The Emperor was spending less and less time in the Imperial Capital.
A massive villa sat by a lake on a scenic mountainside. As the Emperor's temporary palace, its defenses were inadequate, but it was perfectly suitable as a place for a patient to recuperate, with hot springs everywhere steaming into a beautiful, thin mist.
The master of the Empire was "on vacation." The fate of the vast domain rested on this one man; he couldn't be sick, merely "unwell."
"How is my father?" The Prince had been pacing in the main hall, his anger and anxiety finding no outlet, until the Prime Minister emerged from a side hall. The Emperor was very weak and needed rest, so the Prime Minister and the doctor had shared the audience time with him.
"Your father's mind is clear, and his will is firm. He endured the pain while the doctor treated him."
