Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 358 The Work of Dispute is Completed

Before the wedding of Crown Prince Daeron and Princess Sirui was officially held, the princes had already noticed the deep-seated contradictions between the two dragon king families. In the historical materials compiled by the author, before the wedding and after the funeral of Prince Longzier, many princes had reached a covenant in private. When the author was a maester in Winterfell, he had the honor of seeing the correspondence of Duke Cregan Stark in his later years. From Duke Cregan Stark to Duke Rickon Stark and Duke Jonelle Stark, the direwolves in the North have never communicated with the South as frequently as during that period. Several of Duke Cregan's descendants married daughters from southern princes, and the Duke's grandson married Miss Lola of the Royce family, laying the foundation for the covenant between the Vale and the North - the blood of the most powerful military nobles in the Vale and the leaders of the North are integrated, which also means the attitude of the Falcon family.

——Grandmaster Luwin: The History of the Three Kings

This situation was happening all over the kingdom, and Aegon III was powerless to stop the private contacts of the princes. In fact, before the funeral of Prince Longzel, Aegon III fell into a long-term physical discomfort due to excessive obesity, and he could not even stay awake for a long time and walk out of bed. In order to protect the king's life, dozens of scholars and doctors from the East Continent were stationed in the Red Castle for a long time to take care of Aegon III's body. This also led to the rapid differentiation of the political situation in King's Landing into four forces. The Royal Council promoted by Aegon III was still an iron plate on the surface, maintaining the king's policy. Crown Prince Daeron and Prince Orion and Lady Serena who accompanied the crown prince relied on the support of the Vareses family and the backing of the royal orthodox represented by Queen Rhaena of Dragonstone to gradually take back power from the Royal Council. Although the king did not appoint the crown prince as regent, the crown prince has slowly mastered the power of regent. The royal moderate faction represented by Prince Maegon Targaryen played both sides between the Royal Council and the crown prince. On the one hand, they hoped that the gold brought by the Varese family could ease the problems faced by the royal family, but on the other hand, they did not want the inheritance of the Iron Throne to be overly influenced by the Varese family.

Unfortunately, as the fourth faction gradually gained attention, the efforts of the royal peacemakers to adjust the contradictions and balance the situation failed. Aegon III's move to train his illegitimate sons to become dragon riders finally showed its lethality to the kingdom. The four illegitimate dragon riders became a presence that the three forces could not ignore with their giant beasts. The king who could not move was also keen to use the illegitimate sons to check and balance other factions.

Before the official wedding of Crown Prince Daeron, the bastards controlled the capital garrison of King's Landing and half of the White Cloak Army. Gaimon, a bastard in the Kingsguard, was even selected as the successor to the captain of the Kingsguard. It can be said that the bastards reaped the greatest benefits in the open and covert struggles in the past few years.

But all this could not cover up the grandeur and splendor of the wedding of Crown Prince Daeron and Princess Sirui. The grand ceremony known as the "Golden Wedding" was held in the Great Sept of St. Jacaerys in King's Landing. All the dragon riders of the Vareses family and the Targaryen family attended the wedding. Prince Orion and Lady Serena brought property worth 700,000 pure gold dragons and 270,000 pure gold dragons. This money effectively alleviated the difficulties faced by King's Landing and forced King Aegon to open the treasury and take out some pure gold dragons to stabilize prices and win back the hearts of the people. For the royal family, this wedding was not a pleasant one. The dragon riders of the Vareses family not only outnumbered the dragon riders that the royal family could use, but also had better quality than the royal family, especially when Prince Igor rode Vermithor to descend, almost making the people of King's Landing mistakenly believe that the Black Death had returned to the world. It is said that the climax of the wedding was when the dragons took off at the same time, spraying flames, and the dragon flames collided in the sky above the Great Sept of St. Jacaerys, blooming a gorgeous flower of flame.

After the wedding, the political structure of King's Landing changed. The Vareses family began to enter the political arena of King's Landing in a high-profile manner. The ministers of the Small Council were unable to withstand such a fierce political offensive. The Chancellor of the Exchequer was the first to be absent. Harry Flowers, the illegitimate son of Aegon III, was demoted by Lord Merryweather, who succeeded as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and was transferred away from the treasury. Subsequently, the position of Lord Justice was succeeded by Lord Tully, and the Lord High Admiral returned to the Velaryon family. Lord Rhaegal Velaryon sent Ser Alyn the "Oakfist" to this position. Lord Lucas Rothstein, the new chief of intelligence who had been highly regarded by Aegon III, was severely punished by Crown Prince Daeron for his long-term dereliction of duty. The person who succeeded Lord Lucas was an unknown young man, but this young man was a dragon rider - Brynden Silverblood became the youngest chief of intelligence as a close friend of Crown Prince Daeron, and half of the seats in the Small Council fell into the control of the Vareses family. Crown Prince Darren naturally took over the Privy Council and began to act as regent.

The moderate faction of the royal family also turned to the faction of the crown prince, striving for political stability, but Aegon III refused to face this situation. He had been trying to divide the regent power of the crown prince during the years when Crown Prince Daeron served as regent. Unfortunately, under the absolute power of the Varese family, the king had lost the ability to check and balance, and the king's orders were almost inseparable from his bedroom. In the last few years of Aegon III's reign, the king, who was bedridden due to obesity, was actually under house arrest in his own bedroom and lost control of the court. The bastard dragon knights also slowly broke away from the king's control. The Varese family did not rush to take action against the bastard dragon knights, but gradually took back the military power held by the bastard dragon knights in a slow but effective way. But all this was interrupted by Aegon III's sudden illness.

"His Majesty's condition has worsened."

Chamber of Secrets. Brynden looked at Igor with some concern, as if he didn't understand why he had to go to King's Landing in person. But when he thought about the current situation in King's Landing, as the heir of the Vareses family, it was not difficult to understand why Igor came to King's Landing to closely monitor the situation.

"The maesters tried every possible method, but still could not cure the king's thirst. His lower body and limbs began to rot and stink. His skeleton and muscles could no longer support his fat. It is said that in the past few nights, half of the Red Keep could hear the king's wailing."

Igor listened carefully to the king's symptoms: "Bran, is the king going to give us a surprise?"

Brynden smiled bitterly and nodded. "He summoned the Grand Maester and the King's Hand, as well as Lord Maegon. Even I can see Lord Maegon's anger and helplessness."

"Is he planning to legalize those people?"

Even though he had prepared himself mentally, Igor still couldn't control himself when he mentioned this matter.

Brynden nodded reluctantly.

"That's the case based on Lord Maegon's reaction."

(End of this chapter)