Footsteps could be heard walking towards a door.

Knock.

Knock.

"You may enter."

A woman wearing a maid outfit entered the room, she made a slight bow. She was Lydia, a woman of tall stature. The same maid who accompanied Ryan to this kingdom.

"Your Highness, the leaders of the noble families have arrived have arrived."

Ryan stood up from his chair.

"Show me the way."

He followed behind Lydia.

So yeah this is it. Here comes my confrontation with the Nobility. I am nervous about this. It's probably because with the poor I knew I could suppress them and kill them off but in the case of the Rich it wouldn't be as easy. The other families would not stay silent about this. I will be telling them about the implementation of the new policy, but I need to phrase it such that it is not for the benefit of the poor but for the benefit of the rich.

"Have all the three families arrived?"

"Yes, all the three have arrived. The Patriarch of the Richard family has brought his daughter along with him while the Patriarch of the Mines family has brought his son."

"I see."

I don't see a reason for the Richards to send their daughter here. There must be ulterior motives behind this, he also has an elder son who he could've brought. I believe it is possible that the Patriarch would want his daughter to get married to me. I don't see a problem with that, as long as all the assets and resources stay within my control that's all that matters.

"Why do you think the Patriarchs brought their children?"

"It's mostly so their descendants get a hang of the political situation since they will be handling the family in the coming future."

"It does make sense, thank you for enlightening me, Your Majesty."

"Don't act so dumb Lydia, I know you're much smarter than that."

Lydia was a bit taken aback by this comment. She didn't think she was much different from an average human. However, Ryan had seen her for who she was. Her skills. It came naturally to Lydia, so she thought any other person would think similarly. She was also well-engaged with all the important information of the kingdom.

Ryan and Lydia had reached the discussion hall, a conference room where all the meetings took place.

"After you, Your Majesty."

She opened the door and gestured for Ryan to move in.

The room was a huge hall with a round table in the center, and chairs all around it. There were a total of 12 chairs. 5 of them were occupied.

Seeing that Ryan had entered the room, the 5 people sitting stood up impromptly.

"You may be seated."

Ryan moved toward one of the red chairs which was different from the other signifying that it was for the King.

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Lydia followed behind and quickly pulled the chair back allowing Ryan to sit on it. Ryan had practiced how to make every movement as elegant as possible.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty on becoming a Leader of this Kingdom. I am the Patriarch Of Richard's family."

The man had white hair and blue eyes. His voice was masculine and he sounded humble with each word he said. He then pointed towards a girl sitting next to him.

"This here is my daughter. Sheea Richard."

The girl was not short but not tall either, she had white hair similar to that of the Patriarch and blue eyes as well. A beauty as white as snow. She also had small breasts.

I think I know why the people here find women with smaller stature more attractive. I'm not so sure though.

The girl stood up and made a bow.

"Congratulations to Your Majesty on inheriting the throne."

"You have beautiful eyes."

She was smiling before but it was much bigger now.

So this is what makes you tick huh? She's extremely proud of her eyes."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, but these eyes are all thanks to my Mom and Dad."

Ugh, I remember now. Sebas told me that their family performed incest. Why don't I see any deformities in here, rather she looks too well. Do the laws of my original world not apply here?

She sat back on the chair.

The next to introduce himself was the Patriarch of the Rihgurd Family. He didn't say much apart from a hello and a congratulations.

The patriarch of Mines family and his son didn't make much of a huge impact on Ryan either. They both too just had a very simple hello and congratulations.

So to the most important part now. I need to make it sound like I'm doing this to make the nobles richer.

"Since I have arrived here, I will be implementing a new policy soon."

All the members present in the room were surprised. It had been a long time since the former laws were changed to create new ones.

"Why this sudden change in laws though?"

"I realized that the market and prices were very unregulated and so there was a competition within the kingdom's noble families. I realized I needed all the noble families to work together and compete and dominate other nations rather than trying to just gain influence over this Kingdom. So to reduce infighting, I have created the new policy."

"What is this new policy though?"

The patriarch of the Mines family was heavily invested in this idea.

Ryan went about and explained every single detail about the new policy. The 2 new organizations and how they will regulate and control the pricing and also bring in the merchants to decide on a single price.

"This is amazing, with this I think all the internal politics that happen within the kingdom will vanish and we might work towards conquering the neighboring nations." Richard's patriarch said.

Righgurd could sense something was wrong here. His instincts were telling him something much deeper was happening here that he wasn't being told about.

"NO, I DISAGREE." Patriarch of the Rihgurd family shouted.

"How dare you say that to, His Majesty." Mines' Patriarch said.

"You can disagree if you want to, but you do realize all the agriculture you do is on our land right?" Ryan said with a blank smile. It could be seen that the smile was fake. A real smile engages the muscles below the eyes, but here it was just like Ryan's lips were forced apart.

The smile sent goosebumps down everyone's body. A chilling uncanny smile. A smile that peers into a person's soul.

"You use slaves to cultivate that land, the land which is owned by no person other than me."

Rihgurd could understand his situation now. He was caged. A bird inside of a cage. A parrot to be precise, he just had to repeat and agree with what Ryan had to say.

Rihgurd's patriarch looked down in shame.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I didn't understand what I just said. I will agree to whatever policy is being implemented."

Thank god it wasn't the Richards who disagreed. Unlike Richard who owns the mines, the Mines and the Rihgurds don't own the land but rather just use any fertile land they find and cultivate it. This is also how normal people can also take up farming. But the difference is that unlike the farmers the families who reach a certain threshold should not pay in produce but pay 40% of gold earned as taxes.

The mines that are owned by the Richards are technically outside the jurisdictions of my kingdom, so I can't impose my laws on him yet. But I have a plan on how to control the mines too.

A grin came onto Ryan's face at the thought of controlling the mines.

"So it seems that we all are on the same page, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"I'd like for you to stay here for a while before you leave, Patriarch Richard. Today's meeting ends here."

Ryan said as he stood up from the chair and walked out of the room.

All the people inside the room were older than 30, but Ryan did not lose his cool. That gained him the respect of each family's leader.

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