Chapter 237 - 234: Port Of Cornwell
Leonard and George were standing on the dock as they waited for the ship George's parents rode to come in. As they were waiting, the workers at the port who pass them by greeted Leonard respectfully.
"Sorry, the ship must have been delayed." George said, it was half pass noon and the two of them have been waiting for about 20 minutes.
"It's alright, I'm sure they will arrive soon." Leonard replied.
"I noticed that the workers here know you, you come here often?" George asked.
Leonard smiled as he shook his head.
"Oh, I forgot, we are now in Cornwell. So, your family owns this port?"
Leonard sighed, technically they still do, but not for long. "It's part of Serena's dowry." He replied. Then, he looked around. The port was buzzling with activity as about 4 ships that have docked were either loading or unloading goods and passengers.
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The Capital of Windsor (also called Windsor) has been the capital for the last hundreds of years because it has always been the center of global activities in their Kingdom. The main reason for this was undeniably the fact that it has the largest port that accommodates different ship vessels, whether passenger or cargo enabling it to grow and become what it is today.
However, for some reason, in the last ten years, there has been sea level drop in the port of Windsor and thus, many larger ships could not dock. If that wasn't bad enough, the ships due to new technological advancement has also been growing in size. Thus, there was a need for a new port to be built that can accommodate said larger ships.
A search for a viable port near Windsor has been made, and a study was able to identify an area in Cornwell to be feasible. It was also near Windsor at only 3 and a half hours travel. Seeing it as an opportunity, Duke Simoun volunteered to fund the building of the port. As the Kingdom's treasury has taken a bad hit at that time due to the loss in revenue, the King has agreed, provided that 50% of the net profit made by the port be surrendered for the King's fund.
It was a good deal Duke Simoun thought. Thus, the construction of the port began. After 3 years, the port has begun its operation, and the income that flowed in was truly beyond expectations. Although the Port of Windsor was still the main port, larger ships dock at port of Cornwell. In the end, Duke Simoun was able to get his capital back in the next 3 years.
It was really great, that was until an unannounced inspection has been made 2 years ago. Apparently, some of Duke Simoun's relatives who he posted as people in charge of collecting the taxes were caught red handed doing corruption. Meaning, the reports made to the King and the actual collections did not tally.
Duke Simoun almost had a heart attack. He called his relatives for a quick meeting, and they all denied it, saying that it was a set up. He doesn't know who to believe, but he also knew that the court has been divided and perhaps this was the doing of one faction.
He tried thinking of a solution and the only thing he can come up with was tying himself to the monarchist faction, if that was even still a choice. If proven guilty of the accusation of corruption, the king may strip of his title, even worse, he may even get the nine generations of his family executed. He never told his daughter of this of course.
After 3 days, Duke Simoun was summoned to the palace. He did not know what to do. The only thing he has was money and he can offer all that if it means his family could survive. However, the problem was, would they even survive if they were to become branded as commoners?
Anyway, Duke Simoun immediately told the King the whole truth of the matter and begged for leniency. The King was lenient, and a lot of exchanges has happened and at the end of the day, by some form of miracle, Simoun was forgiven, and Serena was even to become engaged to the crown prince.
With this, Duke Simoun instantly understood that it has been a set-up. But what to do? At least his daughter was given the chance to become the Queen of Windsor.
Most of their liquid funds have been sent to the palace, while the port remained in Serena's dowry, but this time, the division of profit was at 80-20. The 20% that goes to their family was still a sizable sum, but in comparison to what they have lost, they would need 20 years of this 20% income to make up for it. Well, not that they would even get to that because once Serena married Geoffrey, the port will belong to Geoffrey and in other words, the crown.
Despite this, Duke Simoun was very smart. He has started building a business on material handling and storage operating in the port. The reason he can to this was that given the expansion, it was inevitable that it would be difficult to handle everything, and the port has to outsource some services. This business was made under a pseudonym of course. Well, he knew it was not a good thing, but it did have its benefits. Besides, when Serena marries Geoffrey, they can still operate that at least.
Leonard has been informed of all this because he was the heir to the ducal house of Maxwell. He was 18 at the time this happened so his father, Duke Simoun, has entrusted him of these details and everything else should anything were to happen to him.
When he learned that Serena's having some relationship with Charlton, he was not against it because he thought that Geoffrey was not interested and might even break his engagement with Serena. Charlton was not that bad, although he used to be a rake, he has seen him change overtime. He was also the only son of the grand duke, and his family was not complicated. Serena may not be the queen, but she would be happy. He thought.
However, that all changed when he saw Geoffrey becoming interested. He knew just how much the monarch can squash the other nobility with their thumb. And so, we all know what happened after that.
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"Finally!" George said as the ship with the flag of Militeia came into view.
Leonard was pulled out of his reverie and looked forward.
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TBC