Sentence:  “My son hears tales. In the viceroy's personal entourage, one could scarcely help it. And he tells me of them. Our new viceroy would not refuse the Crown if offered, but he<!-- page break --> guards his line of retreat. There are stories that, failing Imperial heights, he plans to carve out a new Empire in the Barbarian hinterland. It is said, but I don't vouch for this, that he has already given one of his daughters as wife to a <WSD>Kinglet</WSD> somewhere in the uncharted Periphery.” 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A petty king; a king ruling over a small or unimportant territory.