Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 122 The Great Judgment

Helena held Merar in her arms, held Princess Jaehaera's hand, and walked to the center of the Hall of a Hundred Hearths with her head down. Wormithor slowly lowered his head, and his dragon eyes stared coldly at the silver-haired princess.

"Princess Helena Targaryen, due to the treasonous behavior of her husband, Aegon the Usurper, and the crime of her mother, Queen Dowager Alicent Hightower, who tampered with the will of King Viserys I, should have been sentenced to death. However, His Majesty the King and the late Queen were grateful for the princess's refusal to participate in the rebellion and her dedication to protecting the royal bloodline. Therefore, Princess Helena Targaryen's royal identity was retained. However, since she was once the false queen of the usurper, her merits should not obscure her faults. Princess Helena, you will go to the Great Sept of the Seven Dragons in Summerhall and pray as a septa for your husband, mother and deceased son, asking the Seven Gods to forgive their sins."

Longzel's eyes were filled with pity, but he still made his judgment in a cold voice.

The nobles below began to whisper. People were very satisfied with the result of the trial. Even Aegon's wife and children were spared. This showed that the brown-haired Targaryen and his young King's Hand were willing to abide by the rules of the game between the nobles, rather than using their powerful force that could suppress the Seven Kingdoms - the dragons - to make the traitors suffer the fate of Harren the Black, the owner of this huge castle.

Only Duke Borros Baratheon was a little sad. He loved his four daughters very much, but unfortunately his eldest daughter encountered the queen's dragon on the way to King's Landing. Syrax destroyed his six thousand troops and half of his eldest daughter's body. Although Cassandra Baratheon and Ser Desmond Cullen avoided Syrax's first round of attack in advance, no one expected that the queen's anger was so fierce. She rode Syrax to burn the entire forest, so Cassandra Baratheon eventually couldn't escape. Desmond Cullen was burned to death by dragon flames to protect her, and Cassandra herself was seriously burned and died in wailing.

In a rage and fear, Boros finally chopped off the head of his second daughter, Maris. Boros still remembers Maris's tearful expression when she saw him and his men walking into the room, as well as her pleading voice: "Father, I will never dare to speak nonsense again. Please forgive me, father!"

But in the end, he still shed tears, and ordered his daughter to chop off her head as she turned from pleading to cursing, and told the maester to record her death as a sudden death from illness. After all, only the people in Storm's End knew that the death of Luthris was closely related to his daughter who had a bad mouth.

He now only hoped that Jacaerys and Longzel didn't know about this and ignored the Baratheon family who had not committed any serious mistakes. However, even if they knew, it would not be a big deal now. Even if they were held accountable, he could use his daughter's head to escape the blame.

Let the daughter be held responsible for her own foolish behavior.

"As for your child, Miss Jaehera needs to give up her last name. You will be responsible for her education before she comes of age. After she comes of age, she will be disciplined by Sister Selina of the Seven Dragons Cathedral. I hope that she can become the most pious nun under the Seven Gods in the future and help her mother complete the prayers of repentance for her sins."

Longzel signaled that Jakaris should read out the verdict on Meral. After all, this was the most important part of the Green Party's trial.

"Princess Helena." Jacaerys straightened his back and looked at the child in the princess' arms. Meral was still a two-year-old baby who knew nothing. He had no idea what was going on. He was frightened and cried by the gloomy Harrenhal before entering the Hall of a Hundred Hearths. Helena finally coaxed Meral to sleep. The nobles present also tried to keep their voices low so as not to disturb the child's sleep.

"My mother had planned to eradicate the bloodline of the usurper, but I dissuaded her." Jacaerys said gently: "What I want is a kingdom that has healed the scars caused by Hightower's folly, not a sinful abyss filled with mutual hatred. So, the child is innocent, and I can't do anything to an innocent child, but I can't sit idly by and watch him threaten the sacred order of succession. My grandfather designated my mother as the heir. This is the king's sacred decree, which overrides tradition. Violating my grandfather's decree and damaging the king's sanctity is Hightower's folly." Jacaerys explained slowly.

This was also what Longzel taught him. Longzel stood aside and nodded imperceptibly. On the night before the coronation ceremony, Longzel and Jacaerys had a long talk all night. During this long talk, Longzel explained the issue of inheritance rights to Jacaerys. The male primogeniture law that the traditional nobles of Westeros defaulted to did not exclude the inheritance rights of women. The general order of inheritance was the eldest son, the eldest son's male offspring, other male offspring, biological brothers and older female offspring. The order of the latter two often changed. Take the Royce family as an example. In their order of succession, Lady Rhea Royce's inheritance rights were higher than her uncles and cousins. However, in many cases, especially during wartime, the nobles of Westeros tended to let adult male offspring succeed to the throne, rather than the eldest son's second son or other male offspring. In the case of the husband's death and no offspring, even the wife who married in can act as the agent to manage the territory, or go a step further and directly inherit the husband's territory, but the latter is a very rare case, so it is rarely used to discuss the issue of inheritance rights.

The nobles supported Queen Rhaenyra's right of succession due to oaths or conflicts of interest, but it did not mean that they recognized the inheritance rights of women, nor did it mean that they recognized the law of primogeniture for equality between men and women. After all, this was the tradition of the Rhoynar, not the Andals. Therefore, Jacaerys had to find a reason to convince the nobles that they did not break the tradition of Westeros. After all, the exception rule was a local feature of Westeros, and the sister marriage alone had already made the Targaryen family drink several pots of pots. The kingdom could no longer withstand the disaster in the face of the winter that could come at any time and the plague that was spreading.

So Longzel gave Jacaerys a suggestion, asking him to blur the essence of Rhaenyra's female inheritance rights, and instead deal with this issue by emphasizing that designated succession within the royal family is superior to the traditional default male-first succession law. Specifically, it emphasizes the uniqueness and sacredness of the king's decree when the royal family handles the succession to the throne. This can not only strengthen the royal power, but also greatly eliminate the confidence of the nobles who think they can interfere with the royal succession caused by the 101st Great Council.

At the same time, this statement can also affirm the position of women in traditional inheritance law through the inheritance of Rhaenyra, and then restore the legal rights of female heirs, of course, giving priority to men.

Jacaerys' words did make many nobles in the audience breathe a sigh of relief, especially those nobles who joined the Black Party because of their oaths. In fact, they still prefer the traditional inheritance law in their hearts. It is precisely because they abide by tradition that they abide by the oath. "Merral will still be raised by Princess Helena before he is fifteen years old. After fifteen years old, he will be handed over to Prince Longzel for guardianship. The prince will choose a suitable piece of land for him to live on and provide it to Princess Helena and Jaehaera, who are nuns. He also needs to give up the Targaryen surname and swear to be loyal forever and never betray. Now, please ask the princess to swear in the name of the gods and ancestors on his behalf." Jacaerys said.

Princess Helena held Meral in her arms and looked at Jaehera with gentle eyes. The little princess sensibly let go of her mother's hand and stood obediently beside her mother.

"I swear in the name of Helena Targaryen, on behalf of my son Melar and my daughter Jaehaera, in the name of the old and new gods, the ancestors of the Targaryen family, and the dragons, that I and my son's bloodline will always be loyal to the descendants of Queen Rhaenyra and will never betray their right to rule and inheritance. My son's bloodline will give up all rights to the Iron Throne, the qualifications to ride dragons and the custody of dragon eggs, and give up the Targaryen name. When my son is fifteen years old, he will make the same oath again."

"Princess Helena, I make the same promise." Jacaerys said as calmly as he could: "As long as the descendants of Merar abide by their oath, I, my successor and descendants will also guarantee their safety." He looked at the sleeping Merar. "I gave him the name of his father's dead dragon, 'Yangyan', Merar Yangyan, and I hope he can grow up healthy and repent for the foolish deeds of his father and uncles."

"Praise your mercy, Your Majesty," Helena said gratefully.

After dealing with Princess Helena and her offspring, some people who tried to atone for their crimes were punished. The most typical example was Urwin Peck, who was stripped of all his territories and titles. He was willing to wear black clothes in exchange for a chance to survive and his son's noble status. As a reward for his final choice of surrender, Titus Peck did not have to serve on the Wall. White Garden City, one of the three cities of Peck, was given back to Titus Peck as a reward, but the price was that the territory attached to White Garden City was greatly reduced.

Then there was the Citadel. The bachelors and doctors who participated in the conspiracy were all beheaded in Oldtown, and their students were also deprived of their necklaces. They had to study again under other bachelors and doctors to obtain necklaces. According to the plan, the Citadel was completely dismantled, and the Silver Fleet had sent a large ship to Oldtown to take over the wealth and knowledge of the Citadel.

Next comes the part that people love to watch. As we all know, there will be punishments and rewards.

As the greatest hero of the war, Longzier obtained everything promised before the war, including a large area of ​​Ulwin Peake's territory, half of the territory in the south of Hightower, and the territory of Nightsong, all of which were taken by the Vareses family, as well as the port governors of Summerhall and Silvercrown, the right to appoint and dismiss the chief steward of the royal mint, the right to raise Aegon and Viserys, fifty years of tax exemption, and a bounty of 900,000 pure gold dragons. Longzier also proposed to Cregan to take the 30,000 people he brought with him.

Cregan said, Longzel, you are the Stark family's eternal friend.

The nobles of the Riverlands and the Vale were also rewarded with tax exemptions and gold bonuses, and Jacaerys promised to send free food to the North to help his friends in the North survive the winter.

Just as the awards were being announced one by one.

Ser Simon Strong, the acting lord of Harrenhal, walked out cautiously. His reward was originally gold and tax reduction, but these were not what he wanted.

"Your Majesty, please listen to my request."

This is the first update. Today’s second update will be a little late. We had a meeting with our teachers today and just returned to the dormitory.

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(End of this chapter)