linkHubertvolume_up
A book of past judicial precedent, is it? Ah, and specifically concerning the prosecution of nobles.
linkFerdinandvolume_up
Yes. I have a mind to settle matters with my father.
linkFerdinandvolume_up
The letter of the law considers rebellion a capital crime. But practically speaking, that is not the case.
linkFerdinandvolume_up
Members of the nobility are especially likely to be granted clemency, and all the more so in recent years.
linkHubertvolume_up
Yes, they expiate their guilt by surrendering peerage, providing assets and information, and leaning on the strength of their past meritorious deeds.
linkHubertvolume_up
In short, the nobility make full use of every excuse available to hold tight to their miserable lives.
linkHubertvolume_up
One could pluck off their arms and legs and leave them to fester in the dankest of prisons, and they would still come wriggling back to the surface.
linkHubertvolume_up
So long as they are permitted to live, that is.
linkFerdinandvolume_up
Like with the former Marquis Vestra?
linkHubertvolume_up
That one did not serve his emperor properly and acted in a manner easily construed as treasonous.
linkHubertvolume_up
This is incontrovertible fact.
linkHubertvolume_up
Sadly, he resisted arrest and lost his life in the unfortunate incident that ensued.
linkHubertvolume_up
His guilt or innocence on the matter of treason will remain forever shrouded in mystery.
linkFerdinandvolume_up
That sounds like a careful bit of sophistry to me. It appears to anyone with half a mind that you thought him guilty and had him executed.
linkFerdinandvolume_up
As a noble, he should have been judged in public as is right and proper, no?
linkFerdinandvolume_up
Which is precisely why I am investigating precedent. In order to block any means by which my father could escape justice.
linkFerdinandvolume_up
I will not allow him to stage a comeback. I will see my father properly judged for his crimes.
linkFerdinandvolume_up
And that is exactly why I am investigating precedent. Once my father is recaptured, I seek for him to never again know the taste of freedom.
linkFerdinandvolume_up
I will not allow him to stage a comeback. I will see my father properly judged for his crimes.
linkFerdinandvolume_up
And if he were to raise an army, I would have no choice but to lay him low upon the battlefield.
linkHubertvolume_up
But could you if matters came to that? I wonder...
linkFerdinandvolume_up
It is not a question of can or cannot—the man will be dealt with, and by my hand.
linkFerdinandvolume_up
I could never forgive myself otherwise.
linkFerdinandvolume_up
Not as the inheritor of the title of Duke Aegir, nor as the one to succeed him as prime minister.
linkHubertvolume_up
It is for Her Majesty to decide such things.
linkHubertvolume_up
However, if it proves to be in Her Majesty's interest, I suspect this resolve of yours will be most welcome.