“How rotten and counterfeit is the man who says, 'I have chosen to deal with you plainly.' … Such a thing shows at once in the eyes.”
The hint
The emperor distrusted anyone who announced their honesty; it should show before it is said. Tonight the word is shown to you back to front. Read it the right way round.
The cipher
RODNAC
— Marcus Aurelius · Meditations, XI · c. 175 CE
Enter this door
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