Q1: The king ...... the rebel.

ANS:C - pardoned

Pardon implies a government agency and incarceration, but is has a social use:

Forgive to me implies when someone has done something to you and you erase it from the story of your relationship with them - if that makes sense. Pardon has a slightly more formal resonance to me - as when a government gives a pardon for a crime, in other words erases it from the formal/legal record. But really they are very close. Unless the question was about something like "I beg your pardon" versus "forgive me". The first can mean - please repeat what you just said, and the second means - please accept my apology for what I just said or did