"I don't actually like to be around children but they're very cute from a distance."

"What don't you like about them?"

"...sometimes they're annoying. I try to avoid being around people who annoy me."

"That's probably wise."

"I like to think so. And then every so often someone just refuses to go away—you'd think, with my reputation, I wouldn't have to tell someone to go away more than once—and..." he shrugs.

"Do you happen to know what tends to motivate that or - not look into it?"

"—tends to motivate what?"

"People not leaving you alone. Do they want something from you, do they not understand when you tell them to leave, have they taken you for someone else, are they trying to commit suicide by Emperor...

"It's not that common. The problem with the latest one was perfectly clear, though - he thought that since I wasn't using my power the way he would, I must be an idiot, and just as soon as he figured out how to manipulate me properly he could be the one using my power."

"Did he clarify what he'd do if he had it?"

"Not openly. He kept trying to coax me into changing this or that law, and I think sometimes it was just because he wanted to have a say in what the laws were, more than he wanted whatever particular thing he was arguing for - the only one I'm absolutely sure was personal was the one about polygamy, because he acted like he just couldn't fathom the idea of anyone not wanting to marry thirty slave girls if marrying thirty slave girls was an option."

"Was he for or against?"

"For."

"Ah-huh."

"I wouldn't have minded as much if he hadn't been so condescending about it."

"Seems a predictably bad choice of tone."

"You'd think!"

"Is it feasible for others to learn from his mistake? Does this sort of thing make the news?"

"Oh, people are definitely talking about it even years later, but rumour gets as far as 'the Emperor threw somebody off a roof' and then generally doesn't go into why. I suppose most people don't think I need a reason."

"Suppose not."

"And it's not as though he wasn't warned. I told him, several times, to either quit with that nonsense or get out of my life. I don't think he was ignorant of the risks, I think he was too driven by ambition to care."

She nods. "I don't suppose you considered dropping him through a portal onto a beach on another continent or something."

"I wasn't planning to throw him off a roof, I was planning to ignore him. Then I lost my temper."

"Ah. You don't tend to see that coming?"

"When I see it coming, I do something about it, or at least try to!"