Mirabeau strode quickly into the Crown Prince's study and handed his hat to Eman before bowing to Joseph, "Your Highness, from yesterday until half an hour ago, a total of 41 people have written to Her Majesty the Queen or had direct audiences to express their opposition to the proposal to abolish noble privileges."
As he spoke, he handed over a list: "Most of them are influential high nobility."
Joseph took the list and, with a smile, gestured towards a chair on the side, "Please, take a seat."
He glanced over the paper and nodded, "Hmm, just about what I expected, mostly those from the Assembly of Notables. It makes things easier to handle this way."
Behind the grain crisis in the southern provinces, there was the considerable handiwork of those fellows from the Assembly of Notables – Joseph certainly hadn't forgotten about them.
After dealing with the military, he had deliberately not implicated others, just so they would let down their guard.
