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Chapter 22
Knock knock.
“Who is it?”
—“It’s Redek, my lord. I heard you called for me.”
“Come in.”
The door to the office opened, and Redek walked in.
He was dressed plainly, with dirt on his shoes—it was clear he had come straight from the field after finishing his work.
“Did you hear how the trade went with the workers?”
“Yes, my lord. We got a good price for the monster by-products this year. But we were overcharged when buying grain.”
Avalkin’s eyebrows twitched at the word overcharged.
In a territory already low on income, being ripped off made things even worse.
“That’s not good news. Why?”
“Grain prices went up in Mantova.”
The Duchy of Mantova in the west.
It had been the empire’s main breadbasket for over 200 years since the unification war.
For a land like Yeshken, where farming was nearly impossible, Mantova was both a lifeline and a black hole that sucked up all their money.
“It’s not even a bad harvest year. That’s excessive.”
“Well, it’s worse than a bad harvest. The imperial court increased taxes on all goods from Mantova—by ten times.
Seems like the emperor was displeased with them. Maybe because the Duke of Desiderio had been making good money from tea and tobacco lately?”
“…Hmm.”
Avalkin thought of the emperor of the Karlhorn Empire—Rüdiger von Karlhorn.
“What do you think the real reason is?”
Redek shrugged and replied without much thought.
“I don’t know. Maybe the Duke of Desiderio didn’t bribe the emperor enough?”
“That’s unlikely.”
The young emperor, in his late twenties, had golden hair like his mother, the dowager empress Meredith, and jade-green eyes like his father. He was known to be hot-tempered and arrogant, but not foolish.
He wouldn’t have raised taxes without a calculated reason.
“Think of another possibility.”
“Hmm… Then maybe it’s discrimination against western nobles? The dowager empress hated the western empress, so maybe the emperor was raised to think that way?”
“You’re getting warmer—but that’s not the whole story. Think deeper.”
“I really don’t know.”
“Redek Riboducan, heir to a viscount.”
Redek raised his hands in defeat.
“Come on, give me a break. I really don’t know. Can’t you just tell me?”
“No. When I’m not here, you’ll have to act as lord in my place. If you give up this easily, how can you make proper decisions?”
Redek raised his voice dramatically.
“Why do I have to be an acting lord?! We have my lady!”
“…What?”
Avalkin was so dumbfounded he couldn’t speak.
Did he just say Bellaxina should act as lord?
Redek didn’t hesitate a moment.
“When you’re away, the highest-ranking person in the territory is Lady Bellaxina, not me. So of course she should be the one to take charge! Isn’t that right?”
“Hah!”
Unbelievable.
They weren’t even married yet, and Redek was already trying to pass work onto Bellaxina.
And since when was she his lady?
“You’re doing everything you can to avoid thinking, aren’t you?”
“Let’s keep things easy, my lord. Forcing people to do things they can’t is not good leadership.”
This slippery guy…
Avalkin let out a sigh, knowing he couldn’t win this argument.
“Alright. It did start with conflict between the east and west. But it’s not just about discrimination—it’s much more political.”
The Karlhorn Empire was one nation, but in reality, it was split in two: East and West.
The empire had been founded 600 years ago when the Eastern Empire conquered the Western Empire through war.
So the Eastern nobles—seen as the founders—were always treated better than the Western nobles.
Even if two nobles held the same title, an Eastern noble would be ranked higher by default.
Still, you couldn’t treat a part of the empire as a colony forever.
“The imperial family has always tried to maintain a balance between east and west. Name one of those policies.”
“There are quite a few, but since we were just talking about the empress and queen, I think you mean the East Empress, West Queen system.”
“At least you’re not completely clueless.”
The East Empress, West Queen system:
The emperor’s official wife, the Empress, was always chosen from an Eastern noble family.
The emperor’s recognized consort, the Queen, was chosen from a Western noble family.
This setup let both noble factions check each other, maintaining a political balance. It was one of the empire’s founding principles.
“So as you can see, choosing the empress and queen from both regions was about maintaining power balance.
But this current emperor? He kicked out Bellaxina Outbayan, a lady from a powerful founding Eastern family, less than a year after taking the throne. And he seized her family’s territory. So what do you think happened?”
“…The balance collapsed.”
“It’s worse than that.”
Casting out Bellaxina was like slapping the Eastern nobles in the face.
If that were all, the Eastern nobles would’ve been furious and tried to reclaim their pride by confronting the emperor.
But by seizing the Outbayan estate, the emperor sent a much scarier message:
All land technically belongs to the emperor. And he can take it back anytime he wants.
The Eastern nobles went quiet.
And that silence? That was the emperor’s worst nightmare.
“He’s probably under a lot of political pressure. Just look—he still hasn’t named a new empress.”
Most people don’t realize this, but political influence is like money—you spend it.
The young emperor used all his political capital when he kicked out Bellaxina and seized her land. Sure, he wiped out the imperial debts in the process—but in doing so, he ended up owing new debts. This time, political ones.
“So… is that why he raised Mantova’s tariffs?”
“Exactly.”
The Eastern nobles were probably upset.
To calm them down, the emperor had to give them something—something valuable enough to make them decide it was better to keep the peace than rebel.
But he couldn’t show weakness by handing them power.
So instead, he made a move:
If he couldn’t give the East more, he would take from the West to even the scales.
“Still, that’s harsh. Raising tariffs just to please the East? Poor Duke Desiderio.”
“…Is he, though?”
Avalkin scoffed at Redek’s soft-hearted comment.
Raising tariffs raises prices, which lowers sales—especially for luxury goods like tea and tobacco.
But what about grain?
Mantova didn’t need to raise prices on grain. At least not for us.
Yeshken was officially exempt from all taxes.
Since it was still being developed, the empire allowed it to go tax-free—including import duties.
So why did Mantova raise the price anyway?
Because no matter the price, we have no choice but to buy.
Yeshken’s food supply was terrible.
If they couldn’t get grain from Mantova, they might not survive the winter.
And Duke Giovanni Desiderio surely knew that.
He passed the cost onto us. The poorest and weakest are being forced to pay the debts of the rich and powerful.
Avalkin kept those bitter thoughts to himself.
There was no benefit in stirring resentment against Mantova—it would only cause trouble.
They still held all the power.
“There’s no helping it. We’ll have to borrow money too.”
“You mean… take out a loan?”
“What other choice do we have? Winter is right around the corner. Find out who might be willing to lend.”
“Sigh… Alright.”
Redek thought for a second, probably figuring out who to dump the task on.
Then his eyes lit up.
“By the way, how are things going with my lady?”
“…Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”
“Well, it’s an important matter for Yeshken! A happy home makes for a happy land, right? Hehe. If you two get along well, maybe she could give us some tips on getting funding.”
Redek’s hopeful expression made Avalkin feel slightly awkward.
How are things going with Bellaxina Outbayan…? Now, of all times?
“Ah… um… Bellaxina Outbayan is…”
“Yes? My lady is…?”
Avalkin hesitated for a moment, then muttered the answer.
“…She’s sulking.”
