From interactions ic and ooc I can say fairly certainly that dustole fully believed he was going to be crowned emperor, and while his intent may have been to open up fei for more conflict, it would have been fun only for his side.
This is a much more fun result which looks to be ramping up to a fun and fairly even war, so we can give him credit for that much.
From my YEARS of interaction with dustole, I can fairly confidently state that while he would have liked to be crowned emperor, he never counted on it. And assuming it would only be fun for his side is a very, very cynical way of viewing things.
