My villain wants to save himself, but the yandere heroine disagrees

The meal happened to be served at this time, and the few of them stopped talking after that.

"By the way, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first. I'm really sorry." In order to create a private environment for the two of them and to get rid of this awkward atmosphere, Orson stood up immediately after finishing his meal.

"Master Orson, wait a moment." Unexpectedly, at this time, Arthas called Orson directly.

"Um... Your Highness, is there anything else?"

"I have something personal I want to talk to you about tonight. I'll ask someone to find you then."

"Okay." Orson nodded, then quickly left the restaurant, leaving the space to Rosalyn and Arthas.

……

"Well, there are only two of us left now. What is your purpose in meeting me this time? Just tell me directly." Arthas asked nonchalantly, fiddling with the wine glass in front of him that could be called a work of art.

"Um... Your Highness Arthas, I think, I would like to ask you to give me a chance..." After a long time, Rosalin finally mustered up the courage.

"Do you want to be a prince's consort?" Arthas asked straight to the point.

"Yes, Your Highness Arthas."

"Did you mean it, or did your father?"

"Is this important? With our two families getting married, you can have stronger control over the army. It's a win-win situation for both of us."

"Sorry, I don't have such an idea at the moment." Arthas shook his head and then stood up.

"If there is nothing else, I will go back first. Miss Rosalin, do you need me to arrange for someone to take you back to the college?"

"..." Rosaline pursed her lips when she heard that, and then stood up.

"Your Highness Arthas, are you really... not going to reconsider this?"

"Sometimes, being persistent is the worst option, Ms. Rosalin." Arthas' tone was no longer gentle, but cold.

"I don't want our relationship to be damaged because of this impossible thing. Similarly, I advise you to be down-to-earth and stop having unrealistic fantasies." Arthas said this, shook his head, and turned away.

"Of course..." At this time, Arthas suddenly stopped, giving Rosaline a glimmer of hope.

"What I call impossible is only relative to the help you can provide me at present. If you can show me new value, I will reconsider it."

After saying this, Arthas left.

By not saying things in such a decisive way, you can both save the other person's face and indirectly make him work for you.

……

On the other side, after leaving the restaurant, Orson did not go directly back to the college, but walked towards a warehouse in the downtown area.

The entire street here was bought by the Lison Chamber of Commerce and used as a place to store goods.

Of course, in addition to storing goods, there are also several houses prepared specifically for Orson.

Orson walked into a warehouse. From the outside, it looked like a warehouse, but in fact it was a renovated residence.

Or rather, prison.

"Mr. Roddy, long time no see." Orson said this and looked at the man sitting at the desk in the room converted from the warehouse.

"Who was I thinking? It turns out to be Master Orson." Roddy drank a cup of tea slowly, then turned his head to look at Orson.

"What do you want from me? Are you finally going to use me as a chess piece?"

"During this period of time, you should know that we can guarantee your safety. As long as you can come forward to testify, the scourge of the empire can be eliminated." Orson said this and came to Lodi.

“You won’t be a pawn, you’ll be a hero.”

Chapter 65: Your Partner

For thousands of years since the establishment of the Human Empire, a delicate balance has been maintained between the central and local governments. The emperor does not interfere in the affairs of the dukedom, and the duke will express his support for the emperor by paying tribute and reporting on his work regularly.

The reason for this is partly due to the good relationship between the emperor and the dukes. After all, when the land was divided and granted titles, the dukes often had the best relationship with the emperor and were able to obtain large amounts of land.

Of course, as time goes by, the friendship between one generation may be passed down to three or four generations, but it will gradually fade away after that.

The key to maintaining this relationship is the relative balance of power among different regions.

The Royal Territory is undoubtedly the richest and most powerful territory, but that does not mean that the Royal Territory can overwhelmingly

The advantage swept across several other duchies.

In fact, if the combined strength of each region is converted into a numerical value, the combined strength of the royal territories accounts for about one-third of the empire, while the remaining two-thirds is made up of the other six dukes.

If the Duchy of Prussia and the Duchy of Naples cooperate, their combined strength will account for about one third.

In this case, if the empire can maintain stable development and no one force can gain absolute advantage over the sum of other forces, relative peace will be maintained.

Well, the contradiction between the central government and local governments is relatively stalemate due to power reasons, but what about between local governments?

Won't there be conflicts between dukes?

it's not true.

In history, the Duchy of Lucia once had a Duke Peter, who was ambitious and talented. During his reign, the Duchy of Lucia developed rapidly, and therefore his ambitions also expanded.

In his later years, he joined forces with the Duke of Orleans and attacked the Duchy of Prussia from both sides. The emperor at the time was happy to see the Duchy of Prussia being suppressed, so he did not choose to support it. The remote Duchy of Aragon and the Duchy of Naples could basically not help the Duchy of Prussia because their territories were not adjacent to each other.

Of course, they would not allow the Duchy of Prussia to be annexed like this. After all, as one side gains, the other loses, so they secretly supported Prussia.

Fortunately, the ruler of Prussia at that time was not incompetent. He adopted the strategy of attacking the west first and then the east. After repelling the Duke of Orleans, he focused on dealing with the Duke of Lucia. He defeated the then arrogant Archduke Peter and seized a large amount of Lucia's land. If the royal family had not wanted to break the balance and was forced to intervene, Lucia might have been annexed.

Even though Prussia later returned a lot of land, the plunder during the war and the reparations after the war still established the strength of the Dukedom of Prussia as the number one.

In the laws of the empire, the relationship between the monarch and his subjects is clearly defined, but there is no strict law to deal with the conflicts that arise between people of the same level. Such conflicts will eventually intensify and turn into war.

Wars between dukes are relatively rare in the history of the empire. After all, once such a war occurs, it involves the entire empire. However, wars between earls are not uncommon.

Often, earls would fight each other over tax issues in several villages. Although the winner would not get any land, he or she could plunder a large amount of wealth from the opponent's land, or get a considerable amount of war reparations and hostage ransom.

The number of times this kind of war occurs is related to the ability of the ruler.

If the ruler has a strong hand, the nobles under him are willing to mediate conflicts, and he has enough military force to deter all his vassals, then wars will decrease; otherwise, they will increase.

At this moment, a war was about to break out between the Duke of Naples and the Duke of Antica.

On the border of the Dukedom, both sides have mobilized more than 100,000 troops and are confronting each other on the border.

Just waiting for the right excuse to appear.

……

Saint Laurent City, inside the Imperial Court.

Elsa was looking at the documents on her desk with a frown on her face.

This is about the investigation into the last Mudrick incident.

All the information was linked to a man named Rody, but no one knew where he was hidden.

Therefore, during this period, the decisions made by the courts and the public security bureau were consistent.

Because they couldn't find the person, the police decided to classify the incident as Mudrick's personal act, and the court suggested to put it on hold temporarily until Roddy appeared again or other rumors about the devil were discovered, and then combine the two cases for investigation.

Now, Elsa needs to choose one of the two documents and sign her name on it.

At this time, the side effects of power come into play.

Signing the document from the Public Security Bureau can certainly resolve the case quickly, but no one will be satisfied with the final result, and it can only be said to be an unsolved case.

Signing the court documents would inevitably make Odysseus question his own abilities.

Just when she was still frowning, the office door was suddenly pushed open.

"Princess Elsa!" The person who came in was her follower Afro.

"What happened?"

"Outside the court, there is a man who calls himself Lodi and wants to see Your Highness the Princess."

"Lodi!?"

When Elsa heard the name, she instantly became alert, then quickly stood up and walked out with Afro.

After a few minutes

In the interrogation room, Rody sat in a chair properly, looking at Elsa in front of him and the interrogator beside him, with an expressionless face.

"Lodi, I heard that Mudrick's mercenary group has cooperated with you many times before. Is that true?"

"Yes." Lodi nodded. "According to my master's orders, I have carried out a lot of cooperation with the Iron Wolf Mercenary Group. I am responsible for conveying my master's intentions, and they are responsible for taking action."

"So, during the time we were investigating the Mudrick case, we didn't find you. Where were you?"

"..." Hearing this, Luo Di was stunned for a moment, and then said: "Sorry, interrogator, I only want to tell Her Royal Highness the Princess about this matter, okay?"

The interrogator frowned.

Logically speaking, this matter was against the rules, after all, the princess was just an audience, but she was a princess, and she couldn't really offend her.

In desperation, he turned his gaze to Elsa beside him.

"Your Highness, I'm worried that this person may be harmful to you..."

"It's okay, you can go out first." Elsa said this and shook her head to indicate that it was not a problem.

"Well... okay then." After hearing what Elsa said, the interrogator didn't know what to say, so he just stood up and left. Before leaving, he handed the notebook with the confession to Elsa.

"Okay, now that the person has left, you can tell me alone, right?"

Elsa looked at Lodi in front of her and spoke.

"Yes." Rody nodded. "During the time I was away, your partner hid me."

When Elsa heard the word "partner", her eyes widened.

"Why...why did he do this?"

Chapter 66: Excommunication

Duchy of Naples.

Giovanni frowned as he looked at the information sent by his subordinates.

"When will the Dukedom of Antica be able to mobilize so many troops?"

"It is said that there is support from other forces, perhaps from Prussia, or the royal family." Beside him, Tony spoke slowly.

Ever since being taught a lesson by Giovanni last time, Donny has become much more restrained and behaves like an obedient and sensible child in front of Giovanni.

Because of this, Giovanni still kept Tony by his side, at least as his adjutant, and Tony would never make mistakes in matters like passing orders up and down.

"Antica is originally located in the border area, and the people there are tough. Now that we have given them weapons, equipment, food and financial assistance, it looks like this battle will be difficult to fight." Giovanni said this and sighed.

"Father, why are you so sure that Duke Antica will attack us?" Donnie asked in confusion. "They have no reason to start a war. If they rashly attack us, the other dukes of the empire will not sit idly by."

"Well, if they really don't have a suitable reason to declare war." Giovanni said and looked at Donnie.

"Donnie, there are some things I don't know whether I should tell you."

"I was originally planning to tell you after you were able to take over my position, but now it seems that it is difficult to solve the current crisis."

"Father, please go ahead." Donny didn't know why Giovanni always looked at this matter with a pessimistic eye.

The Duchy of Naples is obviously ranked second among the six duchies in terms of strength, so it is not afraid of the Duchy of Antica, which is at the bottom.

Looking at Donny in front of him, Giovanni opened his mouth but shook his head.

"Forget it. Knowing this won't do you any good. You should just pass on what I told you to do." After saying that, Giovanni waved his hand, motioning Donnie to leave.

"Okay." Donnie nodded and left Giovanni's office.

Sitting alone in the office, Giovanni opened the drawer, took out a yellowed book and slowly opened it.

It contains the roster of the Imperial College.

I opened a page and saw the names of three people clearly written on it.

"It's been decades." Giovanni sighed, his tone full of emotion.

……

After leaving the room, Donnie followed and got into his own carriage.