Chapter 277

Did you change the direction of the plot?

The more troubled Leeteuk's life is, the deeper his hatred towards his family and himself will be, and the easier it will be for him to be killed by Leeteuk who awakens the aura of the protagonist.

Moreover, there is really no one more suitable to train Li Teuk than himself who knows the plot direction.

Hum, a drop of kindness will be repaid by a spring. I must always instill this concept in Liteuk when I teach him in the future.

Thinking this, Orson nodded.

"I understand, Father, I will teach Liteuk to the best of my ability."

"Well, I feel much more at ease with your words." Lucius said, stood up from the chair and patted Orson on the shoulder.

His palms were firm and powerful, and he patted Orson's shoulder, giving the latter a sense of responsibility as having been entrusted with a heavy responsibility.

Lucius and Orson looked at each other, and after a few seconds, Lucius nodded with satisfaction.

"Okay, you go and rest. You are tired from today. From tomorrow onwards, you can start teaching Li Te and try to make him pass the test before he enrolls in Imperial College."

"Okay." Orson nodded.

When he reached the door of the room, Orson suddenly remembered something and turned back to look at Lucius.

"By the way, Father, when I sent Li Teuk home today, the servant said that Li Teuk's room had not been cleaned yet. What is going on? Didn't you already know that Li Teuk was coming back?"

"Is this happening?" Lucius also frowned upon hearing this. "I asked your mother to be responsible for this. Maybe she has forgotten. Where is Li Te now?"

"I asked him to rest in my room first."

"Okay, I'll ask Mary later. You can go back first." Lucius nodded.

"Yeah." Orson nodded, then opened the door and walked out.

Chapter 8: Young Stepmother

Imperial College, as its name suggests, is an official college established by the empire.

The education system of the empire was divided into two categories, one was schools and the other was colleges.

Generally speaking, people will enter schools in various places to study basic subjects before they are minors. After reaching adulthood, those who have the conditions will enter colleges for further studies.

The academy will teach students various skills. Of course, the compulsory subject in the academy is combat.

Unlike schools that spread to towns, almost every city group has only one college.

There is no other reason. In order to regulate the teaching quality of colleges, the empire has set high entry thresholds for colleges. As a result, many existing colleges are financed by local finances. They cannot make ends meet every year and are almost a money-burning machine.

Take Lucius for example. As one of the six Dukes of the Empire, the Duchy of Antica under his control only has two colleges, and the scale and teaching quality of the colleges are far inferior to those of the Imperial College.

The reason why the lords were able to open academies was because of the academy's main function - to cultivate talents.

Yes, the Empire is not as peaceful as most people think.

Thousands of years ago, in order to reward a group of founding heroes who followed him, the founding emperor of the empire created a large-scale enfeoffment and established a three-level administrative system of counts, dukes, and emperors.

Most counts owned a city and its surrounding villages and towns, while dukes directly governed several cities and exercised suzerain power over the counts within their de jure territories.

The emperor himself is similar to a larger duke. In addition to having more direct territories, the emperor exercises suzerain power over the duke and the counts within the territory.

In line with the sentence, "My vassal's vassal is not my vassal", the emperor cannot directly order the duke's vassal.

Because of the chaotic enfeoffment order, the empire fell into a hundred-year-long melee after the death of the founding emperor. In the end, five grand dukes were determined, and these five grand dukes and their families still exist today.

They are the Eisenberg family that controls the Duke of Prussia, the Florence family that controls the Duke of Naples, the Tullous family that controls the Duke of Orleans, and the Leigh family that controls the Duke of Aragon. The Sanus family and the Petrov family, which controls the Duchy of Lucia.

As the territory of the new Duke Lucius, the Dukedom of Antica was due to leading the imperial army to conquer the east twenty years ago.

Countless territories were expanded, and the emperor divided part of the territory originally under the direct control of the royal family, plus the newly conquered eastern region, to piece together this duchy.

This move broke the delicate balance that had been maintained between the emperor and the dukes. For a time, several dukes began to win over Lucius.

As a new aristocrat, Lucius wisely remained neutral in the open and covert struggles and waited for a price.

In the end, he and William Eisenberg, Duke of Prussia, arranged a child marriage, and when Orson was three years old, he was engaged to William's second daughter Lianka.

In this turbulent situation, in order to strengthen themselves, the major local forces in the empire will of course cultivate talents and recruit talents through academies.

Among the dozens of colleges in the empire, there is only one that can be named "Empire".

If people refer to "Imperial College" in public, there is only one.

Located in the city of Saint-Laurent, the capital of the empire, its full name is the Imperial College of Saint-Laurent Charles, and its abbreviation is Imperial College.

The fact that the college is named after both the capital and the founding emperor shows its high status.

The Imperial Academy is the highest-level academic institution in the empire. Its predecessor existed before the establishment of the empire.

Because it is supported by the royal family and many famous teachers teach in the college, Imperial College has always been the most ideal institution for people in the empire. Students who graduate from Imperial College will also receive olive branches from major forces.

Of course, the premise is that you can successfully graduate under the strict evaluation system and screening system.

In order to ensure the quality of students, Imperial College adopts two admission systems. One is the noble recommendation system. Each earldom can recommend one person for admission every year.

Because there are a lot of nobles in the empire, many nobles will use the recommended quota to send their family members or close relatives to study in the Imperial Academy, because the proportion of students recommended to enter the academy reaches 20%.

Another way, which is also the admission channel for most students of Imperial College, is to pass the examination.

Every year during the admission season of Imperial College, a unified test will be conducted. At that time, aspiring young people from all over the country will gather in Saint Laurent City. In the end, the top 800 students who take the exam will be admitted to Imperial College.

Of course, because nobles receive the best education from birth, most of the people who can actually pass the test are nobles.

An exam that can only select 800 candidates from tens of thousands of candidates will naturally not be easy to take.

In the original work, although Leeteuk had the aura of the protagonist, he was left with less than a month to prepare. He failed to pass the exam, and finally succeeded in enrolling by relying on Lucius's recommendation.

Because of this, he suffered from the cold eyes of others in the academy.

I have to say that the task Lucius gave him was quite difficult.

He was not sure whether Li Teuk could pass the exam within a month.

Just then, a maid came over.

Orson had some impression of her, and she seemed to be Mary's maid.

"Master Orson, Madam is looking for you." The maid said this and bowed to Orson.

"Mother, are you looking for me?" Orson looked at her doubtfully, then nodded. "Okay, you lead the way."

Then the maid led Orson towards Mary's study.

Since Mary was the second child of Lucius after he was widowed, Mary was only thirty years old this year.

She was born into the Tullous family of the Duke of Orleans, and when Orson was ten years old, she married the then twenty-two-year-old Lucius, who was forty years old.

The age gap between her and Lucius was wider than the age gap between her and Orson.

Considering her family background and the actual intention behind their marriage, although the relationship between the two can be said to be respectful, Orson always felt that there was still a vague sense of distance between them.

The two of them each had a bedroom and study room at home. Only in the first three years of marriage did Mary share a bed with Lucius. After that, due to various reasons, Mary rarely lived in the same room with Lucius.

Because Lucius was born as a warrior and had average ability to manage the territory, and Mary happened to have the skills to manage the territory, Lucius later simply handed over the decision-making power in the management of the territory to Mary. Mary lived up to Lucius's expectations and the territory The management is pretty good.

Of course, although the territory is well managed, the private treasury of the Duke's residence has not increased, which is always doubtful.

Walking to Mary's study, the servant Randall was guarding the door.

He is a handsome middle-aged man, about thirty-four or five years old. He is one of the several personal servants that Mary brought over from the family.

"Uncle Randall."

Sen greeted him politely.

Randall looked at Orson with a smile, and then said: "Master Orson, my wife is waiting for you inside."

"Yeah." Orson smiled, then opened the door and walked into the room.

Chapter 9: I hope you understand

Entering the study room, Mary had already changed out of the dress she wore at today's banquet and put on a long red dress. With her long brown hair and exceptionally well-maintained skin, she looked just like the twenty-four-year-old. The same goes for five-year-old females.

A little less girlish and a little more mature and charming.

"The master just asked you to go to his study?" Mary seemed to be dealing with official documents at first. When she saw Orson coming in, she immediately put down what she was doing, looked up at Orson, smiled, and then said.

Looking at Mary in front of him, Orson felt a little complicated.

It is said that a slap cannot make a difference. In the original novel, it was Orson and Mary who teamed up to frame Lee Teuk.

If she didn't have this idea now, Mary probably wouldn't continue to persecute Leeteuk.

"Back to mother, I was indeed called to the study by my father just now." Orson nodded.

"Yeah." Mary nodded and continued to ask, "What are you talking about? About Li Te?"

"I can't hide it from my mother, it's true." Orson smiled.

"Orson, what do you think about inheritance?" Mary said, sat up from the chair, walked over to Orson, and helped him straighten his clothes.

She is a head shorter than Orson and has a younger face. She doesn't seem to feel any pressure from her mother, but more like her peers.

More like a sister, or...

As soon as Orson thought about that aspect, the memory of the original work came to his mind again, and the charming thoughts that had just risen in his mind disappeared in an instant.

After all, Mary is also your stepmother, and she is a villain in the original work!

"As for the inheritance right..." Orson watched Mary continue to help him straighten his clothes, thought for a while, and then said: "I will listen to my father. In my opinion, my father has raised me, a son without blood relationship, for 18 years and let me get the best education. I am very grateful to my father."

"Whether it is for me to inherit or for Lit to inherit, I support my father's decision, and even say..."

After a pause, Orson continued: "Lit lived in the countryside for 18 years due to an accident. If our identities were reversed during these 18 years, Lit should have lived a better life, and he would not be like this now."

"So, if possible, I prefer to let Lit inherit my father."

Hearing Orson's words, Mary's movements paused for a moment, and then she smiled and looked up at Orson.

"Orson, I always thought that you and I are the same kind of people."

"The same kind of people? Me and you, mother? Then, mother, what kind of people do you think we are?"

"We have a long-term vision and lofty ambitions. For the sake of our goals, we can also give up some unimportant things, right?"

Mary said this, standing on tiptoe and whispering beside Orson.

"Think about yourself, you have achieved such a high level at such a young age, don't you want to go further?"

"With your ability, the position of Duke is not the end, right?"

"You have visited Saint Laurent City, right? It is much more magnificent than Antica, don't you think that is where you can display your talents?"

After saying that, Mary stepped back a few steps and looked at Orson with a smile.

In the action, there is still some girlish cuteness.

Orson was stunned, the expression on his face changed again and again, and finally showed a relieved smile.

Mary has not changed, at least, her desire to persecute Litt in the original book has not changed.

In this case, she and herself are already opposites.

"Saint Laurent is beautiful, but home is more comfortable."

"Besides, family is definitely one of the most important things, isn't it?"

"Haha, it seems that you and I think a little differently." Mary smiled. "Orson, you are more powerful than I thought."

"Mother, what do you mean?"

"Nothing." Mary shook her head after laughing. "Then, I believe you can do something that you won't regret."

"Maybe."

"Okay, it's getting late, go back to your room and rest." Mary said, sat back in the chair, and waved to Orson.

"I know, mother, you should rest early too." Orson said, and turned to leave Mary's study.

After walking out of the study, Orson found that his neck had been sweating.

After all, it was a conversation related to his own destiny, and he really didn't dare to take it lightly.

"Master Orson, take care." At the door, Randall bowed to Orson.