System vs Rebirth

The soldiers were gathering on the top of the wall, watching out for visitors or demons.

"We have gotten a lot of visitors in the past few weeks…"

"Yeah. But the crown prince was only here for less than a day."

"Shhh… Don't say anything about the crown prince. It was said that the crown prince visited the Moon Temple for some reason and that was the last thing he visited before leaving."

"Either way, our city sure has become popular. The walls have been repaired and the living condition has improved drastically."

"That's right. Even my wife has been smiling continuously in the past few weeks. I never thought that when the young Earl took over this area, all this dream could happen."

"That's true. I thought I would be rotting here until I died fighting against the demon in the near future."

"I'm glad that the Earl is a good lord. He makes me want to serve him even more."

"The only way we can pay him back is by keeping this city safe."

The soldiers were chatting before they heard a shout coming from the side. "There is a figure coming toward here."

"!!!" The soldiers were startled as they immediately went to the edge of the wall to check it. There was indeed a figure coming into the wall at high speed.

"Not good. Get ready."

"The gate is closed. He might try to climb the wall."

The soldiers gathered while raising their swords or spears, ready to take on this figure.

This person moved so fast that they didn't manage to take a look at his face. But it all changed when this person climbed the wall.

"Hoop…" He exhaled his breath, finding himself surrounded by the soldiers who were pointing their weapons at him.

"Who are—" One of them shouted to identify the intruder, but he abruptly stopped when he saw the person's face.

Even the other soldiers dropped their weapons subconsciously.

They all couldn't help but drop to their knees while shouting, "My Lord."

"Oh. You guys have a good reaction time. To think you manage to surround me first before I reach the wall." Noel smirked.

The soldiers panicked, never thinking that they had actually pointed their weapons at their lord.

But before the situation became even worse, Noel said, "It's fine. You guys are just doing your job. So, is my wife… I mean, is the lady here?"

"Y-yes!" They all answered, nodding their heads furiously.

"That's good. Well, you guys can continue working. And… don't tell anyone about my coming back yet. I want to surprise them." Noel winked his right eye playfully to ease their mood.

"Y-yes!"

Noel waved his hand with a smile and just jumped off the city wall. The people couldn't help but gasp, not knowing what to do.

On the other hand, Noel was jumping from one roof to another, wanting to meet Anna as quickly as possible.

But the moment he was about to reach the mansion, a figure suddenly leaped out of the mansion as if sensing his presence.

"You better stop!" The man raised his sword before noticing who had just come back. "Ah!"

"Oh! Duke. It's been a while." Noel smiled wryly. He had definitely asked the Duke to take care of Anna, but he couldn't surprise her because of him.

After all, the moment he made a move, Anna immediately came out to check what was going on.

"Noel?!" Anna gasped, not expecting Noel to come back this way.

Noel scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit embarrassed. "I'm back."

"Welcome back." Anna leaped and hugged him tightly.

Duke Lorelei rolled his eyes while saying, "I will leave you two lovebirds alone."

"Duke. I know that you don't really like the arrangement and other things, but I will talk to you later. And I have to finish a few things here, so we can probably go to the main city in three days."

Duke Lorelei didn't look back. He simply waved his hand and jumped off the mansion.

Noel smiled awkwardly before hugging Anna back. "Yep, I'm back. Sorry for making you do all this. Your reputation is almost ruined because of this arrangement."

"It's fine. In my previous life, my reputation has reached rock bottom. So, I don't really care about it anymore. As long as it can help you, I don't need that reputation." Anna shook her head. "Besides, it's not like it's true. All I did was be in the same room for a moment and… checkmate."

"Even so, I feel bad about it. In the capital city, a lot of nobles were introducing their daughters to me and the king almost married the princess to me… It felt uncomfortable. So, I could understand how you feel too."

"Hehe. Doesn't that mean you're not going to get a mistress in the future?" Anna grinned playfully.

"Well… I haven't told you about this, right?" Noel hesitated for a moment. "Ardagan's bloodline has a limitation. Because of our special bloodline, we can only produce a single heir."

"What? Ardagan has such a curse?" Anna widened her eyes in shock.

"Well, you can call it a curse, but for me, it's kind of a blessing." Noel scratched the back of his head.

"A blessing?" Anna tilted her head in confusion, not understanding Noel's way of thinking.

"Yes. Because of this limitation, I can fully dedicate myself to a single person, you. And even in the future, our child doesn't need to dirty their hands with their siblings' blood. That's why for me, it's a blessing."

Anna couldn't help but smile when she heard it.

"Besides, I have made sure that I don't drink. I don't want to make a decision that I ever regret after all." Noel smiled, indirectly implying that if he was drunk and ever did it with someone else, it would become a huge problem for them.

"I see." Anna nodded. "Let's go inside. You must be tired from the journey."

"I was inside the carriage most of the time though."

"Hahaha. It must be very boring."

"Yeah. And also, I met your father. It appeared that he wanted to call your brother back to let him succeed the house," Noel explained.

"Really?" Anna looked up, recalling all the memories she had with her brother. "It was truly unfair to him. Even in my past life, my brother couldn't really go back. I heard that he was married to a woman he knew in the military, along with two more women from political marriages.

"In my previous life, I was so uncontrollable that he might be in danger if he went back, so I guess Father had no intention to call him back to protect him.

"In this life, I was so bright that I was seen to be his successor. But because I'm with you now, it's a relief for him too. If you are any less than what you're today, people from the family will definitely object to this marriage or at least force you to marry into the Stargaze family instead of me becoming the successor of the family.

"But because you are like this, no one can object to our marriage. With me leaving the family, Father can finally call my brother back. It's truly unfair for my brother. Even my memory of him is pretty limited because he was sent to the border when I was young.

"I wonder if it's possible for me to repay him back…" Anna looked down.

Noel smiled. "Don't you worry about it. I'm thinking about stretching our highway into your family's territory. And this is a perfect chance for him to get used to the politics and learn how to negotiate, considering there are a few nobles between our territories."

"Ah!" Anna nodded furiously. "That's true."

"Mhmm… I know you have a lot of regrets from your previous life. I want to help you fix all of them."

Anna chuckled. "Thank you. But I'm planning to do the same. Now that I think about it, I wonder what regret you had in your previous life."

"I don't know how many regrets I had in my previous life, but I believe that I have fixed the biggest regret."

"The biggest regret? What is that?"

"In our previous lives, I was doing all I could to fix you, right? I did everything in order to change our fate…"

"Ah!" Anna seemed to have come to a realization. "Don't tell me, the biggest regret was…"

"Exactly." Noel had a big smile on his face as he didn't hesitate to say, "My biggest regret in that life must be the fact that I couldn't have you when I loved you so hard… No, should I say that my biggest regret was that I couldn't say 'I love you' when I fell so hard for you?

"No, no. It must be where I have to pretend to not have you in my heart even though I yearn for the time when you can be by my side."

Anna's cheek reddened as she couldn't help but press her lips onto him while saying, "You're such a smooth talker. Now that we have the marriage certificate, should I try to call you something else?" Anna had a cheeky smile on her face before her expression turned innocent yet affectionate before she spoke with a seductive voice. "Dear…"

Noel's body shuddered. It felt like all the reasons in his mind had disappeared as Noel simply lifted her up and carried her inside the mansion.

To their surprise, they actually met the mayor after entering the mansion with a mountain of papers in his arms.

"My… My lord…" The mayor was startled, making Anna embarrassed. Anna said, "Someone is looking. Put me down."

Noel ignored her and simply said, "Give all the reports tomorrow. Today, I'm going to rest after my long journey. No need for the maids, the lady said she's going to take care of me personally."

Without hesitation, Noel walked past him. The mayor couldn't help but smile, saying, "Yes, sir."