Imperial College, as the name suggests, is an official college established by The Empire.

The education system of The Empire is divided into two categories: schools and colleges.

In general, people go to schools to learn basic subjects before they reach adulthood, and those who meet the requirements will enter colleges for further studies.

Colleges teach students various skills, and naturally, combat is a mandatory subject in colleges.

Unlike schools that are spread throughout towns, almost every city only has one college.

The reason is simple: in order to ensure the quality of education in colleges, The Empire has set high admission standards, resulting in many colleges relying on local financial support and operating at a loss every year. They are almost like money-burning machines.

Take Lucius for example, as one of the six dukes of The Empire, he only has two colleges in his Duchy of Antica, and the scale and educational quality of these colleges are far from Imperial College.

The reason why lords can establish colleges lies in the main function of colleges - nurturing talents.

Yes, The Empire is not as peaceful within its borders as most people think.

A thousand years ago, the founding emperor of The Empire rewarded a group of founding heroes who fought alongside him by granting them titles and estates, creating a three-tier administrative system of counts, dukes, and emperors.

Counts usually hold a city and the surrounding villages, while dukes directly govern several cities and exercise suzerainty over the counts within their territories.

The emperor himself is like a larger duke, with more directly governed territories, and has suzerainty over the dukes and counts within his domain.

As the saying goes, "My vassal's vassal is not my vassal," the emperor cannot directly command the vassals of the dukes.

Due to the chaotic system of granting titles, The Empire fell into a hundred-year-long war after the death of the founding emperor. In the end, five grand dukes emerged, and these five grand dukes and their families continue to exist to this day.

They are the Eichenberg family, who control the Duchy of Prussia, the Florens family, who control the Duchy of Naples, the Tulus family, who control the Duchy of Orleans, the Lisannus family, who control the Duchy of Aragon, and the Petrov family, who control the Duchy of Lucimiento.

As for Antica, the territory of the newly appointed Duke Lucius, it was formed because twenty years ago, he led The Empire army to conquer various regions and expand eastward. The emperor of The Empire divided a portion of his original royal territories and combined them with the newly conquered eastern regions to form this duchy.

This action disrupted the delicate balance between the emperor and the dukes, and for a time, several dukes started to win over Lucius.

As a newcomer to the nobility, Lucius cleverly maintained neutrality and waited for the highest bidder in the power struggles.

Ultimately, he entered into a political marriage with Duke William Eichenberg, marrying his second daughter Lianca when she was only three years old.

In this tumultuous situation, the various local forces of The Empire naturally seek to strengthen themselves by nurturing talents and recruiting the capable through colleges.

Among the dozens of colleges in The Empire, only one is called "Imperial College."

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

Located in the capital city of The Empire, City of Saint Laurent, its full name is the National City of Saint Laurent Charles Imperial College, commonly known as Imperial College.

Being named after both the capital and the founding emperor indicates its high status.

Imperial College is the most prestigious institution in The Empire, and it existed even before The Empire was established.

Due to its backing by the royal family and the presence of many renowned teachers, Imperial College has always been the most coveted institution for the elite of The Empire. Graduates from Imperial College are often approached by major powers with offers of support.Of course, the prerequisite is that one can graduate successfully within the strict evaluation system and screening system.

In order to guarantee the quality of students, Imperial College adopts two admission systems. One is the recommendation system for nobles, where each count is allowed to recommend one person for admission every year.

Since there are many nobles within The Empire, many of them use their recommendation quota to send their family members or trusted confidants to study at Imperial College. As a result, the proportion of students admitted through recommendation reached 20%.

The other admission channel, which is the majority of students at Imperial College, is through examinations.

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

Of course, because nobles receive the best education from birth, in reality, most of the students who can pass the test are nobles.

The difficulty of the exam that selects only 800 students out of tens of thousands of candidates naturally won't be low.

In the original work, although Liter has the halo of the protagonist, he did not pass the exam because he only had less than a month of preparation time. In the end, he was successfully admitted to Imperial College through Lucius' recommendation quota.

As a result, he is subject to the scrutiny of others in the college.

It has to be said that the task Lucius gave him is quite difficult.

He is also uncertain whether Liter can pass the exam in one month.

Just then, a maid walked over.

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

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

"Mother is looking for me?" Osen looked at her with a puzzled expression and then nodded. "Okay, lead the way."

Then, the maid led Osen towards Mary's study.

Since Mary was Lucius' second wife after his widowhood, she was only thirty years old this year.

She was born into the Duke of Orleans' family, and when Osen was ten years old, she married Lucius, who was forty at the time and twenty-two years older than her.

The age gap between her and Lucius was even greater than the age gap between her and Osen.

Considering her family background and the underlying intentions behind their marriage, although their relationship can be said to be respectful, Osen always felt a subtle distance between them.

They each have their own bedroom and study in the house, only in the first three years of marriage did Mary sleep in the same bed as Lucius, but after that, for various reasons, Mary rarely slept in the same room as Lucius.

Because Lucius had a martial background and his ability to govern the territory was average, while Mary happened to have good governance skills, Lucius eventually handed over the decision-making power of governing the territory to Mary. Mary did not disappoint Lucius and managed the territory fairly well.

Of course, although the governance of the territory is good, the private treasury of the ducal mansion did not increase, which has always raised suspicions.

As they approached Mary's study, a household servant named Randall stood guard at the door.

He was a middle-aged man with handsome looks, about thirty-four or thirty-five years old, and was one of the few personal servants that Mary brought from her family.

"Uncle Randall." Osen greeted him politely.

Randall smiled and looked at Osen, then said, "Master Osen, Madam is waiting for you inside."

"Okay." Osen smiled and pushed open the door, walking into the room.