Promises Must Be Kept: Pacta sunt servanda (5)

"Who is this war for?"

A brief but piercing question echoed through the ornate chambers of the Tauride Palace, where representatives of the empire with the world's largest territory gathered beneath gilded ceilings and crystal chandeliers. The marble walls seemed to amplify the words, letting them reverberate through the hallowed halls of power.

If heard in a street pub amidst the clinking of glasses and drunken murmurs, such words might have been dismissed as the thoughtless complaint of a common malcontent, perhaps even earning a stern glance from the authorities. But this question erupted in parliament, in the very heart of Russian governance, where matters of state were meant to be discussed with careful reverence.