RAYLEIGH’S POV
Nathaira.
The Duke had been staying in his territory due to illness for awhile, unable to attend privy council meetings or Rayleigh’s engagement ceremony. Though Nathaira’s daughter had been invited to the engagement and Asha’s birthday party - since they have to maintain the pretense of a cordial relationship with the House of the leader of the noble faction - the lady had excused herself to care for her ailing father instead.
Odd.
Cassandra Nathaira had never missed an opportunity to meet with Rayleigh, and balls were her best chance to do so. Yet she’d chosen to remain in her family’s territory until returning to the capital and attending Duchess Marlowe’s tea party with her newly adopted sister.
Medea...what are you up to? I thought you were sweet, kind, and innocent - but you were a honey trap for me from the beginning. And I, like a fool, fell for it and turned my back on my fiancée.
He’d berated himself for it until Griffin put an end to his self-punishment, reminding the youngest Imperial that they’d all been fooled by Medea.
Now you’re the adopted daughter of Nathaira. A far cry from your commoner roots.
Were wealth and power your objective all along?
While plausible, Rayleigh can’t shake the feeling that the blonde has something more in mind.
Although she could just be Nathaira’s pawn, the way she played me and everyone else so masterfully makes it clear that Medea is a dangerous woman.
He can’t believe he’d ever thought her an angel.
I’m sorry, Asha.
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ASHA’S POV
How the rats cower when the snake appears.
Aasi and Canalla, members of the noble faction, are excessively deferential and sycophantic to Duke Nathaira, to the point where Asha feels like either throwing up or laughing.
As for the Duke...
She’d heard he’d been ill for a time - since her engagement to Rayleigh had been broken and renewed, which lends more credence to the theory that Nathaira is working with Medea somehow - yet the man sitting at the table looks as hale and hearty as ever.
What were you scheming in the west, your grace?
Investigations are still ongoing, since subtlety and caution are paramount when such a powerful man is being suspected of treason. The last Asha had heard from her father yesterday was that Baron Gusic had returned to his territory in the south after bringing Medea to the Nathairas’ ancestral home in the west.
Medea, the bane of my existence and the reason for House Lamberg’s downfall before.
While Asha knows it’d been her own actions that had led to her death and the deaths of everyone she loves, her father and Lady Willow had reminded her that whatever schemes Medea is involved in had played a key role in turning Asha into a villain.
> ”Cassandra Nathaira regularly fed you lies and inflamed your hatred of Medea, Asha.” Lady Willow had started calling her by her given name at Asha’s request. ”And don’t forget, the imperial family is not blameless either. The Grand Duke fell for Medea’s schemes, and something else happened to cause the Emperor to completely turn his back on Callan, whom he owes his very life to.”
She’s right. I’m not the only one at fault, though if I hadn’t been so stupid maybe we would have survived somehow.
Is this why I’ve come back in time? Why I had to live out such a miserable end before returning to the past? Because I needed to first experience the consequences of failure?
It’s the best reason she can come up with for her mother’s and grandmother’s refusal to intervene before House Lamberg fell. Asha knows very well what her personality is like - if someone had simply told her to do or not do something, she’d have ignored them and done as she pleased.
There’s no point thinking about it now. This council meeting is a good chance to test Duke Nathaira, so I have to focus.
Viscount Hawksworth is seething at the higher noble, who’s elegantly and eloquently torn the radical’s latest proposal to shreds.
Poor Hawksworth. It’s actually not a bad idea, but just too extreme for any of us to support.
As the only member of the radical party to hold a council seat, the Viscount has to rely on other factions for backing.
Shall I throw him a bone? It might be a good way to engage Duke Nathaira too.
“Viscount Hawksworth.” Instantly all eyes are on her. “I think the proposal has excellent intentions and vision, though perhaps you’d be willing to modify some of the terms?”
“How very kind the young Lady of Lamberg is.” Duke Nathaira’s smile reminds Asha of a snake rearing its head.
Don’t lose your temper. You can’t let him get to you, especially now that he’s directly engaged you in front of the entire council.
The Duke’s comment might seem to be a compliment on the surface, but all of them know what he really means is that Asha’s a foolish, inexperienced girl - while possibly insinuating that Asha might be disloyal to Rayleigh, given her support of the handsome Viscount.
She hopes the Grand Duke won’t react to the insult, especially in front of someone suspected of plotting against the imperial family.
“I’m surprised you think I spoke out of kindness, your grace.” Asha knows her smile doesn’t reach her eyes, and doesn’t care. “I thought a man of your caliber would know better.”
Not only is Asha calling him a fool, it’s also a subtle reminder that Asha is the daughter of the Hero of the Empire (who’d become a Grandmaster at nineteen) and a dig at the Duke, who’d only managed to become a Magic Grandmaster at forty years old despite being the head of a House famous for churning out Grandmasters in their twenties and thirties.
I don’t like you, and I have no intention of being on friendly terms with you.
Marquess Aasi and Count Canalla look furious, though the Duke’s face remains congenial. He’s skilled, I’ll give him that.
“Do forgive me, Lady Lamberg.” Here we go. “Perhaps you’d care to enlighten us then?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” Asha knows she shouldn’t poke a snake pit, but she’s never been the type to obey instructions. “From what I understand, Viscount Hawksworth’s proposal is aimed at improving the standard of living of commoners, which would not only make them more loyal to the empire, ” she stresses those words deliberately, “but increase productivity, which would in turn not only increase tax revenues but also boost the economy overall.”
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By deliberately prefacing her statement with ‘from what I understand’, Asha has made it so that no blame would fall on her father, while also putting the dissenting council members in a corner - if she’s right, and the noble faction had rejected the Viscount’s proposal, then that means they’re fools who don’t deserve their positions since a nineteen year old noblewoman had understood what they hadn’t.
Marquess Aasi laughs his braying laugh, and Asha decides right then to get him off the council so she’ll never have to hear it again.
“The young lady has quite the fanciful imagination!” Count Canalla snickers along, and Asha decides to remove him from his position as well. “How would such a ridiculous plan increase productivity and boost the economy? Count Lamberg, you really should educate your daughter before bringing her to a meeting like this.”
Her father doesn’t react at all, and Asha knows it means he trusts the effort she’s put into preparing herself while being ready to step in if she needs him to.
I won’t let you down, dad. Never again.
She laughs at the noble faction, and is gratified when the Marquess and Count go red with rage.
“Do you really know nothing about workforce management and economics, Marquess Aasi and Count Canalla?” Oh, don’t look so mad yet. I’m just getting started. “How shocking for councillors in charge of agriculture and education, respectively.” Now for first blow. “Fortunately, I brought crayons today!”
The Winter Count is chuckling into his palm, and doing his best to disguise it as coughing. Rayleigh makes no such attempt at politeness, openly laughing at Asha’s cheerful insult.
Rising from her seat, Asha gestures to Monique and Valora - both of whom are snickering - and they prop large blank cards on a stand before passing her a box of crayons.
“Allow me to educate you, gentlemen.” A snort from behind her sounds suspiciously like the Emperor, but Asha ignores it in favor of drawing some stick figures.
“Let’s assume these are commoners - Madam Baker, Mr Fisher / Butcher, Madam Seamstress, Mr Builder, Mr Farmer, and Madam Merchant.” Her terrible art skills lead to more laughs, but Asha doesn’t mind. She’s never been interested in learning to draw portraits and still life, though she’s recently discovered she quite enjoys technical designs.
“According to the annual statistics compiled by the Lord Chamberlain and made publicly available in the Imperial Library as well as sold to noble families, last year the empire received six hundred and ninety-one million, four hundred and eighteen thousand, two hundred and thirty-seven gold coins in tax revenue.” There’s a gasp at how accurately she quotes the figure, but she ignores it and writes the number on the card instead.
What, like it’s hard?
“In the same publication, the Lord Chamberlain noted that the primary occupations of commoners are these.” Asha draws arrows from the commoners to the large number, alongside the symbol of Loredan currency. “At the same time, it was noted that tax revenues fell during the changing of seasons, as well as in winter.” She writes the seasons down, and the amount of tax revenue per season.
“According to Count Eszes’ notes in the same book,” the Count is in charge of healthcare for the country, “the changing of seasons and winter always see a rise in common illnesses, as well as deaths due to the worsening of said illnesses.” Picking a different colored crayon, Asha writes the statistics below the seasons.
“From this, we can infer that the reduction in tax revenue is caused in some manner by illness and death.” There are some murmurs behind her, but she ignores them and continues. “Viscount Hawksworth’s proposal aims to provide imperial aid primarily in the form of medicine and firewood to commoners.” Using a different crayon, Asha draws a medicine bottle and firewood, and arrows pointing from these to the seasons.
“If implemented, we can expect a reduction in illness and death, and therefore increased tax revenues, wouldn’t you all agree?” When she turns back to the table, she has to blink.
Why are all of you staring at me like that?
“Asha.” The Emperor sounds impressed and proud. “Did you realize this upon reading the book of statistics?”
No, a fairy threw it at my head. Of course I did.
“Yes, your majesty.” With that, the council members begin to whisper to each other. A glance at the noble faction makes Asha smirk.
“This is incredible, little sister.” Griffin is smiling brilliantly at her. “You’ve identified a pattern that no one else has.”
That’s...not something to be proud of.
“Thank you, your highness.”
“Asha.” Rayleigh looks prouder than she’s ever seen him, and once again she wonders what he’s up to. “What about the boost to the economy you mentioned?”
Not bad for someone who was fooled by Medea.
He’d realized that she has tricks more up her sleeve.
“I’m glad you asked.” Turning back to the card, Asha gestures to Valora, who removes it from the stand and holds it next to the fresh card that’s now at the front of the stack.
“Let’s go back to Madam Baker, Mr Fisher / Butcher, Madam Seamstress, Mr Builder, Mr Farmer, and Madam Merchant.” Her horrifying stick figures lead to more mirth, but Asha ignores the sounds, writing the names of each character under their figures.
“The decrease in tax revenues is due to reduction in business income for these individuals, caused by illness and death. Now, assume we are able to prevent such things by implementing the Viscount’s proposal in a modified format.” He’d asked for not only medicine and firewood, but tax breaks and financial aid - far too much for anyone on the council to agree to.
“If Mr Farmer doesn’t fall ill, he can work and have more and/or better crops to sell to Madam Baker, who needs the wheat for her goods.” She draws an arrow from the farmer to the baker, along with an arrow pointing the other way. Then she adds a drawing of something that looks like wheat above the first arrow, and a symbol of currency below the second.
“With more wheat for her goods, Madam Baker has more bread to sell to everyone.” Asha draws arrows with a bread image from the baker to all the other characters, and arrows with the currency symbol in the opposite direction.
“Now that Madam Baker has all this money, she can buy more fish and meat to eat,” Asha draws arrows and icons between the baker and fisher/butcher “and clothes to wear.” Now she adds arrows and icons between the baker and seamstress.
“She can even expand her bakery.” She adds arrows and icons between the baker and builder.
“Let’s go to Madam Seamstress now. With the increase in earnings, Mr Builder, Mr Fisher / Butcher, and Mr Farmer, can buy more clothes from Madam Seamstress as well.” Asha adds arrows and icons. “Now she can buy more fabric from Madam Merchant.” She adds arrows and icons between the seamstress and merchant.
“With the additional income, Madam Merchant can buy more bread, fish, and meat, as well as expand her own store.” She adds arrows and squiggles between the characters. “And with the increased demand for bread, Madam Baker will buy more wheat from Mr Farmer, who will now have more money to spend on fish, meat, and clothes, and possibly renovate his house.” The multicolored lines and symbols are beginning to become a tangled mess.
“In this way, a single group of people’s wellbeing can lead to a spillover effect that boosts economic activity, and, by extension, tax revenues.”
This time she freezes when she hears the sound of clapping, before turning around in shock.
What...
The men in the room - with the exception of the noble faction - are on their feet and applauding.
“My lady, this is brilliant!” Count Eszes, whose love of learning is famous in the empire, starts forward to get a closer look at Asha’s colorful mess. “This is a principle of economics I’d never heard of!”
That’s...REALLY not something to be proud of. Noblemen are educated on economics, finance, management, military strategy, and politics from childhood, while noblewomen are usually kept away from such topics and told to focus on more ‘genteel’ hobbies. How can you be happy about a nineteen year old girl discovering such things through desperate independent study?
“Thank you for the compliment, Count Eszes.” She bows demurely. “Please correct and guide me if I have made any mistakes.”
“Mistakes?” Duke Marlowe has come forward as well, peering at her drawing and smiling. “Lady Asha, you’ve just clearly explained how we can increase economic activity with only a few bottles of medicine and some firewood at specific times of the year.”
Well, I wouldn’t call it a ‘few’. We’d need enough for a sizeable group of people.
“My lady!” Viscount Hawksworth’s golden eyes are shining. “Thank you, my lady! I knew I could count on the Lady of Lamberg to see beyond status and allegiances, and act for the benefit of the empire’s citizens!”
Down, boy.
“Thank you, my lord.” She bows gracefully. “I simply wished to follow all of your examples and be of service to my country.”
“You’ve done well, Lady Asha.” Marquess Fenceton’s approval had been key, and Asha breathes a sigh of relief upon receiving it. “While Viscount Hawksworth’s initial proposal might have been considered a little extreme for too little gain, as you said - with some modifications, it would greatly benefit the empire to implement it.”
“I’m grateful for the praise, Marquess.” Asha bows to the brilliant negotiator. “And I thank Viscount Hawksworth for coming up with such an idea, as well as Duke Nathaira, Marquess Aasi, and Count Canalla for so kindly giving me an opportunity to share my thoughts.” With that last remark, all eyes turn to the still seated members of the noble faction.
“No thanks necessary, Lady Asha.” Despite the fact that he must be seething inside, Duke Nathaira’s face is as congenial as ever. “You’ve come up with quite the spectacular explanation, given your age.”
Asshole.
“Perhaps it’s because of my age that I was able to come up with this, your grace.” She can’t resist the challenge. “After all, at only nineteen years old, I’m allowed to make mistakes that esteemed council members can’t.” Asha intentionally smiles brightly, just to annoy him and further drive home the point: I’m the same age my father was when he became a Grandmaster.
“Well, Aasi and Canalla? What do you think?” It’s rare for the Emperor to call out aristocrats so directly, especially at a council meeting, but His Majesty’s distaste for the noble faction is infamous.
When they stutter and mumble, turning even redder, Asha seizes the opportunity.
“I know my art skills are lacking, my lords. Perhaps you’d like me to draw everything out panel by panel?”
That’s a good look on your faces, but I’m not done with you two yet.
I refuse to fail this time.
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MOONRISE BY LUNASEA: CHAPTER 22 END