Chapter 3 Your Past and Mine

On December 26, after Oswald issued a lord’s decree, Ice City’s large-scale reconstruction began.

According to the lord’s guiding principle of breaking everything down before rebuilding it anew, the city was divided into five major districts: the Ducal Estate, which served as the political center, as well as the residential district, commercial district, industrial district, and military district.

Once the divisions were complete, Oswald personally carried a hoe and led the disaster victims in digging something novel called a sewer system.

For a time, the city became extraordinarily lively. Construction sites were everywhere, and even the wind and snow seemed to pause for several days under the force of that bustling atmosphere.

At the same time that the Marquis Estate’s assets were being spent by Oswald like running water, the atmosphere inside the Marquis Estate remained as cold and quiet as ever, unlike the clamor outside.

Behind tightly shut doors, a silver-haired girl sat by the window, watching the construction scene not far away. She gripped the gemstone on her necklace tightly, her expression indifferent as she said nothing.

Oswald’s fiancée, Annie, was far less calm than she appeared at this moment.

She had returned.

She had returned to six years ago...

She did not know exactly what had happened, but she had a wild guess.

When she loosened her small hand, the gemstone was still glowing, proving that its miraculous power had yet to fade.

Someone must have used a Wishing Star! Otherwise, there was no way to explain the current situation!

Aside from her, the owner of a Wishing Star, almost everyone, including her family, had no memories of the future.

She knew that under those dangerous circumstances, someone would definitely use a Wishing Star. After all, even she had hesitated. But she had never expected that person’s wish to be a return to the past!

But what could they do after returning? What could they change? Last time, they had proven one thing at an agonizing price—the duke’s death meant the collapse of the North!

Who could have imagined that maid would possess such powerful influence? Who could have imagined that the people of the Northern Territory would be so loyal to that treasonous tyrant?

First, the Northern Army abandoned the passes and allowed the demon army to march south. Immediately afterward, Eileen stirred up a rebellion across the entire Northern Territory, joined forces with the Northern Army, and ignited war on every front.

The emperor’s army came in haste, yet beneath Ice City’s walls, it successfully detonated a three-sided grand battle rarely seen in the world, gathering nearly six hundred thousand soldiers!

In that battle, the sky darkened and the earth dimmed. Beneath her feet ran rivers of blood and severed limbs. Before her, countless blades clashed against iron armor. The earth trembled, while multicolored spells flew back and forth through the heavy snow in the sky, never ceasing by day or night.

The scythe of the Grim Reaper never stopped swinging. The demon army, the Northern Army, and the Central Army fell in waves like wheat before a sickle.

The Hero’s party? It had long since been scattered!

The only fortunate thing was that before the war entered its most intense phase and the situation collapsed even further, someone had decisively used a Wishing Star.

During the war, Annie had once captured a resident of the North and asked him why he had rebelled. After all, she was also from a marquis family of the Northern Territory. Once the duke died, she would naturally uphold justice for them.

Unexpectedly, that young man glared at her viciously the entire time. Gritting his teeth, tears of blood streamed down his face as he said, “When I was about to starve to death, it was the duke who gave me a mouthful of food. When I was about to die of illness, it was the duke who gave me a bowl of medicine. When I started a family, the duke allocated land to me. When I started a business, the duke gave me interest-free rent. When I was bullied by nobles like you, it was also the duke who established a court and truly upheld justice for me!”

“There’s no need for you to put on that hypocritical act here. Today, only by dying can I repay the duke’s kindness!”

After saying that, he actually broke free from his restraints, his eyes bulging with rage as he suddenly lunged at Annie. In the end, the panicked soldiers hacked him to death with a flurry of blades.

Annie stared blankly at the mangled corpse for a long time. Only one thought kept circling in her mind.

We were wrong. We were all wrong...

But what should they do this time? To be honest, it had already been absurd that the foolish plan had even been carried out last time.

Both sides had deployed their elites. The Northern cavalry had been annihilated. Oswald had died in battle... It was as if everything had been arranged by someone, unfolding so smoothly that it made one’s heart tremble.

Trying the same trick again was impossible. Supporting Oswald was also a dead end. Compared to fighting the demon army, he wanted even more to march south and swallow the entire kingdom. Then he would turn around and decide victory or defeat against the Demon King.

Annie, trapped between two dead ends, felt as if all her brain cells were about to die, yet she still could not think of a secure plan.

Not to mention, she currently had no personal freedom. Just like last time, Oswald had placed the entire marquis’ family under house arrest.

Could she rely on her beauty? But Oswald had never paid any attention to her, his fiancée. Not to mention, beside Oswald was a certain maid whose appearance was not inferior to hers, and in the previous life, she had never heard of any scandal between them.

As for the Wishing Star... something capable of defying the heavens and changing fate should not be used on such a small matter.

Annie slowly closed her eyes. Right now, the only people she could count on were the other girls around the Hero who also possessed Wishing Stars. If they had retained their memories as well, they would probably come to save her...

After more than a month, Ice City’s main sewer lines were successfully completed. Adhering to the policy of using work as relief, Oswald, who had also been exhausted for many days, immediately sent the disaster victims to repair and reinforce the city walls without stopping.

It did not matter if they were a little tired. The main point was that they had to have more money in their hands, enough to support themselves until this year’s autumn harvest.

Sitting down on the top of the wall, Oswald looked out at the wind and snow in the distance. With a crude handmade cigarette between his lips and his whole body covered in gray dust, he began thinking about his plans for the future.

Spring had already appeared in corners where no one could see it. It had even rained yesterday. It was now February. In less than a month, he would need to organize the spring plowing.

By then, the disaster victims would all return to their own homes, but Oswald still wanted to keep some people behind to work, perhaps to mine iron and start a steel enterprise or something of the sort.

Unfortunately, while he had no shortage of people under him who could fight, and according to his experience from the previous life, he could promote several of his future generals at any time, civil officials were a different matter entirely.

He did not merely lack administrative talent. He had lacked it through both lifetimes.

As a result, he had inevitably fallen into the current predicament: if Eileen did not return, he had no one available to use.

For the past two days, carriages had been entering the city one after another, loaded with coal. Eileen had also written to say that everything was properly arranged, so she would probably return before long...

In truth, Oswald was not actually in a hurry to do anything. Rather, he did not dare let himself stop. Ever since his consciousness had awakened again, his heart had felt hollow.

In the previous life, his goal had been to return. The System had given him that goal, and he had used it as an excuse. But in that former world, had he truly been happy?

Even if he had obtained enough money to enjoy himself for the rest of his life, would he have been able to escape loneliness?

In truth, he had never wanted to go back at all. He had even wanted to find a paradise far from all people in this world and spend the rest of his life quietly alone.

But he could not do that. The System seemed to have seen through his heart long ago, so it had arranged for him to play the role of Oswald.

In the bitter cold, when a group of living people collapsed from hunger right in front of him, how could he still have time to pretend to be indifferent?

Tian Hao from his previous life could be indifferent, because he himself had been an insignificant person. If his only goal was to fill his stomach, the cost of living could be very, very low.

Moreover, if one stood at the bottom, it might seem that school wanted one to study hard, family wanted one to rise above others, and society wanted one to struggle and strive. Yet all education, without exception, pointed toward three words: money, money, money!

One could lack value, one could lack morality, and one could lack feelings, but one could not lack money.

If one had money, even if not a single cent were spent on one’s parents, they could still straighten their backs and boast to outsiders. If one had no money, even if one sent every month’s wages home, one would still be an enemy in one’s parents’ eyes, a failed investment product.

In history, after Su Qin achieved success and fame, he returned home and asked his sister-in-law, who was kneeling on the ground and admitting her mistake, “Why were you arrogant before but respectful now?”

His sister-in-law was an honest person. She said it was only because he now possessed a high position and abundant wealth.

If things were already like that among family members, there was no need to speak of other people or society as a whole. Therefore, in that world, everyone could be indifferent. Everyone had to do their best to be indifferent and overcome the human emotions deep within their hearts.

After all, in that kind of environment, the more sensitive a person was, the more painful life became.

Previously, Oswald had considered himself someone afraid of death. He had thoughts of taking his own life, but he did not dare carry them out. He was even more afraid of being mocked by his family because of it.

But the moment the System had run him over with a dump truck, he had clearly felt a sense of liberation unlike anything before being released from the depths of his soul. It was like a fly that had been clinging forever to a screen window finally falling away.

Softly, in that narrow room, it passed on without making the slightest sound.

“The wind. The wind. Don’t let the wind smoke it.”

While Oswald was in a daze, an aged hand moved even faster than the words. With a whoosh, it snatched the rolled cigarette from his mouth.

Old George took several delighted puffs, exhaling smoke with satisfaction, then said solemnly to the speechless Oswald, “Letting the wind smoke this would be a pity.”

I think you’re the one asking to be smoked!

Oswald sighed. These people were becoming more and more impolite toward him.

Continuing the carpentry work in his hands, Old George grinned and said, “My lord, once I find a piece of good wood, I’ll make you a pipe. A top-quality one. The kind that can be passed down through the generations.”

“Good. I’ll be waiting. I’ll be waiting.”

Oswald rolled his eyes at him, but he could not help laughing. He stood up and patted the dust off his backside. Without thinking about exactly how long Old George intended to make him wait, he saw a squad of cavalry entering the city from afar, travel-worn and covered in dust.