Chapter 536 Blood for blood
After the king's wedding, the gloom that hung over King's Landing was swept away.
As the queen became pregnant again, people in the seven kingdoms were rejoicing, thinking that the political situation in the kingdom would finally become stable.
Unfortunately, the accident happened again.
Queen Alilia suddenly gave birth prematurely nine months into her pregnancy. Bachelor Shireen led the most experienced team of midwives in the country, but failed to save the child.
To make matters worse, the queen was unable to have any more children due to excessive bleeding.
After the bad news spread, certain rumors began to spread in the Seven Kingdoms.
Some people say that this is ironclad evidence that the king’s blood is impure, others say that it is a punishment for the king to marry his sister, and some even say that the king’s own inheritance rights are illegal—
A certain knight of Bitterbridge asserted that the present king was born less than ten months before the marriage of Caesar to Queen Margery.
In other words, Octavian was actually born out of wedlock.The inception of this chapter's publication is linked to N0vel..Bjn.
Of course, the knight soon paid the price for his folly.
Baron Bitterbridge cut off the man's head with his own hands and sent it to King's Landing.
However, this does not stop the rumors from continuing to spread.
Doubts about the king and worries about the heir to the Iron Throne cast a gloom over the entire Seven Kingdoms.
Conspiracies and rumors are surging and accumulating like underwater undercurrents.
Finally, at a royal meeting, Lord Randyll Tarly, Hand of the King, proposed that the king declare his brother, Prince Aegon Caesar, the second son of the late king, to be the first heir to the Iron Throne.
But this proposal made the king turn pale and walked away on the spot.
After the meeting, Queen Mother Margaret found her son and asked directly:
“Why don’t you recognize your brother’s inheritance?”
Octavian looked at his mother with a mixture of grievance and anger:
“Why should I make Aegon the heir when I am so young and can bear an heir?”
"Alilia is no longer able to have children. As for Helena, no matter how much you love her, she is a girl after all. According to Westeros inheritance customs, the uncle's inheritance rights will take precedence over the daughter."
"That's why they deliberately don't want me to have a son!" Octavian suddenly burst out, "Jane had miscarriages again and again, and now it's Allilia's turn! Mother, can't you see it?"
Margaery’s expression changed drastically:
“You, do you have evidence?”
"If I had evidence, I would have cut off Aegon's head and hung it on the city wall!"
Margaery breathed a sigh of relief:
“You can’t slander your brother like this without evidence.”
"Slander?" Octavian sneered, "Could it be that what happened to Janey and Alyria was a coincidence? They were destined not to give birth to a son for me? Don't you understand yet? Mother, they have been plotting for a long time. Seize the throne that is rightfully ours!"
“Aegon and Aemon are your brothers, and the Iron Throne belongs to them as well.”
"If I really can't give birth to an heir, then I will naturally choose Aegon as my heir. But now they are trying to kill my heir! You know that Jeyne and Alilia ate in order to give me an heir. How painful is it? You have also seen them wailing on the delivery bed with your own eyes! Do you still remember the miserable scene before Jenny died? They ripped open her belly alive!
This **** scene appears in my dreams every night!
I will never give in! Mother, I want them to pay the price! "
Margaery found that she could not convince her son after all, and she even began to doubt herself, were Janey and Alylia really being assassinated?
If it’s a coincidence, it’s too much of a coincidence.
Jane had two miscarriages and two stillbirths. Alilia could successfully give birth to a daughter for the king before marriage, but as soon as she got married, she immediately suffered a stillbirth.
As a result, they also lose their fertility.
It really looked like someone was deliberately trying to make the king extinct.
“I will definitely find out about this matter.” Octavian gritted his teeth and said, “I will definitely make them pay the price!”
Margaery was about to speak but stopped, and finally sighed and said:
“But you will not have any more children after all...”
“I am still young and can still marry again.”
“Marry again? What should Alilia do?”
“Father can marry two wives, why can’t I.” Octavian said, “And Aegon Targaryen also married two wives.”
"Aegon Targaryen conquered the Seven Kingdoms, and your father ended the Long Night and saved mankind. How can you compare with them?" Margaery said, "Kings and kings are different. What they did The nobles can tolerate things, but you may not do it. By marrying Alilia as queen, you have already made many people have opinions. If you marry again..."
“Do they dare to rebel?” Octavian interrupted.
Margery pursed her lips, and after a long moment of silence, she said:
"Don't be reckless in this matter. I will send people to investigate. If Aegon and the others are really up to something...I will never forgive them!"
After saying that, Queen Mother Margaret turned and left.
Octavian looked at his mother's retreating back, twitched his lips, shook his head and said:
"Mother, even Gavin Mander can't find out their clues, so what can you find out?"
The king sat behind his desk, hiding himself in the shadows.
At this moment, he felt endless loneliness sweeping over him.
I don’t know how long it took, but there was a knock on the door again.
“Your Majesty, the King’s Hand wishes to see you.” The guard’s voice came.
A cold glint flashed in Octavian's eyes, but he still said:
“Let him in.”
Earl Randyll Tarly pushed the door open and was about to salute when he heard the king speak first and ask:
“Lord Randyll, are you here again to persuade me to declare Aegon the heir?”
Earl Landau shook his head slightly and said:
“No, Your Majesty, I’m here to ask you to resign.”
As he spoke, he actually took off the brooch symbolizing the hand of the king from his clothes and put it on the table.
The king's face changed for a while, and finally he asked angrily:
"Rando Tarly! What do you mean? Forced to have a baby?"
"Your Majesty, you misunderstood." Earl Landau said calmly, "I just feel that my body can no longer support the service of the kingdom, so I resigned."
Octavian sneered:
“Haha, don’t think that I don’t understand what you are thinking. You just want to force me to declare your grandson-in-law as the heir to the Iron Throne!”
Earl Landau sighed and looked at the king with a particularly complicated look:
"Do you really think so? Aegon married my granddaughter, but have you forgotten that you are also my grandson?"
“But you always wanted Aegon to take the Iron Throne, right?”
“If you have a son, I will definitely support him.”
“I have a daughter!”
“The inheritance rights of women must be ranked after those of the men in the family...”
“That was Targaryen succession, but now it’s the Caesars!”
"This is the inheritance practice of Westeros," Lord Landau said without giving in. "If you deny this, you are shaking the inheritance rights of hundreds of lords. Your Majesty, please do not act out of emotion."
“Then convene a great council!” Octavian said suddenly.
“Great Council?”
"That's right! Let the lords of Westeros decide who should inherit the Iron Throne!"
Earl Landau gave the king a deep look:
"Your Majesty, have you thought clearly? More than two hundred years ago, the Targaryen family also held a Great Council in order to select an heir. At that time, they also made a choice between a female heir and a male heir. What was the result? I believe you must understand.”
“I said,” Octavian emphasized every word, “this is the Caesars’ dynasty, not the Targaryen dynasty!”
“But the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms are still those nobles.”
"Then let these nobles make their choice. Lord Landao, don't you allow this request?"
"Of course not." Lord Landau bowed, "Of course you have the right to convene a grand council."
“Then can you stay on?”
Earl Landau still shook his head:
"Your Majesty, I am already eighty years old. I am really old. Please let me die in Jiaoling."
Octavian looked at Earl Landau, whose hair was covered with frost. A trace of sadness emerged in his heart, but it was quickly replaced by anger.
But in the end, he nodded:
“Okay, do you have any recommendations for the new Hand of the King?”
Earl Landau thought for a while and said:
“Tyrion Lannister, can take my place.”
"Lannister?" Octavian's mouth twitched slightly, "Okay, I will consider your proposal."
Earl Landau didn’t say anything more and leaned over to salute:
"I will leave King's Landing after the Grand Council. Please take care of yourself, Your Majesty."
...
One month later, the Great Council was held in King's Landing. More than 500 lords from the Seven Kingdoms gathered in the Red Keep to discuss the future successor of the kingdom.
After three days of discussion, Aegon Caesar, the second son of the late king, finally overwhelmingly defeated Helena Caesar, the only daughter of the current king, and became the heir to the Iron Throne.
This result is not unexpected.
In Westeros, except for the slightly special situation of Dorne, male heirs always have higher succession than females.
However, unexpectedly, Prince Aegon behaved calmly after receiving the news.
At that time, he was escorting Lord Randyll Tarly back to Horn Hill. After receiving the canonization document, he just smiled and said:
“It’s a good arrangement. I can spend time with my mother more conveniently.”
Queen Daenerys has always lived on Dragonstone, so there is nothing wrong with Prince Aegon’s words.
Such an indifferent attitude disappointed many ambitious people who were waiting to see the excitement.
It also eased the already critical situation in an instant.
It seems that the Caesar family is more united than many people expected.
However, what happened next intensified the conflicts within the Caesar family.
To talk about this, we have to mention one person -
The king’s only daughter, Princess Helena.
Princess Helena was born to the king and Queen Alilia, but after she was born, she has been living in King's Landing as an illegitimate daughter.
In order to protect the king's reputation, Queen Alilia never told anyone who Helena's father was.
So until the king officially married her mother and legalized her identity, Helena thought she was a **** of some lowly knight.
This feeling of inferiority shrouded her childhood, making her character awkward and sensitive.
After being recognized by the king, this inferiority gradually turned into arrogance, and sensitivity turned into arrogance.
The failure of the succession battle also made the ten-year-old princess feel disgusted with her uncle, Prince Aegon.
This time when she learned that her father had entrusted her with her uncle's Storm's End Castle, Princess Helena immediately felt the thrill of revenge.
So, one morning, she drove her little dragon "Fire Cloud" and galloped south.
“Fire Cloud” is a dragon whose whole body is red and its wing membranes are as thin as clouds, hence its name. It was hatched from the fourth dragon egg produced by Cleopatra. It had lived with Princess Helena since she was a child and had a deep relationship with her.
The red dragon carried the princess all the way south to Storm's End Castle.
At this time, Prince Aegon was still escorting Lord Randyll Tarly back to Horn Hill, so his son Daeron Caesar received the princess.
Of course, it is not appropriate to say "reception".
Because the princess did not enter the castle, but landed on the terrace, held her little head high, and asked her uncle and her family to move out of her castle immediately in a commanding tone.
Such an attitude naturally angered Daeron, and he immediately retorted, saying that Helena was just an illegitimate bastard.
We know that in the absence of elders, fights among children can easily get out of control.
Especially when these children have powers that they cannot fully control.
Daeron's words angered the already sensitive Helena, who screamed and ordered her dragon to attack.
Maybe she just wanted to scare her cousin, maybe "Fire Cloud" misunderstood the master's intention, or maybe the red dragon was in a bad mood that day... But no matter what, when the princess gave the order, the red dragon aimed at Darren and sprayed out The dragon flame!
This turn of events caught the surrounding guards off guard, and even Princess Helena herself was frightened.
It wasn’t until her cousin’s screams reached her ears that she hurriedly fled Storm’s End on a red dragon.
After receiving the news, Prince Aegon hurried back to Storm's End and saw his son who was disfigured by the fire and had to amputate one arm.
In this case, no matter how good-tempered Prince Aegon is, he cannot accept such humiliation.
So he immediately publicly asked the king to hand over the murderer of his son.
The king knew that he was in the wrong, so he could only write a letter to his brother to apologize in person, but he was unwilling to hand over his daughter.
However, as compensation for his brother, the king rescinded his previous order and changed the title of Prince Aegon to Prince of Storm's End.
It is equivalent to offering Stormlands and Storm's End as compensation.
But this did not extinguish Prince Aegon's anger.
“He can’t use what is mine as an apology,” Prince Aegon declared. “There is only one way to gain my forgiveness—
Blood for blood, fire for fire! "
The king obviously cannot agree to this condition.
Princess Helena is his only child, how could he agree to let her accept the punishment of dragon flames?
As a result, the conflicts between the two sides began to intensify.
The hot-tempered Prince Aemon even did something outrageous. In order to vent his anger on his brother and nephew, the prince, then the commander of the royal navy, mobilized a fleet to blockade King's Landing and aimed hundreds of cannons at it. The Red Fort on the cliff bank.
And asked the king to hand over Princess Helena within three days, otherwise he would bombard the Red Fort.
This move undoubtedly pushed the Seven Kingdoms to the brink of civil war.
But at this critical moment, Queen Daenerys came to the king again riding the black dragon Drogon.
The Queen Mother Margaret received her with the most solemn courtesy and talked with her alone all night.
The next day, when the two Queen Mothers walked hand in hand to the top of the Red Keep, the city of King's Landing erupted in cheers.
Everyone knows that civil war will never happen.
Prince Aemon withdrew his fleet, and the king declared that he would no longer pursue the two brothers for their insolence.
As compensation for his nephew Daeron being burned, Prince Aegon was named Prince of Storm's End and Warden of the Stormlands.
At the same time, the king also announced that he would never marry again.
Only then did everyone understand that this last condition was the king’s real concession.
Queen Alilia was sterilized. If the king never married again, he would never have new children.
In this way, Prince Aegon also locked in his identity as the heir to the Iron Throne.
Some people are happy and some are sad about this result.
But in any case, the clouds of the civil war have dissipated, and everything seems to be on track again.
However, the seeds of hatred have been sown. Whether they will take root and grow stronger, or whether they will gradually dissipate over time, no one can tell.
Five years have passed in the blink of an eye.
Princess Helena quietly came of age and married Ser Denys Arryn, the eldest son of Lord Harold Arryn, Warden of the Vale.
Not long after the two got married, Princess Helena became pregnant.
A witch from across the narrow sea vowed that Princess Helena would have a boy in her belly.
King Octavian was overjoyed when he heard this and held a grand banquet in the Red Castle to celebrate that he was about to have a grandson.
At the same time, a new issue began to come to the fore—
If the king has a grandson, who is higher in the line of succession than Prince Aegon?
Some people worry that the dispute over the inheritance of the Iron Throne will once again stir up the political situation of the Seven Kingdoms.
But soon, people discovered that their worries seemed to be unnecessary.
Because Princess Helena had a miscarriage.
The bad luck that originally enveloped the king and queen actually passed on to the princess.
Are the gods really unwilling to give the king a male heir? Or are some people secretly targeting the king's lineage?
It is said that King Octavian almost fell into madness after learning the news.
He put all the servants in the Red Keep into a dark prison and interrogated each one personally, vowing to find out the person who murdered his unborn grandson.
At every trial, the king asked bluntly whether Aegon Aemon had sent them.
It seems that the king has determined that his two biological brothers are constantly murdering his heirs.
It is a pity that no matter how tortured the king was, no one dared to admit this crime.
Heads fell to the ground one after another. They were impaled on spears and placed on the top of the Red Fort. They looked terrifying and frightening.
Although there is no evidence, Princess Helena seems to believe that her two uncles are the real culprits behind the murder of her children.
So this mother who had just lost her child, on impulse, climbed onto her mount "Fire Cloud" with her body still recovering, and headed south again to Storm's End Castle.
Storm's End was shrouded in a storm that day, and the rain was so heavy that it was impossible to open one's eyes.
But such heavy rain could not extinguish Princess Helena's inner anger.
She rode a red dragon and circled over the castle, constantly cursing her uncle and accusing him of harming her children.
This behavior of the princess does seem stupid and unnecessary, but considering that this is a mother who has just lost her child, it is understandable.
Prince Aegon didn't care about his niece. He just closed the city gate tightly and pretended not to hear the curses.
However, he can think that Princess Helena is nothing, but some people can't.
Princess Helena, who was venting her inner anger wantonly at high altitude, had obviously forgotten that she had hurt a young man here five years ago—
son of Prince Aegon, Daeron.
The boy who was disfigured and had his limbs amputated by the "Fire Cloud" has never forgotten the harm and pain this vicious princess inflicted on him.
So, when he saw Princess Helena's figure appearing over Storm's End Castle again, Daeron immediately mounted his mount, a black dragon named "Ink Wing".
Under the control of Prince Daeron, "Ink Wing" was like a black lightning, flying straight towards the red dragon in the sky.
Caught off guard, "Fire Cloud" was torn open by the black dragon on his right abdomen with a scar that almost penetrated the entire body.
Prince Daeron would not easily let go of the murderer who ruined his life. Driven by the desire for revenge, he continued to control the black dragon and launch fatal attacks on the red dragon and Princess Helena.
Two dragons, one black and one red, fought fiercely over Storm's End Castle. Balls of fireballs exploded in the sky, and the brilliant firelight even overwhelmed the lightning and thunder for a time.
When Prince Aegon realized that the situation was not good, he hurriedly mounted his mount Balerion to break up the fight, only to find that the red dragon "Fire Cloud" had already spun and fallen.
It crashed on the cliff bank near the sea, and the sound of landing was so loud that the entire Storm's End trembled.
Through the smoke and dust, Prince Aegon discovered that the "Fire Cloud" had only one breath left.
Its wings were torn off, its ribs were pierced through its body, and the organs in its belly were **** and exposed. Princess Helena had been burned into an unrecognizable corpse.
Prince Aegon was speechless for a moment as he watched the king's only daughter die in front of him.
Five years ago, Princess Helena burned her own son. He once clamored to "blood for blood, fire for fire." Now, his words have come true.
But Prince Aegon also knew very well that the death of Princess Helena also broke the fragile peace within the Caesar family, causing the conflicts and hatred that had been accumulated for many years to completely explode.
The war seems to be unstoppable.
(End of this chapter)