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~~((The Totally-Not-Random May 1st Special -- page 4 of 18))~~
"What did you do, exactly?" asked the King.

'In short? I redirected perceptions of his policies and ideals onto myself. Since I was already ousted from his inner circle, I could be safely regarded as an outlier whose opinion no longer held any power.'

"Yes, but how did you do that?"

'Oh, it was not easy. The endeavor consumed my life for several years. Following members of the royal court, tweaking their memories, their perceptions. It was a constant project, and it pushed me to the brink of exhaustion. I was sure that I had missed some, but if you really had no inkling as to Martinus' true views, then perhaps I did a better job than I thought.'

"You freely admit to tampering with the minds of your fellow lords?" said William.

'Do I "freely admit" it? You say that as if to accuse me of some crime. As far as I am aware, there are no laws in this nation regarding the erasure of memories or the use of telepathy.'

The King just returned a frown.

'Perhaps there should be,' said Hanton. 'I will leave that matter to Your Highness' wisdom.'

King William shook his head and sighed. "If the other lords knew of this..."

'It would be enormously problematic, yes.' Hanton's marbled eyes went briefly to Hector. 'But we are past the point of dancing around difficult truths, I feel. You must decide for yourselves whether my actions were unjust.'

Hector had some questions of his own, now. "Why didn't you just manipulate King Martinus' mind directly? Why go through so much trouble working on the people around him? And was it really necessary to take the flack for his views upon yourself? Why not just erase them entirely and avoid blaming anyone?"

'Mental manipulation is an imprecise art,' said Hanton. 'If it were as simple as you were making it out to be, then yes, I would have had a much easier time and been able to avoid many sleepless nights.'