EMPEROR: Wh-what an exhausting dance that was! Oranda, come rest yourself at the table.

ORANDA: A rather fine prospect.

EMPEROR: Look, look! A fine banquet. The table grows with the bounty of the land! Surely it lays you low with hunger.

ORANDA: I am not hungry for food.

EMPEROR: But there is not one imperial dish absent! Ohh, I must have that lamb.

ORANDA: But there is someone absent who must be here. Varronian, where is our particular guest?

VARRONIAN: I assure you, Oranda, he will be here soon, according to a guard at the gate.

ORANDA: Good. May I suggest---oh, sire, you spy a busty chest, to the dance floor with your latest imperial conquest, for I think the orchestra is about to commence another song.

EMPEROR: Busty chest? Where? Oh my! My! My! 

ORANDA: ...Good, now we may continue without buffoonery's interference. You say Sopron has already entered the palace?

VARRONIAN: Yes, quite some time ago. He was at once put into a lackey's uniform.

ORANDA: Good. The border barbarians can commence immediate attack. When they invest our civilized land, that will be the emperor's knell. Then, together, Varronian, we will stem the brute at the city's gates. A grateful populace will give us the throne. 

VARRONIAN: Oh yes, and a crown upon our heads.

ORANDA: This certainly will show I faithfully executed his orders, though with a proper amount of reluctance for all the nobles to see.

ORANDA: I will not be seen to be pleased outwardly when Sopron stoops to sweep, and to hold that vomitous black bowl.

VARRONIAN: Look! So appears Sopron.

SOPRON: I bring the proper dustpan.

ORANDA: Poor, unfortunate man. If only I could rescind these vile edicts.

SOPRON: What, and ruin your conquest of the empire?

ORANDA: Regards on your piercing vision.

VARRONIAN: Pierce? Ignorance demands bitterness. Ignore it. 

ORANDA: The emperor's decrees must not be mocked, even those dismissing Sopron. 

CROWD: Sopron is dismissed? Our sword and shield against the savage night? Why? But why? 

EMPEROR: Your fears are well taken. But I have been assured that Sopron has committed treason by spreading false rumors of strife and massacre at the border. I assure you these fears are groundless. I assure myself even.

ORANDA: By the will of the emperor, it is done.

CROWD: Sopron, tumbling in the sickening brew we just swallowed! And why has empress Quellnina not appeared yet? Yes, yes! Quellnina is always by the emperor's side! 

ORANDA: The empress threatened the life of the emperor in screaming fits.

CROWD: Heavens! Insanity!

ORANDA: For this crime, she was thrown into the pit.

CROWD: Heavens! Insanity! Madness reigns in this palace! It is surely infectious! We should level this castle or face doom!

Emperor: The headsman's axe is sharp tonight! I think.

ORANDA: Nobles of the empire, the emperor's burdens are not easy or light. Be we should agree to his decisions without fight. He is the emperor; pay him heed, for his imperial majesty has an announcement of great importance.

EMPEROR: Firstly, by my imperial will, the Lady Oranda is named regent. 

CROWD: Heavens! Insanity! 

VARRONIAN: Nobles! Nobles, be silent.

EMPEROR: Secondly. General Sopron is to be reduced to sweeper of soot and holder of furs.

CROWD: Heavens! Insanity!

VARRONIAN: Nobles, be silent.

ORANDA: By imperial will it is done. His decrees are to be obeyed and accepted without the slightest taint of argument. Sopron! See to your new duties. Fill every goblet with wine's replacement, ale and brine. 

LUDOVICO: You hag! Earn rebuff!

VARRONIAN: Who is this man? Why do you mock the imperial regent?

LUDOVICO: Oranda is your militant enemy and only things enmity for the empire!

EMPEROR: Whatever are you saying? 

LUDOVICO: She takes advantage of your nature! She seeks not to help you but to hinder you! She wants the crown above your head... and your majesty beneath her feet.

EMPEROR: Could this be true?

VARRONIAN: He is in the throes of a maddening fever!

SOPRON: He speaks truth. The savage king Jeho Balutho has crossed the imperial frontier and will soon be before the city... Oranda wants to embed you in this morass, and earn from it heroism and fame.

EMPEROR: Could this be so?

ORANDA: Majesty, they attack me who rules in your name! It's you they really attack. Surely you remember that by imperial decree, it's death to assault the emperor by tongue. Have them hung!

CROWD: Wait! Truth runs above the crust of deception! Speak, Ludovico, speak! 

LUDOVICO: I have come to fulfill my journey. I am not a noble, I am... Ludovico!

CROWD: LUDOVICO!

LUDOVICO: I will not leave this palace until one sees wine again in imperial goblets, and the empire without tormented authority. Oranda, I will set you to flight! 

CROWD: Yes, Ludovico! Destroy her! Destroy! Bring it forth!

ORANDA: Sire, insurrection is within our midst! Call out the guards!

EMPEROR: Oh, well. ...Insurrection!? Oh! Oh yes. Oranda, do, do whatever you think best, what, whatever that is. 

ORANDA: Arrest Ludovico, and Sopron the floor-sweep! 

LUDOVICO: The noonday sun must scorch this venomous swatch of -- I feel it rising with tremendous fury! It's beyond control! My proclamation is---

ORANDA: Cover his mouth! Take this re-sheathed sword and cast him into the pit. 

ORANDA: Stupid Sopron! Did you really think by bringing Ludovico here and filling the nobles with a rain of falsehoods, so that they'd beg for Ludovico's mighty cry, you'd avenge your crime? Ugh! Your machinations begin to bore me. Receive a liar's reward! Lowly guard's sword, taste Sopron's blood! 

SOPRON: The vipress strikes a final time...

ORANDA: Pay for your crime!

SOPRON: Expect worse from Jeho... unless you free..... Ludovico.....