Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 409: Fierce Fire Cooking Oil
The long summer wind gently caresses the land and rivers of the kingdom like a girl's hand brushing the face of her lover.

In this golden age, King Daeron's rule is more stable than the Mountains of the Moon. But the Targaryen family is already in tatters. The dragons are still there, Dreamfyre, Syrax, Stormcloud, Tyrex, Morghur, and Garethos can still support the authority of the Iron Throne, but the people are gone.

Aegon III's plan to strengthen the royal bloodline completely collapsed with the end of the Blackfyre Rebellion. In order to win over and reward the two bastard dragon knights who were loyal to the royal family, King Daeron gave Darry City and Harroway Town to Benson and Gaemon in the form of "annuity fiefdoms" after the war. He also canonized them as "royal earls". The two bastard dragon knights officially entered the ranks of the kingdom's nobles. They still lived in King's Landing, and Darry City and Harroway Town were managed by the acting castellan sent by the royal family. The taxes from the fiefdoms were used to support the two bastard dragon knights in the form of annuities.

In order to win over the two illegitimate sons, King Daeron married Maegon's two daughters to the two illegitimate sons and allowed their offspring to use the Targaryen surname and become a branch of the royal family. Unfortunately, the Gaimons had no children for a long time, and the eldest son of the Bensons died soon after birth. When Baelor and Aerys grew up to be handsome young men, only Benson's branch of the two illegitimate sons survived, a sickly black-haired boy.

King Daeron was troubled by this. When giving birth to Maekar, Siree injured her uterus and could no longer give birth to a child for the royal family. Maegon was already old, and his only remaining son, Aenys Targaryen, was a weak guy. Compared to a knight lord, he was more like a maester or a monk. Of course, he was also a dragon rider. At the age of seventeen, Aenys Targaryen accompanied his father to King's Landing and tamed the shy and slender old dragon Morghur under the care of King Daeron.

After successfully taming the dragon, he married Ilion's grown-up daughter. The couple loved each other very much after marriage, but they had difficulty in having children. After two miscarriages, Inys stopped sleeping with his wife in order to reduce her pain and chose to live an ascetic life.

This finally made Princess Naerys, who hated Maegon, unable to resist sending a letter from Dragonstone, persuading Aenys to "fulfill his Targaryen responsibilities". She even hinted in the letter that Aenys could have a child through surrogacy and then give the child to his wife. But Aenys refused.

Just when the royal family was in a state of panic, Igor held a grand tournament in Dragon's Nest City in order to pray for Maggie to give birth smoothly. It is said that this tournament cost 500,000 gold dragons and was the largest and most luxurious tournament in the past fifty years. Lords and famous knights from all over the country gathered at the foot of Dragon's Nest City in the hot summer wind.

Of course, there are also royal dragons.

Dragon Nest City, Silver Blood Tower.

In the main hall, sunlight poured in through the towering windows, making the entire hall bright. King Daeron sat on the obsidian throne of the Varese family, with silver hair draped over his shoulders, a calm face, and gentle and deep violet eyes. The newly cast crown was not luxurious, just a slender headband with a simple ruby ​​inlaid on it. It didn't look like a crown at all, but King Daeron liked this crown very much, because the caster of this crown was the common people of King's Landing, bakers, prostitutes, small vendors, fishermen, craftsmen and small officials who cast it for the king. Queen Xirui sat beside him, wearing a dark purple dress, and the ornaments in her hair were dotted with star-like sapphires. She tapped the armrests absent-mindedly with her fingertips. The queen's mind was obviously not here, but flew to Maggie who was struggling with childbirth in the delivery room.

Igor sat beside the queen with a serious look, while his father, Prime Minister Ringol, sat on the left side of the king, with the Silver Blood Sword in front of him, adding a bit of majesty. Marquis Brynden, the Blood Raven, stood beside Ringol, his red and white clothes decorated with heavy rubies, and the eyeball that was shattered by Igor was now inlaid with a cold amethyst. His intact single eye scanned every knight who entered the venue like a hawk. His white crow landed on his shoulder, making noisy quacking sounds from time to time, as if judging the knights present to his master.

The white crows around the Blood Crow Marquis have changed again and again, but no one dares to question why there are always white crows around the Marquis. Legend has it that the Marquis can communicate with these noisy little creatures, and monitor everything on the earth through their wings and their eyes.

The horn sounded, and the servants read out the name and family crest of each knight aloud. The sound echoed in the stone hall. The next to appear were famous knights from all over the place, and the appearance of each one brought cheers.

The heir of Storm's End, "The Laughing Storm" Lyonel Baratheon, was the first to step into the hall. During the Blackfyre Rebellion, although Storm's End did not send troops in a timely manner, it still served as the vanguard of the Eastern Army on the battlefield in the crown territory and destroyed more than a dozen castles in the crown territory. This also allowed Storm's End to avoid punishment after the war and safely obtain the conquered territory.

“Your Majesty!” His laughter shook the wine glass. “May the Seven Gods bless the newborn, and may my great sword not chop off too many heads! Haha, I mean don’t chop too many people into the ground.”

King Daeron smiled: "Your greatsword has caused the Blackfyre Rebellion to shed enough blood, Lionel. The royal family will remember the Stag's contribution."

Artis Arryn, the Hawk, followed closely behind, his blue and white cloak spreading like a snowy mountain eagle. "The Knights of the Vale offer their loyalty to you, Your Majesty, Prime Minister." He knelt on one knee, his voice as cold as an ice spring. King Daeron nodded with satisfaction, exchanged a glance with Ringol and Brynden, and motioned for the heir of the Vale to stand up.

“Get up, old friend.” Leonor pulled him up, “Don’t let me knock you off your horse later.”

Attis raised his lips slightly: "Your joke is heavier than your sword, Your Majesty, Prime Minister, I hope we can please you, and may the Seven Gods bless Madam Maggie to have a smooth delivery."

"Thank you." Igor nodded slightly.

"Black Lightning" Valar Dondarrion and "Little Hunter" Alan Tarly entered side by side. Valar's black armor was engraved with lightning patterns, and Alan's green robe exuded the scent of grass. Valar knelt on one knee and said in a low voice: "Prime Minister, Lord Igor, may your offspring be as strong as thunder." Ringol nodded slightly, and Igor patted him on the shoulder. The knight named in memory of Valar was the bravest young knight of this generation of the Borderland Prince's Territory, and was highly regarded by Igor. If Longzel and Ringol were young, he would definitely be a member of the abolished blood oath brothers.

Alan was about to speak when Maggie's scream suddenly came from the delivery room. Queen Xirui stood up suddenly, and Darren gently pushed her back to her seat. Maggie was in good physical condition, and it was her first time giving birth, so far it was going smoothly. Her powerful scream also showed that she had enough physical strength.

"Relax, Alan." Valar whispered, "You are shaking more than a novice." Alan smiled bitterly: "That's our future mistress. How can I not be nervous? Hey, isn't that Franklin Frey from the 'High Tower'? Is he here too?"

Alan stepped aside and noticed the tall knight of the twin towers who entered behind them. "Well, Lord Harvard Frey thinks highly of Sir Franklin." Valar said softly, "If the Frey family wants to maintain its current status, they must keep the world-famous knights alive."

"understood."

"Don't underestimate him. Sir Franklin has defeated Tybert Lannister and Lyonel before." As soon as Valar finished speaking, he winked at the next group of knights coming in, but the two guys seemed not to see them at all and walked to the designated positions on their own.

"Flameheart" Aslan Zed and "Lion King" Hagen Rondel came in arm in arm, their fiery red battle robes and golden-red mane helmets setting off each other beautifully.

"Lord Igor!" Aslan grinned, "I must defeat Jonniel today!"

Hagen hit him on the chest. "Dream on. Jonniel pinned you to the ground and beat you last time."

Jonnell walked out of the side hall with a faint smile on his face: "At your service anytime, old friend." The stern "Wolf" Brandon Stark and the "Checkered Lion" Adam Osgrey who came from afar followed Jonnell. Stark had a hint of worry on his face. Maggie's child would completely establish the alliance between the dragon and the wolf. If the child was born safely, Adam kept scanning the bustling crowd with great interest. The little Checkered Lion who was born in the conquered land had never seen such a grand tournament.

Lord Leo Tyrell, the Longthorn, walked in slowly, leaning on his rose-gold spear, his hair as white as snow. Ser Oberyn Martell, the heir to Sunspear, and Ser Harwin Redwyne, the heir to the Arbor, followed the old man, arguing with each other.

The fine wine of Highgarden had already arrived at Dragon's Nest before the Duke arrived, and was now being distributed to the guests on the long table along with the silver wine and blood wine from Wineport.

"The flowers of Highgarden," he gasped, saluting, "are ever-brighter."

Darren quickly signaled the servants to bring a chair: "It is an honor for you to come."

"Highgarden will always be a friend of dragons," Ringol said with a smile.

The young men from the Varese family who were participating in the tournament also took their seats, and the last to come in were the royal dragon knights.

The "scholar" Aenys Targaryen walked into the gate cautiously with his illegitimate dragon knight Benson, looking so weak that he seemed like he would be crushed by the armor.

"Your Majesty," he greeted softly, his purple eyes flickering.

Darren sighed, "Your father would be pleased to see you compete."

The king paused and said, "Of course, if you can bring back a child, I believe your father will be happier."

The knights' conversation was interrupted by the sound of a baby crying in the delivery room. The servant rushed in and announced the good news to Ringol and his son:
"It's a boy! Silver hair and blue eyes, very healthy!"

Igor closed his eyes in relief. Xirui collapsed on the throne with tears streaming down her face. Daeron stood up and raised his glass:
"For a new life! For peace!"

(End of this chapter)