One precious lesson her father had taught her before his passing was that the truth was less a sihing and more the position of facts. Rarely did a simple aruly answer a question, nor did a simple question ask everything it should. To that end, he had ensured she would never carelessly ask why, because such a question gave power to the very person being questioned.

  The truth was not subjective and mathematics provided su example. At the same time, mathematics proved how truth followed from the facts.

  Such facts, oher hand, had to be subjective. They had to be observed by people and recorded by people and chosen by people and presented by people. Thus, no matter how careful, these facts could never be truth. Even if one would choose such facts that may be observed by several people, these aaturally distorted the facts. For example, a mert would do well to keep an accurate at for himself, yet be ready with a different at for a regur iion.

  tless truths could be built from the endless possibility of facts avaible. Wisdom, in her opinion, was the prehension of this fact. The uanding that a truth’s merit y in one’s agreement with the facts upon which it was built.

  If she asked someone a question as simple as, “Why?” then she did not care for the answer. No, she cared about something much deeper.

  In the quiet of her office, the mayor put down the papers with a heavy sigh. “I fear the city ot cover these up-front costs,” he said, his hands csped.

  “Why?”

  At her question, he hesitated a moment, but could only give her an answer. “We have been following My Lady’s… approach for years by this point. A well-kept secret, it is the case we have little in the way of s lying around,” he said, his hands apart. “If My Lady demands it, we may take out further loans. I do ask that she demands it. We ot be said to be following My Lady’s approach if we take out loans for something that is this costly, this distant, and with little direct be to the city.”

  Her lips curled, eyes narrowed in amusement. “Mr Mayor has so little faith in me. Of course, I would not demand it. Let us put this aside for the moment and instead sider how else Mr Mayor has failed me.”

  He winced, yet bowed his head. “If that’s what My Lady wishes to discuss.”

  “Oh, pray do not think so little of me,” she said lightly. “Since when do such jokes not amuse My Mayor?”

  Although he dared not say, his gnce was not subtle.

  She tutted and turo the side. “Dear, do try to appear less intimidating. Perhaps Sir Ludwig could provide lessons.”

  The mayor had felt like a voyeur at first, only to, by the end, look over at the man beside her with a kind of mutual sympathy.

  As for the prince, he only gave a chuckle at her antics.

  With that addressed, she turned back to the mayor, a fresh smile upon her lips. “For the city not to have money, is it that the guilds are resisting?”

  His mouth pressed into a thin line. “Resisting is, I suppose, a way to put it.”

  “Of course I am well aware of the little games they are pying.” She let out a breath, her hand over her mouth. “Pray tell, Mr Mayor, how is it that the city would collect taxes from an unwilling business?”

  “Well, the ges My Lady put iate that we would petition the courts. They would firm the failure to pay and bailiffs would seek to either demand payment or otherwise fiscate goods of suffit value.”

  He felt in her words her usual games, yet her prompt did little to help him achieve crity on this issue. After all, the guilds merely did not cooperate, which thus made it difficult to actually prove any particur craftsman or business did not properly report their ats.

  A moment, then she brought her hands together in a soft cp. “As such, the city may make… agreements with them to n the matter to court in exge for… cooperation. For example, I know many rely on goods brought in by the Nelli family—goods which are more expensive due to tariffs. I am sure Mr Mayor has the imagination to sider this further,” she said, ending with a small smile and light tone.

  Of course, she was n in thinking so. “We would lose out oariffs and gain ba taxes. Even if we assume that these amounts are equal, it is not clear to me what the purpose is. Tariffs are easier to colled harder to cheat.”

  “Are they truly?” she asked lightly, then waved him off and spoke as usual. “Mr Mayor is n to be wary. In truth, I would expeake an initial loss. However, one should sider that this brings goodwill from both the guilds and the Nelli family, and that it moves the burden of taxation to small busihat are less able to cheat us.”

  Pausing there, she pressed her hands together before then opening them.

  “I speak to the mayor of this city when I say that, when the Nelli family cheats us, it is rich fners who be; when small businesses cheat us, it is local families of little to modest wealth who be.”

  He stilled at her words, then bowed his head, gently nodding. “My Lady gave this much thought.”

  Again, she waved him off and gave a chuckle too. “Pray do not think too highly of me. I have always been in tact with Lord Erberg and some others on these matters, which has included much discussion on tariffs and taxes.”

  A silence began to fall until he couldn’t help but chuckle himself. “Please, has My Lady discussed iing things?”

  “It is… something I have mentioned before, that there is rarely something which exists by ce, that everything which tio exist does so because, in some way, it justifies itself. However, it is a belief only held that a tariff essentially exists to elimiself.

  “That is, we have tariffs on cloth so that our local spinners and weavers may satisfy our demand, that fn producers ake a profit selling cloth here. If the tariff is w as it should, then it should colleoney.”

  She needed not say more. However, in that observation, he found su absurdity that he refused to prehend it. “urpose does a tariff truly hold, then?”

  Her expression gave away nothing, her hands ly folded on her p, a polite smile on her lips and a distant touch taze. “My correspos do not particurly agree on an ao that. Broadly, a tariff is either aax, or it is to protect local busihe issue is that tariffs are poor at both. Or rather, tariffs aplish those goals at the expense of other locals.”

  With a sigh, her hand came up, ready to gesture along as she tinued. “Resider the tariff on cloth. This tariff is also naturally a tariff on clothes, yet gees no money. Rather, it is when people purchase clothes that the tariff on cloth is truly paid, that the guilds and merts still have their profit and our people are poorer.”

  “And so a tax,” he said, nodding along.

  She spared him a smile. “Indeed, except that this tax disces both fn trade and local produ. The city would not enforce a tariff on cloth if it made no money. As such, the guilds wish to keep supply low, which results in prices that are high enough for merts to make a profit. Not that the guilds necessarily have this as a scious goal, but that is a distra for aime,” she said, ending in a titter.

  It was a lot for him to take in, ly because it was entirely novel, in part precisely because he khis well. More than others, he had been privy tuidance over the textile guild. The result of that was clear to see. At least, clear to him.

  “To tie up this discussion,” she said, “I find it preferable to erode the tariffs. Mr Mayor need not be discreet, that this matter would soon e to light regardless. No, you should use this to create tensioween guilds and with the other merts, that it bees a promise to lower certain tariffs.”

  He gave a chuckle. “My Lady is not worried I would be impeached?” he asked lightly.

  Her smile wry, she took a sip of tea, then answered him. “Sir should know best which guilds would be ied in these exceptions. With the support of those, the textile guild, and the Nelli family, could a vote even reach a majority, never mind two-thirds?”

  Only at this moment did it dawn on him how important her acquisition of the textile guild had been. “I dare say the assembly wouldn’t even bother to vene,” he whispered.

  She held out a hand. “So, while I expect the city’s funds may struggle, we would ence trade, undermihe guilds, and gain favour with the Nelli family.”

  In her summary, he found anh. “Which makes it all the harder for the city to meet My Lady’s request.”

  “This is this, that is that. That said, for my husband’s be, would Mr Mayor describe my approach?” Her amusement at the end was far from subtle and all the less so for how she smiled, teacup in hand.

  However, he had no choice, taking a deep breath to settle himself. With a thin smile, he turned his focus to the prihat is, Sir, we would take on a modest debt if we believe it will be profitable enough to pay for the acg i.”

  “A reasohought,” the prince replied.

  She tittered behind her cup, then took a sip. “I think dear does not prehend how expahis is. Or rather, Mr Mayor has missed a key point.”

  With his own noticeable amusement, the prince said, “Pray tell, darling.”

  “That is, to say the city is i is rather inaccurate. The city has sues that it easily pays its expenses. Even as we move away from tariffs, I do not expect this to ge.

  “Rather, it is the moneylenders who are i, is it not? They are the ones who now ck money and y ability to pel its repayment. Of course, that is not to say that we would dishonour a signed tract. In the end, though, we have borrowed su amount that is very much the moneylenders’ problem if we ot repay.”

  The priook a deep breath, quelling the ughter deep in his chest. “I see, it is the moneylenders who are i,” he said quietly.

  With that, she brought her attention back to the mayor. “I will state again that I shan’t demand this. I do respect you, that I naturally think myself corre matters, yet know that even being well-informed does not make one infallible.”

  Pausing there, her gaze settled oable and she let out a deep breath.

  “I asked this of you because the city has greater leverage with the moneylenders. If the city fronts the cost for the academies, then I would be able to transition that momentum to the grand library,” she said, her voice softer, perhaps even weak.

  He gave a sympathetic smile. “It is not that I think My Lady has not sidered the pn, but that the accrued i would… interfere with the city. Our ine is not that much greater than our expenses—even if we do keep the tariffs.”

  At his clusion, she gave a single nod, yet he felt this was not the end of the matter. Or rather, everything he knew about her told him that she had never intended on personally taking on su incredible debt. As charismatic as she was, as successful as the grand bazaars had been—because he rivy to just how successful—he couldn’t see how she would have others fund something aire order of magnitude greater.

  As always, it seemed he simply cked imagination.

  “How long do you think the city could mah the proposed loan?”

  “I suppose… a year,” he said, his hauring along.

  Her hands cpped together, all the louder for how quiet they had been speaking. “Very well. I had hoped for this to cide with the city’s grand expansion; however, needs must. That is, it is time to establish the city-bank. The city then begin to solidate its debts in bonds. Ohe academies near pletion, we may sell bonds for the library.”

  For a long moment, her words simply echoed inside his head, then they found purchase and, in the breath, he let out a chuckle, his head hanging down as his hands came up.

  The discussion carried on a while longer as certaiails o be addressed. Onpleted, though, the mayor did not dawdle ahe couple behind.

  “Darling is i?” he quietly asked.

  His question came with equal parts amusement and exasperation. Her answer, oher hand, came with a flick of her wrist.

  “That is, it would reflect poorly oo be in signifit debt. So, as it is, the city holds most of the debt while I own the nd. This is an important lesson dear should learn. If we simply waited to have the moo begin a project, we may only work o a time. With this approach, we may instead work on as many projects as we wish, only necessary that i payments do not exceed our ine.”

  “Which is made easier if those projects bring in ioo,” he said softly.

  She gave a gentle ugh. “My husband picks up on these so quickly, I am envious. These lessons took me many years to learn by pig through my father’s ats.”

  “If I could speak frankly, it is still not clear to me why you are… determio build this library.”

  The amusement on her face melted away to reveal a kind of tration she rarely showed. As if to emphasise that, she took a moment for a sip of tea.

  “This approach is actually a poor way to run a city for the very reason dear noted before, which is that a city should rather be using taxes to do things which do n in a greater ine,” she said, not a whisper, but an even quieter voice than before.

  “However….”

  A er of her lips quirked into a wry smile. “So far, I have used the city’s io cover the i for opening busihat make profit. The mayor is a mert and so sees nothing wrong with this. For actual city-works, we have relied on the grand bazaars to raise sizeable amounts, such as for putting down new roads.”

  As always, she said just enough that he could reach the hought. “Which is why he disagrees with the library.”

  “This library will pull wealthy people from all over Europe to the city, and they will bring money with them, and they will wish to spend it. Then there are those people less wealthy, yet well-educated, who could be vio teach at the academies for lodging and access to the library.”

  He let out a breath, then gave a nod. “The sort of thing a mert struggles to uand the bes of.”

  “Indeed,” she said, her eyes pinched in apparent amusement.