"I would say no one that naive could make it into the positions of power they now find themselves in. But it wouldn't be the first time an idealistic figurehead served as a puppet for someone more pragmatic, and was allowed to conduct themselves as they wished in service of pacifying the masses."

He knows how this game is played, even if he takes no pleasure in these sorts of games himself. Politics are for the charmers, the smooth-talkers, and he is a soldier. He follows orders. That's all that is required of him.

Even if he's now a little more cautious who those orders come from.