Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 217: The Past, the New, and the Coming

Ringol couldn't explain his wife's dream, and Longzel didn't answer his son's question. He only told his son that the dream indicated a good thing, which made Ringol and Daniela feel relieved.

Facts soon proved that Longzel's prophecy was very accurate. Daenerys was still nervous when she gave birth to Daenerys, but the second time she gave birth was exceptionally smooth. Serena and Lady Helena, who came to help, had not had time to prepare for the birth under normal circumstances. In order to prevent accidents, they needed things, and Daenerys gave birth to a boy smoothly.

A beautiful boy who opened his eyes as soon as he was born.

He also had heterochromia. His left eye inherited his grandfather's dark purple color, but his right eye surprised everyone because the color of this child's right eye had never appeared in the family.

It is a brilliant gold color.

The child even giggled after seeing his grandfather. Longzel was not ambiguous and took the child with him after he grew up a little, to be raised by him and Diana.

It's not that she has a preference for them, the third generation of the Varese family was raised by Longzel, and the elderly Diana also likes children very much.

Longzel personally named the child "Igor".

Aegor Varese, or "Aegon Varese" in the High Valyrian accent common to the Targaryens.

During these peaceful years, the population of the Varese family also slowly expanded.

Helena, Jacaerys' wife, gave birth to her and Jacaerys' son safely a year ago, a boy with blue eyes and light golden hair. Ringol named the boy Othrys Vareses. He was also the third boy of the third generation of the Vareses family. Not long after, Dan and Varena's eldest son was born. The little boy named Damion was also loved by the elders.

However, the Varese family was able to support so many children, and each child even had a specific duty. For example, Jacaerys and Dan, while assisting their brothers, also served as important military fortresses of the Varese family.

Jacaerys was in charge of guarding the three fortresses that controlled the Bone Road. The "Key to the Bone Road" in Longzel's title now fell on him. Dan was nominally the commander-in-chief of the Silver Fleet, although he knew nothing about naval warfare.

But he has dragons.

that's enough.

Orion was given the title of "Commander-in-Chief of Prince's Pass" and was responsible for the management of the pass established at Prince's Pass.

but
Boys, boys, boys.

Just because the Varese family can do it doesn't mean other families can. The second and youngest sons of the nobles in the border princely territories can join the Silver Blood Army, or go to the academy in Silver Crown City for further studies. The border princely territories still have ample demand for scholars.

But this does not mean that lords and minor nobles from other places can do so.

The two major territories of Dorne, which suffered heavy losses in the war that year, may be able to absorb these newborn children, but the other territories may not be able to do so. And those who lost their land or their territory was greatly reduced in the melee of the Dance of the Blood Dragons are finding their lives increasingly difficult.

They need an outlet to vent.

King Aegon actually knew this, but he longed for peace and stability, so he tried his best to maintain the delicate balance within the kingdom. But balance is meant to be broken, and someone must stand up to reshape a new balance.

King Aegon was unwilling to step up and be that person.

He no longer has the energy to be that person.

Queen Samantha became bedridden after giving birth to Baelor. King Aegon devoted almost all his energy to taking care of his wife, and entrusted the government affairs to his Crown Prince Daeron.

Before that, House Targaryen gained three new dragon riders.

Daeron's brother, Rhaegar Targaryen, successfully tamed Horntide and became the rider of the young dragon, and Princess Elona's dragon egg was hatched in the same year. After Elona was born, Queen Samantha restored the Targaryen royal tradition of placing dragon eggs in the child's cradle. Unfortunately, neither Elona's nor Baelor's dragon eggs hatched while they were still in the cradle.

Fortunately, in the year that Rhaegar Targaryen tamed the Horned Tide, Elona's platinum-colored dragon egg with a hint of gold hatched a dragon of the same color. And Prince Aegon's younger brother Aerion, a taciturn boy, successfully tamed Vermax and brought the dragon that once belonged to the king to King's Landing.

He will serve the king as a royal dragon rider.

King Aegon was helpless in the face of the increasingly weak Queen Samantha, and he thought he would die before his wife.

But he didn't expect that he would fall first.

This year is the 168th year of the Conquest calendar.

Dragonzel was sixty-two, Ringol forty-two, King Aegon forty-eight, and Crown Prince Daeron twenty-four.

The 48-year-old king solved a cattle theft case in the throne room as usual and sentenced a wandering knight who stole cattle to have his hand cut off - there were more and more wandering knights in the kingdom, and they had no means of survival except swords, and the lords were not interested in granting them land. The price was that there were more and more wandering knights and more and more robber knights.

But the strange thing is that the increasing number of bandit knights actually provided jobs for many wandering knights. They were employed by small lords and villages and protected their employers for a certain period of time. Some outstanding knights even managed to gain a place in front of the big lords and even the king with their bravery.

King Aegon worked hard to maintain a balance. On the one hand, he severely punished the illegal robber knights, deprived them of their knightly titles and imposed heavy sentences. On the other hand, he worked hard to coordinate the land, stabilized a group of wandering knights, and took the initiative to hire a group of knights, who either entered the court or served as a royal army to maintain peace in the crown territory.

The White Robes, the King's personal guard in the Red Castle, took this opportunity to expand a lot, and the King even organized a team of wandering knights to deal with the bandits in the royal territory.

But no one expected that the king, who had handled a lot of affairs in the morning, would collapse on the way to Maegor's Tower after enjoying barbecue and mead at noon.

The scholars ruled out the possibility of poisoning and performed first aid on the king who suddenly fell into a coma.

Unfortunately, the 48-year-old king was already considered an old man in Westeros. In the end, Grand Maester Alford diagnosed the king with organ necrosis caused by a sudden stroke.

The maesters could not save a man who was so close to death.

The black raven brought black news, and the death knell of King's Landing, which had been silent for more than 30 years, began to ring again.

King Aegon II, who had brought nearly forty years of peace and prosperity to the kingdom, died suddenly of a stroke, so sudden that he left no last words.

But the scholar who attended the king recorded the king's last words before he suddenly fell into a coma.

It's "Samantha" in High Valyrian.

The people loved him, this is how Grand Maester Cassi, who wrote "The Talgarian Kings", commented on King Aegon many years later.

Aegon II of the Targaryen family, the King of Peace, the King of Midsummer, and the King of Justice. People never hesitate to praise him, because under his rule, the kingdom is peaceful, prosperous, and stable, and the increasingly serious public security problems have been effectively alleviated - although the symptoms are not solved. Moreover, the long summers are one after another, as if it is always midsummer. Since the turbulent times of Maegor I, this is the second time that Westeros has such a good era, without internal wars and long winters.

In the later years of his reign, even peasants with only a small piece of land could fill their cellars with food for the winter, and even drink home-brewed sour wine and buy salt brought by merchants traveling along the extensive King's Road.

Wealthier farmers and citizens could even enjoy meat and spices regularly.

There is no one who does not miss this better time than the reign of King Jaehaerys I.

After King Aegon's funeral, Samantha, who was becoming increasingly frail, chose to live in the Black Palace and never left the palace again.

And Daeron, oh, now he should be called King Daeron, after his coronation, he quickly flew to Harrenhal and summoned the princes there.

He will call a grand council.

(End of this chapter)