I Became the Master of the Empress

35 – Episode 35

-Tap… Ttuk…

The sound of leather shoes echoes through the corridor.

A beautiful woman follows right next to me.

“You… Why didn’t you talk about tax law?”

I put my index finger to my lips and said to Theodora, who was asking about something at the cabinet meeting a little while ago.

“Shh. “Go to my office and talk.”

She frowns, her face full of dissatisfaction.

The guards saluting me soon open the door.

-Kkiik!

Let me and Theodora go in…

-Boom!

I heard the door close and roughly loosened the tie that was tight around my neck.

“You… Why didn’t you tell me anything about tax law?”

I lie down on her sofa, close my eyes, and speak with one ear as she asks me questions as if I’m curious.

“You might refuse, so I don’t want to be bothered.”

Theodora hates me. There’s nothing good about knowing what I’m doing.

“There’s no way I could interfere with something for the people of the empire, right?”

I slowly open my eyes to a voice that sounds a bit gentler than usual and unexpected words.

It’s not like they’re always looking at me with irritated eyes… What should I say? The look in her eyes feels unfamiliar when I see her for the first time.

“You hate me, right?”

“No matter how much I hate you, I helped because it was for the people of the empire! “I have no intention of disturbing you.”

I smile softly at those words.

“Really? Then, I’m glad. But have you thought about what I told you last time?”

Theodora gently nods her head at my words.

“I thought about a few things. “You can’t laugh when you hear it.”

At those words, I straighten my posture and speak.

“Tell me I won’t laugh at you.”

Theodora sighs slightly at my words.

“Ha… If you’re asking about ways to make money without raising taxes if it can help the empire’s finances, right?”

At those words, I nod her head.

“Right? “It’s not what I want to finance by raising taxes.”

I think there will be a big backlash because raising taxes does not simply raise taxes from all cities and lords ruled by the emperor.

If the emperor’s prestige falls as it does now, a civil war may break out.

No… I’m not even sure it will pass the Imperial Council.

“Then how about reducing the amount of gold or silver used in currency?”

I come forward and say that.

“Dismissed. That’s illegal. “If false rumors spread, the side effects will be serious.”

It’s not like I haven’t thought about that too.

When making currency here, gold or silver is melted and put into the coin according to the weight determined by law.

Sometimes strange emperors issued coins with intentionally reduced amounts of gold or silver, but eventually, high-purity gold or silver coins disappeared from the market.

In other words, rumor-mongering merchants melted down high-purity gold and silver coins and sold them.

I’m glad it’s just over with this.

I think it will have a negative impact on the empire’s economy as prices rise and the market begins to become distorted.

No, I may not be able to affect it, but I don’t want to take risks.

“But, no one knows, right? “If we want to know that we have reduced the proportion of gold or silver, we have no choice but to melt it, but melting it is… Illegal, right?”

That is correct.

There are probably only a few citizens of the empire who are capable of melting down the currency issued by the empire.

But.

If you give an order to the treasury to lower the ratio of precious metals used in currency, the order will flow to the nobles and free cities.

There are probably more than a few children from noble families or people from the Free Cities who have joined the Treasury.

Obviously this information will flow somewhere.

And they will try to take advantage of this situation.

For example, currently, the weight of gold in 1 gold is about 3.7G.

If we lower this to 3g.

“I would go to a bank or a store to exchange the newly issued money for old notes, melt them down, extract gold, and sell it.”

If you melt it and sell it, you get as much as 0.7G of gold.

“Ugh… should we go that far?”

Theodora frowns and asks again.

“Yes, I think all nobles, priests, and merchants will do it?”

In the end, only the number of gold coins in circulation is decreasing.

Theodora nods her head at my words and heads to the pile of papers I usually read.

“Then how about this?”

I bring several papers from a place where papers are piled up.

“Is this…?”

A paper on paper money.

This is the paper I saw last time.

“How about lowering the purity of silver coins so they can be traded in smaller units and issuing paper currency instead of the current gold coins?”

Hearing those words, I massage my chin and get lost in thought.

What should I do… That’s an idea I had prepared in advance.

“If you’ve seen this for a long time, don’t you think it’s quite possible?”

It’s not that I didn’t think about paper money while living on modern Earth.

In fact, we are thinking of publishing it in the Grand Duchy, not the Empire.

But I don’t know how Theodora found the paper I had marked.

I bring out the method I am planning.

“If you make a gold coin and it is lost one day, you have to make another gold coin. If you make it out of paper and take the paper to the treasury and have it exchanged for gold, then there is definitely no need for gold to be wasted unnecessarily, right?”

No matter how much it is a gold coin, it does not mean that it cannot be lost.

In fact, it is distributed to other countries, and ships engaged in maritime trade sink, or are robbed by thieves during trade with Babylon.

“Dismiss that too.”

Theodora speaks with a puzzled expression upon my words.

“Why… Why?”

“I already thought of that. And I think I thought to myself when I saw the paper over there, because I’ve read everything there. “There is no point in looking for what I have seen.”

Theodora looks a little pouty at my words.

I think he realized what I wanted to say.

“What I need is an ingenious idea that I never thought of and that is hard to find.”

“Huyu… Okay.”

She feels a little sorry for Theodora, who looks listless.

I think I tried my best…

With that in mind, she decided to give him a little compliment.

“But you did well at the cabinet meeting.”

This is sincere.

She memorized and understood quite a lot of the material, and performed it with dignity, like an emperor, without fear.

Probably because they are members of the royal family, dignity naturally comes out in their body language.

Let me praise her for properly understanding her issues and handling her issues well as her chair.

“Hmph. This much is natural. How hard did I try? “You really don’t know.”

I smile as I look at Theodora with her mouth sticking out.

“That’s right. As chairman, he is also good at mediation. “I saw it again.”

“Do you think I’m a fool? It’s strange that you don’t know what you’re asking and harassing me like that. “It’s rather unfair.”

I was puzzled by her statement that it was unfair, so I asked.

“Huh? “What’s unfair?”

“I memorized a lot and thought about whether someone might ask me what I meant. “No one asked.”

I chuckle at those words.

“That’s right, I hold the real power, right? And I saw earlier that the Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister of Foreign Affairs were praising you?”

Her cheeks blushed slightly at my words and she asked in a hushed voice.

“Really…?”

“Yes, your insight is broader than I thought.”

If you can do this without receiving proper training, I think you did well today.

Theodora opens her mouth so softly that it is barely audible.

“Thank you.”

“Huh?”

Did you say thank you?

“I… Have an appointment with Joy, so I’ll just leave.”

Saying that, I stare blankly at Theodora’s back as she hurriedly gets up from her seat.

Thank you? Did she just thank me?

Before I could ask her anything, I saw her leave her room and smiled.

“Thank you… I’m glad it didn’t end up in the worst relationship.”

Thinking like that, I lie down on the sofa.

“I’m a little… Sleepy.”

I was tired yesterday and today. Should I sleep for a bit?

Think like that for a moment. Close your eyes just for a moment.

***

Late at night.

-Kkiik~

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, His Highness the Grand Duke.”

I smile at Agrippa, whom I haven’t seen in a long time.

“Welcome Agrippa, did you rest well?”

A handsome man who smiles brightly at my words.

“I feel like I slept well thanks to you… but it feels like I’m back in hell.”

Hell…

“Well, it’s true that it’s hell.”

With that said, he takes out a large map and a small piece of wood with military symbols engraved on it from a drawer.

“Well… I’ve had a good rest now. Should we make a war plan with the anti-emperor faction that has slowly turned around?”

Agripa, who sits across from me with his face scrunched up at my words, sighs deeply.

“Phew…, Good.”

Then place a piece with military symbols engraved on the map.

“Grand Duke, has there been a symbol that I had never seen before?”

I say that with a chuckle.

“This?”

I speak to Agrippa, who is puzzled as he looks at the eagle-shaped symbol.

“This is the emperor’s standing army.”

Agripa says with an embarrassed expression on my face.

“No matter how much the Grand Duke is the head of the empire and the person with real power, wouldn’t there be a huge backlash if he arbitrarily uses the imperial army?”

“No, it’s okay. “The emperor faction can’t move now anyway.”

Ioannes had not yet taken control of Epirus and Egypt.

So, if you commit a hostile act against me right now, both of you will be annihilated.

No, Ioanes will die first, right?

Because I tried to eat something delicious by myself.

Agripa speaks as if he has realized something from my words.

“Of course, I know the situation, but there is nothing good about provoking Ioanes too much.”

I nod my head at those words.

“I know what you’re worried about, but… Now is not the time to call hot or cold water.”

One hour quickly. All anti-emperor factions must be united before Ioannes absorbs all of the imperial faction.

“First of all, I understand. “If the imperial army moves, we will have to end it as quickly as possible.”

I nod my head and say those words.

“Correct answer.”

“Then let’s do it like this.”

So he stayed up all night discussing the war with Agrippa.