That night, the mansion was quiet, but when looking outside, one could see how clear the sky was.

The sky was also filled with stars, and the air outside was filled with a cold breeze that made the night feel extremely comfortable.

Meanwhile, outside in this soothing atmosphere, Austin and Rowena could be seen lying side by side on a mat that had been laid out in the quieter part of the mansion’s garden.

They were currently close enough to the hedges that the breeze easily passed gently over them without being too intense.

And right now, neither of them said anything as they stayed close to each other, feeling their shoulders pressed against the other as they stared up at the sky together.

Both remained silent until Rowena spoke first.

"Austin?"

"Yeah?"

"I spoke to Nora earlier today," she said softly.

"Yeah, I heard. She told me."

"She did? Wow, is there anything she doesn’t tell you?"

"Well, she’s going to be my wife, so it’s expected of us to have this kind of relationship."

"I see."

"We could be like that too, you know? Well, if you want it, that is."

"Of course I do. I was just worried Nora wouldn’t be too happy about it, so I had to have a talk with her, and to my surprise, she genuinely wanted us to get married. You and her are so weird."

"Yeah, we are, all three of us."

Rowena smiled as she stared at the stars. "I guess you’re right about that."

"Of course I am, and the three of us are certainly going to be happy together."

"You really think so?"

"I do."

Hearing this, Rowena smiled and cuddled even closer to him.

Silence reigned between them once more, but Rowena suddenly called out to Austin, saying,

"Austin, I was worried about this before because I was afraid of what would happen if you....." Rowena stopped talking mid-sentence because Austin gently lifted her chin with his fingers so that she would be looking at him instead of the sky.

The moment their eyes met, Austin said quietly with a smile on his face.

"Everything will be alright, Rowena. There is nothing for you to worry about. Whatever it is that’s sitting in your chest right now, and whatever it is you’re trying to say, I want you to know that we will always be together, and that’s not something I’m going to let change."

Hearing this, Rowena looked at him for a long moment, but then Austin leaned closer before pressing his lips against hers.

This caused Rowena to close her eyes as she felt his lips pressed against hers, but she didn’t stop him, and neither did she pull away.

Instead, she kissed him back as well, and when it finally ended, they both slowly pulled away.

Rowena gently leaned back because her ears had gone completely red, and she still couldn’t believe what had just happened.

She blinked once and then twice before standing up and straightening her dress with as much composure as she could try to muster, but that was incredibly difficult because her mind kept replaying the sensation of having his lips pressed against hers.

It felt strange, but above all else, it felt truly amazing.

"I think I’ll be retiring to bed first." Rowena excused herself, and Austin could understand how the Countess felt, so he decided to let her go before making things even more awkward for her.

"Goodnight," Austin said as he watched her with a smile, and Rowena replied back as well.

"G-goodnight."

The countess turned around, and Austin watched her walking toward the mansion at a pace that was slightly faster than necessary.

Of course, Austin found this funny, so he simply smiled as he watched her leaving until she disappeared through the doorway.

Seeing this, Austin’s smile instantly faded into a frown.

Then he turned back to the sky and let out a quiet exhale.

Looking back on what Rowena was about to say, he already knew what was troubling her.

Of course, he hadn’t needed her to say it out loud because the answer had been sitting there between them from the very beginning.

She was an elf and he was human.

Everyone knows elves lived for thousands of years whilst humans lived for a hundred if they were lucky.

So it was a simple fact, but even something as simple as that could also be hurtful if you pondered the bad things more than the good things.

It’s the reason why he had initially thought it could never happen between them, but the more he lived in this world, the more he began to truly believe something could really be done about it.

And so, Austin stared up at the stars for a moment longer.

Then he sighed softly to himself before pushing the thought aside so that it wouldn’t settle too deeply into his chest.

Anyway, with that gone, Austin stood up from the mat.

Then he brushed himself off and turned toward the mansion.

There was absolutely no point standing out here in the cold thinking about things he couldn’t change tonight, so it was better to redirect his attention toward something worth thinking about, or more precisely, worth cuddling with in the night.

After all, his future wife was inside waiting for him, so it was better to be in her warm embrace than to be out here in the cold.

And so, with that out of the way, Austin returned inside.

****

Several months passed, and right now the sun was high in the sky, but Rowena could be seen sitting at her desk with a fresh pot of ink beside her and a neat stack of rolled parchment waiting for her on her left.

In front of her was also an opened scroll which was already half filled with her careful and precise handwriting.

She had been at this since early morning, and the stack had gone down considerably since then.

She reached for the next blank scroll before dipping her quill in ink, but just when she was about to begin writing on the scroll, her study door suddenly opened softly in front of her.