The Empire's elite were finally beginning to face a hard truth: the age of impunity was ending. Every action—no matter how well hidden behind privilege or title—now carried consequences.
Understanding that truth was one thing. Accepting it was another.
For the most zealous Princes, power outweighed the Empire itself. And if preserving their dominion meant igniting a war at the Empire's very heart, so be it. They would burn it all down before letting it slip from their grasp.
