A mild st of oil paints lingered among the gentle breeze passing through the room. Although some distant sounds leaked ihose around spoke in whispers, which gave an atmosphere of solemn silehis was not a pce for outward dispys, but inward introspe.

  At least, in her mind, that was how she uood the other actors in this little py. The Vist was not oo invite pany for such superfluous reasons. So the walls showed his patronage, oil paintings on panels of wood to orate the ever-approag Royal wedding, and so the admirers whispered.

  Of course, she was no exception.

  “My thanks for the invitation. There is so much I would wish to speak of and dare not write down,” she said.

  The Vistess ughed and, with the back of her hand, patted her husband’s shoulder. “Truly, she could be your daughter to say such words with her fear nlee.”

  He let out a sigh, his hand ing up to adjust his gsses, something of a new addition to him as his age caught up with him. “Dear, please.”

  Ign her husband, she leaned closer to Julia and whispered, “Oh he just lights up whehe butler announces mail from you.”

  Julia smiled, showing humour on her lips, yet keeping bay ughter. “I rather do look forward to sir’s letters too.”

  “If I did not know what goes on in those letters, I would surely be most jealous. As, as it is, I may only thank you for keeping this old man alive. It seems he is perpetually on the verge of passing due to boredom.”

  “Tiffany.”

  He said her h a hint of exasperation and that finally ended her little performance, settling into a polite smile. “Well, Lady Augstadt, pray enjoy allery.”

  “I certainly shall, Lady Erberg.”

  Although the trio remaiogether as they wandered from piece to piece, keeping a distance from the other such wandering groups, Lady Erberg spoke no more.

  “My Lady wishes to… rewrite the ws?” he asked.

  “Indeed,” Julia said.

  He let out a lh this time. “Well, I should fess that my is have been on matters of eore than governance.”

  “It is precisely for that reason I am asking sir. I have in mind that, while the punishment of crimes is oter, there exists another matter entirely for pahat is, there should be a clear and rigorous uanding of what restris a pany should have, as well as what rights and protes it is entitled to.”

  For a moment lohey stood in front of the painting, then moved to the .

  “What need is there for such a thing when charters would suffice?” he asked.

  “If I may be frank, though not quite an answer for what sir has asked, I have found guilds to be entirely… insuffit. Pray do stop me if sir finds my philosophy dull or incorrect, but it seems to me there rarely exists a society which does not io, first and foremost, protect its members. Whether one speaks of a town, a guild, or even us Lords and Ladies.”

  He made a sound of thought, so she paused there to see if he had anything he wished to say. Once assured he had none, she tinued.

  “A guild, thes for the sake of its members, not for the produ and sale of goods. With the collective power of its members, it seeks to impinge on others, either barring them from freely doing work or influeng the price of goods—to say nothing of intimidation and the like.”

  After a few seds, he gestured at the painting. “My Lady has certainly sidered this issue.”

  “I have had a rather thh look at how a guild operates after purchasing back the charter for a textile guild,” she said, her voice distant.

  He let out a breath of ughter. “Indeed, I remember reading of that. My Lady finds no she of eai in her life.”

  A smile touched her lips; she took his words as a pliment. “So it is that a guild is not a good basis for erce. However, to simply repce it with a pany would do little better. We already see that, when it es to merts, they shall prefer to find the lowest price food and then sell it for the highest prio matter how far it must travel, whether that good is a material thing or a person’s bour. To give such a pany a chartered monopoly would only ehat they employ as few of my people as possible.”

  It was not a troversial statement, yet it left him with a question he had to ask. “Five me if I am being obtuse, but pray tell what exactly it is My Lady is seeking to aplish with such ws?”

  “Oh, of course, how foolish of me. Rather, dive me for being elusive. It is the case that many will think of obtainih or power—or both. However, it is the case for myself that I wish to improve produ,” she said, gesturing at the painting as she spoke.

  His brow furrowed. “Produ?” he asked.

  “Indeed.”

  Silence followed for a while, at least on that topic, as she instead ented oworks they viewed. It was quite a entary at that, plimenting the various artists for their skills as well as the couple themselves for their patronage of the arts, all while steering clear of eveioning the subject of the paintings.

  Only one time had passed did she return to the topic of before.

  “This is such a discussion I could well write aire book on what I have studied thus far,” she said, her quiet voice carrying a hint of her efforts. “Pray give me the be of the doubt such that I may be suct. We begin by asking why it is that, of all pces, Italy is where we saw such brilliant minds rose up these st few turies, their influence felt across all of Europe.

  “These people, it should be noted, were not the sons of kings nor dukes, what little nobility their names held an echo of long-lost prestige. However, her were they peasant farmers. Families of modest wealth, who could educate their sons and give them freedom to pursue their passions, as well as reise their potential. What marked these geniuses different was a bre of overpping is. In art, they saw mathematics; and in mathematics, they saw art; and iural sces, they saw both.

  “To hurry this along, I wish to cultivate such people of my own. It seems to me that, to do so, the an should have a modest wealth. How best to achieve that is the difficulty I face. As mentioned, strong guilds and rge panies are rather unsuitable for this.”

  She paused there for a time, letting the points she had brought up have time to settle back down, not a simple matter at all.

  “It seems to me produ is the answer. If the an could make moods with his time, it would both give him more wealth and drive down the price of the good, thus also redug the expenses of other en. This, of course, requires the an to have a sizeable share of sales, not simply be pensated for bour.”

  The trio shuffled over to the painting, him with a look of deep appreciation and her with an almost sorrowful expression.

  “My Lady certainly paints quite a picture. As a man ined to practicality, I ot help but wi the thought of asking a cobbler to be a mert, nor may I eain su absurdity as a city of riches. With all due respect, and I truly do have much respey Lady, why is it that she thinks that she is capable of such a feat whione before her have been able to aplish? No, that no others have even sidered, for I have heard of nothing simir in all my reading.”

  He spoke with a fatherly harshness, not cold, yet stern, and underid with .

  However, she did not hesitate in her reply. “I ot say why others are blind, only that I see clearly what they disregard, including sir.”

  “What is it that we would all disregard?” he asked—and this time there was a chill to his voice.

  And this time, her reply did not e so quick, instead her gaze lingering on the painting for a long while first. “That people are truly the resource with which civilisation is built.”

  He let out a breathless ugh, his heard turning to the side. “My Lady thinks so little of me?”

  “Pray do not treat me as a fool, pretending to misinterpret what I have said. Or rather, I would say again that a society, first and foremost, protects itself, whicludes us and our peers.”

  She paused there to ugh, her hand over her mouth.

  “After all, the Wars of Heresy showed hile our supposed superiority is, almost brought down by mere mobs of peasants,” she said, barely a whisper.

  A different kind of silence followed that sentence before he cleared his throat. “My Lady should not so easily speak such treasonous words,” he said, tone a strieutral.

  “Sir, you asked what differentiates myself from others. It is that I have absolute fiden my ability to lead a society of petent peoples. After all, until the eve of my eighteenth birthday, I had been groomed to bee a queen. As such, I do not fear emp the peasants.”

  Silence more settled, interspersed with idle ents owork, following them as they shuffled along to the .

  Eventually, though, he let out a sigh, then spoke. “I appreciate My Lady’s dour. This old man, he has lived a simple life and he has every iion of tinuing to do so. Perhaps you are correct. In my time, I saw something which I thought obvious and to which all others seemed oblivious, even to their detriment. Still now, I have thoughts that I ck the willio put forward, knowing how adverse others are to ge.”

  “Sir is too kind to me and not kind enough to himself. It is for those thoughts that I am here, eager to listen,” she said.

  A chuckle fell from his lips, her hollow irely ho. “Let us remind ourselves of what the discussion is about, having bee rather side-tracked,” he said.

  “Very well. It is like this, I see that there are two ideal anisations of be ones which are overseen by my authority; and small ones which are indepely run and about cover a family. So I would like to draft ws such that these family-sized businesses are to be registered as panies and that they have a certain preference. Or rather, that rger panies are disced.”

  With his eyes narrowed, he reached up and removed his gsses, taking a moment to polish the gss. “If I may urge caution, it is ther panies which have the greater reach to pull in and push out goods. They do also necessarily employ many people, especially skilled people,” he said.

  “We could well sit here all day and quibble on this point. Truly, I believe merts to be the worst evil, that at least a guild, in proteg itself, protects those produg goods.”

  Letting out a sigh, he returned his gsses to their position. “My Lady certainly does have a queer view of these matters.”

  She said nothing, her gaze upon the painting of a Swiss castle, before it a procession bearing the Empire’s Royal coat of arms.

  “I would still ask why it is that My Lady wishes for these… small anisations of bour to be presented as a pany, not as a guild. Perhaps in uanding so, I may be able to offer some advice,” he said.

  “It is perhaps a trivial difference, something in mind rather than practice. A guild, as I see it, is den with rules and expectations to justify itself; while a pany should seek to justify itself with wealth. These small anisations, I should begin by asking little of them than that they maintain records of sales, purchases, and staff….”

  As she trailed off, she slowly turned and spared him a knowing smile, theurned her gaze to the painting.

  After a moment, his lips parted and, a moment ter, he said, “Taxation?”

  She tittered. “I did not ask the wrong person for advice,” she said, gesturing at the painting. “Indeed, I io begin overhauling the city’s taxation system. Or rather, overhaul too polite a word sidering there is nothing in pce which I would call taxation.”

  “The popution of Augstadt… to directly tax them all would require….”

  He muttered those words to himself, only to slowly turn to her, finding her waiting with a knowing smile.

  “It shall require aire institution of educated peoples.”

  Lips thiurned back to the painting where he hesitated for a while before he finally spoke. “While My Lady certainly has an iing ambition, I would take caution in pursuing it, that vassals rather enjoy their rights.”

  “Sir need not needlessly worry for me. My father did mupower the city and to exclude his vassals from gaining that power, which has left me in a position where I trade such powers for other cessions.”

  A chuckle left his mouth, leaving behind a crooked smile. “My Lady’s thoughts seem to belie her age.”

  “It is precisely because of the legacy of others, upon which I now stand, that I may see that little farther,” she said.

  “If that is all, I do wonder,” he murmured.

  Although she did not hear what he had said, it seemed as if she was not supposed to have, so she tented herself with pretending to admire the painting. This one was much easier thahers, simply a rendition of the ndscape around the King’s summer castle. A ndscape she knew well.

  “This is certainly a matter which is best thhly thought through,” he said.

  “I would not press for any answers now, merely wish to ensure sir has answers for which questions he has,” she said.

  Raising a hand, he pushed his gsses up. “Then pray do sketch the bigger picture.”

  It was her turn to chuckle, her hand over her mouth, lips staying in a smile afterwards. “Very well. There are three key parts to this, one of which sir has already identified as taxing the oners directly. The sed part is to, as I mentioned before, show prefereo smaller panies, which I hope to do by taxing rger panies more and giving them greater requirements to meet.

  “Last of all, in the simplest terms, I desire a system where these smaller panies would be able to trade without s. This is particurly where I would appreciate sir’s expertise. The best solution I see would be a bank under my authority, which would, for example, have the ability to seize wealth in the case of fraud. However, I am wary of giving ananisation powers that would encroach upon the judges’.”

  “So My Lady would seek io create a branch of ws which cover such disputes for the judges to enforce,” he said, gently nodding along.

  Bringing her hands together in a silent cp, she said, “Indeed, we have e full-circle.”

  In truth, what she had said did not e as entirely o him, especially as she herself had touched upoate of the Italian cities. However, it recisely the state in which the Italian cities existed which made her ambitions all the more ill-advised.

  By no ce did those powerful cities see themselves ruled by no king. It was as she said: every society acted, first and foremost, to protect itself. A city of suffit power had no need for a king’s prote.

  Altogether, it left him with a dread that her efforts would merely lead to her owh as if nursing a sickly wolf back to health—and it left within him a perverse thrill at the thought of the King having to deal with such a wolf.

  “I believe my wife is hosting a tea party shortly,” he said, his toral and face set in an expression of appreciation, staring upon the painting.

  She softly smiled.