Ghostrider0002
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-Chapter 119-
🕑 Added 2024-12-17 00:13:42 +0000 UTC-Chapter 119-
-POV 3rd-
While King Viserys was still digesting the various announcements made by Prince Aemon Targaryen in his letters, a heated debate broke out around the table.
"Watch your words, ser," declared Corlys Velaryon, immediately taking his son-in-law's defense.
Otto Hightower replied with a slightly disdainful tone, ignoring the warning from the Lord of House Velaryon:
"I am the Hand of the King, and I stand by my words; this is nothing less than treason."
Corlys Velaryon shook his head, outraged by the Hand’s words:
"I doubt that marrying according to our customs is treason. Prince Daemon also married according to our ancestral traditions…"
"Like father, like son, though you fail to mention that the marriage between Daemon and Prince Aemon's mother had been annulled before he sought to remarry," Otto Hightower quickly interjected, cutting off the Master of Ships.
"…HOWEVER…" Corlys Velaryon resumed, deliberately emphasizing his words to silence the Hand before continuing: "…for a mere knight to accuse a prince of House Targaryen of treason without any proof is treason."
The Hand of the King smiled joylessly and replied with a sarcastic tone:
"No one here is a fool. We all know what truly happened. I speak for everyone because we know why he decided to marry the same woman whose birthright he stripped."
"You speak for no one, for you are nothing more than a glorified knight. You are lord of nothing but yourself," retorted Corlys Velaryon.
"Watch your tongue, Lord Corlys. You are addressing the Hand of the King," declared Bryndon Hightower, standing behind his father, reminding the Master of Ships that the Hand’s authority surpassed all others except the royalty Corlys did not belong to.
"And who even gave you the right to enter this room?" sneered the Sea Snake, openly mocking the Hand's eldest son.
"I agree with the Hand. My cousin has gone too far. Does it not bother you that he sidelined Laena in this way?" declared Princess Rhaenyra suddenly, taking everyone by surprise.
The Sea Snake raised an eyebrow, caught off guard by his stepdaughter’s intervention, then furrowed his brows and asked coldly:
"Aemon married Jeyne Arryn according to our ancestral traditions, in a Valyrian marriage. How is that treason against the crown?"
"You seem well informed. Did your wife tell you all this, or did you yourself aid this traitor?"
"Prince Aemon has betrayed no one!" Corlys Velaryon shouted, raising his voice.
The Hand of the King retorted in kind:
"He murdered his uncle and then forced Jeyne Arryn—whom he had previously compelled to renounce her lordship—into marriage."
Corlys Velaryon shook his head, exasperated by the accusations:
"This is pure slander! You have no proof of this! You are simply obsessed with the insult you perceive in the breaking of your son’s betrothal to the eldest daughter of Gerold Royce, who until recently claimed Runestone as her rightful inheritance!"
"That is absurd. I am merely a loyal advisor to His Majesty, which you are not. Everything you do serves your own interests!" retorted Otto Hightower before adding, louder and in a harsher tone:
"You defend your son-in-law only because of the indecent profits your commercial fleets have been making since you opened a joint trading chamber with Houses Grafton and Sunderland. They must surely have faced pressure from that uncontrollable element your daughter’s husband has become."
The Lord of House Velaryon rose abruptly, but before he could say anything, the king intervened:
"That is enough. Sit down immediately, Lord Corlys."
---
-POV Viserys Targaryen-
Seeing that tempers were flaring far too quickly, I slammed my fist on the table and ordered everyone to be silent.
"You did not hear His Grace order you to sit," added my Hand, earning a venomous glare from the Sea Snake, who nevertheless sat back down, simmering with almost palpable rage.
I glared at Otto before declaring:
"Aemon is my nephew. He has never shown a lack of loyalty to the crown. As long as he does not commit clear acts of treason, I want to hear no more on the matter."
"Your…" Otto began.
"I said I want to hear nothing more on the matter, and I do not wish to repeat myself," I said sharply, cutting him off mid-sentence.
Otto clenched his jaw in frustration but said nothing. I then motioned for everyone to leave with a wave of my hand:
"We will discuss the rest another time."
Everyone rose, but I called out to Larys and Lyonel:
"Not you two. Stay. I need to speak with you."
"Your Grace?" asked Larys, while his father remained silent, waiting for my instructions.
"Sit," I said, thinking carefully about how to phrase my request.
They gave me time to find my words. Once ready, I asked:
"What must I do to keep Aemon under control?"
The two exchanged glances but remained silent.
I could see in their eyes that neither had an answer to the question that had plagued me since I finished reading those letters.
‘At first, I truly believed I was next on my nephew’s list. But if that were the case, he would have accepted Rhaenyra as his wife, then pushed me to have an accident, just like his Arnold Arryn,’ I thought, trying to reassure myself.
‘He possesses the two greatest dragons in the realm. If he were to rebel, I would undoubtedly be defeated,’ I continued, searching for a way to act without provoking a war.
"I think we could appeal to Prince Daemon," Lyonel suddenly suggested.
I raised my eyebrows:
"The last time I heard from Daemon was at his son’s wedding. He has not sent me a single letter since—not even for the birth of his second son or Daeron."
"But he will have no choice but to listen to you because your interests align," replied Lyonel.
I frowned:
"You truly think he would turn against his own son just to oppose Corlys?"
"His son is uncontrollable for you, but even more so for him," Larys interjected, who had remained silent until now.
I turned to him, confused, and he elaborated:
"Prince Aemon burned a dozen of his father’s warships."
"When did this happen?" I asked, stunned.
"According to my informants, it happened nearly a moon ago," Larys replied.
"Why am I only learning of this now? This is news of the utmost importance!" I exclaimed.
"I only heard of it two days ago. It seems the prince has his own network of spies. I attempted to infiltrate it."
"Infiltrate?" I asked, suspicious.
"I suffered some losses," Larys said coldly.
His neutral expression, devoid of emotion at the loss of his men, unsettled me, but I paid it little mind. I had far greater problems to deal with.
‘Problems the size of two 300-foot-long dragons,’ I thought.
‘Daemon could well be the key. Aemon has never forgiven his father’s behavior. Surely Daemon knows this. Together, we could present a united front against Corlys and Aemon.’
‘For now, I need to buy time,’ I told myself.
‘Urrax and Vhagar are gods of destruction, invincible for now. But once my children bond with fully grown dragons…’
‘Perhaps I should even attempt to…’
Comments
TyrantGod
Good, MC had it too easy in my opinion with his buffs. He needs to start being more brutal and with him training Aegon it could backfire on him. One sided OP stomp gets boring in my opinion. Will MC start participating in more wars? And also what dragon will Viserys claim? Please let it be Vermithor
Ghostrider0002
Exactly
AJ
Visery now see the fact that he needs a dragon to keep the balance in the realm because no one in his family actually fears him and he is the king
Ghostrider0002
Poor Daemon🤭🫣😂
Kaden Holder
Oh boy will be fun, can’t wait to see daemon’s reaction when he realizes aemon is his own man
