Blood Holy Scripture: True Ancestor Charlotte de Castel
Chapter 200: -17- North Port_2

Chapter 200: -17- North Port_2

However, Charlotte has never spoken of anything about "making up for the tithing," and she had only just learned that the Castel Domain hadn’t paid taxes to the Church for over a century.

Clearly, someone was fanning the flames of this rumor.

"This is groundless speculation. Today is the first time I learned that the Church’s rule had long since been ineffective in the Castel Domain,"

Charlotte shook her head.

Baron Angus obviously breathed a sigh of relief, immediately beaming with joy:

"That’s also my thought, I didn’t expect you to do such a thing."

Charlotte: ...

Your big sigh of relief must mean you originally thought I would do it, right?

You thought I would, didn’t you?!

Although Baron Angus was a noble, he was a simple and honest man, a stern and taciturn knight.

Even he couldn’t grasp Charlotte’s true intentions, so it was only too normal for the rumor to spread throughout the Castel Domain.

To be honest, Charlotte hadn’t taken the tithing rumor to heart.

Such talk of making up for over a hundred years of tax revenue would crumble on its own if left unattended.

Charlotte didn’t even think about resuming tax collection for the Church; after all, she wasn’t a true "Holy believer".

But she was distinctly aware of the malice behind those spreading the rumors.

And...issues like the tithing, which directly concerned the interests of her subjects, might seem like the most crucial, but in fact, they were not so.

What was truly fatal was the rhetoric that positioned her as siding with the Church, setting her against her subjects - the deeper implication behind the tithing, that phrase about "bringing Castel back under the Church’s Faith."

Originally, Charlotte had planned to act under the banner of the Holy Royal Court.

But now, perhaps she needed to reconsider her position.

However, upon reflection, the turmoil of faith in Castel played into Charlotte’s hands, as it would allow her to stir the waters to her advantage.

She didn’t truly intend to propagate the teachings of the Holy Royal Court, but to find a way to spread her own Faith.

On this basis, perhaps Charlotte still needed to thoroughly investigate who was conspiring behind her back.

After all, she wasn’t a real "Holy believer". If she had been a truly devout "Saintess," such rhetoric could have been a deadly blow.

It’s the same saying: to find your enemies, think about who would benefit from your downfall, or rather, who might have their interests affected by your arrival in Castel.

Although there were archives at the manor, to put it bluntly, the documents from a decade ago didn’t provide sufficient reference value in this regard. Charlotte needed more intelligence.

She had a hunch that this surely had something to do with the nobles within the Domain.

After all, to allow a rumor to easily disseminate throughout Castel, one would need substantial financial backing.

The caravan continued to move forward.

Though Charlotte could feel the indifference, even hostility, of the subjects towards her, it was fortunate that it was only at the level of cold observation and not escalated to the point where people blocked the convoy.

Apart from Baron Angus, who accompanied her, Charlotte had not encountered any other nobles who had come to meet her on this journey.

The urbanization level in the Castel Domain was obviously higher than that of the Bold Duchy and even the Moon Guardian Duchy, especially to the north.

Towns and cities large and small could be seen almost everywhere, and the population density seemed to Charlotte to even exceed that of the two Earldoms under the direct administration of the Kingdom’s Duke domain, with particularly many small nobles.

Along the way, numerous small nobles came to pay their respects, but aside from inviting Charlotte to banquets, none accompanied her journey like Baron Angus had done.

Charlotte could quite clearly sense it.

Though she had successfully inherited the title, from top to bottom in the Castel Domain, she lacked true authority and control, more like a figurehead.

However, this situation improved markedly after entering the directly administered domain of the Count Castel Domain.

Yes, a directly administered domain.

The Count Castel Domain also had its directly administered territories.

Apart from the three Viscount Domains and seventeen Baron Domains that were conferred to others, the Castel Domain still retained one-fifth of its area under the direct governance of the Castel family, approximately 26,000 square kilometers, with a population of about 1.8 million, accounting for one-third of the entire Earl’s population.

Honestly, this area was quite large, and in the New Moon Kingdom, it could have been an independent and prosperous Earldom.

This part of the territory could be further divided into two parts, situated on the two obtuse angles of the blunt-angle triangle that was the Castel Domain, one on the left and one on the right.

The area on the left was to the direct north of the Castel Domain, which was also where the Capital Mansion, North Port, was located, also known as the North Port Viscount Domain.

Yes, a Viscount Domain.

Strictly speaking, over Lord Charlotte’s head, apart from the title of Count Castel, there was also the title of North Port Viscount.

The North Port Viscount Domain was roughly 16,000 square kilometers, about the same size as the Imperial Capital of the Heavenly Dynasty, encompassing the most essential region of the entire Castel Domain, with a population exceeding 1.5 million and was also Lord Charlotte’s destination.

And the area on the right was the frontier Castel silver mine district, approximately 10,000 square kilometers, mostly hills and low mountains, and the population was only about 200,000.

Unlike the directly administered domain of the Bold Duchy, which had Baron vassals, and unlike the directly administered Duchy of the New Moon Kingdom, which had Earl vassals, there were no noble lords in the Castel directly administered domain with titles of Baron or higher.

Here, the ones who directly governed the Castel family’s territory were the City Officials and the court nobles without fiefs, who only had administrative regions, no land ownership, and certainly no military power.

Of course, they also had their land, but at most, they were some estates.

It was clear that the North Port Viscount Domain was more affluent than other parts of the Castel Domain; even the official roads in the wilderness were as well-maintained as the city streets of the Bold Outer City District, and people passing by were better dressed, with a relentless stream of carriages on the roads.

As soon as Lord Charlotte entered the directly administered domain, she was greeted with an enthusiastic welcome by the City Officials who had been waiting for a long time.

It was a truly warm welcome, which made Lord Charlotte subconsciously think of the leadership inspections in her previous life. Many officials from various territories were present, and there was even an unexpectedly large number of subjects who had come to watch.

Moreover, there were even soldiers standing guard on both sides, well-equipped, including a considerable ratio of Transcendents, who were obviously North Port’s armed forces.

Looking around, the team that had come to meet Lord Charlotte had to be three or four hundred people. If you included the watching subjects, the number was even greater, likely exceeding a thousand.

One could only say that not everyone believed the rumors, or perhaps, in the Castel family’s directly administered domain, the subjects’ trust in the Castel family might be higher than in non-directly administered areas.

And this was just at the entrance to the directly administered domain, not even having reached the Capital Mansion, North Port yet.

At the front of the welcoming party was the Mayor of North Port, Madoc Olan, a City Official of common birth.

Madoc was a middle-aged man who appeared to be around fifty years old, his hair already quite grey.

Rather than a mayor, he looked more like a merchant, plump all around and always grinning, like a Maitreya Buddha, which subconsciously reminded Lord Charlotte of that plump butler from the Bold Duke’s house.

As soon as he saw Lord Charlotte, his eyes brightened, and he came forward with a group of City Officials and nobles, joyfully saying,

"Lord Charlotte, you’re finally back. We haven’t seen you for many years, and you have become more beautiful."

Great, another unfamiliar acquaintance.

Not to mention the fact that Charlotte’s inherited memories were not entirely complete; even if they were, the people the original person met in childhood wouldn’t be remembered clearly after so many years.

Lord Charlotte could only smile and nod in greeting.

"Lord Charlotte, you must be weary from your journey. The Count Mansion in North Port has been cleaned and is ready for you to move in at any time!"

Madoc said with a beaming smile.

He then took the initiative to take over the reins of the carriage, personally driving for Lord Charlotte.

With Lord Charlotte’s carriage at its center, the impressive entourage continued towards the north.

After traveling for about half a day, Lord Charlotte finally arrived at her final destination, the Capital Mansion of the Count Castel Domain, the economic and trade center of the Northern Territory Lowlands, one of the New Moon Kingdom’s cities with a population of over half a million, hailed as the "Pearl of the Sea," the water city—North Port.