Free Web NovelChapter 32: 32. Ophelia (2).
Such an amount of wealth was no joke when Rowena realised it.
With everything that had happened so far, along with the fact that Austin had made his way into her life, Rowena couldn’t deny how everything had taken a turn for the better.
Now, thanks to him, she wouldn’t be faced with the worry of trying to generate five gold coins per month.
Moreover, if this partnership between them were to continue for a few more decades, both of them were bound to become as rich as the royal family themselves.
Rowena realised this fact and couldn’t help but breathe a heavy sigh.
She leaned forward to grab her mug of warm green tea, then gently took a sip.
Ophelia did the same, then placed her mug on the desk before saying softly.
"I don’t know how you did it or what you did exactly, but that human must have seen something in you for him to have come to you, and I can’t say enough how happy I am to see that he chose you as his business partner." Ophelia remarked, but Rowena remained silent as Ophelia continued.
"Now, thanks to him, our people have a reason to smile and a reason to believe in the future of this land."
"Thousands have been hungry and suffering for years, but now they’re seeing food, thanks to you importing more than usual." freeweɓnovel.cѳm
"I heard some of our people have been paying a visit to the store in Tarot Town as well. Is this true?" Ophelia asked.
"Yes. Legolas reported a month ago that some of our people had willingly made their way to that store just to thank Austin and his wife for all they had done for them. I’ve received a few presents from them as well over these past few weeks."
"Oh, so our people have warmed up to him, it seems."
"It seems so."
Rowena nodded with a smile, still finding it hard to believe her people had actually warmed up to a human.
For centuries, the elves had been holding a grudge against the humans who had raided their villages and homes long ago.
At the time they had hated the humans for destroying so many things, and something like that was not easy to forget.
But as centuries passed, many of those humans from that era had died and been replaced with the eight to nine generations that followed, and with each passing generation, the elves began to realise that even the humans had forgotten the cruelty of their acts.
As for why the elves had never retaliated through combat, the reason behind that was a lot deeper and need not be discussed for now.
After all, it was a long story and that wasn’t important right now.
All that mattered right now was how the elves had easily developed a soft spot for Austin, due to the fact that he had entered their lives during a period of great hunger and starvation.
By aiding in improving the life of their Countess, he had indirectly improved the lives of her people as well, because Rowena was a leader who cared very little about herself and more about her people, and there was no elf who ever saw her and didn’t take notice of this fact.
So, in a nutshell, many saw Austin as a blessing that had walked into the Countess’s life to improve theirs as well, and each elf contributed in their own little way of trying to convince him not to part ways with their beloved Countess.
There had even been recent rumours circulating among the people regarding a particular scenario.
But for now it was only a rumour and had thankfully not reached the ears of the Countess herself.
"Come to think of it.." Ophelia muttered, and Rowena was drawn to look over at her aunt.
"What is it?"
"That human, his name is Austin, right?"
"Yes."
"And you said he’s in love with a wolfkin too, right?" freewёbnoνel.com
"Yes, and right now she’s pregnant."
"Interesting. I never thought a day would come when I’d see a human impregnate a woman from a different race."
It had never been heard of, because of how different a human was from a wolfkin.
Based on their own elven history with humans, Rowena and Ophelia knew how impossible it was for a human to impregnate anyone outside of their own kind.
But now, Austin had broken down that wall of impossibility and had successfully impregnated Nora.
This would explain why it had taken Nora two full months of endless lovemaking at night before she could finally be confirmed pregnant.
And judging by how Legolas had always complained about his sleepless nights in the store, Rowena was certain Austin and Nora had always been engaged in that act every night.
"But now that I think about it, don’t you think he might be able to impregnate anyone from our kind as well?" Ophelia asked, and Rowena’s face instantly became stern.
"What are you insinuating?"
"No need to get so defensive, my dear niece. It’s just that if you think about it, for the human to have chosen you as his best choice to work with, don’t you think he might have decided on this based on a few considerations?"
"Besides, this might explain why he’s working so hard to impress you and the people who basically worship you." Ophelia stated teasingly as she grabbed her mug to take a few gulps of her green tea.
"You’re mistaken." Rowena corrected her aunt as she picked up her mug as well. "He has shown countless times how much he cares for his companion and no one else, because if he did care for someone else, he would have been seen spending time with a different girl or two, but so far all his attention has always been on that wolfkin, and it doesn’t seem like he’s interested in anyone else."
"Well, your aunt was just sharing her own little opinion, nothing else. So don’t think too much about what I just said, but you should definitely consider what your next course of action is going to be, because your agreement with him will be coming to an end in the next few days, and this happens to coincide with the time his companion will be giving birth as well. So, if you don’t give him a reason to stay, do you still believe he’ll want to remain in partnership with you?" Ophelia asked, and Rowena remained silent.
From what her aunt had asked and suggested, Rowena could find two meanings behind Ophelia’s words.
The first was that now that Austin would soon be becoming a father, his mindset would be aimed at securing a better life for not only himself and his wife, but also his future children.
In other words, if Rowena didn’t restructure the contract in favour of Austin and his family, he might reconsider making a new deal with other nobles and aristocrats willing to provide him with more wealth than the Countess ever could.
This was the main point Ophelia was trying to relay to Rowena, and she immediately understood it.
But the second reason was a bit more personal, because for decades now, Ophelia had been asking Rowena to give her a grandniece or two, so with the comment Ophelia had made earlier, she was clearly nudging Rowena to make her move and provide Ophelia with some cute little elves she could dote on.
