The Villain Saint is my secondary account

“This is Ye Xiao, a knight I have appointed at the academy.” Skadi nodded slightly, then looked at Ye Xiao.

"Greetings, esteemed gentlemen." Ye Xiao bowed slightly.

"...A knighthood? Heh, I thought there were already quite a few talented young men in the palace, but it seems Your Highness still prefers the one you chose yourself..." Isaac curled the corner of his mouth, "Hmm, a commoner."

Sure, one sentence can make two people look bad, Ye Xiao has already memorized Isaac's words.

“That won’t trouble Uncle Isaac.” Skadi narrowed her eyes slightly. “I have confidence in the knights I personally selected.”

"Forgive my presumption, but what aspect of your confidence do you refer to, Your Highness? Is it your mediocre appearance or your coarse manner of speaking?"

"Knowing he's overstepping his bounds, yet still speaking up, Uncle Isaac seems to be getting a little senile."

"No, what are you talking about...?" Ye Xiao began to sense that something was amiss.

Didn't Skadi say she brought him along to express goodwill?

Chapter Fifty-Five: First Round of Recommendations

Seeing the tension between Skadi and Commander Isaac escalating, Bob finally stepped in to mediate: "Oh dear, Lord Isaac is only thinking of His Highness's best interests. After all, he promised His Majesty to look after His Highness."

"Heh, I think His Highness already has his own opinions, and probably doesn't need an old man like me to take care of him," Isaac sneered.

“Good to know.” Skadi said without any politeness.

After they finished speaking, the two stopped talking and the atmosphere became somewhat awkward.

Bobol said a few more things to warm things up, but judging from Skadi's stern face, she clearly didn't want to pay any more attention to the two of them.

Ye Xiao glanced at Isaac, then at Skadi, gently tugged at the girl's skirt and walked her aside, whispering, "Your Highness... I remember we were going to express our intention to return to the First Prince's faction to these two?"

“…Ah.” Skadi’s expression twitched visibly.

...This guy really got carried away, Ye Xiao thought to himself with a sense of helplessness.

"I just... cough... it's alright, I'll talk to them about it later."

As the nobles in the main hall gradually took their places, the princes and princesses that Ye Xiao had seen before also emerged from various parts of the hall with their respective guards.

As the crown princes, they naturally gathered around the throne, and Skadi led Ye Xiao and his brothers and sisters to stand together.

The scene in the hall was exactly the same as what Ella had seen when she came to the palace for a meeting, except that the king with lifeless eyes and a deathly expression was no longer on the throne.

Ye Xiao glanced at the Crown Prince and the others, and to his surprise, even at this meeting, he did not see the Fifth Prince, who only existed in rumors.

After exchanging perfunctory greetings, this group of fake brothers and sisters took their places on either side of the throne.

An elderly man with a white beard and wearing a deep red robe walked out from the side of the hall. According to Skadi's previous introduction, this was probably Prince Godwin, the elder brother of the former King Harold.

After the emperor's death, this prince became the current principal ruler of the palace.

The news of the meeting to convene high-ranking officials and nobles, as well as the meeting itself, were naturally arranged and led by him.

“Thank you for coming, esteemed sirs,” said Prince Goldwin, who looked quite old but whose voice was surprisingly deep. “I think you all already know about my brother.”

His voice carried a hint of sorrow, and the entire hall seemed to become solemn and silent in accordance with his tone.

It was as if the loyal civil and military officials and the princes and grandsons who loved their father were all mourning for the king at this moment.

“One week ago, our great King Harold Betis was assassinated by villains and died tragically.”

"The details of this matter are currently being investigated jointly by the palace guards and the Knights. I have gathered you all here and now for two reasons: firstly, to formally inform you of this matter, and secondly, to prepare a ceremony to bid farewell to and mourn our His Majesty."

"Secondly, we should seek recommendations for new heirs to the throne from the pillars of the empire."

"A country cannot be without a ruler for a day. If I were not old, I might have tried to shoulder the burden of this empire. Unfortunately, this responsibility can only be entrusted to the crown princes present here today."

Prince Goldwyn's speech was brief and direct, without much unnecessary talk.

It was as if even he knew that what everyone was really concerned about was the second half.

After a brief silence, he began to read aloud the empire's historical rules for selecting the heir to the throne:

"According to imperial tradition, if the current king does not leave any special provisions before abdicating, the successor must be selected from the crown prince, and the invited knights with the rank of earl or above will conduct the first round of recommendations after the current king formally abdicates."

This first round of recommendations is mainly used by various forces to show their support. If more than 65 percent of the votes in the first round support the same heir to the throne, then this round of recommendations will directly determine the successor to the throne.

Although the number of people who need to vote may seem large, most of the lower-ranking earls and marquesses will actually follow the highest-ranking representative of their own faction.

After all, under normal circumstances, no one would disagree with their leader in such a situation.

Of course, this recommendation vote is only participated in by the upper-class noble forces within the Loren Empire. Some representatives, such as Bishop Holmes of the Loren Sanctuary, are merely third-party witnesses to this meeting.

After the recommended laws were presented, the palace attendants began distributing voting scrolls to the assembled knights.

It has a special magical mark that provides a unique identification for each voter.

The voting results will be made public, and voters can modify their votes before the official finalization to ensure that the results are truly what they want and to prevent vote alteration or errors.

On the surface, this round of voting will give everyone a day and a night to consider and discuss it, as it is ultimately a major event involving the succession to the throne.

However, if a crown prince receives more than 65 percent of the total votes, the results will be announced in advance.

Clearly, if a crown prince is confident in his vote count, he will urge his supporters to vote immediately to avoid any unforeseen complications.

So when the rules were announced, Ye Xiao saw that the supporters on the Crown Prince's side opened the voting scrolls without even having a discussion process.

The same applies to the reformists on the other side—being slow to vote is considered hesitation, and hesitation is not absolute loyalty.

However, having experienced his previous life, Ye Xiao knew very well that this imperial selection would take a considerable amount of time, and the first round of voting would most likely not produce a result.

That was his initial thought, but then he saw that representatives of the various factions, who had originally been in a neutral position, also immediately opened their files.

Hmm, do Duke Hevil and Duke Seychelles already have an answer?

Ye Xiao frowned slightly as he watched the palace servants running around collecting the voting results from the various nobles.

Everyone in the entire hall was silently and quickly doing their own thing. He was like an observer, watching a group of machines with pre-set logic rapidly pushing things toward the predetermined result.

Several palace servants brought in a table and piled the collected scrolls on it.

Then, a court monk bowed slightly to the crowd, chanting incantations and waving his staff.

A pale blue magic circle engraved with intricate patterns covered the entire table, and words from scrolls piled up like a small mountain floated out.

Like fireflies emitting blue light, these words gradually formed the names of various knights and the crown prince they supported in the air.

Chapter Fifty-Six: The Curtain Rises

The text scrolled by line, reminding Ye Xiao of the end credits he had seen on Blue Star.

"The Marquis Boan Barzel supports Raymond Betis."

"The Marquis of Soren Albert supports Evans Betis."

"Duke Evans Betis is the supporter of Duke Effie Seychelles"

"Duke Derian Hyville supports Evans Betis..."

A string of names flashed by rapidly, and Ye Xiao noticed that at the other end of the hall, the Fourth Prince Raymond's expression began to turn somewhat gloomy.

This is understandable, because anyone with eyes can see that Evans Betis's name keeps appearing on the list of names, as if votes had been rigged.

The voting results seemed to be different from what was expected; Evans Betis's advantage was not merely "slight" as Skadi had claimed.

Judging from the frequency of its occurrence, it has almost become an overwhelming force.

Why does the eldest prince have so many votes? Ye Xiao couldn't help but wonder.

Not to mention Duke Havil, he had previously mentioned that his eldest son, Allen, Ella's brother, had a relationship with the First Prince, so it's not surprising that he would side with the First Prince at this time.

But didn't Seychelle from the coastal province say he would vote for the reformists? He's now following the First Prince?

Even several high-ranking officials and nobles who should have belonged to the reformists actually sided with Evans.

There is something fishy about this.

Ye Xiao looked at Skadi, but she looked confused and obviously didn't know what was going on either.

The voting results were still rolling, and palace attendants were frantically scribbling down the votes, but almost everyone present had already foreseen the outcome.

However, in that long list, Ye Xiao noticed that after Isaac Eugene's name flashed by, the name of the First Princess Skadi followed.

Indeed, some people voted for names other than the Fourth Prince and the First Prince, but most of them were neutral minor figures who had not yet clearly chosen sides.

What's Isaac up to now?

If it weren't for that conversation, Ye Xiao might have really thought this guy was a staunch supporter of Skadi, still voting for the princess even in this situation.

The nomination process concluded with a total of 122 votes cast, 86 of which went to Crown Prince Evans Betis, far exceeding the 65% limit.

Without a doubt, Evans won this recommendation victory by a landslide.

Prince Goldwyn took the compiled dossier from the clerk, glanced at it briefly, and then loudly announced to the crowd in the hall:

"...The results of the recommendation have been announced. It is an honor to witness the coronation of His Highness Evans Betis. Our empire will welcome a new king at this moment."

what?

Is this really the end?

Ye Xiao frowned. The development of this life was quite different from what he had experienced before.

How did Evans become king so easily in the first election?

Skadi and I spent ages analyzing and planning beforehand, but it turns out the Third and Fourth Princes' faction was completely outmatched?

"Wow, as expected of Evans."

As the announcement was made, the joyful voice of the little princess beside the throne rang out.

Evans seemed unsurprised by the result; he smiled and nodded slightly to the nobles below the throne.

"Welcome, Your Majesty Evans!"

Sauron, the commander of the Royal Knights, was the first to kneel on one knee to pay homage to the new king.

Like spreading waves, the nobles below the hall also knelt down.

On the other side of the throne, the fourth prince seemed to still be reeling from the simple and decisive result, his eyes fixed on Evans, his face gloomy.

“I’m sorry, brother,” Evans said with a slight smile. “Clearly, everyone still believes I will be a qualified monarch.”

"Hmm." Prince Raymond remained noncommittal.

Evans ignored his brother's expression and walked alone from among the royal family members to the front of the throne, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the hall.

Then, she lifted her robes slightly and sat on the throne.

"Long live His Majesty the King!"

The shouts of "Honor the new king!" echoed throughout the palace.

……

Even after the meeting ended and Ye Xiao was on his way back to the academy in the carriage, he still hadn't seen the turnaround.

There were no assassins launching surprise attacks, no reformists pulling out any tricks, and no deities descending to disrupt order.

Everything happened so smoothly that Ye Xiao felt it was somewhat magical.

"No... this guy really became king just like that?" He finally couldn't help but complain to Skadi in the carriage.

“Brother Evans has always been the most prestigious among the Crown Princes,” Skadi said, looking dejected and quite helpless. “I thought that the combination of Raymond and Brother Barnard would at least be a match for them, but I didn’t expect that the first round of nominations would decide the winner.”

"Too abstract." Ye Xiao's lips twitched.

“There’s nothing we can do. The royal election came too early,” Skadi shrugged. “The reformists are still developing as an emerging force. If it had been two more months, the outcome might have been completely different.”

Ah... there's always that feeling of helplessness when you've gone all out, made ample preparations, and then find out the championship has already been decided.

lost.

The entire imperial selection was a clean and decisive defeat. Ye Xiao hadn't even done anything yet, and the result was already out.

Almost all the plans assume that the first round of recommendations will not determine a winner, and that the open and covert struggles will take place during the long imperial election period.

As a result, the eldest prince has now sent everyone away in one fell swoop, making everyone look like clowns.

Ye Xiao was even considering whether he and Ella could take advantage of the dark and stormy night to storm the palace, kill all the crown princes, and overturn the table.

I'll be the Joker of Gotham, and nobody else should live.

It's no wonder Ye Xiao was indignant, after all, if things continued like this, he would inexplicably have to bear a system punishment...