<Episode 545> The Seductress Who Blinds the Eyes of a Virtuous Ruler
The Forest of Orte was not the only expense; there were countless other places where money had to be spent. Expenditures were a problem, but tax revenue was a problem as well. It was safe to assume that the provincial lords who had not assembled in Taranto were currently in arrears on their poll taxes. Tax revenue that should have flowed into the central government was pooling in the provinces and failing to rise, and the amount was enormous.
The fact that even the pro-royalist Marquez and the deeply loyal Montefeltro were among the absent lords starkly illustrated the severity of the situation.
"How long are these rotten bastards going to keep using the Black Death as an excuse!"
Like Pisano, territories to which the King had recently appointed new lords paid taxes directly to the King's tax collector. This was a condition of the granting of the territory.
Therefore, in reality, Cesare possessed only half-rule. The right to collect all taxes belonged to his father, the King. The King left Cesare a portion of the collected money for local use and took the rest of the revenue to the central government.
However, places that had become semi-direct territories like Pisano were few and far between. Most remained under the rule of feudal lords who had governed the land for a very long time, and these lords collected taxes directly and sent them to the central government. Consequently, the central government had no way of knowing the total amount of taxes collected.
"No matter how many people died from the Black Death, it has been almost five years now, five years! It's not like the Black Death is a disease that takes years to kill you. Shouldn't the population be increasing by now, not decreasing? It means not a single baby is being born-does that even make sense?"
By a stroke of luck for Leo III, the birth records were under the jurisdiction of the local shrines rather than the individual lords. Both the registration and the safekeeping of the records were within the authority of the Holy See.
However, the Holy See was unlikely to cooperate willingly, and even if cooperation were obtained, Leo III lacked the administrative power to cross-reference the birth records with local conditions one by one. Even if he did, he could not invade without a clue. This was because, as long as a lord devoted loyalty to the King, the King had to respect the lord's territory.
"Just stage a rebellion instead, so at least we can suppress it!"
As he grew older, Leo III increasingly blurted out whatever came to mind without considering the consequences. It was not a pleasant sight. Whenever this happened, Lord Delpiano would try to stop him, trembling unnoticed, but recently, a special remedy for such occasions had appeared. It was Isabella.
"Your Majesty, please calm your anger. It is not good for your health."
She possessed not only beauty but also other strengths. For instance, a pretty voice, the persuasiveness that came from it, and a nasty trickery. The King's favorite whispered.
"Isn't it unnecessary to collect money solely through taxes?"
"Huh? What did you say?"
Leo III stared at Isabella, dumbfounded. Was she suggesting that, if not taxes, at least accept voluntary donations? However, Isabella approached the matter from the exact opposite direction. Why not simply levy money that was even more coercive than tax money that had to be paid?
"Collect the fines."
"What fine?"
Isabella whispered a wicked thought to the King with a faint smile on her lips.
"Since the history of the kingdom easily exceeds 300 years, surely there must be a great many laws, wouldn't there?"
"Th-that's right."
"Among them, there are certainly some laws that have become obsolete."
There were not just a few, but countless ones. For example, the legal provision prohibiting a single person from owning more than five sheep originated a long time ago, during a time when every village had public pastures. Anyone could graze their animals on these public pastures.
However, someone inevitably appeared to abuse the system. If a specific individual raised a large number of livestock there, the sheep from that single household would graze on all the grass in the pasture. This resulted in a specific individual unjustly taking all the benefits that everyone could have enjoyed in small amounts. Consequently, the number of sheep a person could raise was legally stipulated.
However, subsequently, the kingdom's wheat farming methods were improved. As wheat could be cultivated with less labor input than before, no land remained idle. The Etruscan Kingdom was reborn as an agricultural nation, and the public pastures of today had all been fully developed into farmland owned by others. Once the public pastures disappeared, the livestock limit became nominal. This was because everyone bought grain from the market to feed their animals, so the situation where someone obtained unfair profits from public property without investment, as had happened in the past, no longer occurred.
"Fine, everyone who did not comply."
Countless people raised five or more sheep. If we were to dig up other dead laws, we would find more than a hundred.
"If you state that the reason is to uphold the solemnity of national law and to rebuke immorality, there will be no one to criticize this."
Leo III's eyes widened. It was a gold mine of epic proportions.
"Why didn't I think of this sooner?"
He grabbed Isabella's hand.
"Isabella, you are a lucky charm, a lucky charm!"
Isabella covered her mouth and smiled shyly. It was a new habit. Thanks to her very white teeth and pretty smile, she used her smile as a weapon.
Objectively speaking, the way her dimples deepened as she smiled was very beautiful. However, ever since her face was disfigured, the scars on her cheeks had hideously distorted her facial muscles whenever she smiled. It was a sight unbearable to look at.
No one else had ever seen Isabella's true face, but she could not hide it from her own eyes. Whenever she smiled, she began to unconsciously cover her face with her sleeve.
"I've had Rubina around for nearly thirty years, but she's so stupid she's never been of this much help to state affairs! You really are the best, Isabella!"
The good thing about power was that there was no risk of punishment even if you did whatever you wanted. To Isabella, who had endured countless suppressions of desires for possessions and activities throughout her life, its potential was limitless. Isabella inwardly let out a sneer.
"You've been in power for decades, so you should be the one making the best use of it. Who are you to speak ill of others?"
However, she charmingly flattered Leo III.
"It was merely a trivial thought, but I am overwhelmed by Your grace that you have looked upon it favorably."
Isabella massaged the old King's hand and gave him all the credit.
"If this matter goes well, it is entirely due to Your Majesty's experience in finding concrete ways to implement it."
Isabella, smiling brightly, looked incredibly beautiful. Her hands were cool, so his blood circulation improved. Unable to hold back any longer, Leo III brought up the subject.
"So, about that...."
"Yes, Your Majesty?"
"When would it be good if I visited your chambers?"
Isabella's smile froze
"Ahahahaa!"
She barely managed to hide her displeasure with a broad smile. Her new habit of covering her mouth was quite useful in times like this. She replied as if to say, "Don't talk nonsense."
"Your Majesty. It will take fifteen more nights for the dress tailored for that day to arrive."
"Fifteen nights?!"
Leo III was shocked. He did not have that much patience left. He was just about to open his mouth to say something. Isabella looked serious at Leo III's reaction.
"I hope our first night together will be perfect and beautiful."
She skillfully began to brand the impatient man a loser. It didn't matter if the man was around sixty. As long as they wanted something from her, the man was always Isabella's toy.
"Serving Your Majesty for the first time is a significant step in my life, and for me, it is a single day I will never forget and will cherish for the rest of my life."
Her gaze unconsciously scanned Leo III's wrinkled skin, then consciously moved across the rough, exposed sandstone walls of the summer palace's office to the dry winter of Taranto, where sunlight streamed down through the window.
She sighed involuntarily. This weather felt like her own miserable fate. While everyone else described it as bright and warm, it was a season where neither grain nor fruit bore a single berry.
"Your Majesty, you are full of experience, and you must have had countless loves, including the late Queen and the late Grand Duchess Rubina, but..."
However, Leo III was also getting used to Isabella's gaslighting. He snapped back. The resentment of a man who did not get what he wanted accumulated so easily.
"Anyone who sees you would think you are a virgin."
She was speechless. For a moment, not a single word to say came to mind. Isabella looked at Leo III with a hurt expression. Leo III was momentarily flustered by his mistress's shocked look. She did not miss that moment.
"Your, Your Majesty. You are completely different from the men I have met before."
Light gathered on her eyelashes. Isabella blinked.
"You said it is love."
Golden sunlight rolled over the transparent tears and scattered in all directions in a kaleidoscope of colors.
"Is it just me?"
Isabella bit her lip while looking at Leo III before the King could answer
"Am I really the only one who adores Your Majesty with these feelings?"
"Isabella, it's not like that..."
Leo III began to change the subject. At this, Isabella instinctively sensed that she had seized the advantage. She shot back swiftly.
"Honestly, I felt so heartbroken on the journey to Taranto. Even when I tried to see Your Majesty, I was repeatedly refused by the guards."
"The guards acted on their own initiative."
"Are you saying that the Royal Guards expelled me on their own accord without Your Majesty's word!"
If he answered yes, she seemed ready to demand that he write down the person's name and bring her their head.
"Were you only interested in me when I looked pretty, and wanted to keep your distance while I was injured?"
"Th-that can't be true."
"If Your Majesty desires only my body like the other riffraff, I need neither wealth nor glory, nor anything else!"
Isabella resolutely rose from her seat.
"I am here, having abandoned my own children, because I love Your Majesty. However, if Your Majesty does not share my heart, I have no attachment to the position of official mistress. I will simply return to the estate of Count Contarini."
"Isabella!"
"Otavio... knows that I have devoted my heart to Your Majesty, so he will mistreat me for the rest of my life, but since that is the only place I can turn, I have no choice."
The reason Ottavio mistreated Isabella was not that she had become Leo III's mistress. However, the truth did not matter to Isabella. Leo III jumped up in protest.
"Why is there nowhere else to put me!"
Faced with the unexpected attack from his young concubine, threatening to leave him, the old King stammered until an idea struck him. He finally found a way to escape.
"Hey, didn't I move your lodgings to 'Casa della Amanti' before your face was even fully healed, so you wouldn't have been stuck at the 'Queen's Theater'?"
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