Chapter 77: Penance

Laurel watched Basil turn paler as she made a note on her parchment about looking further into what Basil’s budget was going towards. She had a feeling that Gavin might be benefiting from his relationship with Basil.
“What is the purpose of the gate on the main entrance to the orchard?” Basil blinked, staring at her and not speaking. “Prince Basil, are you listening?”
He shook his head, “Y-Yes. I… What?”
She pursed her lips, “The gates, Prince Basil. For what reason was the orchard gated?”
Basil frowned, “It’s useless.”
“What do you mean by it’s useless?”
“We don’t need an orchard because we have all the farmland around the city,” Basil lifted his head and met her gaze. “It was a waste of money when you had it planted. The ministry has proposed to uproot it and turn it into a leisure area for the castle.”
Delia took in a sharp breath, staring at him in horror.
Laurel froze in the middle of editing her plans for the orchard. What? What kind of nonsense was that? She frowned, eyeing him closely.
“When I had it planted?”
He frowned, blinked, and shook himself, “Laura. When Laura had it planted.”
Laurel eyed him suspiciously as he cast his gaze away and the expression of distress bloomed over his face. She didn’t know what was going on in his head, but she also didn’t care.
“That’s… A dumb idea.” Basil flinched. He glanced up at her face and quickly looked to the far wall as if the sight of her was making him uncomfortable. “It’s so idiotic; I can’t imagine how anyone came up with it, especially given how the orchard was essential to the war efforts as stated by His Majesty.” Laurel shook her head, “The gate will be removed, and it will be expanded in due time.”
“Expanded?” Basil asked, “For what?”
“To feed the entire castle including the military,” Laurel sighed. “That’s all I have to talk about.”
Basil frowned and clenched his jaw, “You can’t just dismiss me. I’m the prince! You’re just a lowborn woman from a random pack!”
“Why not take it up with His Majesty?” Laurel suggested sweetly. “You can leave. I have things to do.”
Basil serious. It was as if she was treating him like a child. She had no right to shriek him like this! He turned to the door and clenched his hand in Delia’s.
“I will! Just wait until I do! You’ll regret this!”
Laurel snickered as he left and it made his face burn with embarrassment. He closed the door behind him and Delia tore her hand from his.
“What’s wrong?” Basil asked, “We’re going to see my father about this; she can’t do this.”
“… You called her Laura again,” Delia hissed. She shoved the two pages into his chest, “And you’re going to go talk to your father alone. I don’t want to even see you right now.”
“But—“
Delia turned and hurried down the steps, leaving him alone. He looked down at the pages. He took a deep breath looking at Delia’s page. He flipped to his own and choked. Anger and indignation swelled in him.
Who did Laurel think she was?

Adolph was in his office, reviewing some of Chasel’s newer reports regarding the minister of justice’s movements. He’d been using the budget for the security of the capital for miscellaneous things that had nothing to do with the safety of his people. The report and the paper trail made him sick.
How far did it go back? Was there a single minister who wasn’t corrupt?
He eyed a note from Chasel about the minister of peace’s sudden increase in funds, as evident by the expansion of his mansion about three years ago. The money wasn’t reflected in the tax reports due to the treasury.
He was contemplating a full-scale seizure of every minister’s property when a knock sounded on his door.
“Come in.”
The door opened and Basil entered. His face was red and a frown twisted his features. He looked a bit like he had when he was just a boy and frustrated about a book he was reading. Adolph grimaced at the thought. He still had to get a full understanding of what he could expect Basil to understand based on his education. Currently, there didn’t seem to be much Basil could be expected to understand beyond his desires.
He sighed as Basil closed the door and Adolph had a feeling that he was about to say something stupid.
“Father, you have to do something about that girl. She’s treating me like a child.”
Adolph smirked and glanced at the pieces of parchment in Basil’s hand. It seemed that Laurel had come up with a solution.
“What happened?”
Basil approached and handed over the parchment before pacing the space in front of his desk and complaining loudly about Laura’s lecture regarding his and Delia’s spending and behavior. Adolph tuned Basil out as he read the pages and chuckled a bit.
The plan was thorough; her tally was up to date according to the books he’d sent her and reflected a deeper understanding of the kingdom’s finances than he would have expected.
Then again, she was always surprising him.
He had a feeling there would be adjustments made based on Chasel’s updated books.
The overspending was a problem that seemed to be a historical problem with Basil, but it was just the top of the month. What could either of them have bought in such a short amount of time?
He narrowed his eyes at some of the numbers. They seemed familiar for some reason.
“… then, that girl had the nerve to tell us we had to work in the orchard! Like commoners.” Basil cried. “And she says that the orchard will be reopened!”
Adolph reached into his desk for the newest copy of the physical accounts and flipped through the pages until he reached the luna accounts. He’d already compared several periods of books from the minister of finance to Chasel’s audit reports and found there was so much money missing from the account; he didn’t think killing the man would be sufficient punishment.
The most recent withdrawals had been from the luna accounts. The books he had were updates of the ones Laurel had, but the frequency of the withdrawals between the two periods had increased. Delia had spent her budget within a week and moved on to spending money from the luna accounts meant for the betterment of the kingdom as well as her personal needs.
“What was Delia buying?”
“She purchased a few gowns and some jewelry,” Basil said offhandedly.
Adolph highly doubted that she purchased just a few gowns with so much money. The amount spoke and lavish purchases and a complete disregard for the plight of the people whose taxes filled the royal treasury.
With a daughter-in-law like that, he wouldn’t need a war or a drought to bankrupt the kingdom and force them to start conquering land again. The Raymond line hadn’t gone out to conquer land since the ministry was established. He’d be a shame to his ancestors if they fell to such a thing now.
“Not what she was buying with her budget. I don’t care about that,” Adolph shook his head. “What was she buying with the luna’s budget?”
“I told you some gowns and some jewelry.”
Adolph shifted his papers to look for the document Chasel and most recently brought from the treasury. It had been a request to change the limits on the account and shift the money around to increase Delia’s budget. Nonsense, of course.
“Do you know why she requested an increase in her budget?”
Basil sighed, “She found out what my spending budget was and demanded that it be equal.”
Well, that was ridiculous as well. Basil’s budget was far too big for no reason and had been since Adolph had been off to war based on Chasel’s reports. It would have been one thing if Basil was using the money to fund some project to support the people, but he wasn’t.
As far as he could tell, only Laura had been using her budget for such a thing though it should have been taken out of the luna’s budget.
Where had the rest of the money gone?
“And she proposed to shift the money used for the orphanage, school hospital and other public affairs into her budget?”
“Yes.”
Adolph stared at Basil considering him. How could his son be so stupid? Sure, he hadn’t been included in the budgetary meetings by Gavin’s design, but did he think all of that money was just enough to make them even?
Basil stopped pacing and looked at his father, “You haven’t said anything, father.”
“I’m thinking,” Adolph said. “You should try it more often.”
Basil’s jaw dropped open in shock as Adolph happened upon an idea.
He smiled at Basil, “I’m cutting your and Delia’s budget in half, so you’ll have more time to think about how you spend it.”