CHAPTER 528: -46- "CAPTIVE-BRED" NOBLES

Was it only for the members of the Royal Family to live in?

Charlotte’s heart skipped a beat.

Following King Louis V’s gaze, she looked towards the map of the Kingdom’s fiefdoms on the wall.

Her eyes swept across the crests that represented each of the noble families, and a somewhat bizarre thought arose in Charlotte’s mind.

"Your Majesty," she said, "it sounds like you’re planning to invite the kingdom’s nobles to live there as well?"

She asked quietly.

King Louis V smiled faintly, with a look of approval, "Lord Castel is correct; indeed, my plan in building this palace was to invite the nobles to reside here."

As he spoke, King Louis V stood up and looked out at the Royal Square outside the window, sighing, "In recent years, the kingdom has been developing rapidly, and the population of Lutecia has multiplied exponentially over these decades. The land and housing within the city are extremely scarce, and many of the impoverished have no homes of their own, only able to set up simple tents around the city walls..."

"The nobles face similar problems, especially when the central assembly convenes, finding a room in the Inner City becomes an extremely difficult task, I believe...Lord Castel must have felt the same."

"Moreover, every time the central assembly is convened, the influx of a large number of nobles puts tremendous pressure on public security. The nobles’ competitive buying of the city residences further drove up the prices of Lutecia’s properties to a level unattainable by ordinary people in their entire lives."

"Under such exorbitant prices, forced buying and selling are commonplace, and more citizens are going bankrupt while the number of overbearing nobles and profligates is only increasing."

"Although the Royal Capital is prosperous, beneath that prosperity lies increasingly sharp social contradictions..."

Having said this, King Louis V turned around, paused slightly, and calmly said, "So, I built this New Moon Palace..."

"The New Moon Palace is the largest palace in the history of Mireya, with just the main palace alone able to accommodate at least eight thousand people for daily living, and if including the surrounding buildings, it can easily hold twelve thousand people."

"Not only that, the New Moon Palace boasts the most luxurious and comfortable environment in the entire kingdom, with transcendent facilities that far exceed those in any other country in Yonette, fully capable of satisfying the daily needs of the nobles."

"Additionally, the New Moon Palace possesses the most advanced Magic Inscriptions in the whole of West Yonette; its activated Magic Arrays can even block the probing of legendary figures, providing maximum privacy security for its residents..."

"Therefore, I plan to gradually revoke the nobles’ residences in the Royal Capital one by one, and all nobles in Lutecia will have to move into the New Moon Palace in the future."

"This New Moon Palace is not just a royal palace for the Royal Family; it will also be the residence for the nobles in the Royal Capital."

After hearing King Louis V’s words, Charlotte felt an even stronger sense of déjà vu.

Looking at this king of New Moon, known as the most dominant in history, she continued to ask without showing her emotions, "Your Majesty, the residences you mentioned, does that include the ones belonging to the vassals from various places?"

King Louis V smiled indifferently, "Of course."

"The residences of the vassals in the Royal Capital occupy over two-thirds of Lutecia’s Inner City area, and more than half of this area remains unoccupied most of the time."

"This is an immense waste, and this situation must be improved."

"After this central assembly, I will issue a Royal Decree that the properties of the nobles in Lutecia must not exceed two hundred square meters in size, and each family can hold one to three properties according to the rank of their peerage."

"All excess properties must be revoked. I will exchange residence qualifications at the New Moon Palace for the noble’s residences."

Charlotte: ...

She felt the sense of déjà vu growing stronger.

"Your Majesty, is this the deal you plan to make with the nobles?" she inquired.

King Louis V looked at her and said indifferently, "No, this will be a Royal Command."

Charlotte felt that this answer did not surprise her.

She understood King Louis V’s intentions: he planned to make the New Moon Palace the residence for the nobles’ activities in the Royal Capital.

The nobles lived in luxury, and a mere two hundred square meters of space would probably not even be enough to accommodate the servants of the Great Nobles.

If King Louis V were to forcefully implement this policy, compared to the alternatives, it’s very likely that indeed the majority of the nobles might actually move into the New Moon Palace when the central assembly convened...

"What about the daily maintenance of the palace? Operating such a vast and luxurious palace would require significant funds; do you intend for the nobles to pay for this themselves?" Charlotte asked.

King Louis V smiled faintly, "Of course, I am only responsible for providing the residences, as for the daily expenses, naturally the nobles themselves will need to bear them."

"However, compared to living in their own residences, the cost of living in the New Moon Palace would be somewhat less for the nobles, after all, there would no longer be the need to maintain such large estates."

This was not necessarily the case.

The nobles were mostly extravagant and vain, and they loved to show off.

Even when they did not live together, they still engaged in constant comparison; Charlotte could imagine what would happen if they really started living together.

Not to mention anything else, just as an example.

If King Louis V set different standards for the provision of services, and priced the highest tier at an exorbitant rate, even just to save face, it is likely that quite a few nobles would inflate their expenses.

It was like playing a video game.

When playing single-player, everyone would play by themselves, but if multiplayer was an option, one could expect comparisons to begin.