[Task completed: Comprehensive Wife Care]
[Willforce +10]
Ashton looked at the notification, felt a little happy, but he quickly ignored it and continued to have his meal.
While taking every spoon, he couldn’t help but think of his last two moments of feeding Selene; her serene face and the quiet moment were nice to remember.
"I remember the last time I tried doing that."
That day ten years ago, Selene fell slightly sick and didn’t let anyone enter her room except him. To cut the long story short, he ended up feeding her soup, an action he later came to regret.
A few days later, when Selene got better, she ended up holding him down and then beating him up for treating her like a child.
"I wonder if I would get beaten in the future for today," he said while turning to look at the bedroom.
He was soon done with his meal and ready to head over to the farm for the day’s work. He didn’t have to carry any tools since all his farm equipment was in a shed on the land.
"Bye for now, Selene; I will be back before nightfall," Ashton said while closing the door.
He paid extra attention, making sure his door was locked and Selene was properly tucked in before he left.
On his way to the farm, he mostly ignored everyone he saw since they had all concluded he was crazy. There was just no point in trying to be polite.
Without any disturbance, Ashton arrived on his Small farm in no time. This was where he had spent most of his time for the past few years.
Arriving in the Morning, doing his routine inspection to spot certain areas on the farmland that needed care, and then spending the rest of the day handling it before heading back home, that was all.
And today was just like any other day; he started by walking all around the farm to see if there were any problems, and he actually spotted a few.
A part of his fence was loosening, a sign that something or someone was tampering with it.
"Those damn Bush rats better not come back here," he muttered while heading towards the shed to pick up the tools he needed to fix it.
The day’s work had started despite his injuries.
He spent about an hour fixing all the fences and made sure they were all intact before moving to weeding.
He walked between rolls of creeping potatoes and slowly plucked out unwanted plants, but he wasn’t doing it with his usual neutral face; this time his brows were furrowed, and it wasn’t because of the pain he was feeling.
’Why do I keep feeling this urge to return home?’
Since he had arrived at the farm, the thought of going back home was the only thing on his mind. The longer he stayed, the more the feeling actually intensified.
And now, it was already getting difficult for him to concentrate.
’What if something had happened to her, what if she was still hungry or thirsty?’
"Wait, did I give her any water today?’
He tried remembering, but no scene where he had given Selene water came to mind.
’She must be dehydrated at this point,’
"Another thing I have done wrong,"
[Willforce -1]
[Willforce -1]
Since he had realized the source of his problems, Ashton was ready to fix it as soon as possible. He ignored the remaining pieces of weed and just returned the tools with him into the shed, and off he went.
Compared to his usual lax pace, Ashton now had a brisk pace; he moved as fast as he could while attempting to not attract any attention.
Sadly, he still managed to do just that.
"What the hell? why is Crazy loner returning home by this time?" he heard a mocking voice coming from his side.
"Beats me; he might just be too bored from his usual and decided to spice things up a bit," someone added from the side.
"You too are too ignorant," I heard he got a package yesterday. That must be the reason," a third person pitched.
Ashton knew the three that had just spoken; at least he had always seen them around, rumor he heard was that they were stay-at-home husbands that do nothing else except drink all day.
Thanks to his fast pace, Ashton could now see his house in the distance, which acted like motivation for him to walk even faster.
’I will be there soon, Selene.’
Eventually, he arrived at his entrance, forced his key in, and rushed into the house. He didn’t stop anywhere else; he entered the kitchen first and filled a cup with clean water.
The moment he entered the room, Ashton immediately noticed Selene’s slightly furrowed eyebrow, a sign of her discomfort. He rushed beside her, placed one hand behind her head to raise it slightly, and then brought the cup closer to her open mouth.
The water slid down her throat slowly and gently; he didn’t stop until the whole cup was empty.
’Sigh’
A wave of relief flowed over him as he slowly dropped her raised head. He even watched as her furrowed eyebrows loosened up into a peaceful face.
"I am sorry," he said to her face with genuine remorse written all over his face.
[Task completed: Quench your wife’s thirst.]
[Willforce +5]
"Why am I completing tasks I can’t even see? Isn’t this damn system supposed to tell me what I am to do?"
Knock! Knock!
A knock suddenly sounded on the door, interrupting Ashton’s thoughts.
That knock felt like a strange wake-up call, forcing Ashton to try and guess who was there.
’Who would come over at this time?’
’Could those guys have returned again?’
That was the only thing he could think of; he didn’t have anyone else that knocked on his door; it was just them.
’I have to answer it,’
Despite being Unwilling, he still stood up, approached the door, and opened it. Who he saw standing there was someone he had never expected in a million years.
"Lord Marlus."