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Bernodia. In many of the provinces, the local taxes imposed by the dukes were far heavier than the national ones. But Duke Reginald and Lady Margaret didn’t demand a high lifestyle. They even had their own gardens and produced much of the food needed for the castle. Louise learned to love these gardens and would often go with Alexander to pick a few fresh raspberries and blackberries, and occasionally some strawberries. He was careful to protect them because he said the Esconodian trader charged him a fortune for a few plants, but he said they were multiplying, allowing him to give some to the villagers to grow. There was another plant that he valued highly. He said the Esconodian trader had sold it to him, telling him it came from the New World. He said there they called it “maize” but the trader said that it had been called “corn” here. Alexander said that the previous year they had gotten very little off of it, mostly only enough for some new seed and a little to taste. The trader told him he needed to add lots more manure for better production. He had done this, and the plants looked fantastic. Louise had never seen anything like it. It looked like a grass, but the leaves were big. There was lots of it, and Alexander promised, if it turned out well, they would try eating it together at the end of summer. He talked about so many of the plants that she could hardly keep up with him on what was new and what wasn’t. 80