For the second blank, why is intermittent better than legitimate since the statement supporting that his generous acts did not change the perception of a draconian and despot king.

Always consider what each blank refers to and what we know about that subject to hopefully repurpose words or phrases from elsewhere in the passage as stand-in terms to compare with the available choices one at a time

The first blank rather clearly refers to "the nature of the monarch's reign" and we know subsequently that it was characterized by "frequent force thought to be violations of rights", so compare the choices to the phrase "violating force":

a) inscrutable - impossible to understand or interpret ≠ "violating force" | eliminate
b) mercenary - primarily concerned with making money at the expense of ethics ≠ "violating force" since no mention of money in sentence | eliminate
c) draconian - excessively harsh and severe = "violating force" | select

Now, insert "draconian" in the first blank to help evaluate the subsequent blanks.

The second blank refers to "the ruler's acts of generosity" and we know these are in contrast to his "frequent shows of force" which are now identified as "draconian". Therefore, we can simply invert the term "frequent" and plug "infrequent" in as the prediction:

d) intermittent - not continuous or steady = "infrequent" | select
e) insipid - lacking vigor or interest ≠ "infrequent" | eliminate
f) legitimate - conforming to the law or to rules ≠ "infrequent" | eliminate

Now, insert "intermittent" in the second blank to help evaluate the final blank.

The final blank refers to how in time the ruler "might well be remembered" and we know he is "draconian", so we can simply repurpose that term as "draconian king" for the prediction:

g) prolocutor - spokesperson ≠ "draconian king" | eliminate
h) despot - cruel and oppressive absolute ruler = "draconian king" | select
i) figurehead - ruler in name only without real power ≠ "draconian king" | eliminate

Select choices C, D, and H, after reading the sentence to confirm a consistently coherent sentence and I hope this clarifies why the second choice can only match "intermittent"!

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