On Monday, in the middle of his conversation with the prime minister, Duke Harang blinked once very slowly and then died.
This left the planet without a ruler, and the duke's son, Prince Harang, without a father. The prince was only 12 years old, and so the planet was ruled by a regent, the duke's brother, until the prince came of age.
A little after the young prince had seen more than a couple years of enthusiastic legal drinking, he came face-to-face with a document left with the family counsel.
It was a letter from his father, written in the duke's own hand. "The planet has to remain without a heir for as long as possible," it said. "The longer the planet is without a ruler, the more prosperous it will be. Young prince, do not hasten to take the throne."
Strange, thought the prince, given that his own father had long been the ruler of the planet. But he was a dutiful son, and so he did not question his father's wisdom.
In small squabble that revealed his uncle's true nature, the prince was forced to bear witness to the usurpation of the throne. The regent had been plotting to take the throne for himself, and although the prince had not been too naive to see it, he had been honoring his father's posthumous directive.
The regent, the uncle, the plotter, burned to a crisp in the flames of a freak accident that took place only months into his new reign.
The prince, now the de facto ruler, still shunned the throne. It would be revealed in the decades after his own death that he had been a respected, highly ranked player of the IDGAF tournaments. Playing the role of the dutiful son, he lived happily ever after.