"What's wrong?" Gars asked anxiously.
Not long after the Dragon Queen placed her fingertip on the old maester's forehead—perhaps ten minutes or so—her smiling expression suddenly turned cold and dark, her jaw clenching with barely restrained fury.
"The Citadel deserves damnation, and Rickard's death was no tragedy," Dany said icily.
Things were going even more smoothly than she had expected.
Once, Dany had entered the spiritual sea of the spearwife Lalli of the Hardfoot clan and glimpsed fragments of her shattered soul's memories.
Once, she had entered the "Good Boy" Jaqen's spiritual sea and, in a fleeting moment, caught glimpses of scenes from his life.
She guessed that by entering the spiritual sea of Maester Walgrave, she might uncover some of his secrets—or perhaps nothing at all.
The soul of an ordinary person is like a misty vapor, while the will of a strong person is like a solid crystal.
A broken soul, on the other hand, resembles shattered crystal.
Transcendents form visible meditative foundations: Dany's nine-colored vortex, a fire mage's flame, a shadowbinder's darkness, or a moon-singer's moonlight.
Their memories are nearly impossible to pry into, as their soul cores are hidden deep within their meditative foundation.
Walgrave's soul core was like a crystal riddled with countless worm-eaten holes, its surface shrouded by a thin veil of mist.
If Dany had tried to pierce through that protective mist before consuming the weirwood seed paste, she would likely have damaged the senile old man's mind.
Now, however, her thoughts slipped silently within, seeping into that crystal riddled with holes.
In an instant, Dany felt as though she had fallen into a dazzling labyrinth. Countless visions flashed before her eyes, like looking through a kaleidoscope.
For the old maester, each scene carried its own hue—warm tones for tender embraces with a woman, cool shades for farewells, gray for solitude, golden for a child's birth, and dim green for secret conspiracies.
Many scenes were fragmented, like an aged film reel left too long to decay—most of it damaged or blurred, with only disjointed snippets remaining clear.
But the memories concerning Maester Veris were vivid—far too vivid and deeply etched.
Even though Walgrave was nearly ninety and senile, his memories of his son still lingered in the depths of his soul.
Perhaps only death could end his longing for his child.
When Maester Veris first received his chain, he was just past twenty, yet Walgrave used his position to pull strings and have him assigned to Winterfell in the North.
He hadn't wanted to part with his son, but such an opportunity was rare. The Seven Kingdoms had only seven great dukes, after all.
And there were only seven maesters who served those dukes.
Such posts were precious—any vacancy would drive countless maesters to claw at each other for it.
In truth, even before the previous maester of Winterfell had died, Walgrave had already begun maneuvering to secure the post for his son.
Dany merely watched with mild curiosity—none of this truly concerned her.
She fast-forwarded to the scenes of Veris and Rickard together.
The Mad King had called Rickard Stark the greatest villain in the Seven Kingdoms.
From a Targaryen's perspective, that was not untrue.
Rickard was ambitious. The North could no longer satisfy his hunger for power, especially after his visit to King's Landing.
When the First Emperor toured the realm, Xiang Yu said, "He can be replaced."When the First Emperor toured the realm, Liu Bang sighed, "A true man should be like that."When the Mad King sat upon the Iron Throne, Rickard thought, That deranged little fool—lesser in both wit and strength than I—why should he rule?
Besides, the North was cold and barren, while the South was warm and rich.
His ambitions lay in the South.
At first, Rickard's lust for power was simple—he merely wished to have greater influence in court, not to usurp the throne.
But Maester Veris discerned his liege's growing ambition and subtly fanned its flames.
Veris had three reasons for doing so.
First, he was ambitious himself. With a famous maester for a father, his path had been smooth—he had easily become an advisor to one of the Seven Great Houses. His courage grew with his success, and so did his ambition.
Second, Veris was loyal to Rickard. He believed the Stark lord deserved more.
And third—most importantly—the Citadel had grown weary of the Targaryens' endless messes.
Saint Baelor's piety, Aegon the Unworthy's scandals, the Blackfyre Rebellions, Bloodraven's white terror, the Summerhall Tragedy—One disaster after another had led many maesters to a shared belief: Westeros would be better off without the Targaryens.
Take the Blackfyre Rebellions, for instance.
In less than a century, there had been five of them.
Daemon Blackfyre's descendants rose again and again—nearly every generation waged its own rebellion. Each one left the Seven Kingdoms bleeding.
Hundreds of thousands of commoners died, and nobles fell like mushrooms after rain—too many to count.
Even among the great lords, several dukes perished—Lannisters, the Ironborn, all had lost their lords for the dragons' sake.
So much suffering, so much waste—and for what?
Nothing.
Every time a Targaryen was born, the gods flipped a coin to decide whether they would be great or mad.
And the people of Westeros prayed—not for greatness, but merely that their king would not be insane.
Why?
Why should even dragonless Targaryens rule over Westeros?
It could be said that ever since the Dance of the Dragons, the Citadel had completely lost its reverence for the royal line.
Understandably so—the Targaryens' divine aura had been stripped away by the maesters themselves.
They no longer feared even the dragonlords—why would they fear a madman without dragons?
Thus, a small faction within the Citadel came together with one intent: to bring down the Targaryens.
Yes, only a small faction.
The maesters were broadly divided into two types: those of noble birth and those without any background.
Commoners became maesters through intellect; noble-born younger sons or distant relatives, lacking inheritance rights, often took the chain as an honorable alternative.
For instance, Aemon Targaryen, as the third son of his house, had no claim to inheritance and thus went to the Citadel.
In truth, the majority of maesters came from noble bloodlines.
These noble-born maesters, idealistic as they might be, could tolerate the Dance of the Dragons—but not necessarily the overthrow of House Targaryen.
The reason was simple: the Targaryens were merely one of the great houses. If the maesters toppled the dragons today, what would stop them from turning against the lions tomorrow for being "too domineering"?
Thus, only a small number of maesters harbored the intent to change the ruler upon the Iron Throne—and Maester Veris happened to be one of them.
Brandon's betrothal to Catelyn Tully, Lyanna's engagement to Robert, sending Eddard Stark to the Vale to be fostered by old Jon Arryn and become sworn brothers with Robert — all of it was part of Varys's plan.
And he was not the only one involved. Other maesters participated in his schemes as well, such as Maester Cressen, who served House Baratheon.
According to Varys's design, the great hero who would end Targaryen rule was meant to be Rickard Stark.
But though the Mad King was mad, he was not stupid — nor blind.
Could he really fail to see the alliance of the wolf, the fish, the stag, and the falcon?If the Mad King had no political sense at all, he would never have rejected Tywin's proposal to wed Rhaegar to Cersei, nor chosen instead to ally with Dorne.
Rejecting Tywin and seeking a marriage alliance with Dorne was not a mistake — in fact, it was a remarkably wise decision.
Tywin had served as Hand of the King for twenty years and wielded immense power. With the Mad King's "wisdom and ability," he could barely keep Tywin in check, let alone if his son Rhaegar became Tywin's son-in-law.
At the time, there was a saying throughout Westeros: "Lord Tywin rules the Seven Kingdoms, and Lady Joanna rules Tywin."
Some even claimed that Lord Tywin was the true ruler of the realm.
When the Mad King heard this, he had the man's tongue cut out — and that man later took off Eddard's head.
Yes, it was Ser Ilyn Payne, Tywin's lackey.
That alone shows how bloated Tywin's power had become.
Even Grand Maester Pycelle, who was supposed to serve the Targaryens, was completely won over by Tywin and willingly became his obedient guide, bringing his own provisions along.
But I digress.
Maester Varys knew the Mad King was mad — he simply didn't know just how mad. The man deceived a great lord into coming to King's Landing, only to torture him to death in the most humiliating way imaginable.
The Mad King's dealings with Rickard Stark resembled those between King Zhou of Shang and Duke Ji Chang of Zhou.
Only, the Mad King's madness far exceeded that of King Zhou.
There was no testing, no imprisonment — just an instant outburst of insanity and reckless cruelty.
Rickard lacked Ji Chang's patience and cunning. Ji Chang could stomach eating the flesh of his own son, but Rickard was too hot-blooded. Though he was conspiring against the throne, he still dared to ride to King's Landing alone.
If it had been Ji Chang, he'd have stayed home, feigning illness, and never gone to Chaoge by himself.
The key difference was that Ji Chang had the Mandate of Heaven — while Rickard was merely a forerunner paving the way for a king.
Ill fate!
The "wolf, fish, stag, and falcon" alliance he spent over ten years cultivating ended up benefiting Robert instead.
Not long after Rickard's death, Maester Varys believed the four-house alliance had failed, and he died in grief and disappointment.
Who could have predicted that the Mad King's madness would go so far? After killing the Stark father and son and Jon Arryn's heir, the four-kingdom alliance should have been shattered.
Yet he wasn't satisfied. He still wanted to exterminate the roots — to kill Eddard and Robert as well.
The gods have mercy — at that time Robert truly was innocent. His wife had run off in that shameful way, a humiliation worse than anything the Great Bear endured.
Jon Arryn took over Varys's plan for the four-kingdom alliance, willingly playing the role of the "substitute uncle." He rebuilt the alliance framework, even making it stronger and more unbreakable than before.
However, the alliance's center shifted — from House Stark to House Baratheon.
In Varys's original alliance, the eagle, stag, and fish had no direct ties with each other. Only the wolf connected to all three.
In Jon Arryn's version, the stag and fish still had no direct connection; only the eagle had ties with the other three houses.
Eddard was a second son, a foster brother, and far less dazzling than Robert. The greatest foster-father in the realm would naturally not support him as king.
"The Citadel… how did it become like this?" Garth said faintly, his face pale.
"Reading makes people wicked," Dany muttered.
"What should we do now? Does that little alliance among the maesters still exist?" Garth asked.
"The Targaryens have been gone for so many years. It should've been dissolved long ago," Dany sighed.
Perhaps Aegon's conquest of Westeros had been a mistake from the beginning.
If the Targaryens had only kept Dragonstone and the Crownlands, raised a few dozen dragons at home, and led their Valyrian and Celtigar vassals to control the trade of the Narrow Sea, they would've lived in wealth, leisure, and power — far more content than now.
Garth glanced out the window and reminded her, "Dawn is near, Your Majesty. We must go."
"We can't just let those maesters off so easily," Dany said, puffing out her cheeks angrily. "The Targaryens repay every debt. I'll make sure the Citadel faces retribution!"
Garth stood motionless. Hadn't the Citadel already suffered enough?
What could be worse than the Church's walk of atonement?
"Heh-heh," Dany let out a sinister chuckle.
Since the Citadel loves controlling public opinion and claiming to act "for the realm and the people," she would use that very same public opinion to destroy the Faceless Men.
Dany cast "Dany's Whisper" upon Walgrave.
(P.S. Rickard's scheming was real — not an attempt to vindicate the Mad King. He truly did those things. The "wolf, fish, stag, and falcon" alliance was originally centered around the wolf and devised by Maester Varys.
In the A Song of Ice and Fire series, Varys only appears once, yet he is almost the root cause of everything that follows.)
(End of chapter)
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