Chapter 72 - Old Privileges

Chapter 72: 72 - Old Privileges

The older man crossed the room without hurrying and stopped a respectful distance from the table.

He inclined his head first to Adrien, then to Evelyne. "Lord Clairmont. Lady Evelyne. Thank you for seeing us. I know you already have enough on your table, so I’ll try not to add another problem unless I have to."

Adrien studied him for a moment. That wasn’t the opening he’d expected. Evelyne gestured toward the empty chairs instead. "If you’ve come this far, sit. We were told you wanted to discuss agreements made under House Arquenay."

The man sat and placed a leather case on the table. "Contracts, mostly. Tax exemptions, warehouse rights, transport agreements, reduced tariffs. Several families and merchants are waiting to see what House Clairmont intends to do."

Adrien let Evelyne take the lead. She folded her hands over the ledger. "And what are you asking from us?"

"That you review them properly. I don’t expect you to approve everything Gaspard signed because an Arquenay seal is sitting at the bottom. Some agreements were useful. Others were favours."

Evelyne’s gaze sharpened slightly. "Favours to whom?" The man answered without hesitation.

"To people in this room, among others. My family benefited from reduced storage fees for years because our caravans were beginning to use another route. It helped us, and it helped local trade. Both things can be true."

One merchant beside him shifted. The older man noticed immediately. "There’s no point looking uncomfortable now. House Arquenay is gone. If we want the new lord to trust what we say, honesty is a better start than pretending none of us benefited."

Evelyne opened one of the ledgers. "Reduced fees are one thing. I’ve found agreements that charge competitors almost twice as much to use public warehouses."

"Those should disappear. They were bad arrangements when Gaspard approved them, and changing banners doesn’t make them better." A merchant farther down the table frowned.

"Those arrangements also support jobs." The older man turned toward him with little sympathy.

"Almost any bad arrangement supports someone. That doesn’t mean the city should keep paying for it."

Evelyne watched them both before speaking. "Then we’re closer in opinion than I expected. I won’t cancel something because Gaspard signed it, but I’m not preserving an advantage because a family became accustomed to having it."

Adrien glanced at the older man. "You thought we’d tear up everything with an Arquenay seal?"

A faint smile appeared. "Half the city thinks you’ll raise taxes. The other half thinks you’ll erase every old agreement out of spite. People get imaginative when they don’t know what comes next."

"And what did you expect?" Adrien asked.

"I expected Lady Evelyne to read the contracts first. I was hoping you’d be sensible enough to let her."

Adrien looked at his mother, then back at him. "That might be the safest bet anyone’s made on me all month." Evelyne ignored the comment and nodded toward the leather case.

"What did you bring?"

The man pushed it across the table. "Copies of agreements that never passed through the main administrative office. Gaspard preferred certain arrangements to stay separate when they involved people he trusted."

The mood in the room changed. Evelyne opened the case and began reading. "You kept copies?"

"We had to. Gaspard occasionally forgot what he’d promised once the agreement stopped benefiting him. Signed paper tended to improve his memory."

Evelyne turned another page and stopped. "This gives one merchant family control over two loading docks."

"For twelve years. That one deserves a careful look." The merchant beside him cleared his throat.

"It isn’t quite that simple."

The older man looked toward him. "It’s considerably simpler when you’re not the one collecting the fees."

Evelyne closed the document before the exchange could grow. "Nothing gets decided today. We aren’t renewing everything automatically, and we aren’t cancelling everything automatically either."

She rested one hand on the leather case. "Each agreement gets reviewed on its own. If it keeps trade moving, keeps people employed or genuinely serves the territory, we’ll preserve it or renegotiate it. If it exists because Gaspard wanted to reward a friend, enrich one family or block competition, it ends."

The older man nodded. "Some people won’t enjoy that, but they’ll understand it."

"They don’t have to enjoy it," Evelyne replied calmly. "They need to know the same rules apply to everyone."

Adrien added his part. "My mother handles the review, but the principle is mine. I’m not interested in punishing people for doing business under Arquenay. I want to make sure this city isn’t built around arrangements that only worked because Gaspard liked the right person."

The older man met his gaze. "Then you’ll have less resistance from us than you think."

The meeting continued for another half hour, mostly between him and Evelyne. She asked about transport costs, seasonal trade, roads and which agreements had caused resentment before Clairmont arrived.

He answered directly. When he didn’t know something, he said so. When one of the others softened an inconvenient detail, he corrected them before Evelyne had to.

As the group prepared to leave, the older man paused beside the table. "I can have more records brought tomorrow. Gaspard kept one version of the city on paper and another in practice. The second one will probably tell you more."

Evelyne gave him a measured nod. "Bring whatever you have. If it helps us understand how the city works, I want to see it."

After the door closed, Adrien looked toward his mother. "I was expecting that to be much worse."

"So were the people sitting behind him. That’s why they let him speak first." Evelyne began organizing the new documents, while Adrien glanced toward the door.

"Do you trust him?"

"I trust that he knows this city and admitted where he benefited instead of pretending Gaspard’s rule never touched him." She looked up at Adrien. "That’s more useful than replacing everyone because they served the previous house."

Adrien nodded slowly as Evelyne returned to the papers. "Governance isn’t clearing a board and starting again. You find out who created the problem, who simply lived with it, and who was quietly keeping things functioning despite it."

Adrien looked at the leather case now sitting among their own ledgers. That, at least, sounded easier than replacing an entire city.