Telling a story is like trying to eat grapes with a fork. It's always trying to get away from you. And if you're a good author, and you've challenged yourself, and you're telling big stories, there's more and more that's trying to get away from you simultaneously.
You might want to think twice before you try to use a man's conscience against him. It may turn out he doesn't have one.
The duke sounded like he was trying to convince himself. “Have you ever done this before?” “Set up someone by pretending to be someone else? Sure. Pretended to get killed? Not so much.
If you worry about what everyone is trying to do, you become a spectator and not a player.