"Myrcealla, you've been flying for two days and two nights. You must be exhausted. Go get some rest this afternoon; there's still a banquet tonight," Tyrion said, snapping back to his senses. His ugly face squeezed into a forced smile.
Myrcealla's complexion was pale. She had a vague feeling that her great-uncle's death had something to do with her mother.
Even so, she held back her tears, gave a respectful bow to the Dragon Queen, and left with her handmaid from the horse tribe.
"Sigh, even Myrcealla has guessed it."
The dwarf no longer bothered to hide his emotions. His face was weary and sorrowful as he gave a bitter smile. "Was it my dear sister who did it?"
"I don't know. Dragonstone only sent word that Kevan is dead and that King's Landing is in chaos. I don't even know what you did that could've led to his murder," Dany replied, shaking her head.
"If no one had spread the rumor that I was the killer, I'd have suspected Varys, the Starks, or someone else entirely.
But that scent I know it too well. It's exactly like when the Kingsguard ambushed the Dornish prince and pinned the blame on me.
It must have been that wretched Cersei!"
Tyrion's distorted face twitched violently, and his mismatched eyes flickered with searing hatred and indescribable grief.
"You still haven't told me what you did," Dany said, glancing at him sideways.
"I wanted to help you claim the Iron Throne, and at the same time, preserve House Lannister as much as possible."
Taking the chance to rub his face, Tyrion discreetly wiped away the tears at the corner of his eyes. Slowly, he confessed his entire plan and journey through Westeros to the Dragon Queen leaving out only his suspicions regarding Aegon's identity.
"I thought that even if you don't hate Casterly Rock or the Lannisters, you wouldn't love them this deeply," Dany said, her tone slightly odd.
"Isn't that just human nature?" Tyrion sighed bitterly. "I grew up in Casterly Rock. My uncles and aunts treated me decently. Except for my father, who was overly harsh, the Rock still means to me what…"
He looked up at the Dragon Queen and changed his analogy.
"What Winterfell means to the Starks."
"That makes sense. Casterly Rock is your home, and the Lannisters are your family," Dany nodded. "But how were you so sure I would accept their surrender?"
"Your Grace, as a queen, perhaps you don't understand what it means to be a subject."
"And what does it mean?"
Tyrion sighed. "The most important skill for a good subject is the ability to read their ruler's mind to study how their monarch thinks and acts."
"Do you know that trying to guess your ruler's thoughts is also a crime?" Dany sneered.
Tyrion replied, "If a king expects his subjects to do his bidding but forbids them from studying his mind, that kind of fool ruler can only live in a dream woven by his courtiers.
Obviously, Your Grace is wise and brilliant. Before you, lies and petty schemes are meaningless."
"Seems like you're still too ignorant," Dany said coldly. "You must not have heard of Yang Xiu, the 'Scholar Yang' from the East.
Like you, he liked to flaunt his wit before his ruler, thinking he could control the limits of his cleverness, believing that as long as he didn't cross a certain line, the king could do nothing to him.
And guess what? He lost his head."
Dany's gaze was calm but piercing as she sneered at the dwarf.
"I'm different from this Scholar Yang," Tyrion protested. "He sought to show off his intellect, to impress others. I've fought and schemed only to save my family hundreds of them!"
Dany thought for a moment and realized the dwarf was actually telling the truth this time.
He wasn't like Yang Xiu. Yang Xiu was simply arrogant and self-destructive; Tyrion's cunning came not from vanity but from a sense of family.
Foreigners, no matter what they do, are always forgiven as long as it's for family. Movies have shown that time and again.
Tyrion, too, was a foreigner (to her, everyone in this world was a foreigner), and his actions seemed perfectly aligned with society's mainstream values.
Take the "Third Lord of Broken Engagements," for instance he publicly beheaded his bannerman Karstark, yet broke his own vows in private and forgave Catelyn for betraying the entire North.And why was he forgiven? Because he did it for family.Walder Frey and Roose Bolton, however, did what they did for power, and for that, they were damned.
In truth, if one looked past their motives, Robb, Catelyn, Walder Frey, and Roose Bolton were no different in their actions.
Thinking along those lines, Dany reluctantly forgave Tyrion's presumptuousness. After all, she had never expected absolute loyalty from him. Without expectation, there could be no disappointment.
Of course, just because she said nothing now didn't mean she'd forget. She noted it down in her mental little black book later, she'd dig a few extra graves for him.
"It's a pity," Dany mocked, "your elaborate little plan didn't win you loyalty and family both. Instead, you ended up betraying your uncle and dooming yourself."
Tyrion, ever adept at reading people's expressions, let out a long breath of relief. Once again, he had guessed right the Dragon Queen was indeed a reasonable ruler, capable of empathy.
Then, sadness filled his heart. He had managed to persuade the hardest of rulers the Dragon Queen and even won over his tough Uncle Kevan. Yet just when victory was within reach, he stumbled over Cersei.
No, she wasn't a stone. She was a sticky lump of foul dog excrement.
A pile of stumbling filth!
To think Tyrion Lannister, who had once outwitted the "Wolf Mother" (when Catelyn kidnapped him), outplayed Stannis, stabilized King's Landing for the Iron Throne, and ended the War of the Four Kings
He could lead armies as a general, scheme as a strategist, and outmaneuver anyone on the field or in the council chamber.
Even under the Dragon Queen's command, his brilliance and courage were unmatched, his mind so sharp that even allied lords gnashed their teeth and sent assassins after him.
And what about Cersei?
Along the way, what had she ever achieved besides defeating honest men like Ned Stark?She was toyed with by Littlefinger, frightened to suicide by Stannis, deceived by her council, used by mercenaries, imprisoned and "re-educated" by the High Sparrow, overthrown by Pycelle, and
Yet somehow, that festering fool, who lost every battle she fought, always managed to triumph over him the brilliant little demon who never lost.
Could it be that one thing always restrains another that he was born to be subdued by her?Or perhaps she had a natural talent for dominating those closest to her?
The dwarf glanced around unconsciously, searching for his hand crossbow. The thought of kinslaying crossed his mind once more.
"What's the situation in King's Landing?" he asked.
"Tommen is still young, so it's imperative to appoint a new regent. Your dear sister wants to return to the Red Keep. Mace Tyrell, the Hand of the King, is willing to share his son-in-law's burdens.
"Queen Margaery believes that since her mother-in-law has already remarried and become a Greyjoy, she no longer has the right to meddle in the Baratheon family's affairs.
"As the only lady of the Red Keep, Margaery is now of age, qualified and capable of managing the realm for her current husband and their future children."
"Your Majesty, it's time for you to set things right!" Tyrion exclaimed excitedly.
"You want me to break my oath?" Daenerys said coolly.
"No, you need not act personally. Just send Prince Aegon with me two dragons and the Golden Company will be enough!" Tyrion's eyes gleamed as he looked at the Dragon Queen with eager anticipation.
"Everyone knows Walder Frey violated the guest right, but he wasn't the one who wielded the knife. Would you say he's innocent? Aegon is my nephew. What he does and what I do how are they any different?" Daenerys said coldly.
"Ah! What a pity, what a tragedy hundreds of thousands of people in King's Landing are doomed to suffer," Tyrion sighed.
"Don't try to provoke me with your sarcastic tone," Daenerys said sharply. "At worst, King's Landing will remain politically divided. But if Aegon truly tries to claim the Iron Throne, that's when war and misery will truly begin.
"Or perhaps your eyes can only see your own family and the highborn of the Seven Kingdoms, while you ignore the lives of the common people?" Her face showed a flash of anger as she spoke in a low, furious voice.
"I " Tyrion wanted to argue, but when he met her calm, icy violet gaze, the words died in his throat.
Turning his head away, he pleaded, "Then… could you at least heal Myrcella's scar?"
Daenerys hesitated only a moment before nodding. "Let her enter the Great Sept and serve first as a White Maiden. If she isn't a devout follower of the Seven, the Mother will not grant her blessing."
The White Maidens were entirely different from the Red Priestesses.
Their training resembled that of students at a boarding church school.
Besides studying holy scripture, they also learned needlework, embroidery, music, calligraphy, painting, riding, archery, swordplay, self-defense, as well as history and literature.
This was not Daenerys's invention, but a form of noble elite education unique to this world.
The so-called Good Masters, Wise Masters, and Great Masters of Slaver's Bay may have been corrupt, but they were also among the most educated people.
That evening, Daenerys held a welcoming banquet for Tam and Bucheng. Apart from her close companions who lived in the Great Pyramid, most of the guests were pyromancers from the Royal Mage Council.
After the first batch of more than fifty fire mages arrived, another thirty or forty came in the following days.
Even though the pyromancers' wildfire bombardment of Thoros had shocked the allied forces, everyone still recognized their value. None could stop them from defecting to Slaver's Bay.
Tam and Bucheng had already been powerful transcendents back in Volantis, so here they naturally fit right in and quickly established their positions within Daenerys's mage council.
However, after mastering the "magical network frequency," Bucheng returned to Yi Land.
He was to formally assume the position of High Septon of the Seven-Dragon Faith there.
Ironically, the High Septon Bucheng was still less revered than Saint Daenerys herself.
Though Daenerys wasn't deeply devout, she had read the Seven-Pointed Star thoroughly and developed her own unique interpretations of its doctrines.
Bucheng, on the other hand, still viewed the Seven as nothing more than seven wooden idols faithless, without understanding of the scriptures or the divine.
Kui Xi refused to come and serve under the Dragon Queen, and with the great battle of Meereen fast approaching, Daenerys had no choice but to appoint Tam as the leader of her mage council.
The dark-skinned girl, Lalesa, finally gained a proper mentor in the mystic arts.
Daenerys was far too busy, with barely enough time for her own cultivation. Aside from instructing Lalesa in meditation and fire magic, she left most of the theoretical study to self-learning encouraging her to consult the pyromancers of the council.
During the week following Tyrion's return, daily reports arrived from Dragonstone:
First, Tyrion had infiltrated the Red Keep and assassinated Ser Bronn of the Kingsguard, Grand Maester Pycelle, and Regent Kevan Lannister. Among the common folk, he was now regarded as a demon, equal in infamy to the White Walkers.
In the taverns of King's Landing, the number of songs and plays about the "Imp" almost rivaled those celebrating the Dragon Queen.
The difference was that Daenerys's name shone with glory and would be praised for generations, while the dwarf's name reeked of infamy and would be cursed forever.
His actions were indeed unprecedented and utterly horrifying.
Next, Cersei finally got what she wanted. After Kevan's death, the Lannister army in King's Landing pledged their loyalty to her, once again giving her the leverage to reclaim the Iron Throne.
Then, the Tyrell army withdrew its siege of Storm's End and began marching back toward King's Landing.
It was just like old times: when Tywin lived, Mace Tyrell had besieged Storm's End; when Margaery was arrested by the High Sparrow, the "inflated fish" pulled his troops back; and when Kevan became regent, he sent them again to Storm's End for a third siege just as the Tyrells had done during the War of the Usurper, when they supported the Targaryens and besieged Storm's End defended by the Baratheons.
Finally, Euron seemed to have kept his word. He ordered the Ironborn to withdraw from Moat Cailin, ceding the North entirely to Roose Bolton, the King in the North.
At the same time, they crossed the Mander River westward, preparing for final negotiations with the Reach over the return of the Shield Islands.
Soon after, Daenerys received an urgent message from Darkstar Jon was dead.
(End of Chapter)
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