[DISCONTINUED] I was reincarnated in The Abandoned Empress as a minor character

.17. Audience 2

 ♛ . Aristia's P.O.V . ♛

The emperor kept silent while all his staff including the Chief Chamberlain left. Then, he began to speak to them, "Welcome. In fact, I have something to consult with you. "

"Please go ahead, Your Majesty."

"It looks like there are still some kingdoms that are disloyal to our empire. Even if we don't have to punish them, I think we should be prepared for their possible rebellion. So, I'm thinking of increasing knights and soldiers."

"Really?" Duke Rass said, frowning for a moment.

"I don't think recruiting soldiers is going to be difficult. For the past several years we managed to recruit them at a proper level, so I think we can recruit more without drafting them."

"But Your Majesty, you will need lots of money to increase the knights. Don't you think it will strain the financial resources?" My father asked in a worried tone.

"I think so. I'm thinking of receiving some donations. "

"How?"

"There are several ways. For example, I can give extra points to the knights when reviewing their promotion based on their donation."

"But if you do so, the quality of the knights decline, Your Majesty."

I heard my father's sharp voice. I could understand him because as a knight, he couldn't help but be concerned.

But that wasn't the point now. I tilted my head and looked at the man with green hair.

Why is he keeping silent? 

He was allegedly one of the brightest knights in the empire, and he must have found the problem in the emperor's proposal.

"Well, this is an inevitable situation. I'm going to give the benefits to those knights who won't drive down overall competence too much. If you increase the intensity of their training, it won't be a big problem."

"Got it, Your Majesty." The emperor smiled at my father who reluctantly agreed.

"And I'm going to raise taxes. Temporarily, I'm going to raise taxes by one percent. For those nobles with estates, I'm going to impose a 3% tax rate, and the top nobles are going to pay 4%."

With a sigh, Duke Rass said, "You have tormented nobles since you were young, and you are still at it, Your Majesty. Increasing the number of knights will give you a lot of problems, and now you are going to increase taxes? This is too much. This man (my father) who is blindly loyal to you won't take issue with your proposal, but it's me who is sandwiched between the political factions complaining hard about such a proposal."

"That's why I'm tipping you off in advance."

"You will face stiff resistance from the grumbling nobles, but you can't help it." Duke Rass replied as if he had no other choice but to follow the emperor's order, so did Veritas and my father.

Something came to my mind suddenly. 

In my memory of the past, it was a policy recorded as the fly in the ointment during Emperor Mircan's rule. Because of the possible revolt of the Lisa's kingdom, the empire decided to increase its military spending, so the emperor imposed more taxes on the nobles to avoid taxing its ordinary people more.

His intention itself was not bad, but it turned out that the increased taxes were shifted to the rest of the people in the empire, incurring their wrath. Three years later, when the new taxation method proposed by Allendis de Verita, Duke Verita's second son who was called a rare genius, was adopted, many people wished that it had been implemented a little earlier.

No matter how smart Duke Verita or his second son are, they might not know the problem the additional taxes proposed by the emperor would cause, but even then there was nothing like the donation policy at that time. Nonetheless, why would Duke Verita keep silent about it?

"Oh, I think I've been talking about a boring topic too long. I'm sorry."

"You didn't, Your Majesty." i replied

"By the way, I've heard that you are smart. I wonder what you think about what you just heard. "

The emperor spoke, turning his attention to me paying no mind to the Archduke and his daughter who stood silent all along.

but wasn't he someone of rare sight who couldn't be seen out often? even as queen back then i never saw his face, he passed so quickly. But i did hear of his heroic actions, the war that would soon occur. It was lowkey but he died saving the knights lives, selfless.

i pulled the edge of my dress and bowed, "I'm still young and dull, so I don't know anything about it," I replied.

"Really?" The emperor turned to Duke Verita, looking at me suspiciously.

"Duke, give it to me."

After receiving the document from Duke Verita, the emperor took out the seal and asked again.

"Are you sure you don't have any objection to my proposal?"

I closed my eyes at his question. 

Of course, I knew that he was testing me now.

Even if I pretended not to know, he would not implement the donation policy as it was now because Duke Verita must have noticed its problem.

But what if he signed the proposal and the new tax policy would go into effect? In that case, I would not be affected, but the people of the empire would go hungry for several years and resent the emperor.

wouldn't that be a pity?