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

Chapter 170: Chapter 169 – Long Live the King (IV)

“Does my lord wish me to write?” An apprentice arrived before Corlys; he held out the tray and showed the pile of parchment, quill, and ink.

Corlys didn’t hesitate to pick up the swan-feather quill, dipped the tip in the ink, and then wrote:

“Maekar of House Targaryen of Harrenhal.”

The young man looked at the parchment, rolled it up with a ribbon, and then put it away with other already finished parchments. He then continued. Varon, Theo, Ellard, Boremund, Robert, Roderick, Darnold, and Queen Alysanne herself.

Their votes were clear:

“Maekar of House Targaryen of Harrenhal.”

Theo didn’t want to vote for Maekar, but, faced with the cold and even murderous eyes of some, he swallowed hard and still voted for Maekar. Deep in his heart, there was only bitterness and sadness. He was never trained to be lord; his brother was. Unfortunately, not even his nephew had received the education of a future lord either.

After all, his nephew was eight months old and was a baby. In the end, he was chosen as Regent and, temporarily, Lord of Highgarden and Lord Paramount of the Mander. However, he already wanted his nephew to grow up as fast as possible so he could give up that dangerous position.

Court intrigues were a million times more dangerous than the tournaments he was used to participating in. The life of a knight was much calmer than the life of a lord paramount.

“You made the right choice, Lord Theo; Prince Maekar is the best candidate for the throne,” Robert said in a gentle and warm tone. Although Theo was young, he could be a good regent for the next sixteen years.

Theo only showed a forced smile; he didn’t believe a single word that came out of the mouth of the Lord of House Redwyne. Was that crazy murderer the best candidate for king? There was nothing chivalrous about him, let alone the aura of a king.

“Robert, you think too much. I don’t care if he’ll be a good king; I just want to make the king angry and then get the Gift back.” Unlike Robert, he cared little whether Maekar would be a good king; he only wanted what the pretender to the throne had promised and nothing more.

Robert just rolled his eyes at words considered extremely problematic for any lord, except for the lord of Winterfell. Who would dare say those words in the presence of the king, besides the rude and coarse barbarians of the north?

“How rude, Lord Stark, the king could ask for your head because of that offense.” Varon didn’t miss the chance to speak in a sarcastic and scornful tone about the reckless words of the Lord of Winterfell.

“Let him come cut it then; my neck is already quite soft, and it’ll be a quick cut.” Touching his own flabby neck, Ellard bared his teeth and spoke with a smile full of courage and recklessness.

“My husband wouldn’t hurt you, Lord Ellard; he might rather want to argue with you for days. You know, no one dares to argue with him, let alone speak ill of him to his face.” Alysane remarked with a smile while watching the Lord of Winterfell with an amused look.

She wasn’t lying. Jaehaerys might very much enjoy arguing with Ellard, though that might end with the Lord of House Stark being thrown as food for Vermithor.

“He’s surrounded by flatterers, all treacherous snakes scheming in the shadows and within the walls of his castle.” Ellard didn’t lower his voice, so everyone nearby heard and turned to face Ellard with hostile looks.

“What are you looking at?” Ellard looked coldly at those people and threatened them with a bloodthirsty smile. “If you keep staring, I’ll shove my axe up your pale ass.”

At once, those same men looked away and didn’t dare look at Ellard again.

“The difference between you northerners and the wildlings is only which side of the Wall you’re on.” Varon said in a sarcastic tone.

Then, noticing the looks on him, the Lord of Pyke showed a cold smile, different from his earlier polite look. “What are you looking at? Look at me again and I’ll impale you alive and salt your flesh under the scorching sun.”

“Cruel madman.” Ellard remarked after hearing his threats.

“Savage disguised as a noble.” Varon showed no weakness.

Corlys and Baramund looked at each other and were left speechless by the childish quarrel between the two men. However, remembering the bloody feud between House Stark and House Greyjoy, they didn’t try to ease the conversation.

If they intervened, they would have to pick a side, something they didn’t want to do.

“My dear lords, this is not the time to fight; we have other enemies and should focus on them.” Alysanne intervened at that moment and spoke in a gentle tone.

Ellard and Varon looked at each other and saw the contempt each felt for the other and fell silent. They spat on the ground and stopped staring at each other.

Ellard’s and Varon’s little quarrel wasn’t unique to them; other quarrels also started around the hall. Most of the Noble Houses were thousands of years old; the youngest were hundreds of years old. All of them had enemies and feuds; it was quite normal for them to start arguing over anything random. They didn’t need a reason; they just wanted an argument.

However, because of the king’s presence, it didn’t turn into a physical fight, only a verbal one. No one wanted to displease the king, especially after seeing his cold and frightening eyes.

–

The voting continued, and two hours had already passed. After standing for so long, many were already exhausted, but they still persisted while watching the place grow quieter as time passed.

They weren’t the only ones who were tired; Jaehaerys himself was exhausted. He was no longer young; he was still recovering from his earlier fainting spell, not to mention he was growing sleepier by the day and his mind wandered for minutes before focusing again.

It was a great effort for Jaehaerys to still be sitting on the Iron Throne with an expressionless face. Fortunately, Alysanne had the advantage on these occasions. Her leaving caused no discussion; the men just found it normal for the old queen to leave to rest.

If Jaehaerys did something similar, he would be considered weak the moment after.

“My king, the voting has ended; I will begin the count.” Grand Maester Allar, who was over ninety years old, approached the iron throne and spoke in a trembling, weak tone, as if he might die the next second.

Jaehaerys truly feared the man might die at any moment…

“Then begin the count.” Despite his thoughts, the king’s expression remained the same.

Allar nodded, and his apprentices quickly set up a chair and a table and formed a line in front of the table.

The Grand Maester sat down with some difficulty and gestured for the first young man to approach the table.

The young man placed the tray on the table and stepped back.

The grand maester picked up the first parchment and opened it. He read the contents and spoke aloud.

“Prince Viserys.”

Originally, this wouldn’t have happened if Laenor were still in the running, but, as with Maekar and Viserys, everyone feared there might be cheating on the part of one of the factions, so they asked the king for the votes to be read aloud so that everyone could count them.

Even if some didn’t even know how to count to ten…

Viserys’s supporters showed happy expressions, and Maekar’s supporters became displeased.

The second parchment was opened, and the Grand Maester spoke:

“Prince Maekar of House Targaryen of Harrenhal.”

This time, with the mention of Maekar’s name, the crowd’s reaction was the opposite, which made the atmosphere change drastically.

The grand maester didn’t care about the crowd and continued calling out name after name. It was completely random, at times three votes in a row for Viserys and, other times, five votes in a row for Maekar.

As time passed, silence kept settling over the air. No one dared breathe even slightly faster, afraid of missing a vote.

However, Viserys’s supporters were becoming more and more solemn, and some were even panicking. It had been ten minutes with only Maekar’s name being spoken by the grand maester.

When the grand maester was about to continue, he felt his throat go dry. He stopped what he was doing and drank a bit of water before continuing calmly, his eyes brighter than ever.

He had already foreseen the outcome after so long, but he continued anyway. Who knows, maybe a miracle could happen for Prince Viserys?

—–

Note: Sorry for the delay; I had to rewrite the chapters countless times. With the amount of words I wrote today, I would have released about ten chapters.

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