Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 421 Friendship and Family

The sound of the key turning was particularly harsh in the silence. The musty smell mixed with the bloody smell in the confinement room hit me in the face, and the moonlight shone through the high iron window, like a silver sword slashing on Maeka's back. The prince's naked upper body was covered with crisscrossing whip marks, and some wounds were still bleeding, staining the sheets dark.

"Get out, black-haired bastard." Meka's voice was muffled in his arms.

Garin forcibly helped Maika up. As soon as his fingertips touched the medicinal oil, Maika began to twitch violently. The effect of the fire dragon pepper almost made white smoke rise from the wound. The prince whimpered like a baby animal in his throat, and his nails broke in the cracks of the stone.

It was not until this time that Garin noticed that this guy, who had already become a father, was actually just a teenager.

"Bear with it." Garin tore his underwear into strips, dipped it in the medicated oil and gently pressed it on the deepest wound. "This medicine works quickly and won't leave any marks."

Meika suddenly grabbed his wrist, his purple eyes burning in the darkness: "Who asked you to come?"

"No one." Galen looked him straight in the eye. "But you could have told His Highness Reg about the plan."

"Idiot!" Maekar interrupted with a hissing voice. "Can that good old man Reg act angry?" A sharp pain made him bite his lip. "But it's good. Now everyone in King's Landing knows that Reg is protecting you."

Garin hesitated and asked, "Why help me?"

Maika slapped his hand away, but the big movement caused the wound to twitch, causing him to gasp in pain. Silence spread between the two until the bell for the change of guard rang in the distance.

"No reason," said Meka unhappily, "I enjoy it."

Garin's hand was suspended in midair. The oil dripped onto the stone floor.

He smiled somewhat helplessly.

Lingol's shadow flashed outside the door. The old Prime Minister had obviously been standing nearby. Galen seemed to see the corners of the Prime Minister's mouth rise slightly, like a chess player seeing an unexpected good move.

The strange smell of the ointment filled the narrow stone chamber, and Galin's fingers moved carefully over the wound, trying to reduce the pain as much as possible, but Maekar still tensed his muscles at his touch.

"Hiss—" The silver-haired prince took a sharp breath, then clenched his teeth and swallowed back the cry of pain.

"Sorry." Garin immediately retracted his hand, his purple eyes filled with helplessness, "I'll be gentler."

"If it hurts, just say it." Garin whispered.

"Shut up." Meka buried his face in his arms, "...Push harder so the drug can take effect."

Garin pursed his lips and dipped the ointment again. This time his movements were more steady, and the warmth of his fingertips penetrated into the wound through the ointment. Meka's body finally relaxed slowly. After a long silence, Meka suddenly spoke: "Why did you... plead for me today?"

Garin paused. "Because you could have helped me in a different way."

Meka sneered: "Who helped you? I just hate the faces of those wild dogs."

"Yes." Garin lowered his head and hid the smile on his face.

Silent for a long while.

Silence spread between the two.

"Do you know why I hate you?" Meka suddenly spoke, his voice muffled in his arms.

Garin paused. "Because I am the son of a bastard."

"Idiot." Maekar sneered, "Are there not enough bastards in the Red Keep? The Blood Raven Marquis is a bastard, and the Chancellor of Finance is also a bastard." He suddenly turned over and sat up, ignoring the danger of tearing his wound, and grabbed Garin's collar, "I hate that you obviously have dragon blood, but you live like a beggar, bowing your head and letting others trample on you!"

Garin's purple eyes flickered in the darkness: "Father said"

"Your father is a coward! Just like you." Maekar pushed him away, gasping when he felt the wound. "Benson was able to tame the unicorn and face the bloodworms of the Blackflame traitors in the Red Grassland, but he didn't even dare to fight for your surname. Your mother is an orthodox Targaryen." The words stopped abruptly. Garin pressed his hand on Maekar's whip wound, with such force that the prince's pupils shrank suddenly.

“Don’t talk about my father.” The black-haired boy looked directly into Maika’s eyes for the first time. “He’s not a coward. He just knows the price of living better than you do.”

Meka was stunned. He didn't know whether he was surprised or happy.

The stalemate was broken by the roar of a dragon outside the window. The sheep thief's roar was filled with anxiety, and the old dragon flew out of the dragon's lair, but did not dare to approach the Red Castle.

Because of Baoyun, Xingge is here staring at it.

Meka suddenly laughed out loud: "The old man is worried about me." He took off his necklace and threw it to Garin, "Take it."

The necklace is very simple, with the main body made up of dragon teeth with silver threads wrapped around the roots.

"This is."

"It was dropped by the sheep thief when he was changing his teeth." Maekar turned his face away. "Danissa made it. I can't use it anyway."

Garin carefully touched the lines on the surface of the dragon's tooth, where a faint smell of sulfur still remained. When he looked up, he found that the tips of Maekar's ears were red.

"Don't think too much!" The silver-haired prince said angrily, "It just takes up too much space."

The footsteps of the night watchmen were heard in the distance. Garin hurriedly stood up and prepared to leave, but was stopped by Meka at the door.

"Black-haired boy." Maika's voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible.

He suddenly scratched his hair in annoyance: ".Thank you."

Garin blinked. "What?"

"I said get out!" Meka grabbed the empty medicine bottle and threw it at the door, "We have training tomorrow!"

When Garin slipped out of the dungeon, he didn't know that Ringol was still standing nearby, silently watching the boy's back as he blended into the night with the two Kingsguards.

Dragon's Nest, Laurel Tower, Great Library.

Hoffa Varese knelt on a heavy oak chair, his icy blue eyes fixed on the spread-out heraldry atlas, his fingertips carefully stroking the gilded emblems, fearing that his touch would disturb the sleeping legends.

“This one looks like the sun,” he pointed at the Martell spear, “but why is there a spear on top of it?”

"Because when Nymeria led the Ten Thousand Ships across the Rhoyne," Sebastian Varese dipped his quill pen into ink and outlined the route of the year on the edge of the parchment, "her spear merged with Martell's blazing sun, ending the Age of Kings in Dorne."

Hoffa frowned slightly: "But Dorne now has two princes."

"Heraldry records history, not determines the future. Dorne's current situation is the pride of the family. The family used force to tear apart the glory of the sun and split Dorne into three." Sebastian turned to the next page with some pride, and the pattern of a black dragon on a red background appeared prominently.

“Blackfire!” Hoffa straightened his back immediately. “The mark of the traitor!”

Sebastian's silver-gray eyelashes drooped slightly. Outside the window, a gust of wind swept across the cliffs of Dragon's Nest City, and the shadow of Centrolos, who was taking a whirlwind, just covered the emblem.

"When Daemon Blackfyre first raised this banner," the scholarly dragon knight's fingers gently traced the lines of the three-headed black dragon, "he was still the 'true dragon' in the hearts of the common people and some nobles. In the eyes of many knights, he was a more suitable king than King Daeron."

Hoffa blinked in confusion: "Why?"

"Because later," Sebastian suddenly closed the book, and the gilded cover made a dull sound, "he forgot why the sword should be swung, and greed controlled him and his followers."

(End of this chapter)