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

The next day, the entire atmosphere of joy from the day before had completely disappeared. Everyone seemed to be going to war. Or rather, the deadliest political war this continent had ever seen. So far, two Lords of Great Noble Houses had already died, and the future promised even more deaths.

Maekar was wearing a black doublet with red details; a purple sash fell over his shoulder and ended at his waist. Embroidered on the purple sash was the prince’s personal coat of arms.

Gael, beside him, also wore a black dress with red details. The dress featured red scales around the shoulders and ribs. She wore an elegant bun in her hair. Like Maekar, she wore her future husband’s personal coat of arms.

A platinum three-headed dragon on a red background. In its claws, the dragon held a sword pointed downward, House Targaryen of Harrenhal.

Mara stood beside the couple, wearing a flowing black silk dress. Jewels covered her body. It seemed she was afraid of being called poor, so she showed off as much as possible.

Alysanne was not beside her daughter and grandson but beside the stone throne, seated on an ornamental wooden throne. Although she was not beside them, she wore a black dress with red details, the coat of arms of House Targaryen of Harrenhal embroidered on the chest of the dress.

One could say that all of Maekar’s allies wore black because of Maekar himself. This also led to them being known as the Blacks.

Rhaenys was naturally called the Reds, which could be seen by her allies wearing red.

Viserys, because of the shades of his clothes, which were generally purple or violet, everyone called him the Purples.

At this moment, at the start of the Great Council, everyone wore different colors, mainly the colors of the three factions. Of course, there was a relatively large portion of people who wore white and gray. These were the Septons of the Faith of the Seven and the Maesters of the Citadel, respectively.

On the Black Stone Throne, Jaehaerys wore his characteristic crown, golden and heavy; he dressed much more simply. Just a black doublet with a red and black velvet cloak over his shoulders.

The king’s eyes swept across the entire Hall of a Hundred Hearths, and seeing the sea of people, Jaehaerys was somewhat surprised. He had expected five hundred, but, from what he was seeing, that number had already been surpassed, and not everyone had even arrived yet. He estimated there would be a thousand votes the end of the Great Council.

"Let us begin the session of the Great Council." Jaehaerys spoke in a calm tone and handed the scroll from his hand to the old Maester of Harrenhal, Victorio. "Everyone must declare their claims. Maester Victorio will record all the votes, and we will begin judging the claims."

"Let us begin." Jaehaerys said and closed his eyes, patiently waiting for all the claims to be announced.

Alysanne looked at her husband and noticed he was more lethargic than usual. Age was already weighing on her husband’s body; of this she had no doubt. The journey to Harrenhal, riding Vermithor, had only made this more evident.

The Old King was truly old and weak, at least physically.

Originally, Jaehaerys was not supposed to come to Harrenhal, but with Alysanne coming to Harrenhal, Jaehaerys also chose to come. Of course, Jaehaerys’s arrival was not only because of concern for Alysanne’s health but also out of fear that the queen would control the Great Council and influence the lords’ choices.

Jaehaerys never underestimated his wife, who had reigned with him, in the shadows of the Small Council. He knew better than anyone how terrible his own wife’s cunning was. He had no doubt that the lords would fall into her traps.

The process of choosing the claimants of royal blood to the royal throne lasted about three hours; everyone seemed to be thinking seriously and very solemnly.

Finally, Maester Victorio, accompanied by other young acolytes, handed the scroll into Jaehaerys’s hands and respectfully stepped back.

Jaehaerys opened the scroll and looked at the list of names with a calm gaze. Going through three of the fifteen claims listed on the scroll, a trace of disgust and anger appeared on the Old King’s face.

As soon as Jaehaerys’s expression changed, the atmosphere changed. A man with black hair and brown eyes, knowing he was the reason for the king’s anger, tried to go unnoticed, but the king’s gaze fell on him like a wolf seeing prey after a long time being hungry.

Jonah Moonton shuddered and shrank at the table where he was. The men sharing the table with him simply moved as far away as possible. The king’s eyes were too frightening, especially when they were angry.

Alysanne noticed Jonah and narrowed her eyes. She looked at the scroll and saw three names and the origin of those names.

Maegor Vhassar, Maegon and Maegyr Vaelaros.

Descendants: Princess Saera Targaryen.

The queen finally understood the reason for her husband’s anger and showed a sad look, especially looking at the names on the scroll. Grandchildren she had never met and might never meet. This was something very sad for her, who loved seeing her house full of children.

But the queen also showed a flawless smile at the names of Saera’s children. Obviously, her daughter still wanted to annoy her father and chose names that could annoy Jaehaerys more than ever.

Showing a furious look at Jonah Moonton, nephew of Lord Moonton of Maidenpool, Jaehaerys took a deep breath and spoke in a cold and calm tone:

"Fifteen claims in total. Now we will decide which are suitable or not."

Everyone was surprised, not expecting there to be so many claims to the Iron Throne. This showed that, even with the incestuous marriages, the Targaryen lineage had already spread to many places. Which was a surprise to the Lords.

"Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, Laenor Velaryon, Laena Velaryon, Prince Viserys Targaryen, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Prince Daemon Targaryen, Prince Maekar Targaryen, Prince Voegon, Princess Gael Targaryen, Jocelyn Baratheon, Boremund Baratheon, Borros Baratheon, Maegor Vhassar, Maegon Vaelaros, Maegyrs Vaelaros."

Jaehaerys named all the names with an increasingly cold and frightening tone. It seemed there were many lords greedy for the throne.

At this moment, Jaehaerys felt that the deaths of Matthos Tyrell and Loreon Lannister had not been a bad thing, but something very good for the stability of the realm. There were many fools with enormous ambitions. The deaths of two important lords had only driven away most of these fools.

However, there were still fools who thought they could sit on the Iron Throne.

"We will begin discussing the viability of the claims," Jaehaerys spoke, looking especially at Houses Baratheon and Velaryon. Besides Saera’s three bastards, there were three lineages of House Baratheon named and three descendants of House Velaryon, along with Rhaenys. There was no way Jaehaerys would not look at House Baratheon and Velaryon.

Boremund was sweating at this moment. He could not believe his vassals were foolish enough to name him. Although he knew they did not like Rhaenys for being a woman, he also did not expect them to be so reckless as to put his name on the list of claims.

Not only that, they had put his son’s name in the middle of all this mess. Boremund looked at Rhaenys and saw the princess show a dark expression. At this moment, he knew things had gotten out of control.

The voting had not even begun, and the internal conflicts had already exploded all at once.

Corlys’s face was exactly the same as his wife’s; he looked grim as he looked at House Baratheon’s vassals with a cold and deadly gaze. He saw the hope of Rhaenys sitting on the Iron Throne growing more distant.

This seemed to be the second time this had happened, and Corlys was extremely furious.

Of everyone, only Maekar showed a smile; he seemed amused by what was happening. Watching the misery of enemies was one of the most cherished pastimes of the human race; Maekar was no different.

He wanted to watch everything burn and let chaos reign so that he could sit on the Iron Throne.

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/GOTSW

Read my other books:

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

Game Of Thrones: The God-Emperor of Planetos

Percy Jackson: Godwyn the Golden.

Game Of Thrones: The King’s Court Wizard