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

Seeing that Orson was about to say something, Elsa interrupted him.

"Don't try to reason with me. I know I'm not as good at talking as you are."

"Sincerity for sincerity, tell me whether this has anything to do with you, and I will help you cover it up and let you completely get rid of this matter."

"No thanks." Orson shook his head.

Since Elsa has already insisted that he did it, he can't deny anything.

I don't know how Elsa got the information. It's obvious that he didn't leave any clues during the process.

It can't be that he asked a fortune teller to calculate it, right?

But no matter what, Orson himself was unwilling to have too much involvement with Elsa in this matter.

Elsa's identity has already determined that if Orson cooperates with her, someone with ulterior motives will definitely make trouble for him.

Although the rise to power of emperors in every dynasty was accompanied by a period of internal struggle, Orson now has no power except the identity of the Duke's son. The real decision-making power is still in the hands of his father Lucius. He does not want to be a son who betrays his father, so he will not force Lucius to change camp with him through his own decision in school.

"Why?" Elsa showed a puzzled expression. "Although the baron is the lowest level of hereditary noble title, they are also nobles protected by the laws of the empire!"

In the empire, there is a law that always distinguishes nobles from commoners, wealthy businessmen and the like. It is also this law that divides the empire into two camps: nobles and non-nobles. Rich businessmen are scrambling to spend money to become nobles because of this law.

That is the "Nobility Protection Act".

At the beginning of the establishment of the empire, although the first emperor enfeoffed many nobles of all sizes, the central government's power and influence were still very great at that time.

After several generations, the ability of the rulers gradually declined and they could no longer suppress the local forces. Only then did they enfeoff several grand dukes and hand over all the land outside the direct jurisdiction of the royal family to the dukes.

However, in order to prevent the dukes from directly governing the land too smoothly and arbitrarily annexing the land under their control, thereby further expanding their own power, the emperor of the empire at that time, while ensuring the current political system, also formulated a set of laws specifically designed to protect the small nobles.

The "Law on the Protection of Nobility" clearly states that since nobles exist because their families have made great contributions to the empire in history, the right to life and property of all nobles are protected by the empire, which will also benefit their descendants. If an ordinary person tries to undermine these two rights of the nobles, the empire will directly punish them.

In all social occasions, ordinary people must salute nobles when they see them wearing family coats of arms, no matter whether the nobles are as high as dukes and princes, or as low as barons.

The noble's superior lords may not arbitrarily reclaim the noble's fiefdom unless the noble has done damage to the empire sufficient to offset the contributions of his ancestors.

As for the criteria for judgment, it depends entirely on the decision of the Imperial Court.

Yes, the role of the Imperial Court was not to hear cases between ordinary people.

Ordinary people are not worthy of the services of a judge.

Only the nobility, and later the wealthy merchants, could mediate conflicts of interest through the courts.

Only when land and property disputes arise between nobles, or when human lives are lost, will the Imperial Court take charge of mediating these issues.

As for the credibility of the Imperial Court, it is guaranteed.

There are a total of seven chief justices in the Imperial Court, one from each royal territory and each duchy. Once they take office, they will serve for life until they voluntarily retire.

There is no need to worry about the Chief Justice being partial and bending the law during the trial of the case. Above the Imperial Court, there is a more powerful judge, and that is the emperor.

If the emperor knew about this abuse of power and abuse of power, not only the Chief Justice, but also the family and forces behind the Chief Justice would be affected.

If it is confirmed that Orson sent someone to murder Drizzt, since both of them are nobles, although Orson's noble rank is far higher than Drizzt, the case will still be handed over to the Imperial Court for trial.

By then, it will not be the time for Elsa to help Orson.

Therefore, Orson knew that if Elsa wanted to help him, she would have definitely helped him, and she was talking here now purely to get his verbal promise and make him agree to help her compete for the position of emperor.

In fact, Orson's attitude towards Elsa is quite conflicted.

If we respect the original work and follow the development of events in the original book, Elsa is undoubtedly a member of Lit's harem, and I should help Elsa.

Because Elsa was able to successfully ascend to the throne, she must have received help from Leeteuk.

But let's not talk about whether Lit can help Elsa now. Just talking about the harem is completely unreasonable.

No wonder when I deliberately tried to bring Lit and Lianka together, nothing happened between the two of them, and Lit even got a little mad about it.

I'm still talking about the concave and convex. It seems that there's no way two concave shapes can be put together.

"Your Highness." Helplessly, Orson simply tried to change the subject. "What do you think of the Law for the Protection of Nobility?"

"Me?" Elsa was stunned for a moment, then said, "I think this law is pretty good. The royal family's control over the directly governed territories is stronger than that of the Duke. After the introduction of this law, it is basically equivalent to cutting off the Duke's illegal expansion."

"Yes, from a political perspective, this law seems to be a good one." Orson nodded. "But it has given rise to a group of unscrupulous nobles, isn't that a problem?" Orson stared at Elsa, trying to read something in her eyes.

"Uh... Orson, what do you mean?"

"Your Highness, you should know, right? There are many nobles like Drizzt in the current empire. In fact, there may be many nobles who are even more extreme than Drizzt. It's just that we haven't got that information."

Orson's words basically confirmed that he was the one who did it.

But Elsa had come with a determined attitude, and the previous questions and answers were not at all aimed at Orson, so Orson simply stopped acting.

"Those scum, apart from their noble status, they can't even make a living in this society with their own abilities. But just because their ancestors made more or less contributions to the empire, they have become so unscrupulous."

"The harm they have done to society by remaining here has actually far exceeded the contribution their ancestors made to the empire. They are like woodworms in a piece of wood. If their numbers are allowed to continue to grow, the entire empire will be destroyed by them sooner or later."

"Those merchants would lose all their wealth due to their descendants' poor management, and their social class would slide down within a few generations. However, for most nobles, more than ten generations have passed since they first owned this land!"

"When they commit crimes, the Empire helps them clean up the mess, and they just need to sit in their own castles or manors, drink wine, sing songs, and watch plays every day, and they can live a life like the best."

Orson's words are true anywhere.

It is more applicable to countries with organizations.

After all, once class stratification becomes serious, the probability of jumping classes becomes extremely low, and there is a lack of social mobility, the entire society can be said to be in an extremely dangerous situation.

"But the nobility is the foundation of the empire..." Elsa said.

"I know, Orson, you may think that ordinary people are more important, but don't forget that according to the education the nobles have received so far, if the people want to start a rebellion against the nobles, they can even suppress it directly by force."

Indeed, if Elsa hadn't reminded him, Orson would have almost forgotten that this was a different world full of magic and various fantasy elements.

Here, there are many things that cannot be solved with the previous thinking.

Just like what Elsa said, when the nobles controlled 70% of the country's wealth and 90% of the armed forces, they seemed to no longer care what the people and merchants thought.

"I also hate those nobles who have committed evil deeds, but if I want to rise to power, I need their support. This country, after all, is still a country of nobles."

"Yes...a country of nobles." Orson sighed.

Elsa seemed to notice Orson's expression and felt that there was an opportunity. She said directly: "Orson, believe me, if I become the emperor, I will definitely improve the problems of the nobles in this regard."

"Your Highness Elsa, can I understand that you are making big promises for me?" Orson looked at Elsa expressionlessly. "Anyone can make big promises, but to make a promise you need to have enough strength."

"..." Elsa was silent.

She knew that there was nothing about her right now that Orson would appreciate.

After thinking for a long time, Elsa looked up and said:

"If, if I become the queen, let you be the royal husband, and give you enough power to let you do this, will you agree?"

When Orson heard this reply, he was stunned for a moment, and then looked at Elsa: "Your Highness, you should know that I am engaged, right?"

"So, if you choose to believe me, Orson, you can cancel the engagement. I will immediately discuss your engagement with my father."

"No." Orson shook his head. "That's still too unrealistic."

Let’s not talk about whether Orson is willing to get engaged to Elsa.

Orson thought he was not a scumbag because he was separated from Olivia, with whom he had semi-confirmed his relationship.

Moreover, it would not sound good if this matter were to get out. Others would think that Orson was a sycophant, and they would also think that Elsa was stealing someone else's man, which would easily have a bad influence on both of them.

After thinking for a while, Orson said, "Well, Your Highness, I want to ask you a question. If you can answer me, I will consider whether to help you."

"Okay." Elsa nodded. "Orson, ask."

"Your Highness, can you tell me why you are so obsessed with becoming the emperor?"

As he said this, Orson stared at Elsa, his eagle-like eyes seemed to see through Elsa's heart.

Elsa was stunned when she heard Orson's question, and then said: "I... this is the education I received since I was a child."

"My brother and I seemed to have a good relationship since we were young, but both our father and our palace teachers taught us a concept since we were young, that is, the royal family is like a row of saplings planted together."

"Among the saplings in this row, only one will be able to thrive and grow into a towering tree, providing shade for the other saplings around it."

"Sounds good, doesn't it?"

"But the towering tree has actually taken deep roots in the ground. Its roots have penetrated deep into the other saplings, absorbing nutrients that should have belonged to the other saplings. This has created a situation where one tree protects many others."

"This superficial warmth is actually cruel to other young trees."

"If some saplings can only grow that big, don't need more nutrients, and stay under the shade of the big tree their whole lives, that's fine."

"However, if some small trees can grow into towering trees, but when they need more nutrients, the big trees cut off their sources of nutrients and sunlight, and they will gradually wither and die."

Orson listened to Elsa's words and nodded thoughtfully.

"So, sometimes it's good to be willing to be a small tree," he said.

"Orson, do you really think so?" Elsa asked back.

"After all, with the shelter of a big tree, I don't have to face the sun and rain, isn't that great?"

"But if that's the case, can it still be considered a tree?"

"..."

"If my brother becomes the emperor, given his political ambitions, I will most likely be used as a tool for political marriage and marry someone I don't like."

"I don't want to be like this, so I want to change my destiny."

"Also, don't be fooled by my usual nonchalant appearance. In fact, I care about rankings more than anyone else. I think I am no worse than my brother."

Hearing this, Orson nodded.

"I understand you, Princess."

"You said before that sincerity will be exchanged for sincerity, right?"

"Then let me tell you directly. Actually, in this matter, my position has always been on your side, Your Highness. However, due to some reasons, I cannot intervene directly now. I hope you can understand."

"You just need to know that I will help you, that's all."

Elsa's eyes lit up when she heard Orson's words.

"really?"

"Yeah." Orson nodded.

"You know, I'm not a liar."

"In that case..." Elsa extended her hand towards Orson. "Then I wish us a pleasant cooperation in advance."

Orson reached out his hand and held Elsa's hand.

Cool, delicate skin, soft and boneless touch, this was Orson's first feeling.

As expected of Her Royal Highness the Princess, it seems that she takes good care of her skin.

"Well, it's a pleasure to work with you."

Li Te stood at the corner of the stairs, looking at the two people chatting downstairs with a thoughtful expression.

……

"So, Orson, why did you agree to help Her Highness Elsa?"

After seeing Elsa off, Orson went back upstairs.

At this time, Lit also changed back into the men's clothes that she usually wore, and she asked Orson in confusion.

"Li Te, when did you start eavesdropping?" Orson did not reply directly, but took a sip of water first.

"Uh... probably when you were talking about the Noble Protection Act, I had already changed my clothes and was going to come down directly, but when I saw you were discussing something, I didn't dare to disturb you."

"Oh." Orson nodded and told Litt their entire conversation.

This time he did not hold back because he wanted to let Lit know where his side would be.

"Eh? Drizzt? Why does this name sound familiar to me?"

"Well, the doctor told me about the contracts he saw in the Iron Wolf Mercenary Group's office. One of the contracts was for kidnapping and imprisonment. The doctor and I speculated that there might still be people who could be saved, so I sent the doctor over."

"Now that Drizzt is dead, the people should have been rescued."