[ a silence, at that, before he follows waver, mulling over that information in his head. ]

So the sitting ruler is powerful. An easy reason for the people to hate him, or at the very least, not trust his rise to the throne. [ there's another pause, as he mulls that over. ] It passes through his bloodline, or did he learn how to do it? I've been avoiding the higher-end of town and speaking to the people in the lower-end, for the most part.

[ they, incidentally, do not have a fancy library on that side of town. ]