Governor Taaffe

Eduard Taaffe was only fourteen years old at the time. He was relatively timid by nature and lacked relevant experience and skills.

On top of that, his family had never produced anyone particularly influential. Though they were a dominant force in Moravia, they had also become the largest shipping merchants in the Austrian Empire by taking advantage of the opening of overseas trade.

But when it came to national politics, they were utterly clueless, so the Taaffe family had no expectations of him.

Taaffe asked this question purely out of curiosity.

"Be a governor."

Franz said casually.

"Ah. Huh?! Huh?! Huh?!" Taaffe was the youngest, short, not very strong, and a little chubby. He was also rather soft-hearted, so people often bullied him. He had grown used to it and found it easy to sink into gloom.

Franz wouldn't kick him when he was down, but even just stating the objective facts was enough to deal him a blow. Taaffe hadn't held out any hope at all, so he was preparing to sink into his usual gloom.

But Franz's answer left him astonished—or, more accurately, a little startled.

After all, a governor was not the same thing as a high-ranking official. A high-ranking official was just an official, while a governor could hold the reins of finance, administration, the military, and diplomacy all at once.

There weren't many governors in the entire Austrian Empire. In peacetime, only Galicia and Vojvodina, those far-flung outposts, as well as Lombardy and Venice, which were newly acquired territories, had governors.

Now that the Austrian Empire had acquired Belgrade, it had one more governor: the Governor of Belgrade.

The highest-ranking official the Taaffe family had ever produced was a naval marshal. Though he was called a naval marshal, the Austrian Navy at the time was