See, if your subordinates all share a hive mind, that makes both warfare and scientific research infinitely simpler. And I might be one of the topmost science authorities in my society, but I am still somebody's subordinate, who, in turn, is a direct subordinate to the Emperor.

The disease, which I was, unfortunately, unable to hide, eventually leads to the crime. All I had to do was disobey a couple orders. Shortly after that, I found myself having to combat my own brothers and children. I was eventually forced into exile and hiding, before the Imperial Council realized that my knowledge and skills were too precious to them.

[Of course, there's a whole adventure between the exile and the hiding.]