Stop Hypnotizing Me, Villainous Princess!

Chapter 25: The Seven Elector Counts

Feeling the resentful gaze of Rhine, Lin En smiled at him.

Seeing that everyone else regarded the matter as just a small storm, he lowered his head and resumed his battle with the roast sausages on his plate.

After a while, someone spoke to Ivister about business matters.

"Your Highness, Duke Tirus has once again declined your invitation. What should we do...?"

Duke Tirus?

Lin En felt that the name seemed familiar.

After thinking for a moment, he recalled that this man was supposedly a duke from the Saint Roland Empire, who also served as the governor of the Southern Province.

In addition, he was a highly respected Elector Count.

Although the system of Elector Counts had gradually weakened with the rise of imperial power in modern times, their influence over the imperial election process still held considerable weight.

In total, there were seven Elector Counts.

Aside from the four secular Elector Counts, there were three ecclesiastical Elector Counts, each held by the archbishops of the three major churches in the Saint Roland Empire.

Therefore, before every imperial election, princes aspiring to the throne would try to establish connections with these old figures.

Once a prince gained the support of more than four Elector Counts, it was essentially a guarantee that they would secure the throne.

It seemed that Ivister, who was currently in a weak position, was anxious and didn't want to fall behind the others.

Recalling the plot in the original story about the imperial election, Lin En shook his head.

Saint Roland VI had nine children in total, and most of them were far from kind.

In order to win the imperial election, they killed each other, schemed against one another, and in the end, the eldest princess, Sirina, laughed victoriously with the help of the male protagonist.

Generally speaking, after winning the election, the victor would temporarily assume the position of regent and manage the empire’s affairs, waiting for the formal coronation.

As for Ivister... Lin En could only wish her good luck.

She neither had Sirina’s protagonist aura nor the support of a powerful family.

Besides being seen as a force of evil, she couldn’t even win others' favor.

This was essentially a death sentence for her.

After all, to become emperor, public opinion was an important factor.

Of course, this public opinion wasn’t referring to the common people, but to the nobles, who were like parasites sucking the lifeblood from the empire.

Lin En shook his head.

Not interested in politics, he returned his attention to the food on his plate.

The sausages were really delicious.

Starving, Lin En stuffed his face, greasy juices dripping from his mouth.

At this moment, a voice full of admiration and curiosity suddenly came from beside him:

"I didn’t expect you could make that arrogant guy look so pathetic. That was really impressive."

Lin En raised his head and looked over, finding a blonde-haired boy sitting next to him.

The boy resembled Rhine but without the same arrogance. Instead, he looked somewhat silly.

"You are?"

Lin En wiped the grease from his mouth.

"My name is Grey, Grey Augustus. I'm sorry for the trouble my brother caused you."

The boy named Grey scratched his head.

Lin En nodded and pointed at the food on his plate, asking, "Do you want some sausages?"

"I don’t, thank you..."

Grey’s heart warmed, but he was just about to refuse when he saw Lin En eagerly spear his untouched sausages from his plate.

Damn it.

Grey finally felt what his brother must have experienced earlier.

What a jerk!

He grumbled inwardly.

He actually liked sausages too.

So, Grey quickly thought of a way to retaliate and return the favor.

He pointed at his own plate and asked, "Do you want some lamb chops?"

Grey had originally planned to be petty when Lin En refused, getting some revenge and calling it even.

But unexpectedly, Lin En eagerly took the last lamb chop from his plate.

"Yes!" he mumbled. "You’re such a great person."

Grey widened his eyes, seemingly shocked by the turn of events.

Staring at his empty plate, he felt like slamming the table.

But before he could act, the surroundings suddenly quieted down.

Instinctively, he looked up and saw that Ivister, who was seated at the head of the table, had been looking at him with cold, indifferent eyes without him noticing. ŕÄＮоΒƐs̈

Grey nearly wet himself in fear.

Lin En, you bastard!

He slumped his shoulders and muttered, "Your Highness?"

"It seems you have something to say?"

Ivister's voice was calm but firm.

"N-No, Your Highness."

Grey almost cried.

"No, you do." Ivister's domineering nature once again showed. "Since you have something to say, it must mean you have your own ideas on how to handle these 300 or so commoners."

"Since that’s the case, I leave this matter to you. In three days, I want to see results."

Ivister’s words fell lightly, but they felt like a heavy burden crushing Grey’s heart.

He froze.

Although he was the second son of Baron Augustus, and considered somewhat of a young master in the manor, with his older brother Rhine around, Grey never had a chance to inherit the title.

His biggest hope in life was to build a plantation in the south and marry a noble lady, living a quiet life.

Although his father and brother swore allegiance to Ivister, it had little to do with Grey.

He spent his days wandering the manor and around Olren City, killing time.

After all, no one really had any expectations of him.

But now, suddenly, Ivister threw such a heavy responsibility on his shoulders.

Grey was dumbfounded.

What? Me?

Just as he was feeling lost, he heard a commotion beside him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lin En, who was bowing his head and trembling with suppressed laughter.

"By the way, you can take Lin En with you as an assistant. If things go wrong, you both should know the consequences."

Ivister's voice rang out again.

Upon hearing this, Lin En’s smile instantly froze on his face.

His expression turned unpleasant as he lifted his head.

Now it was Grey’s turn to suppress his laughter.

It turns out that smiles don’t disappear; they simply shift from one face to another.

...

"Let’s go."

After breakfast, Rhine walked straight up to Lin En.

With a cold expression, he gestured toward the door, signaling Lin En to follow him.

In reality, Rhine had already begun to fantasize in his mind about how he would teach this annoying guy a good lesson later.

The "cellar" was not, as it seemed, just a place for storing miscellaneous items. It was situated deeper than the underground dungeons.

Rhine had been there several times and was deeply shocked each time.

Simply put, it was Ivister’s storage room for extraordinary items and ancient magical artifacts. The place was filled with all sorts of bizarre and strange items.

There were even many highly dangerous objects of a high sequence level.

It was said that if any of these items were released, they could easily trigger a disaster sweeping through the entire city.

Fortunately, most of the items were securely stored, thanks to Ivister’s powers.

Her strength was terrifying, and she could even forcefully suppress dangerous ancient magical artifacts.

And once they entered the cellar, Rhine was planning to give this brat a lesson using the properties of one of these ancient artifacts, teaching him who the real boss of this manor was.

Thinking about this, Rhine revealed a cold smile.

Seeing this, Grey sympathetically glanced at Lin En.

"Whatever the princess has ordered, we’ll talk about it after you come out. Also... good luck."

There weren’t many people of Lin En’s age in the manor, and there were even fewer who could chat with him, so Grey sincerely hoped that Lin En would be fine.

After all, he seemed like an interesting guy.

Watching the two of them leave, Grey silently thought.

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