To be a sovereign you have a loyal gang around you. That allows you to impose a liability on any mere individual in your realm, then offer a token to settle tha

To be a sovereign you have a loyal gang around you. That allows you to impose a liability on any mere individual in your realm, then offer a token to settle that liability in return for some of the individual's time. If they refuse you execute them and confiscate their property. A total loss of time. Or perhaps just remove their liberty - which is still a significant loss of time. As the individual do you take the deal or stand the consequences? Nothing to do with trust. Everything to do with power.