"Well, that’s because they’re not your friend. I am."

"Yes, you really are different."

"Not different, just unique."

"It’s still the same thing." Rowena rolled her eyes with a smile on her face.

The two remained like that for a while until she spoke up. "I’m glad you’re okay. Have you seen Nora already? She’s been worried sick."

"Yeah, I have, and I’m sorry for worrying you both."

"It’s fine. I’m just glad to see you’re okay again." She replied and hugged him gently. "This is nice."

"You like it, huh. Well, if you want, your good friend would be happy to give you a hug every single day."

"You don’t have to do that."

"But what if I want to?"

"Then I won’t stop you.... Just promise not to do it in front of others."

"Oh, so it’s embarrassing to be seen as my friend in front of others."

"That’s not what I...."

"I know, I was just teasing you." Austin muttered softly, and Rowena couldn’t help but smile, realising she had been initially right, because only a friend could lift her previously sour mood, and Austin had just done exactly that.

And so, with that out of the way, Austin pulled back to ask.

"So what did I miss these past five days?"

"Well, a lot happened while you were unconscious. For starters, a lot of my people came here to thank you, and they kept coming back for three days straight."

"Um, why? I don’t think I did anything that deserved thanks."

"Well, you helped exterminate the goblins, didn’t you?"

"Hmm, that’s true, but was that why they came all the way here to thank me?"

"Oh, that wasn’t the only reason they came."

"Then what other reason was there?"

"Well, thanks to you, the poisonous air in Blacksand Forest is gone. The soil isn’t completely healed yet, but thanks to you, we won’t have to worry about elves going missing or dying in that forest anymore."