There is a reason why he is some slave wage who died from overwork, and not anything else. That pool of candidates does not create very smart or longsighted people. His main goal is to be THE MAIN VILLAIN , for Throne's sake. You think this guy even understands that he will die when that goal is...
This was used in another otome manga. Forgot the name, but it ain't exacly a new concept. Def would be cool to use with a dodge build, since most of these games seem to be turn-based.