Chapter 137: I Want to Be Queen

The main keep of Harrenhal, the Hall of a Hundred Hearths.

Because the name "King's Pyre Tower" was truly too ominous, Arthur ordered this massive keep-within-a-keep to be renamed the Main Keep.

The Riverlands King walked into the main entrance of the Hall of a Hundred Hearths and, from a distance, saw two middle-aged Knights and their five attendants.

Podrick, following behind Arthur, whispered a reminder: "They are Knight Egyln Oakhart and Knight Thaddeus Rowan from the Reach; they claim they wish to seek an audience with the new Riverlands King."

Arthur thought for a moment; these two houses were still quite famous.

House Oakheart originated from John the Oak, who was the son of Garth the Greenhand.

Rumor has it that one day, while Garth the Greenhand was traveling, he encountered a Storm and had to hurriedly hide in a cave to escape the rain.

The rain kept falling, and since Garth was a young man with vigorous energy, he felt bored in the cave and thus rewarded himself.

And so, John the Oak, possessing both the blood of Garth and the blood of giants, was born; like his many brothers and sisters, he founded his own house in the Reach:

House Oakheart of Old Oak.

The house motto is "Our Roots Go Deep," and their territory lies at the border between the Reach and the Westerlands, with the Ocean Road passing through their ancestral seat, Old Oak.

The founder of House Rowan, "Gold-Haired" Rowan, was also a descendant of Garth the Greenhand; it is rumored that "Gold-Haired" was abandoned by a lover, so he cut off his own hair to wrap around an apple seed and buried it in the ground, where a gold tree grew, so the descendants of Rowan settled there and built Goldengrove as their ancestral seat.

The house's territory includes the entire northern Reach, and they are among the more prominent second-tier nobles in the Reach, with a military force of four or five thousand.

"Do the two Knights have business with me?" Arthur walked up the steps and sat on the main throne.

The Reach Army these two belonged to was fighting for Tommen and Tywin, yet they had run to Harrenhal, which was a bit suspicious.

Thaddeus Rowan, whose hair was already graying, stretched his neck and stared at Arthur for several moments before answering: "Your Grace, Riverlands King, we are here to see your Dragon, if..."

"Do you think this is a zoo?" Arthur interrupted him, "Dragons are not something one can just see whenever they please."

Alduin was still in his infancy and lacked the ability to protect himself; even inside the castle, Gendry, who was responsible for feeding him, was surrounded by twenty of Arthur's specially selected third-tier Shield-bearer swordsmen in Plate Armor, who circled the Dragon at all times.

The two Knights were from a hostile camp, and Arthur dared not let them see the Dragon based on a single word.

An attendant handed a small wooden box to Knight Thaddeus, who opened the box and respectfully offered it with both hands.

"This is a Valyrian Steel Dagger, merely as a token of our meeting for the two of us to seek an audience with you."

This Rowan was quite polite, holding the open wooden box above his head with both hands and handing it to Podrick.

The latter walked quickly up the steps, first inspecting it himself before handing the dagger to Arthur.

Like most Valyrian Steel items, this dagger was surprisingly light; the blade was about thirty centimeters long, the hilt was made of Dragonbone and studded with dense, tiny diamonds, the largest of which was about the size of a quail egg; even in the dim castle, the gems on the hilt still emitted a dazzling radiance.

Worth a fortune!

In the entire continent of Westeros, there are over two hundred Valyrian Steel swords; the Citadel's count is 223, and they all have names and histories, except for the missing Brightroar, Blackfyre, and Dark Sister, with the rest mostly hidden in the castles of those ancient houses.

But there are more Valyrian Steel items; some Maester chains have small rings made of Valyrian Steel, such as Maester Luwin of Winterfell, as well as some small, miscellaneous items like Valyrian Steel spoons and small knives for eating.

These smaller Valyrian Steel items have no names, so it is impossible to infer their origins or their owners.

But the Dragonbone Valyrian Steel Dagger is something with a very clear origin; it must be from Euron Greyjoy.

"Crow's Eye" Euron is the brother of King Balon; when he was young, he traveled the world and once risked his life to enter the Valeria Feixu, obtaining a full set of Valyrian Steel Armor, a Dragon Egg, over a dozen Dragonbone Valyrian Steel Daggers, and the Dragonbinder.

Of the things he obtained from the ruins, the most valuable in worldly terms were the Dragon Egg and the full set of Valyrian Steel Armor.

This set of armor would have been worth a kingdom even before the fall of the Valyrian Freehold, and now that the method of crafting Valyrian Steel is lost, it is a true priceless treasure.

The most valuable in terms of magic is the Dragonbinder.

Rumor has it that blowing this horn can break the magical taboo that only members of the forty Valyrian Dragonlord families can ride dragons, but the price is the loss of one's life, becoming one of the dead.

Of equal importance to the Dragonbinder is the Horn of Winter, which is rumored to be able to break the magical effect of the Wall that prevents the Others and Wights from passing.

What the price is, is hard to say; it might cause an Other to completely end its life.

But fortunately, Samwell the Fatty found the Horn of Winter north of the Wall and will bring it south to Oldtown, where the Citadel is located.

So unless there is a traitor in the camp of the living who sends the Horn of Winter back north of the Wall, the Others and the Night King will likely not be able to head south.

Of course, there are rumors that Dragonfire can also destroy the Wall, but neither Arthur's Alduin nor the three Dragons of the Dragon Queen Daenerys Targaryen would ever go to work for the Night King and the Wights while they are alive.

Back to the topic.

"I am a man of principle; before I accept the gift, I want to ask where this dagger comes from?" Arthur asked.

The Dragon Egg Euron obtained from the ruins was sent to the House of Black and White in Braavos to hire a Faceless Man to assassinate King Balon, but many of his daggers did indeed flow out.

As far as Arthur knows, the dagger Joffrey used to have someone assassinate Bran was won by Robert from a bet at a Tourney; tracing its origin, it should have flowed in from the Free Cities of the eastern continent.

Thaddeus Rowan did not hide anything and answered straightforwardly: "It was purchased by our Lord Mathis from a Braavosi merchant in Oldtown; its previous history is unclear. However, it is indeed a Valyrian Steel Dagger, and I believe only a true Dragon like you is worthy of using it, so I present it to you."

Although this dagger looks small, the price is not low.

At a Tourney, someone, in order to curry favor with King Robert, gambled with a similar dagger against Robert, who offered one hundred Gold Dragons, causing that dagger to fall into the King's hands.

Is a Dragonbone Valyrian Steel Dagger worth one hundred Gold Dragons?

Of course not.

At the very least, it would be seven or eight hundred Gold Dragons, and it is priceless.

Like this one, inlaid with gems and with an excellent appearance, one thousand Gold Dragons would not be enough.

With such a valuable gift for a first meeting, House Rowan certainly has sincerity.

"Your Grace should have met me at Highgarden; at that time, I was sent by the Jiaodu to find Mace Tyrell to handle the dispute between us and the Westerlands territory, but the Duke told us to swallow our pride for now. I wonder if you have any impression of this?"

Seeing that the Riverlands King was still deep in thought, Knight Egyln Oakhart used trivial matters to try to build a connection.

Arthur looked at him and suddenly remembered that when he went to Highgarden to buy armor, he had indeed met this person.

The territory of Old Oak borders the Westerlands, so there were quite a few ownership disputes.

These two houses should have no ill intent, the Riverlands King concluded.

"You may see my Dragon, but as for the details of Alduin, you are not allowed to speak of them; just let it rot in your hearts as a secret," Arthur instructed.

The best way to publicize something is to tell it to others as a secret.

The two Knights hurriedly promised not to speak of the Dragon's details.

And so, Arthur softly called the name Alduin in Valyrian.

During this month at Harrenhal, Arthur had clearly tested that as long as they were within a few hundred meters, the dragon and he shared a very special mental connection.

To be specific, both sides could roughly sense each other's direction and could use mental fluctuations to convey information.

Since Alduin was exchanged by the eternal emperor Joffrey, his magic power was much stronger; he could even hear Arthur's whispers within a certain range.

Of course, limited to Valyrian.

The reverse was not possible; Arthur could not hear his dragon roars with mental power.

Before long, Alduin flapped his wings and flew in from the gate at high speed like a whirlwind.

The two middle-aged Knights turned around, staring with blank faces at the dragon gliding toward them.

Although Alduin's body length was less than a meter, because of his oversized wings, the wingspan actually reached three meters, and coupled with his tail that was as long as his body, it scared the two Knights into crouching down on the spot.

Arthur chuckled and reached out to beckon Alduin to fly over.

"Don't scare our guests," Arthur said to the dragonet in the Common Tongue.

It naturally could not understand, but because the Riverlands King's Valyrian vocabulary was limited, this was all he could do.

The two Knights watched the dragon fly onto Arthur's shoulder, eyes wide, recording every detail with the fastest speed of their lives.

Slightly different from the dragons in records, this dragon's entire body was covered in sharp ridges, the tips of which glinted with a black light, looking very sharp at a glance.

And this dragon also had a tail of equal length to its body, with a sharp spike at the very end, which seemed capable of being used as a weapon.

"May I ask Your Majesty, can the tail of Prince Alduin also attack?" Knight Egyln Oakhart asked, swallowing hard.

Arthur stroked the dragon's head and then pointed to the stone steps.

Alduin's large dragon eyes revealed a trace of disdain; he slowly turned around and displayed the details of his tail to the two guests.

When the two Knights stared greedily at the tip, Alduin whipped his tail with extreme viciousness, actually producing a whistling sound, and afterward, a fist-sized hole appeared on the steps.

"Hiss!" The Knights, who had gasped twice, had expressions as exaggerated as if their faces were a painter's palette.

What they saw and heard today was enough for them to remember for a lifetime.

……

Outside Storm's End, in the central command tent of the Reach Army.

This was a massive tent that could hold a masquerade ball for hundreds of people; currently, nearly a hundred people were gathered here, but they were not dancing.

The influential nobles of the Reach were all gathered together, discussing whether to march north and fight side-by-side with the Lion family.

In the center of the crowd, the two Earls, Mathis Rowan and Randyll Tarly, were introducing their investigation results to everyone.

"…The Dragonrider might be a Bastard… the Dragon Egg should have come from Summerhall… Joffrey I should have been burned, just like what Stannis did…"

Several days ago, the two great Earls had already returned to the camp and reported the facts they had uncovered to Duke Mace Tyrell and his two sons and one daughter, Garlan, Loras, Margaery, and other members of the vassal families, suggesting that Duke Mace Tyrell wait and see, deciding his stance only after the war between Stannis and Duskendale occurred.

In Duskendale, the lord family's soldiers plus the Gold Cloaks only numbered a little over three thousand, while Stannis in King's Landing, although having lost some soldiers during the siege, had replenished quite a few in the massive city of five hundred thousand; his current command was at least twenty thousand strong.

And the Lannister family's troops were still in the Westerlands and could not reach King's Landing on the east coast in a short time.

This left the situation in Duskendale and for Tommen I in a precarious state.

The Inflated Fish Lord was indecisive himself, so he sent a Raven to Highgarden, hoping to get advice from his mother, the Queen of Thorns.

But the Queen of Thorns did not agree with watching the situation or joining the so-called Dragonrider; Lady Olenna believed that the dragon was nothing more than a widely spread rumor.

During the Dance of the Dragons, there was no lack of dragons stabbed to death by commoners; even if there really were a dragonet, the Knights of our Reach could drown it with a single spit each—this was the original text of the Queen of Thorns' letter.

She told her son to take the main army and march north at high speed to annihilate the false king Stannis, then immediately hold the wedding for Tommen and Margaery.

However, several knowledgeable and capable great nobles under Duke Mace Tyrell advocated for temporarily watching the situation; in any case, besieging Storm's End was also fighting against Stannis, and the Lion family could not pick any faults with that.

The Inflated Fish Lord himself could not make up his mind, so he prepared to listen to the opinions of his vassals.

Therefore, nearly a hundred Jiaodu and powerful Knights of the Reach were called to participate in this meeting.

These Jiaodu whispered to each other, exchanging their opinions.

One group believed they should support the Lion family and King Tommen, while another group believed the Dragonrider was the true master of the Iron Throne.

The remaining Jiaodu did not speak; they understood that after the alliance of the Tyrell, Redwyne, and Hightower families, the Rose family could already suppress the entire Reach.

Not to mention that powerful second-tier nobles like Rowan were also peripheral members of that alliance.

The Inflated Fish Lord was made even more indecisive by the voices of the crowd, so he asked his second son: "How does Garlan see it?"

"Our family has dealt with that Arthur before," Garlan recalled the time they sold armor, "He is just a very ordinary small noble from the Riverlands, with no foundation at all. We have sixty thousand men; even if the North, the Riverlands, and Stannis are added together, they cannot beat our alliance with the Westerlands. So I think we should quickly march north to resolve Tommen I's predicament."

Loras had been saved by Arthur once, so he did not feel antipathy toward the Riverlands King; he suggested to his father:

"If the Dragonrider truly has a dragon, then he is the first in line to inherit the Iron Throne, inheriting it from Aerys II. Since Father fought for the Targaryens sixteen years ago, he should do so now."

Margaery recalled the few times she had chatted with Arthur and held the same view as her third brother:

"The fact that he came to buy armor that time shows his far-sightedness; he had already perceived the coming great war. And he is a good noble who loves his people deeply; the pursuit and killing of The Mountain earned him excellent fame among the peasants across the entire continent. Coupled with his own martial prowess, he already has the look of a King."

Duke Mace Tyrell still did not speak.

So the Little Rose added: "At the very least, he has more of a King's look than that eight-year-old boy Tommen. We cannot be sure of the eight-year-old boy's personality after he grows up, but we can understand everything about the Dragonrider now. I heard that once he leaves the battlefield, he becomes a very gentle person."

Although Margaery did not care about her future husband's appearance, physique, or personality, Arthur, who was already an adult man, indeed scored higher than Tommen.

Loving his people, gentle in dealing with others, brave and invincible, handsome in appearance, noble in bloodline.

Such a King is worthy of a Queen like me.

Earl Randyll Tarly looked at his liege lord, who was turning his head back and forth, and voiced his thoughts: "Lady Margaery is about to become the Queen of Tommen I, but that is not certain on Arthur's side. I heard he is very close to Sansa Stark, and the Frey family, the strongest under him, also wants to climb high. Even if we defect, we might not necessarily get the Queen's seat."

The position of Queen had always been the soft underbelly of the Rose family.

Their family status was too low, merely originating from the stewards of the Gardener Dynasty, while most families in the Reach could trace a connection to Garth the Greenhand and had intermarried with the King of the Reach family for generations.

Although they temporarily suppressed their vassals through kinship, their prestige was always lacking, which is why the Rose family had always wanted to produce a Queen.

As early as when Robert was alive, Loras and Renly had conspired to marry Margaery to Robert, but the plan did not have time to be implemented.

Duke Mace Tyrell finally made up his mind, "I will earn a Queen's title for my daughter. The army will set off immediately and march toward King's Landing."

……

Five days later, Riverrun.

Arthur finally knew what the "little gift" Symond Frey had spoken of was.

They had actually sent assassins to murder Hendry, Jeyne, and the other heirs of Janos Bracken, and they had failed.

After Marq Piper brought these six people, including Hendry, to Riverrun, they had been kept in the castle as hostages.

The Castellan of Riverrun was the legendary Knight Blackfish, so naturally, the defenses were tight; the assassins sent by the Frey family were captured without killing a single target.

Although the assassins came from a very small Knight house in the Riverlands and owed allegiance to Seagard, rumors claimed that Arthur had sent people to assassinate Hendry and the others.

It was no wonder such a rumor existed; if Hendry and the others died, and Janos Bracken also died in the war, then Stone Hedge would be completely under Arthur's control.

Thus, the Riverlands King had to swallow this bitter pill.

After Blackfish learned the background of the assassins, he was extraordinarily angry.

This legendary Knight had a very upright temperament and could not stand such underhanded, assassin-employing behavior.

So Arthur and his party came to clear up the misunderstanding with Blackfish and wanted to ask the Tully family to defend the Pinkmaiden area—it was said that the Westerlands were already preparing to attack the Riverlands again, although they had sent fewer soldiers than last time.

But Blackfish refused to see them, claiming he only recognized the King in the North and the Trident Robb and his heirs, not some messy king, and had Sansa host Arthur instead.

The two young people had mutual affection; after their routine meeting, they immediately dismissed all the Attendants and servants, entered Sansa's residence, and began to embrace and kiss.

But Lady Stark clearly had other thoughts; after a few kisses, she pushed Arthur away, her expression becoming solemn and grave.

"I want you to promise me one thing."

Arthur did not understand what she was doing, but he still agreed: "Tell me, if I can do it, I certainly will."

"I want to be your Queen!"

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(End of chapter)