Unlike the mid-level nobles who were shocked and dismayed, Grand Duke Harrison burst out laughing the moment he saw the Joint Tax Decree.
“Oh my… damn it! Cough, cough… Is my dear little nephew trying to kill me?? Cough… Quick, get me some water!”
Grand Duke Harrison choked with laughter, hastily grabbing a bottle of fruit wine and chugging it down.
Finally catching his breath, he glanced again at the screen handed to him by a servant and laughed even harder.
“What… what does ‘a star domain with a diameter of 12,000 light-years’ mean…! Cough, cough… Take it away! Far away! Or I really will laugh myself to death…”
After he had laughed enough, Grand Duke Harrison straightened up with difficulty and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with a handkerchief.
“Alright, now request an audience with His Majesty.”
He sighed, “I don’t know what I did to anger him, but the trouble His Majesty has caused this time is quite serious. After our talk, I’ll have to find a way to clean up this mess. Alas! It’s all because I was too indulgent with him in the past, for the sake of his late mother… I should have taught him before he reached his rebellious phase that now he is the Emperor of the Empire and cannot do whatever he pleases.”
But that day, his multiple requests for an audience were coldly rejected by the Wolf Knights.
When asked for the reason, they simply said, “His Majesty does not wish to handle state affairs today.”
For a brief moment, a look of malice and frustration crossed Grand Duke Harrison’s plump face.
But quickly, he laughed again and said to the Wolf Knights, “Alright, alright, we’ll leave it for today. But make sure to tell your master that I won’t wait forever.”
At an internal banquet, most of the nobles who were listed for taxation also did not take the Joint Tax Decree seriously.
“But to issue such a decree without the approval of the Privy Council, even if he is just throwing a tantrum, this is too much… Even if His Majesty comes to his senses and rescinds the decree, wouldn’t we, the old bones, still have to clean up the mess it caused?”
An old noble, who was over seventy years old, complained.
He was the father of Grand Duke Harrison and thus the Emperor’s maternal grandfather. The taxation targets of the Joint Tax Decree were the lords with vast territories, and such large domains were managed by hundreds, even thousands, of noble family members.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Perhaps the gods’ judgment on the Kaises Family is that they should end with Karagu’s generation. Supporting Nero to the throne was fundamentally against the gods’ will.”
“Cough… but, Your Excellency! You know the situation back then. As long as Rupert was in power, we, as the maternal relatives of the Kaises Family, couldn’t make a move, even though we held nominal positions as military and political ministers!”
Grand Duke Harrison, who was the one who had opened the fortress gates, felt embarrassed. “Who knew His Majesty would be like his mother, always siding with outsiders, even listing his blood relatives for taxation!”
“Enough. Talking about that Omega waste now is pointless. If it weren’t for her high compatibility with Karagu’s pheromones back then, she wouldn’t have had any value at all. She would have died in the castle dungeon long ago.”
The old noble showed a look of disgust.
After the banquet ended and the other nobles had left, he called Grand Duke Harrison to him.
“The most important thing now is that if you can’t control that young Emperor, he shouldn’t remain on the throne.”
Grand Duke Harrison was taken aback, his posture shrinking, “Father… do you mean… but, but I’m not sure I can… And if it’s not a Kaises on the throne, anyone else who takes it would face assassination threats daily like Rupert did… Moreover, you saw the state of the Solar Palace when His Majesty returned, Rupert’s head is still hanging on the tribunal’s gatepost…”
“Do you know what sets you apart from Rupert?!” The old noble was so furious that his cane nearly punctured the floor. “Harrison Laud! You are a cowardly, spineless fool! You should have been born an Omega like your wretched sister and sold to the Star Pirates! Afraid of this and that, how can you even call yourself an imperial noble?!”
After venting his anger, the old noble’s gaze turned cold and calculating.
“This is the last bloodline of the Kaises Family,” he said icily. “Do you know what this means?
“Rupert wasn’t thorough enough in his actions back then. He lurked in the Royal Family for fifty years, even watching his own child get killed on the battlefield to save the Eldest Princess and gain trust. He went to such lengths, but in the end, he failed to completely eradicate the Kaises Family.”
“After that, he continued to make mistakes, deploying large forces to chase down the young prince, essentially revealing the news of the young prince’s escape to the entire Empire. This led to continuous assassination attempts on his life during his reign and required enormous military and financial resources to repeatedly purge rebellious forces loyal to the Royal Family who attacked the Capital.
“If he hadn’t devoted the main force to the purges, do you really think a young prince and five hundred Wolf Knights could have so easily invaded the Capital?”
“In the current situation, Rupert has paved the way for us with his own life. For the Galactic Empire today, if the last person with Kaises bloodline were to disappear… do you know what would happen?
“Think about it carefully. And remember, what we can think of, other families can think of too. If we lose the initiative, the Laud Family will be in a dire situation…”
A few days after the Joint Tax Decree was issued, the high nobles listed in it treated it like a piece of scrap paper. They neither paid the taxes nor reacted, continuing their extravagant and peaceful lives.
At banquets, when their eyes met, they would instinctively look away, hiding their ulterior motives.
This changed when a noble’s descendant on the tax list attempted to return to their territory from the Capital.
He was informed that he no longer had access to the Capital’s port.
“…What?”
The noble’s descendant was stunned.
“What do you mean I don’t have port access? Are you saying I can’t leave the Capital now?”
“Your personal AI indicates that you have unpaid taxes,” the port’s intelligent robot informed him. “According to Article 438 of the Empire’s Economic Law, those who have the means to pay but haven’t settled their debts will be subject to forced detention measures at all Empire’s ports. Please pay your taxes promptly, for the glory of the Empire.”
“…Ridiculous! This is absurd!”
The noble’s descendant hurriedly contacted the family-appointed officer at the port, intending to override the restrictions using his superior authority as before.
But he received the same shocking reply: the Capital’s port was now directly controlled by the Royal Family. Without a Kaises DNA key, no one could forcibly leave the port.
“…This… this… damn it! This is outrageous! Damn it!!”
He wasn’t the only noble screaming in fury on the streets.
Some high nobles found their credit accounts in the Capital completely restricted. Luxurious spending became impossible, and even high-end shuttles would eject them halfway through their trips.
To control the nobles, the Empire had always implemented a system of noble attendance. That is, the major families of the leading stars must have enough family members staying in the Capital for long periods and regularly appearing at the palace to see the Emperor.
Previously, the noble faction welcomed this, as having members in the political center benefited the entire family. But now, some nobles realized the true purpose of this system:
In the event of conflict between the Royal Family and the nobility, they were hostages left in the Capital.
“We must see the Emperor immediately! This has gone too far!!”
“What’s this nonsense about taxing star domains over 12,000 light-years in diameter?! And accidental violations of the Fiefdom Restriction Decree? That’s not our fault! If nearby territories are poorly governed, or if there’s a disaster and the peasants themselves insist on selling the land to us, should we refuse it?!”
“Just take our money outright! And the decree speaks of ten years of taxes! If I pay that, will I even have a new estate to live in? I might as well build a few small castles!”
Furious, a group of high nobles stormed to the gates of the Solar Palace.
Finding no one in the council hall, they angrily turned to the Silverleaf Rose Garden, heading straight for the Emperor’s residence.
At the end of the Silverleaf Rose Garden, heavily armored Wolf Knights stood silently at the entrance to the royal quarters.
They remained silent.
Fingers on the gun holster, their eyes coldly locked onto the nobles, emanating an aura of murderous intent.
Long before reaching the area guarded by the Wolf Knights, the nobles halted and began pushing one another forward.
Finally, they pushed out a bolder military noble, who called out to the Wolf Knights from a distance: “We wish to discuss the Joint Tax Decree with His Majesty… If His Majesty could spare a moment from his busy schedule, we would be… greatly appreciative…”
After a long wait, a Wolf Knight approached to respond. He looked at the nobles, his visor lights and voice equally cold.
“Each family will send one representative. In two days, His Majesty will be waiting in the council hall.”
congrats on reaching 100 chapters! This story is sooo good thank you so much for translating it every chapter is fantastic
Haha, thank you♡ We still have 145 chapters ahead!
145?! Wow! So much is happening, but so much more is to come
thank you for the update! i love reading this story and everytime you publish a new chapter, i get so excited. i’m looking forward to nero’s differentiation and the war, can’t wait to read the next chapters!
Thank you!!
I like how Nero staying true to his principles. His strong character is something to admire.
QwQ
thank you so much for the update! 🫶
Congrats for the 100th chapter! 🎉🎉🎉
Thank you for the chapters!!! I just finished binge reading the first 100, can’t wait for the rest!!!
Thank you for the chapter!
Oh no, I didn’t want to know the chapter count but now I know it…
Fantastic work! 🥰
So exciting!!! Eat the rich! eat the rich!
We’ve reached the 100th chapter ❤️ Thank you for the update