Chapter 145: Government, Taxes, and Stuff.
"Before I explain, let me make one thing clear," Kaelis says, leaning back into his seat as the carriage begins moving again.
His tone is calm, but there’s something firm underneath it. "I’m not lying to you. Aurethys help me, you always assume I’m trying to make Helios look bad."
Ezra blinks, still trying to process everything that just happened.
"It’s... related to Prince Helios?" he asks, the surprise still obvious in his voice.
"Why else do you think I said she recognized your uniform?" Kaelis replies, his gaze steady, though there’s a hint of frustration now.
Ezra exhales slowly.
He doesn’t like where this is going.
But Kaelis had a point.
’He’s not wrong.’
That alone made Ezra’s chest feel heavier.
"Right..." Ezra murmurs, shifting slightly as he adjusts his hold on himself more than anything. "I’ll keep an open mind."
Kaelis studies him for a second, as if he’s deciding whether to continue.
Then he does.
"During the time children started disappearing, and the Dark Ones began evolving," Kaelis says, his voice lowering slightly, more serious now, "word spread to other kingdoms."
Ezra listens, his attention fixed now.
"There were fewer visitors," Kaelis continues. "Fewer merchants coming in. Fewer people willing to stay. It wasn’t immediate, but it built up over a span of just months."
He leans forward a bit, adjusting Lior in his arms as the child slowly settles again, his breathing evening out.
"You know how our kingdom’s economy works," Kaelis adds. "We rely on tourism more than we should. Some trade, yes, but most of it comes from people coming in."
’Yeah... I know that.’ Ezra thought, his brows drawing together.
Kaelis exhales quietly. "When things started getting worse, people got scared. Some stopped working. Some left. Others stayed, but barely managed."
Ezra’s mind drifts back for a moment.
The empty roads he had noticed.
The closed stalls.
He was disappointed.
’...so that’s why.’
"It’s not obvious if you’re not looking for it," Kaelis continues. "But the kingdom is struggling. That’s why people started believing we’re cursed. When things don’t make sense, they look for something to blame."
Ezra’s jaw tightens slightly.
"And some people still tried to carry on," Kaelis adds, glancing briefly toward where they had stopped earlier. "Like that woman. Selling what she can. Making do with what she has."
Ezra swallows.
"That still doesn’t explain why she reacted like that to me," Ezra says, his voice quieter now. "Or to... the Sunward Sentinels."
And Helios.
Even if he didn’t say it out loud, the thought lingered.
Kaelis doesn’t look away this time.
"Helios proposed something to our father," he says. "An idea to stabilize things."
Ezra’s attention sharpens.
"What kind of idea?"
Kaelis pauses briefly before answering.
"Higher taxes on businesses," he says. "And mandatory fees for smaller vendors if they want to keep operating. At the same time, prices on goods and services were increased so vendors wouldn’t take the full hit."
Ezra’s eyebrows furrowed as he tried to make sense of it.
He wasn’t someone who dealt with governance.
He didn’t study policies, didn’t care much for economics or the way the kingdom sustained itself.
That was for people like Helios, for the council, for those who understood numbers and trade and long-term consequences.
Ezra fought.
That was what he was good at.
But this—
"I can see it in your face," Kaelis says, letting out a small sigh as he leans back again. "You think something’s wrong with it. That’s fair."
Ezra doesn’t answer right away.
Kaelis continues anyway.
"I didn’t agree with it either," he admits. "Aurien didn’t. We both thought there were better ways to handle it. But Helios made a compelling argument, and father... agreed."
Ezra’s gaze drops slightly.
’Of course he did.’
Helios always had a way of making things sound right.
Even when—
Ezra clenches his jaw slightly.
No.
What was he thinking?
"So..." Ezra starts, trying to piece it together. "Was Teresita mad because she knew Prince Helios was the one who proposed that?"
It made sense.
If her business was affected, if she struggled to keep up with fees, if she had been pushed out—
Of course,s he’d be angry.
Kaelis shakes his head.
"Did you notice the port when we arrived?" he asks instead.
Ezra nods slowly. "There were fewer stalls."
"Exactly," Kaelis says. "Helios and the Sunward Sentinels were the ones who enforced it. The ones who removed people who couldn’t pay."
Ezra stills.
Completely.
Kaelis looks down at Lior, who had already fallen asleep again in his arms, his small face relaxed, unaware of the weight of the conversation around him.
"They didn’t just leave on their own," Kaelis continues, quieter now. "They were forced out. Stalls they’ve kept for years, gone in a day."
Ezra’s chest tightens.
"That woman... Teresita," Kaelis adds, "she was probably one of them. Someone who tried to stay and fought back."
Ezra’s fingers curl slightly at his side. "Fought back?"
"They resisted," Kaelis says. "Said it was unfair. Refused to leave. So the knights... and Helios... had to step in."
Ezra looks at him slowly.
"They... fought back against citizens?" he asks, his voice lower now, like he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.
Kaelis meets his gaze.
Then nods.
Ezra freezes.
The world doesn’t move for a second.
Not the carriage.
Not the light coming through the window.
Not even his thoughts.
’No.’
That was the first thing that came to his mind.
’That doesn’t make sense.’
Helios wasn’t like that.
Helios cared about the people.
Helios understood what it meant to struggle.
Ezra knew that.
He had lived it.
He grew up in the streets, and Helios had seen that, had understood it without ever looking down on him.
Helios was compassionate.
He was—
Ezra swallows.
Because the thoughts don’t line up anymore.
Not the way they used to.
’Then why...?’
Giving up the kidnapping case.
Not listening to a pitiful woman, and ended up almost wiping out a village.
The way he spoke earlier.
The way he didn’t listen.
Ezra’s chest tightens again.
And now this.
Driving people away.
Using knights to enforce it.
’I know Helios...’
The thought comes out weaker this time.
Less certain.
’Helios wouldn’t...’
But then—
How long was he going to keep saying that?