At this moment, time seemed to slow down.
Aemond saw the trajectory of the dagger as Lucerys raised it, and he also saw Jacaerys circling in from the other side.
He made his choice.
With his left hand, he pulled hard, and Lucerys lost his balance and stumbled forward.
At the same time, Aemond's right foot hooked precisely around Jacaerys' ankle.
Jacaerys fell forward.
Aemond stood there, breathing heavily, his eyes fixed on Jacaerys, whose body began to twitch violently.
Jacaerys did not scream at once.
He seemed unable to understand what had happened.
His right eye slowly turned in disbelief, staring at Aemond — at the extra piece of metal lodged in his left eye.
Then a sound escaped his throat.
"Ho… ho…"
"Ah!!!"
Jacaerys dropped to his knees, his voice no longer human, but a howl of unbearable pain.
His younger brother, Lucerys, stood to the side in a daze. He wanted to touch him but did not dare, his hands only scratching uselessly at the air.
Blood poured from the wound, mixed with a clear, viscous fluid, running down his cheek and dripping onto the stone floor.
"No… no! Brother!"
Lucerys finally found his voice and rushed forward, but he did not know what to do.
He knew that if the dagger were pulled from Jacaerys' left eye now, Jacaerys would surely die.
Lucerys trembled, looked at his brother in pain, then glared at Aemond with hatred and weakness.
"It was you! This is all because of you, Aemond!"
"If it weren't for you, how could my brother end up like this?!"
Aemond felt only irritation in his heart.
Was the fate of losing an eye truly unavoidable?
But this time, it was Jacaerys who had lost an eye…
From the distant corridor came the sound of many chaotic footsteps, rapidly approaching.
The guards rushed in first.
Behind them came Princess Rhaenyra, wearing a robe, her hair slightly disheveled.
After her followed Prince Daemon Targaryen, wearing only a coat.
"No!!"
Rhaenyra saw her eldest son, Jacaerys, with a dagger embedded in his left eye socket.
Her face instantly drained of color.
Her hand froze in midair.
She slowly gathered her eldest son into her arms, feeling Jacaerys' body tremble violently with pain.
Then she lifted her head and roared at the guards:
"Guards! Guards!"
The helpless guards hurried away.
Her fury finally fell upon Aemond.
"Who did this…"
Rhaenyra's voice was as soft as a whisper, yet the temperature of the Dragonpit seemed to plummet.
Those violet eyes appeared soaked in the purest, most poisonous hatred.
"I didn't do it," Aemond met the gaze of his half-sister Rhaenyra and answered firmly.
Princess Rhaenyra deserved to be called the "Light of the Realm" in the original work.
Her beauty was astonishing, and she herself was remarkable.
Though her figure had changed with time, one could not deny that in the early years, the Light of the Realm possessed an undeniable personal charm.
Otherwise, in an era governed by male-preference inheritance, she would never have been able to rally so many lords of the realm to fight for her and defend her — enough that the world would later call it madness…
But unfortunately, Aemond was the second son of Queen Alicent, the second son of the Green faction.
In this matter, he did not want this outcome.
He had always wanted to avoid this conflict.
He did not wish to intensify the struggle between the two factions, nor did he want a blinding incident to repeat itself…
He had already planned to let the adults arrive and negotiate over Vhagar.
But Lucerys and the others had become entangled.
Prince Daemon was the first to notice everything — including the bloodstained right hand of Lucerys.
He understood.
Lucerys looked at Prince Daemon with fear.
Daemon pressed a finger to his lips, silently signaling "shh," and hid the bloodstained cloth in his hand.
At this moment, Aemond — unaware of this exchange — explained to his elder sister, who was holding her unconscious eldest son:
"It was your son Lucerys who pulled out the dagger."
"He accidentally wounded Jacaerys."
Rhaenyra listened to Aemond's explanation and turned her head, looking at her second son Lucerys in disbelief.
She saw Daemon standing beside Lucerys, who was clearly terrified.
"It was Aemond who did it," Lucerys said in a trembling voice as he noticed his mother's gaze.
Aemond looked at him with anger. The sense of being framed made his blood surge.
He bore responsibility, but the dagger belonged to Lucerys, and he had never intended to kill him.
"You filthy bastard! You hurt your own brother and now you bite back at me!" Aemond roared in fury.
His heart turned half cold.
It seemed Daemon intended to plant the stolen goods on him.
With a smile on his face, Prince Daemon looked at Aemond.
His daughters had already whispered to him what had happened.
It was better to place everything on Aemond.
"I saw him stab the dagger into Prince Jacaerys' eye!"
"It was him!"
As Lucerys spoke, Rhaena, Baela, and Joffrey echoed him.
Aemond felt completely speechless.
"You…"
Rhaenyra turned her head, her voice gentle,
"Did you want to kill my eldest son?"
Aemond opened his mouth.
"You should know Lucerys was clearly panicking—"
But a cold voice interrupted him.
"I only believe what my child says."
"If it weren't for you, Jacaerys would never have ended up like this."
Rhaenyra remembered that the dagger had been a gift from the Sea Snake to her grandson Lucerys, but she would never admit that her second son had accidentally wounded her eldest son.
"Hmph…"
Aemond understood that explaining himself to this unreasonable Rhaenyra was pointless, and he spoke with contempt.
In her eyes, even if he had been forced into it, it was still murder, and she blamed him for everything.
Prince Daemon slowly approached Rhaenyra, crouched down to examine Jacaerys' wound, his movements professional and practiced.
He stood up, one hand still resting on the sword hilt, and swept his gaze over Aemond.
"Boy, you have more fire in you than your father."
Nearby, the sound of many footsteps echoed.
"I'll kill this bastard!"
Rhaenyra suddenly erupted in rage and reached for Dark Sister at Daemon's waist.
"Hey! Don't be impulsive, Rhaenyra!"
Daemon grasped the sword hilt to stop the enraged mother.
"The boy isn't dead yet."
"What happened?!"
A roar echoed from nearby.
King Viserys' voice rang out — he had clearly heard his eldest daughter's furious scream.
More footsteps followed.