Driftmark, Queen Alicent's chambers.
Inside the room, the fire in the hearth flickered, its glow reflecting off the tightly drawn face of Lord Otto Hightower.
"Aemond! Do you have any idea what you've done?" Otto's voice was pressed down with barely contained anger.
What his daughter and grandchildren had done left him deeply powerless; this would ruin the plan he had laid out to secure the Iron Throne for his daughter's eldest son, Aegon.
Alicent, hearing her father's rebuke, remained silent as she gently wiped the wounds on Aemond's face with a handkerchief.
"Does it still hurt?" the queen asked tenderly.
"It doesn't hurt, Mother. With you here, it doesn't feel painful," Aemond said softly.
Aemond turned his head to look at Otto. "And Grandfather, I've already said this—the one who stabbed Jacaerys's eye was not me."
"Who would believe that?" Otto replied in a low voice. "Even if things truly happened as you said, even if Lucerys drew the dagger first, everyone present now says that you were the one who did it."
Silence spread.
"I believe you. I saw everything that happened as well, Aemond…" A gentle, timid voice spoke up.
Everyone's gaze turned toward her—Helaena Targaryen.
Queen Alicent's daughter, Aemond's elder sister by one year.
She was born strikingly beautiful, innocent and pure by nature.
Her silver hair fell like a waterfall to her waist, her violet eyes seemed to hold the stars themselves. She had inherited her mother's beauty—tall in stature, with fair skin.
Aemond looked toward Helaena. Was this the sister for whom the original body had long harbored a deeply hidden love?
Helaena noticed Aemond's gaze turning toward her.
The blazing, yearning look made her cheeks grow hot, and she quietly lowered her head.
"Helaena, you were also present at the time?" Otto asked with some surprise.
Alicent likewise wore an expression of disbelief. How could her daughter, gentle as a lamb by nature, have become involved in such a matter?
"I… I saw it in a dream…" Helaena said with her head lowered, her voice as thin as a mosquito's hum.
"Lucerys was the one who drew the dagger first…"
Hearing this, Otto pressed a hand to his forehead, took a deep breath, and fell completely silent.
Otto then turned his gaze toward his daughter, Queen Alicent.
Alicent remained silent.
Aemond understood clearly in his heart: this was because Helaena possessed the talent of a dream-walker, able to see truths that ordinary people could not.
At that moment, an ill-timed snort of laughter rang out.
"Tch~"
Everyone turned to look at the source of the sound—Aegon.
"If you ask me, they're right. A younger brother who wanted to murder his own kin."
"Besides, Aemond's nature has always been like that—solitary and unsociable. Isn't that so?"
After speaking, Aegon looked toward Aemond, while Aemond could not be bothered to respond.
Otto stared at Aegon in silence; at times, he truly wondered what was inside the head of this eldest grandson.
Otto forcibly suppressed the urge to slap him awake.
Alicent struggled to suppress her anger, glaring at her eldest son for siding with outsiders over his own family.
Aemond did not take Aegon's words to heart.
He knew that this elder brother had, since childhood, brought Jacaerys and that group along to mock and ridicule the original body—saying that he was unfit to ride a dragon, and was only suited to riding pigs…
As these thoughts arose, the sense of humiliation belonging to the original body surged up again.
This was his own elder brother, leading those nephews, banding together to bully and oppress him, his own younger brother.
And this time, having come to Driftmark to attend Lady Laena's funeral, the original Aemond had actually naively longed to play together with Lucerys and that group…
That Aemond would later become a thorough kinslayer also owed no small part to him—Aegon.
Aegon paid no attention to the looks around him. He casually glanced sideways at Aemond and at the head-lowered Helaena, then spread his hands. "What kind of brother did I end up with?"
"And this freak of a sister…"
Bang!
Before he could finish speaking, Aemond's fist slammed heavily into his face.
"You can mock me however you want; I don't care."
"But I won't allow you to speak about Helaena like that…" Aemond's eyes flashed with vicious light as he pointed at him.
After taking the punch, Aegon flew into a rage and wanted to strike back, but when he saw Aemond's pair of violet eyes filled with killing intent, his whole body stiffened.
The brother before him might no longer be the one he could bully at will as before…
Thinking of what had happened today, Aegon's nature of bullying the weak and fearing the strong made him hesitate somewhat, afraid that this brother might do something excessive.
Meanwhile, Helaena, who had originally lowered her head, looked up and saw Aemond standing up for her. She covered her mouth with her hand, ripples stirring in her eyes.
Daring not to retaliate, Aegon said with grievance, "Mother, Grandfather, did you see that? This brat—"
Slap!
Before he could finish, Alicent's hand had already struck his face.
"Mother! Why did even you hit me?!" Aegon covered his face and spoke with a sob in his voice.
This night, he had clearly done nothing at all, yet he had suffered a combined beating from his mother and younger brother.
"They are your younger brother and sister! As the eldest son, if you don't protect them and instead pile on at a moment like this?" Alicent shouted angrily.
As she spoke, the furious Alicent grabbed her eldest son Aegon by the collar.
"Where were you then?"
"Me?" Aegon was stunned.
Alicent swung her hand back and struck him with another slap.
Aegon finally burst into tears. "Why did you hit me again?!"
"When your brother was being surrounded and attacked by five people, where were you?" Alicent demanded sharply.
"If you had been there, you might have been able to stop this tragedy!"
In the end, she still spared her eldest son's dignity and did not say things like if you hadn't been on a maid's bed.
Aegon no longer dared to speak, afraid that another slap might come down.
Aemond watched coldly from the side.
Suddenly, Aemond turned his head to look at his sister, Helaena.
Helaena looked at him with gratitude in her eyes.
But when she realized Aemond was looking at her, Helaena lowered her head again.
Otto broke the stagnant atmosphere. "Aegon, I don't care how you view your younger brother and sister."
"But remember this—Aemond and Helaena are your closest kin."
"No matter what happens in the future, you must stand on their side."
Facing his grandfather's admonition, Aegon nodded blankly.
Alicent also calmed her anger and released his collar.
At that moment, there was a light knock at the door.
Otto frowned slightly. "Come in."
It was a royal attendant, who said in a low voice, "Lord Hand, His Majesty has given orders. Everyone is to assemble in the great hall."
Afterward, the attendant leaned close and whispered a few words into Otto's ear.
After listening, the deep furrow in Otto's brow eased slightly.
Once the attendant withdrew, he said wearily, "That child… didn't die."
"Thank goodness…" Alicent let out a breath of relief.
Aemond remained silent, but inwardly he also relaxed.
If Jacaerys had died, this matter would truly have become irredeemable.
Otto gave a bitter smile and murmured, "But the price… is always unavoidable."
"You all… be prepared."
"Let's go." He pushed open the door.
Outside the room, the knight at the queen's side, Ser Criston Cole of the Kingsguard, lowered his head respectfully.
Yet his gaze flicked toward his pupil, Aemond, and a trace of barely perceptible approval flashed in his eyes.
This prince had actually done what he himself wanted to do but had not dared to do—nearly killing that whore Rhaenyra's bastard.
Aemond noticed Criston's gaze.
This man had once been Rhaenyra's Kingsguard knight and had shared a brief affair with her.
But love had turned to hatred, and his mind had long since become twisted.
Aemond despised such a person in his heart, yet he could not deny that Criston was an indispensable supporter of the Greens.
...
In another room.
Rhaenyra sat at the bedside of Jacaerys, who had lost his left eye, watching her son as the maester had just finished stitching his wound, tears streaming down her face.
In the room were only Daemon, Corlys, and the children.
"Mother, this is all my fault…" Lucerys cried.
From her second son's words, Rhaenyra learned that Lucerys had been the one to draw the dagger first, which had led to the accidental injury of his elder brother.
Her anger burned fiercely, yet there was nowhere for it to be vented…
When something like this happens to one's own child, what mother could possibly bear it?
"Mother… I don't want to become blind…" On the bed, Jacaerys, who had fallen asleep after drinking poppy milk, murmured in his dreams.
Rhaenyra could no longer hold back; her tears burst forth.
"Mother, beat me, execute me! I didn't want this either…" Lucerys sobbed uncontrollably.
The other children also lowered their heads, weeping in silence.
"This matter was done by Aemond." Corlys was the first to set the tone.
Rhaenyra fell into silence.
Even though she loathed Alicent, the former close friend who had climbed into her father's bed, the remaining shred of conscience in her heart told her that the responsibility lay with Lucerys. Aemond also bore responsibility, but he was not the true culprit.
Daemon saw her hesitation and said in a low voice, "The Greens must pay a price for this to be brought to an end."
Rhaenyra lifted her eyes to look at him, tears blurring her vision.
Daemon felt his heart tighten, then continued, "For example, take this opportunity to make the Greens completely lose the qualification to contend with you for the Iron Throne."
Corlys added the decisive line, "Rhaenyra, listen to us."
"Using this matter, we must force the king to make a decision."
"Jace has already lost one eye. What we must do now is ensure that the throne will be his."
"Don't forget—Vhagar has already been tamed by Aemond. This alone means the Greens must pay a price…"
Hesitant, Rhaenyra finally nodded upon hearing this.
This matter, to begin with, had nothing to do with the second son, Lucerys.
The root cause of everything was Aemond, who, without authorization, had gone on his own to tame Vhagar, leading to the current situation.
Jace could not lose his sight in vain; it would be better to use this to firmly establish his right of succession.
And there was also Vhagar…
Now the oldest and most massive of giant dragons had already been tamed by Aemond.
Today, the Greens had to compromise. They had to pay the price for this.