Chapter 169: Melisandre's Crisis

Dorne, Sunspear.

After drifting at sea for over two months, Obara and her boyfriend Bronn finally reached their destination.

Because the land was plagued by constant warfare, they chose to return by sea; and since the Redwyne Fleet had blockaded the Gullet and Dragonstone when they departed, the two of them and several Dornish guards had to set sail from Maidenpool in the north, drifting all the way to Pentos before taking a ship south, only arriving here after a long detour.

Obara did not need to be very formal when seeing her father, Prince Oberyn Martell; they met in the study of the Old Palace.

"This is my future husband, Bronn," the Sand Snake introduced her boyfriend to her father first.

To make a better impression on the Prince, the young couple had specially commissioned several decent, high-end outfits for Bronn in Pentos.

At this moment, the lucky Bronn was wearing a dark gold brocade robe, with an indigo cloak fastened by an unmarked brooch, draping behind him. The well-fitted and expensive attire, along with his neatly trimmed beard and hair, made him look like a lord from the North.

But who was the Red Viper? A man who had spent his life wandering from the Citadel to Essos and back again—how could he not see through Bronn's background?

At the very least, that unmarked brooch had already given away seven or eight tenths of this man's identity.

Coupled with that wind-beaten mercenary face, Prince Oberyn had already guessed part of the truth.

"Very well, as long as you like him," the Red Viper did not dwell on these matters. "I heard Arianne went to the side of the Dragonrider, and is doing quite well?"

Only then did Obara remember the purpose of this trip; she hurriedly fished two letters from her cousin out of her bosom and handed them to her father.

After the Red Viper quickly finished reading them, he ordered his daughter to prepare to stay, then went to the Water Gardens to discuss serious matters with his brother.

After the Prince left, Bronn nodded with satisfaction, "It seems your father does not oppose our marriage."

He was not many years younger than Prince Oberyn, and it was indeed time for him to consider marriage.

Obara leaned in close to her boyfriend, whispering sweet nothings, and just as the two were preparing to arrange lodging for Bronn, they ran into the listless Lord Jason Mallister.

He was confined to the Old Palace, growing older every day alongside Prince Oberyn.

Water Gardens.

After reading the letter, Prince Doran Martell said indifferently, "The gods in heaven are fair; they gave Arianne a not-so-clever brain, but at the same time, they gave her excellent luck."

Two or three months ago, Doran would never have dared to bet Dorne on the Dragonrider and the Riverlanders, but Cersei's series of divine maneuvers, which caused the Reachmen to lean toward Arthur, suddenly made the situation across the continent clear.

"It is rumored that the lords of the Vale are preparing to join forces against Littlefinger. After the Dragonrider and Sansa Stark married, more than half of the problems in the North and the Vale were solved. The Westerlands are half-crippled, Stannis and the Golden Company are fighting fiercely in the Stormlands, and that Reach Army of Balon Swann does not even need to move..."

Oberyn briefly described the situation in Westeros.

"I think you should be the one to go to King's Landing," Prince Doran suddenly interrupted his brother.

He already knew these circumstances by heart; with the support of the Reachmen, the Dragonrider no longer had any evenly matched enemies on land, and as for the sea, some of the longships of the Redwyne Fleet controlled Dragonstone and the Gullet, so King's Landing was no longer under threat.

"It is said that Lyn Corbray died at the hands of the Dragonrider; you go confirm it and bring back his head. We must also attend the King's second wedding; pick a decent gift and tell him that Dorne has always been a loyal ally of House Targaryen."

The fact that House Tyrell was preparing for a grand wedding was no longer a secret, and Doran decided to let his brother represent House Nymeros Martell to go there.

As for Daenerys Stormborn, he had already sent his eldest son there; even if the Dragonrider and Stormborn were to fight, he would still have room to maneuver.

The Red Viper nodded, "By custom, we have a seat on the Small Council; I will secure it."

The two debated for a long time over whether Arianne should reach a marriage contract with the Dragonrider, and the final conclusion was to let Arianne choose for herself.

"You must properly appease that Lord Jason, and then have my daughter apologize to the Dragonrider. You went too far in this matter," Prince Doran instructed.

The Red Viper smiled slightly, "No problem at all."

In any case, Lord Jason was unwilling anyway, and he was just preparing to let go.

The Stormlands, outside Griffin's Roost.

Stannis, left only in his undergarments, was tied to a cross. Around him, a massive amount of firewood, hay, and other flammable materials were piled into a small hill. Several soldiers were carefully pouring lamp oil onto the woodpile to ensure it would burn quickly.

Aegon VI and seven or eight high-ranking officers of the Golden Company stared at the Stag King, with several whispering and discussing why Stannis had no shadow.

"It is rumored that he used a shadow to kill his brother Renly; this can be considered a punishment sent down by the gods!"

"Can kill with a shadow? What kind of divine miracle is this? I will convert to this god immediately."

"Perhaps it is the Red God, perhaps the nameless god, or perhaps it is just a trick of a Shadowbinder; who can say for sure?"

Shadowbinders are a type of sorcerer active in Asshai, extremely evil; they can perform terrifying magic at night, and the red priestess Melisandre is also a Shadowbinder.

According to Melisandre, shadows are the servants of light and the children of flame.

Flame likely refers to the ancient Valyrian deities like Balerion, Meraxes, and Vhagar; the reference to light is obvious—it is the Red God, the Lord of Light, R'hllor.

After the preparations were nearly complete, a black-robed figure with an indistinct face opened the box in their arms, took out a Dragon Egg, and presented it to Aegon VI.

"Your Majesty, it belongs to you."

This was the Dragon Egg Euron had used to hire the Faceless Men to assassinate King Balon; now, a certain bigwig of the House of Black and White had made the decision to bring it out and offer it to Aegon VI, who possessed the blood of the Valyrian Dragonlord.

The crowd was drawn to the priceless Dragon Egg.

It was an oval egg with alternating gold and silver colors, its fine, neat scales shimmering with golden or silver light like gemstones.

If it were before, a dragon egg would just be an egg; it couldn't even be eaten. But after the Dragon Mother hatched the magic dragons, this kind of stone became unimaginably beautiful.

Tristan Rivers glanced at his own golden armband and suddenly felt that gold was just so-so.

It had to be a dragon egg!

Aegon VI, wearing a loose, wide robe, took a deep breath, carried the stone into the fire, and placed it at Stannis's feet.

The Baratheon, with his hands and feet bound, could not move; he glared hatefully at the actions of his enemies and the false king, too angry to speak.

He was the true king, the reincarnation of Azor Ahai, the savior chosen by the Lord of Light—how could he be captured by a false king?

Azor Ahai was the savior of the Age of Heroes; he was chosen to duel the Great Other of the night, and to kill the god, he forged the flesh and blood of his wife, Nissa Nissa, into a red sword named "Lightbringer," then defeated the Great Other.

In the dozens of prophecies circulating throughout the world, Azor Ahai would be reincarnated, and then, when the long summer ends and the stars bleed, he would awaken the magic dragon in the stone and save the world once again.

Of course, due to differences in language and pronunciation, the savior did not always have this name, but the pronunciation was close.

A large part of the reason Stannis considered himself the true king was that Melisandre believed he was the reincarnation of Azor, but the Stag King did not know that Melisandre had a habit of interpreting prophecies on her own.

She would explain prophecies to the followers of the Lord of Light according to her own understanding, regardless of whether they would 100% come true.

It was hard to say who the reincarnation of Azor Ahai was, but the true reincarnation of his wife had already appeared.

In the distant East, near Slaver's Bay, hundreds of thousands of new Free Folk have been shouting "Mhysa, Mhysa" for a long time.

Sensing that his life was at an end, Stannis wore a look of fury, his features twisted to a terrifying degree.

"Aegon, I wonder what those you burned would think. I hear you also killed your own brother; the gods will surely curse a kinslayer..."

A false king was about to be executed, and Aegon VI was filled with triumph.

The Iron Throne is mine, my stunningly beautiful aunt Daenerys is mine, and the Seven Kingdoms are mine as well.

He turned and walked down from the pyre, ignoring Stannis's complaints and curses.

A few breaths later, the soldiers lit the great pyre, and soon, the screams of the shadowless king spread all around.

Harrenhal, Hall of a Hundred Hearths.

As the saying goes, a short parting is better than a new marriage; the situation for Arthur and Sansa was both a new marriage and a short parting, and they were full of affection the moment they met.

But Arthur still knew the importance of the situation, so he first summoned the nobles who had remained here.

After a month of absence, their king had changed from the Riverlands King to the King of the First Men, the Andals, and the Rhoynar, which made most of the nobles very happy.

After all, they had defected early and could be considered to have merit in supporting him.

Except for a few Reachmen nobles, such as Mathos Rowan and others.

The king's marriage alliance with House Tyrell left them in an awkward position after they had betrayed their liege lord first.

Although the relationship between great lords and their liege lords and kings is a dual vassalage, the liege lord's family is, after all, closer, and there are many opportunities to use petty tricks.

For families like Rowan and Oakheart, Arthur had his own separate way of dealing with them.

"My lords, the Westerlanders have fled back, and Dickon's five thousand men may not be able to hold Silverhill, Deep Den, and other places, so I order..."

He transferred most of the soldiers near Maidenpool to the salient in the Westerlands, and transferred the native soldiers of the Crab's Claw Peninsula to King's Landing.

According to reports from the Frey soldiers monitoring the Bloody Gate, the upper part of the Mountains of the Moon has begun to snow; unless the gods intervene, the Bloody Gate will not allow a large army to pass until the next Long Summer arrives.

That is to say, even if Littlefinger completely controls the Vale, they cannot attack the Riverlands by land.

This allowed Arthur to manage the Westerlands with peace of mind.

The army attacking the Westerlands is not limited to these; according to the agreement he reached with the Queen of Thorns, after Garlan pacifies the Ironborn's incursions, he will also lead a large army north along the Ocean Road, striking straight at Lannisport and Casterly Rock.

Of course, these are plans for later; he must first marry the Little Rose.

"What about the North? What will happen to my family's Winterfell?"

Sansa had already heard that her husband was about to marry his second wife, but considering there were so many nobles present, she temporarily suppressed the urge to question him why, and instead asked about her husband's arrangements for her family's territory.

"An army is already prepared to enter the North to fight; I will tell you the details later," Arthur said sincerely.

Since the Queen of Thorns gave half of Brightwater Keep to the Tarly family, Randyll would not need to return south.

After the Westerlands and the Stormlands are completely pacified, the army he leads can just head north along the coast, first to recover Winterfell, and second to defend against the Wildling army.

Before transferring the Reachmen away, Arthur also had to quickly establish a royal standing army and the King's Landing City Watch.

The original City Watch of King's Landing, commonly known as the Gold Cloaks, had already been scattered.

Arthur's vision was to have the native soldiers of the Crab's Claw Peninsula garrison King's Landing, and then select suitable people from among them to form a new City Watch.

After all, these First Men's loyalty to the Dragon King family far exceeds that of other families.

Although their combat effectiveness is a bit lacking, for capital troops, the most important thing is loyalty to the king.

Moreover, King's Landing is in dire shortage of food and cannot afford more soldiers for the time being; a City Watch of two or three thousand is just right.

As for the royal standing army, after finishing the Westerlands, it will be formed by Dickon near Harrenhal, with the source of troops being the strong peasants from Dragon Party families such as Maidenpool, Darry, Harrenhal, and Willow Wood.

These are all plans for later; the most urgent matter at present is to select a group of servants from Harrenhal who are loyal to Arthur and Sansa themselves and send them into the Red Keep.

Otherwise, Maegor's Holdfast is full of Tyrell people, and Arthur doesn't even sleep very soundly.

After the king issued his orders one by one, the vassals went to execute them.

Of course, most of them do not need to follow the army; the king's second wedding is coming soon, and they have to go to King's Landing to attend the wedding feast.

This time is much more sufficient, and in order to maintain decency, some great nobles will definitely have to bleed heavily.

Night fell, in the lord's room.

After viciously finishing two rounds, Sansa finally spoke to her husband about his wedding with Margaery.

"You betrayed our love."

After her body was satisfied, Lady Stark began to feel aggrieved.

"This is also something that cannot be helped. If I don't marry that Tyrell lady, the kingdom will continue to be torn apart, your family's Winterfell and the North will not be able to be recovered, and how will your brother Robb's revenge be avenged? Your mother... by the way, I haven't let you meet Lady Stark yet!"

The king, wearing a linen robe, gently patted his wife Sansa's back, preparing to let his wife meet her "mother-in-law."

"My mother?" Sansa tied her clothes, her face very surprised, "Didn't Brienne say..."

Arthur, having put on his shoes, signaled for his wife to stay in the lord's room, "But she has been resurrected; she is a bit strange now. I will go bring her over, and you two can meet quietly before making further plans."

He was also unsure of Lady Stoneheart's attitude toward her daughter, and this matter was considered confidential and could not be widely publicized.

Sansa was expectant and nervous, not knowing how her mother, whom she hadn't seen for nearly a year, was doing.

Arthur went out and saw Sandor Clegane guarding the door.

"What? Are you sure you want to be my wife's guard?"

He had only crossed swords with Sandor once at the Hand's Tourney and could not be considered very familiar. But Sansa and The Hound were old acquaintances.

Sandor nodded in greeting and said flatly, "I have already sworn my service to her."

There was a kind of simplicity in his eyes that had shed all vanity, and it seemed he had almost let go of his hatred for his brother.

That is good; Sansa's maternal family is too weak, and with Brienne of Tarth and Sandor Clegane by her side, she can be much safer.

Arthur strode away to find Lady Stoneheart and bring her over.

Stormlands, Storm's End.

In the castle hall, Stannis's wife Selyse Florent sat in the main seat, holding her daughter Shireen Baratheon in her arms, while Edric Storm, the only Bastard acknowledged by Robert, stood behind them.

Davos Seaworth the Onion Knight paced about uneasily, while the red witch Melisandre stared fixedly at the flames in the fireplace, hoping to receive guidance from the Lord of Light.

Before long, an officer bearing the Florent sigil walked in and reported dejectedly:

"His Majesty has already been burned; upon hearing the news, the lords are mobilizing overnight, preparing to head north, likely to pledge their loyalty to the Dragonrider."

Selyse closed her eyes and groaned in pain: "Oh, Lord of Light~"

Shireen Baratheon knew her father was dead and began to cry on the spot.

Melisandre waved her hand irritably, but could not drive away the crying and wailing of the mother and daughter.

After learning of Stannis's death, the red priestess's only thought was that she could no longer stay at Storm's End.

Taking advantage of Selyse being in charge and not paying attention, she slowly paced toward the hall door, but was blocked by two men.

Davos Seaworth and Andrew Estermont blocked her path.

"You caused the death of our King." Sir Andrew gritted his teeth and spat out the words one by one.

He was a loyal subject of Stannis, and like Davos Seaworth, he believed in the Seven.

Judging by his appearance, he seemed ready to eat the red priestess alive.

The Onion Knight's attitude was somewhat calmer: "You had best go to the dungeon to rest!"

Although he also wanted to kill this evil witch who whispered in the King's ear, he had to wait for an order from Queen Selyse.

Melisandre looked back at Selyse Florent, who was crying to the point of losing consciousness, and without waiting for the two Knights' subordinates to come forward to bind her, she followed them to the dungeon herself.

The Lord of Light still had plans for her; the red priestess was confident she would not die here.

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(End of this chapter)