Reunion

  The winter of the year was extremely cold, from late autumn, snowflakes had already covered the city of Gavent, and the nobles had long since changed into thick sable coats, and even in the grand ballroom, there were piles of charcoal fires.

  In that year, the Northern Legion's elder, Duke Grein, had just repelled an invasion by alien tribes from the northeast of the Empire, and the entire imperial court was in a state of excitement; also in this year, the triumphant return of Duke Grein sadly discovered that his third son was a complete waste, but fortunately his previous two sons were extremely promising, which slightly alleviated Duke Grein's depression.

  In that year, the genius of the Belinger family, Aoldas, had already begun to emerge. At an age of less than fifteen, he broke through the fourth bottleneck of Dou Qi and became a leader among young people of his generation. Countless fame, flowers, and girls' admiration poured in on him, but this talented youth refused all of it. He traveled alone, seeking the true meaning of his own martial path. By the time he returned to the Imperial Capital several years later, his strength had already become unfathomable to anyone.

  That year, the young Princess Nina made her first appearance at a noble ball, and her beauty and nobility captivated countless people. At that time, numerous nobles flocked to the imperial palace, but His Majesty the Emperor rejected all requests for marriage, declaring that he would keep Princess Nina by his side.

  In that year, Joshua was not yet the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, but this young Grand Master had already received widespread attention, and soon after he officially joined Anthony's door, he became the youngest Grand Master in history.

  These historical events that have been gradually forgotten by people seem extremely insignificant in front of this heavy snow.

  That year, what was most memorable was the refugees all over the streets of the Gavin Empire, and the blue corpses lying one after another in the snow.

  The city defense troops were busy on the streets, one by one frozen corpses were thrown into the carriage and then sent out of the imperial capital, buried everywhere, but looking at the busy refugees, no one showed any expression.

  A sudden heavy snowfall not only brought a rare scenery to the Gavin Empire, but also damaged many crops that were not harvested in time. This year, the northern part of the empire was hit by snow damage.

  Refugees outnumbered the entire population of the imperial capital.

  Although the imperial side has already sent out food for disaster relief, how many refugees can be saved in the face of such a large number?

  Moreover, among those who collapsed in the icy snow, the majority did not die of starvation, but were frozen to death.

  Even with the empire's financial and material resources, it is impossible to produce winter clothes for so many people within a few days.

  In this hellish landscape, a frail girl stumbled along the street, wearing a tattered hemp garment, her straw sandals long worn out, her frostbitten feet covered in chilblains, with pus oozing out from them.

  Her short hair on her head was dull and lacked luster, a face full of dirt had a pair of vacant eyes.

  If someone could go back in time and see this young girl, who would believe that she was the future Sister Tasia of the Imperial City, famous for her coldness?

  Tasia stumbled through the snow, and after nearly half an hour, she finally arrived at the entrance of Duke Green's mansion. At this time, the entrance was already crowded with refugees, because among the nobles who usually didn't care about the lives of refugees, someone actually prepared to provide disaster relief?

  Tasia pursed her lips, staring at the still closed door, ready to squeeze over and grab a quilt at any moment, for only in that way could she possibly survive in this icy land.

  At last, after a long time, the gate of the duke's mansion was slowly pushed open, and dozens of servants carrying clean cotton clothes came out from inside the duke's mansion, pushing carts of black bread.

  The person who appeared to be the butler waved his hand slightly and said in a loud voice, "Today is the tenth birthday of our Third Young Master Du Fan of the Green Duke's Mansion, as well as the first day he officially goes to the Sacred Temple for further study. The Duke has promised to fulfill one wish for him today, but his wish is that everyone in the Imperial Capital has clothes to wear and bread to eat. Our Green family cannot do this, but we can also try our best to do something. If you don't mind, please help yourself."

  As he spoke, the steward made another gesture and the servants quickly brought the quilt and black bread to the duke's door. The servants then retreated one after another, and the wide-open gate was tightly closed again.

  The refugees present did not last for less than half a second, and they all made a loud noise, everyone rushed in that direction. Tasia barely grabbed a black bread from the crowd, but she didn't know how many times she was hit on her body. After all, she is still a weak girl, although she wants to squeeze in and grab another cotton-padded jacket, but she was pushed out again and again.

  At last, Tasia gave up. She stumbled to the corner of the wall, scooped up a handful of relatively clean snow and stuffed it into her mouth. The icy feeling numbed her senses, but she endured without trembling, instead stuffing the black bread into her mouth again.

  Within a few meters of her, a boy who looked less than ten years old was standing there, and behind him was an old man who looked over fifty years old. However, although the old man looked advanced in age, he gave people a feeling of being extremely agile.

  The young man was wearing a not-so-thick sable down jacket, and the exposed skin was blown red by the north wind, but he seemed to be unaware of it. Instead, he looked at the entrance of the duke's mansion and sighed softly, saying: "Grandfather Mark, did I do something wrong?"

  An old man called Mark slightly shook his head and said, "Third young master, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just that human nature is like this. The duke let Daniel manage the household, it's not unreasonable either. Although you have a kind heart, third young master, the duke doesn't want you to suffer losses in the future because of your kindness, so he did this, just to make you see through human nature."

  "Human nature"... The young man hung his head in thought for a moment, and muttered to himself in a voice that only he could hear: "Is it really true that human nature is selfish no matter what era it's in?"

  After a moment's thought, he seemed to have made some decision and turned to leave, but at that moment Nita Seryapina, who was gnawing on a black loaf of bread in the corner by the wall, caught his eye.

  Looking at the little girl in front of him, who was a few years younger than himself, biting into the cold and hard black bread, the young man's face showed a hint of helplessness. After a moment, he walked up to her and smiled slightly, saying: "Bread isn't eaten like that."

  Tasia looked up at her, then immediately dropped her gaze to the sable coat on her body, and suddenly understood his identity. She felt a wave of disgust in her heart, stuffed the remaining half of the black bread into her bosom, and wanted to leave.

  However, the young man seemed to have misunderstood her meaning. He looked at the linen garment on Tassia's body and then at his own sable coat, nodded thoughtfully, and quickly took off his sable coat and put it on Tassia's body.

  The north wind blew by, and he shuddered for a moment, but his face still wore a smile. He looked at Tasya and said in a low voice, "Is it warmer now?"

  Tasya's expression stiffened, but she couldn't say a word.

  The old man behind the boy, called Grandpa Mark, let out a soft sigh and said: "Three young men, this is a sable coat made by the Duchess herself for you. If the Duchess finds out..."

  "It's nothing," the youth smiled faintly, "as long as you don't tell Mother, how would she know? By the time I return home next year, spring will have already arrived. And God loves all people, in the face of the radiant God, everyone is equal. Since I've become a priest, I naturally must do this, right?"

  The words had not been spoken yet, but the young man shuddered again.

  Mark helplessly shook his head, took off the cloak on his body and wrapped it around the young man's body, then said: "Since that's the case, Young Master, you'll have to bear with it for a bit. The carriage has arrived to take you to the church, and afterwards I still have other matters to attend to."

  The young man nodded slightly, but a moment later, he seemed to have thought of something and turned his head to look at Tasia with a smile: "Since we met today, it's also fate. Are you willing to follow me?"

  Tasia looked at the boy's face and couldn't help but ask in a trembling voice: "Where?"

  The young man heard her voice and was slightly stunned, saying: "You're a girl?"

  Tasya nodded slightly.

  The young man looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, then said: "So if I'm going to the Sacred Court, would you be willing to go with me? It's not suitable for a girl like you to be in this icy and snowy place."

  Tasya shook her head and said, "I don't believe in God."

  The boy was stunned again, and after a moment he looked at Tassia with an expression that shouldn't belong to someone of his age, saying in a low voice: "Great, you don't believe in gods"