Daenerys's favorite thing was feeding the dragons on Dragon Mountain. Dragonstone's Dragon Mountain had Dragon Guards loyal to the Targaryen Family specifically responsible for feeding and training the giant dragons.
Most of these Dragon Guards were descendants of Targaryen Family bastards. This might be why the giant dragons rarely harmed them, but also why they were difficult to get close to due to their impure bloodline.
They were illiterate, only spoke valyrian, and were selected from a young age to be trained as Dragon Guards. Most of these Dragon Guards had already been taken to King's Landing, where they continued to serve the Targaryen's giant dragons in the Dragonpit.
Only a dozen or so remained on Dragonstone.
The Dragon Guards would drive the sheep into the Dragonpit every day, allowing the dragons to eat freely.
To be honest, this was a bit wasteful. While sheepskin and wool weren't expensive, they were still worth a copper star, which was sixteen copper coins, enough to buy sixteen pieces of white bread. That was equivalent to a grown man's rations for five days.
So Daenerys had the Dragon Guards slaughter the sheep first, cure them, and then carry them near the Dragonpit to roast them on large iron racks.
Of course, they didn't dare stay nearby, but Daenerys did. Giant dragons wouldn't easily harm those of Targaryen blood, would they?
Over the years, Daenerys's private money from selling sheepskins amounted to several thousand gold dragons, and that was after she had given half of it to the servants who skinned and bought the sheepskins.
For this, Daenerys even specifically found twelve teenage male servants from the orphans in King's Landing to specialize in skinning sheep.
These boys were selected by Daenerys from hundreds of orphans, and they were excellent in both appearance and intelligence.
Daenerys wanted to train them to be her personal guards. For this, Daenerys even specially hired a highly skilled mercenary knight, Bronn, from King's Landing to teach them swordsmanship.
Bronn's skill was no less than that of those white cloaks, so the boys practiced quite well. Skinning sheep became much more efficient.
Her niece, Rhaenyra, even gave them a nickname: the Sheepskin Knights. For a time, the reputation of the Sheepskin Knights spread throughout the Seven Kingdoms.
However, Daenerys didn't care at all. Not many reputations in this world could make money, but hers was one!
Ever since Daenerys fell in love with feeding giant dragons, she had visited Vermithrax, the Bronze Fury; Silver Wing, the Gentle Queen; Sheepstealer, the Ugly One; and Vhagar, the Old Bitch, one by one.
Daenerys didn't dare to provoke the ferocious giant dragon, Glutton, after all, that old dragon was both cunning and dangerous.
Vermithrax and Silver Wing had been left on Dragonstone by King Jaehaerys for a long time, perhaps because he was too old to ride dragons anymore!
Vermithrax always took the whole roasted sheep Daenerys prepared for him and left, quite heartlessly, and he and Silver Wing rarely left Dragon Mountain.
Fortunately, occasionally Silver Wing would give Daenerys a look and wouldn't refuse Daenerys's closeness.
Sheepstealer lived up to her name, only liking to steal. She would only come out and drag away the roasted sheep after Daenerys had left.
She was also... tsk tsk, quite ugly. Her so-called mud-colored scales were neither black nor gray, with a hint of yellowish, like feces!
Her head was also bald, without horns or barbs, somewhat resembling Vhagar.
Vhagar was currently Prince Baelon's mount. Because she disliked the Dragonpit, she often ran back to Dragonstone on her own.
She was very considerate of Daenerys; after being fed each time, she would roar a few times at Daenerys and flap her wings. Occasionally, she would even give Daenerys a look, as if saying, "You're pretty good."
Vhagar liked to perch on the rocks of the beach. She was always lazy when eating sheep, but fortunately, she not only allowed herself to be touched but was also willing to listen to Daenerys muttering under her head. From time to time, she would puff out some smoke from her nose, as if responding to Daenerys.
That day, Daenerys flew Dreamfire around Dragonstone for a few circles, seeing that after years of recuperation, the new island of Dragonstone finally showed some signs of prosperity.
After finishing her flight for the day, she returned to the castle. Daenerys immediately felt that the atmosphere was a bit off. Scholar Tigris solemnly told everyone:
"Black ravens have brought black tidings, Prince Baelon has passed away."
Daenerys, like everyone else, was plunged into immense shock.
At this moment, the steady and prudent Scholar Tigris quietly reminded Daenerys:
"Princess, according to tradition, when a Targaryen Family member passes away, they must return to Dragonstone for a cremation ceremony. We should prepare."
Upon hearing this, Daenerys forced herself to cheer up and began to instruct the attendants to prepare for the reception.
"Sir Alfred, please ensure everyone remains vigilant. Arrange for people to strengthen patrols in Fishing Village, especially focusing on screening outsiders. A curfew will be enforced during the funeral."
"Scholar Tigris, please prepare the necessary supplies. I will be relying on you and Sir Alfred!"
The steady and kind Old Scholar and the eccentric Captain of the Guard, Alfred, respectfully agreed,
"Yes, Princess!"
"Annie, there will likely be many female guests visiting this time. It will be hard work for you to prepare what is needed for their reception."
Annie, as Daenerys's governess, was also a noble lady, from the Stokeworth family in King's Landing.
"Yes, Princess! Leave it to me!"
"Alright, everyone, go prepare!"
After giving all the instructions, Daenerys sat on the Dragonstone chair, gazing at the huge Westeros model table, and fell into deep thought again.
Dragonstone is an island formed by the eruption of Dragon Mountain's active volcano, located at the mouth of Blackwater Bay. The mountain contains rich deposits of dragon glass.
For hundreds of years, apart from Dragonstone, there was only one Fishing Village of about ten thousand people on the island.
Many ships traveling to and from the Narrow Sea would come here to replenish supplies and fresh water, or to seek refuge from storms.
So, although Fishing Village was not large, it brought some tax revenue to the Targaryen Family.
Before becoming kings of the Seven Kingdoms, the Targaryen Family's main income came from their deep-sea trade.
Now, with the Seven Kingdoms providing for them, the family's fleet had long been reorganized into the Royal Fleet and remained in King's Landing harbor as a display.
Not far southwest of Dragonstone was Tide Head Island, also the residence of House Velaryon, a valyrian family.
To the north, House Celtigar of Crab Island was also a vassal brought by the Targaryen Family from Ancient Valyria.
Although Dragonstone was ancient and strong, its vassals were few. Due to the sparse population on its islands, the lord found it difficult to raise an army.
But as the new island in the northeast expanded more than tenfold in area, King Jaehaerys also gathered tens of thousands of displaced people from King's Landing to settle them at the junction of the new and old islands.
Now, this place had developed into a small town that relied on sheep herding and growing crops like barley, oats, and soybeans for a living—White Sheep Town.
After Daenerys successfully rode a dragon, she directly asked her Great-grandfather, King Jaehaerys, for Goat Town and the new island of Dragonstone as her own territory.
Because Daenerys was the youngest Dragon Knight in Targaryen history, and because they viewed the land as dispensable wasteland, they agreed to Daenerys's request as if humoring a child.
Now, Daenerys was a Royal Princess with her own fiefdom, which was a first in the Targaryen Family.
The tradition of the Targaryen Royal Family had always been that only the heir to the throne was eligible to be granted the title of Prince of Dragonstone and gain governing rights over Dragonstone.
And the Targaryen Family now had large wealth reserves, and there had been no historical situation where they needed to borrow money from the Iron Bank.
The number of royal family members was also small, so everyone lived very richly and comfortably, never considering gold dragons to be particularly precious.
Everyone naturally regarded Daenerys's actions as a child's game of make-believe, paying no mind to it at all.
If that's what you think, then that's great! Anyway, the new island of Dragonstone rightfully belonged to her, Daenerys Targaryen!
According to the laws of the Seven Kingdoms, no one could interfere anymore; otherwise, she could directly use her dragon to unleash a powerful attack.
She knew that historically, Rhaenyra, despite having won, was overthrown by the strongest force in the entire series—the King's Landing mob—due to insufficient funds and forced tax increases.
In the end, she even fell to the point where she couldn't even afford the ship fare to return to Dragonstone.