House of The Dragon:The Rise of the Emperor of the Seven Kingdoms

King’s Landing woke up to news that was simply shocking, or rather, even insane.

On the Street of Silk, in one of the many brothels on the street, two men talked amidst prostitutes with little or no clothing. Judging by their clothes and the number of prostitutes around them, both were of noble origin.

"Have you heard the rumors?" One of the men, with two naked women on each of his arms, asked with a happy smile.

"What rumors?" the other man, who had a woman between his legs moving her head back and forth, asked with a relaxed and pleasure-filled expression. His hand stroked the prostitute’s head as if he were petting an obedient dog.

"Daemon Targaryen has become Loreon Lannister’s representative in the combat tomorrow," the man said, taking a large gulp of wine from his goblet. He seemed happier than ever.

"By the Mother’s holy teats!!!" the other man widened his eyes and swore aloud. The news was as shocking as discovering an old septa had opened her legs for a man.

"A dead dragon is a good dragon," the man said with a smile on his lips. If anyone thought the nobles liked House Targaryen, they were deeply mistaken. Who would like such a powerful king above them, reigning supreme over the common people?

In this era where the king’s power was not centralized, all nobles were lords, and the king was merely the strongest noble. Essentially, everyone had the same status, which could be seen by the crowns and circlets that nobles wore at official ceremonies in their own fiefs.

The common people might like House Targaryen, for they brought peace and prosperity, but the nobles, deep down, did not like the crown’s rigid control over them. Especially the reign of Jaehaerys and Alysanne, in which law after law that made them far superior to the common people were abolished.

In his eyes, all dragonriders could die so that they could finally return to the old era where the king might be powerful, but he was not untouchable.

An example of this was recent events. House Lannister, being a royal family, would never have even thought of backing down before the murderer of their own heir, but at this moment, Loreon was forced into a trial by combat.

This only showed the nobility that the king was too powerful, so powerful that they couldn’t even take revenge on the king without fearing the consequences of that act.

If it were nearly two centuries later, even after the madness of Aerys II Targaryen, this thought would not have occurred, for House Targaryen’s dominion over Westeros, even without dragons, would have consolidated enough.

However, this was only the hundredth year since Aegon’s Conquest of Westeros. The ideals of the grandfathers and grandmothers of these nobles had been passed from generation to generation and had not yet completely dissipated.

In the end, these nobles truly needed a major blow to their power to see true despair and accept the harsh reality.

Unfortunately, if Maegor had lived longer, this would not have happened. With Maegor’s tyrannical character and cruelty, he would have reduced his enemies to ashes, placed new nobles in their stead, and everything would have stabilized more quickly.

But there were no "ifs" in the world.

It wasn’t just the two nobles who were talking about this; the entire city was. It was news as shocking as expected.

In the Red Keep, the air was suffocating and tense; everyone was afraid to breathe a bit louder and bring upon themselves the king’s wrath.

"YOU FOOL, ARROGANT, PRESUMPTUOUS, AND STUPID!!!" Jaehaerys’s furious roar rang through the Great Hall. "YOU HAVE STAINED OUR HOUSE’S NAME, WE HAVE BECOME A LAUGHINGSTOCK FOR THE NOBLES, AND WE HAVE BROUGHT JOY TO OUR ENEMIES!!!!"

"ALL BECAUSE OF WHAT? THE RESENTMENT OF A SPOILED BOY LIKE YOU!!!" To say Jaehaerys was furious was an understatement. He wanted to feed Daemon to Vermithor!

The King’s chest was heaving, panting furiously.

"I did it all for—" When Daemon was about to speak, Jaehaerys’s furious voice rang out again.

"SILENCE!!!!"

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SPEAK!!!"

"IF YOU WERE NOT MY GRANDSON, YOU WOULD NOT BE HERE AT THIS MOMENT, BUT WITH YOUR HEAD ON A PIKE!!!!"

Viserys and Aemma trembled; they had never seen the king so furious before.

Calming himself, if only a little, Jaehaerys looked at Daemon with a cold and chilling gaze. "You cannot kill Maekar, and Maekar cannot kill you. I will not accept House Targaryen losing a Dragonrider, or worse, two at the same time!!!"

"My king," Viserys tried to speak at that moment, but shut his mouth seeing the king’s violet eyes glaring at him with fury. All his courage evaporated like water on a scorching day. Before those terrifying and deep eyes, he did not even dare open his lips to try to speak again.

"Did I give you permission to speak?" Jaehaerys asked in a glacial tone. "If not, shut your fucking mouth or I’ll have it shut for you."

Viserys merely lowered his head and did not dare interfere again. Aemma held her husband’s hand and looked at Daemon with concern. She understood why Daemon did what he did. Rumors that Baelon had promised the throne to Maekar had been circulating for quite some time.

Naturally, no one believed them, but Daemon believed the rumors deeply. For he knew how much his father regretted and felt guilty about Maekar’s upbringing. Knowing this fact, Daemon felt he could endure the infamy of killing a brother to protect Viserys.

However, Daemon himself did not expect the king to react so strongly. He expected Jaehaerys to be calm or even happy with the death of an element as unstable as Maekar, but it was completely the opposite.

Daemon thought he was protecting his brother, but in Jaehaerys’s eyes, this was merely the spark for a civil war.

Just imagining that, after nearly sixty years of reign, everything done to prevent another civil war and consolidate Targaryen rule over Westeros still happened because of a spoiled boy, Jaehaerys felt he wanted to devour Daemon’s flesh and blood.

"Ryam, take Daemon to his quarters. Also, summon Prince Maekar to the Great Hall." Jaehaerys’s voice rang out again.

Viserys and Aemma would not leave, for they had no orders for such a thing.

Ryam escorted Daemon to his quarters and then brought Maekar to the king.

Maekar wore a solemn black military suit and had a calm expression when he entered the Great Hall.

"Blackfyre, a large fief of your choice, and two million Golden Dragons. But Blackfyre must be returned after your death." Jaehaerys went straight to the point and stated his terms.

Viserys and Aemma widened their eyes hearing Jaehaerys’s price to settle things. Not to mention that the fief and two million golden dragons, along with Blackfyre itself, was an extremely high price. Even if there were a time limit, it was still something unbelievable.

"I want Harrenhal and three million golden dragons for the reconstruction of the castle," Maekar said with a smile.

Jaehaerys frowned; he did not want to give Harrenhal to Maekar. The reason for this was that Maekar grew up in the Riverlands. House Tully was weak and House Blackwood extremely strong; if Maekar became Lord of Harrenhal, he would practically be king in the Riverlands.

This was no joke; the Crown could not easily intervene in the Riverlands with Maekar in Harrenhal. Jaehaerys also did not believe that Viserys could handle Maekar after he died.

This brought a massive headache to Jaehaerys. It made him want to kill Daemon at that moment. All his plans were destroyed because of Daemon’s impulsiveness. He could have exiled Maekar for a good long time, giving House Targaryen time to grow stronger even without him, but that could no longer happen.

However, faced with Maekar killing Daemon and Viserys being left alone with no one to help him deal with Maekar, he preferred to lose control of the Riverlands than to see Viserys alone and without any powerful Dragonrider by his side.

As for Rhaenyra? What could a girl and a dragon hatchling do in such a grave situation?

"Very well, Harrenhal is yours," Jaehaerys spoke in a calm and cold tone.

"I have one last condition," Maekar spoke at that moment, making Jaehaerys’s eyes turn terribly cold. However, just as he was about to think Maekar was going to extort even more interests from him, Maekar’s voice rang out again.

"I want Daemon’s arm," Maekar said with a smile. He couldn’t kill Daemon, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t cut off his arm.

"I accept," Jaehaerys accepted without a second thought, even finding the request quite reasonable.

’Let it serve as a lesson for Daemon to grow up and become a calmer man,’ Jaehaerys thought with an indifferent look in his eyes.

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Note:Has anyone watched the first episode of the third season of House of the Dragon? I was furious with Jace, wasn’t it just a matter of burning that damn rope?

Read the advanced Chapters on my Patreon!

/GOTSW

Read my other books:

House of The Dragon: The Pale Prince

Game Of Thrones: The God-Emperor of Planetos

Percy Jackson: Godwyn the Golden.

Game Of Thrones: The King’s Court Wizard