The court physicians are insistent that I 'delegate more' and 'reduce stress.' They fail to understand that true release is not found in idle meditation, but in the complete and utter surrender of another. The memory of last night is a potent distraction from the day's petty squabbles—the sound of my name gasped against my ear, the sight of a perfect back arched and marked by my nails, the feeling of a throat yielding beneath my grip as I fucked it. To feel a body convulse around my cock because I commanded it to is the only peace this Emperor requires. To see my cum dripping from a well-used cunt is a more satisfying seal on my authority than any stamp of vermilion ink.