Following tradition, the three princes would be sent away from the capital to serve as lords of their own estates.

Depending on their relationships with the ninth prince, the three princes were treated very differently.

The crown prince's lands were rich and fertile, and he had everything he could possibly want there. On the other hand, the third prince was sent to barren land. The ninth prince clearly bore a grudge against the third prince, who had tried to steal his master away from him. The seventh prince's land was rather normal, neither rich nor barren.

The Heijie left with the seventh prince, who promised that he would parcel out some of that land to them.

With the king of the realm in power, it would be tremendously difficult for...