human
Vincent:  "The teaching that citizens should be strong. I will resist the urge to give any personal comment on that ideal, but it certainly seems to be a crucial aspect of the empire’s current successes."
gpt
Vincent:  "So it is. And the accompanying admonishments apply to everyone in Volakia, the emperor included. All position and all honor are gained through power, and through power can they be taken away."
human
Julius:  Julius and the others arched a collective eyebrow to hear Vincent describe the imperial system.
gpt
Julius:  Why was he explaining the empire’s way of life to them now?
human
Julius:  Soon enough, however, they worked it out.
gpt
Julius:  "You think someone’s trying to start a rebellion in hopes of gaining the throne?"
human
Vincent:  "A fine guess, beast-boy. In other circumstances, one might suspect a foreign assassin. However, things are different in the empire. For those of us who live here, it is far more common to find our lives sought by those closest at hand."
gpt
Ferris:  Ferris was incredulous.
human
Ferris:  "B-but even if you were assassinated, and the throne wound up empty, there’s no guarantee the plotter would be the one to fill it. Would anyone accept a ruler who came to power like that?"
gpt
Julius:  "You’re wrong about that, Ferris."
human
Julius:  "You’re thinking like you’re still in Lugunica… What you’ve described is exactly how things work here."
gpt
Ferris:  Ferris frowned at this.
human
Vincent:  Vincent Volakia did not contradict him.
gpt
Vincent:  "Precisely. It would be tolerated, even embraced. Each must prove their worth through strength. That applies to the throne as much as it does to everything else."
human
Vincent:  "In fact, if you think about the Rite of Imperial Selection, the throne seems to be the paragon."
gpt
Vincent:  In Volakia, the seat of power went to the survivor of a rite characterized by bloodshed, with the sons and daughters of the last emperor murdering one another until the sole survivor took the seat of sovereignty. This made the emperor a symbol of strength.
human
Ferris:  "Unreal…" Ferris practically whispered the word and then fell silent.
gpt
Vincent:  "…In any case, we understand that whoever is seeking Your Majesty’s life is probably someone within the empire. But then what explains Master Balleroy’s death? What did he have to do with assassinating you?"
human
Vincent:  "One could conceive any number of possibilities. Perhaps Balleroy became aware of the conspirators’ plans, or perhaps their hope was to eliminate one of my pawns. Although, he was the lowest of the Nine Divine Generals. If it were meant as a blow to my strength, his death has not proven very effective in that regard. Such an objective would mean these conspirators are not aiming very high."
gpt
Vincent:  "They did worse than that—after what happened to Master Balleroy, the Crystal Palace was in an uproar. It only served to raise Your Majesty’s suspicions and make it harder to get at their target."
human
Vincent:  For that matter, was there even an advantage to doing all this while the emissaries from Lugunica were present?