Draezell silently looked at his wife, not answering her question, but gently took her hand.
Diana suddenly smiled. "It seems that, despite that damned prophecy, aside from responsibility and family, there really is a place for me in your heart." She seemed surprised by this, so much so that she almost forgot she was a frail old woman.
Draezell smiled bitterly and held his wife's hand. He could probably guess what she was thinking. After all these years together, Diana had long understood Draezell's attitude toward relationships between men and women. She had always placed herself in the right position.
Responsibility, family.
"I always thought that in your heart, my place was in responsibility and family," Diana said, no longer looking at her husband, but instead staring at the familiar ceiling. Their bedroom was very simple, and over the years, the decorations hadn't been changed. Diana gazed absentmindedly at the hanging decorations and pictures that had been there since the day she had married, as well as the things they had hung up after their children were born to better care for them.
"You've done well, Diana," Draezell said. He didn't know what to say. Diana wasn't wrong in what she said. If he hadn't already considered Diana family, with his indifferent nature, she might have only been seen as a "tool" for the family to produce heirs, and a useful housekeeper. But he wasn't really that heartless.
He wasn't that repulsive either, Diana suddenly smiled.
Perhaps it wasn't easy for a noblewoman like her to find a place in the heart of someone like him, a person whose nature was indifferent, who only cared about family and responsibility.
"Don't worry, Draezell. I've never blamed you," she said, lying in bed, letting her husband hold her hand, speaking calmly. "I've grown old and I am very content. I have seven children, and they are all gradually expanding the family. My father, my sisters, my brother, my mother, and my grandfather all didn't live to my age. I'm already very satisfied. Draezell, I'm sorry, but I might not be able to walk with you any longer."
Draezell silently looked at his wife. Diana had sacrificed so much for the family, so much that everyone in the family knew that the true foundation of the family's prosperity was this matriarch.
"You old fool, how are you still so young?" Diana suddenly looked at Draezell, trembling as she raised her other hand to touch his cheek, gently, again and again, feeling the subtle marks of time on her husband's face.
"I'm old too, Diana," Draezell said with a smile, meeting his wife's gaze.
"I know. I'm just sighing a little," Diana said, also smiling, but a faint sadness crept onto her face without her realizing. "Draezell, I don't know how long the gods still want you to live, but I might not be able to accompany you anymore."
"So, there are some things I need to remind you about," Diana said, no longer being polite. She gently pinched Draezell's cheek and continued patiently. "Rhaegor is a good child. He will make a great assistant, a good leader, a good older brother. With him around, Rhaegon is already an adult, the children won't need us to worry too much anymore. Princess Elenna is a good child, although I don't understand why she's not betrothed to Prince Igon but to young Rhaegon. But your decisions never go wrong. I have no regrets about my children."
At this moment, Diana didn't seem as serene and graceful as usual; she was more talkative. But Draezell patiently listened, not daring to miss a single word.
"What worries me the most are the little ones, Draezell. Remember to let Sebastian go out and exercise more. Have his parents take him to practice knight skills. He's a prince, not a scholar. The family doesn't need to cultivate another scholar. Igon, my little trickster, my naughty boy, my most obedient little grandson, you must protect him. He deserves the best. Dani... Dani, my little princess. She's the one I worry about the most. Draezell, do you know why she doesn't tame dragons?"
Draezell sighed. How could he not know his granddaughter's little schemes? No, it should be a big scheme.
Daenerys's ambition was known all over Dragon's Nest. She didn't care for the family's young dragons, let alone the recently hatched ones. In her eyes, only her aunt's Silverwing, her grandfather's Vermithor, her uncle's Shadowmare, and her father's Starsong were worthy of her.
At worst, her uncle's Sendros would do.
Igon didn't even know what kind of look to give his sister after learning about her ambitions.
To openly covet the dragons of the elders was almost like praying for their early demise—except that the former wouldn't get you hit.
"I know," Draezell said quietly. "Dani is a very determined child. She's set her sights on our dragons, and we're happy about that."
"I knew you'd say that," Diana huffed, letting go of his face and turning her head to the other side. "I've seen how the family tames dragons, Draezell. I know how big and fierce your dragons are. Dani is a girl. For boys, leaving scars while taming dragons is a symbol of honor. But what about for girls? How will she ever get married?"
"Draezell…"
"Alright, alright, I know you have a lot of wisdom, and I know you're incredible, but the day Daenerys successfully tames her desired dragon, you might not be there. And what if she fails to tame it? Draezell, I need you to promise me something."
"You tell me." Draezell's eyes were filled with sincerity.
But in the end, Diana, who couldn't help but turn her head to look at her husband, could read Draezell's true meaning from that gaze.
"You know, I can guide the children, but I won't control them to act according to my wishes. Daenerys's battlefield is not in the bed or with silken threads, but in the realm of dragons and swords."
Although Daenerys refused to tame the young dragons and the smaller giants, no one doubted that, should she choose to, these dragons would not defy her.
Diana's attitude softened: "No matter what, Daenerys must not touch your Vermithor."
The old matriarch of House Vaelarys spoke firmly: "It's too big, and you know Daenerys's nature—if she's not careful, Vermithor could reduce her to nothing but bones."
"Promise me, Draezell."
Draezell looked at his aging wife and finally nodded.
"Alright."
Only then did Diana turn her head with a sense of peace and close her eyes.
Year 173 AC.
Diana, who had given birth to seven children and labored a lifetime for House Vaelarys, passed away.
After her death, Vermithor himself cremated her. Her ashes were taken to the burial chamber deep beneath Dragon's Nest, where priests erected a pure white statue of her in the Great Hall of the Seven Dragons.
Future historians gave this woman a sacred title.
The Silver Saintess.
Or "The Incarnation of the Holy Mother".