Game of Thrones: Dance of the Dragons

In 103 AC, Jaehaerys I, the fourth king of the Targaryen family and King of the Old Ones, died.

His throne was passed to Viserys, the eldest son of the previous heir to the throne, a weak-willed male, through a popular election in the Seven Kingdoms.

Now, the fifth king of House Targaryen faces the same choice.

……

AC111.

Early morning, Old Town, Church of the Seven Gods.

"Great God, please forgive this devout believer with your compassionate heart and pardon his sins!"

As he spoke, the archbishop closed the Seven Sacred Books in his hand, took a cup from the plate held by a nun, and poured all the morning dew into it onto the head of the boy with long, golden and silver hair in front of him.

"Thank you for the blessings of the Seven Gods." There was no joy in the boy's voice, only a low, as usual, thanks.

His name was Baelor Targaryen, the fifth king of Westeros, the master of the Iron Throne, and the eldest son of Viserys Targaryen I.

At the moment of his birth, his mother and Queen Emma Erin died during a cesarean section, leaving him, the newborn eldest son, in a state of semi-consciousness, like a living dead for many years.

In an effort to save his heir, King Viserys urgently summoned the maesters, but despite trying every possible method, they were unable to restore the prince to normal.

Finally, the Archbishop of the Seven Gods himself came and, after a mysterious prayer, confirmed that the prince was cursed by God and must immediately leave King's Landing to atone for his sins at the Cathedral of the Seven Gods in order to have any chance of regaining his senses.

King Viserys, of course, did not believe such a foolish thing. But his long-awaited eldest son remained in a coma and would die sooner or later.

With no other option, the king sent his eldest son, who was not yet a month old, to the old town. Under the ritual performed by a group of Seven Gods cultists, the eldest son actually woke up.

So the king believed that his eldest son was cursed by the gods, and he asked the seven gods to name him Bele. He kept him in the old town and only sent people occasionally to inquire about his condition, not daring to disturb his son's atonement too much.

……

……

After the morning penance was completed, Baelor Targaryen, with the help of Maester Orville, returned to the church where he had made his penance.

"Scholar Orville, do you really think that the reason I woke up back then was because I was cursed by God?" Baylor slowly turned his head, his dark circles revealing an undisguised killing intent.

As a Grand Secretary personally promoted by Prince Beile and also his confidant, Scholar Euville dared not conceal anything. After avoiding the eyes and ears of the Hightoar family, he slowly shook his head.

"As expected, my current state is inextricably linked to the Hightar family." Baylor laughed without any surprise.

Because everything was just too coincidental.

Coincidentally, three months after he was sent to the old town, Otto Hightoar's daughter, Allison, became his queen.

Coincidentally, it was after Allison Hightower became queen that Baylor was awakened with the help of the Seven Gods.

Coincidentally, the Hightower family secretly intercepted Viserys's letters from King's Landing time and time again, and thoughtfully replied to them on his behalf.

"Prince, your most important task now is to take good care of your health," Maester Orville advised.

"I know," Baylor nodded.

More than wanting to return to King's Landing quickly, Baelor has been bothered lately by his restless sleep.

He didn't know when it started, but he kept dreaming of strange fragments, including war and trade, but most of them involved a giant dragon that was so huge that it was unimaginable.

It spewed green dragon flames, devoured the corpses of its own kind, and finally swallowed itself whole as an observer...

"Maester Orville, tell me, what's the situation in King's Landing right now?" Baylor patted his head and then asked.

Despite his daily penances to the Seven in Oldtown, he actually possesses intelligence on King's Landing, the lords of various regions, and the war.

After a moment's thought, the scholar Orville summarized three things that were worth noting.

"First, the Battle of the Steps has broken out, and Prince Damon and the Valyrian fleet are fighting against the Three Kingdoms of Women."

"Secondly, Queen Alison and Otto Hightoar are uniting the dukes of the Seven Kingdoms in an attempt to make the king's second son, Aegon Targaryen, the heir to the kingdom."

Upon hearing about the succession dispute, Prince Baylor couldn't help but laugh. "What? I, the eldest son of the king, am not even dead yet, and you're already in such a hurry to put your own bloodline on the throne? You really think you've lived too long!"

Maester Orville clenched his fists in fear, a chill running down his spine.

He knew better than anyone that this seemingly frail, six-year-old eldest son of the king was not the "sleeping dragon" of legend at all.

Instead, he was a man who, at night, personally took a dagger and stabbed to death a glib-tongued Haitar, then cut off his head and threw it into the dense forest of the old town.

"Third, the king will hold a royal hunt in seven days."

After summarizing the intelligence, Maester Orville bowed his head respectfully and said, "Your Highness, this Kingsguard hunt will be a good opportunity for you to return to King's Landing."

Beller chuckled: "In that case, I'll trouble Scholar Orville to write two letters for me, telling my sister that her dear brother misses her and asking her to ride her dragon to Old Town."

"It is my honor, Your Highness." Orville slowly rose and left the Church of the Seven.

Soon, only Prince Baylor, kneeling before the seven statues, and the bells that rang every fifteen minutes remained in the church.

Beller clearly remembered that this was a gift given to him by Mond Hightower, the current head of the Hightower family, as a way to atone for his sins to the Seven Gods.

Haha, how thoughtful!

……

After the morning's penance, the nuns brought Prince Beller his lunch: a few slices of bread, an egg, some cooked vegetables, and half a smoked pork sausage—his simple meal.

Although it didn't have much flavor, it was still better than just bread and vegetables at first.

Beller consoled himself with this thought, then added the eggs, vegetables, and pork sausage to the bread and began to eat it slowly.

"Prince Baelor, it is a grave offense to eat meat before the Seven Gods, and it will shorten your already short lifespan," Mond Hightower said slowly as he walked through the gate, speaking with a caring yet cautionary tone.

"Scholar Orville examined my body and concluded that the prolonged lack of meat would affect my atonement to the Seven Gods. Therefore, he requested King's Landing to grant me a special allowance for some meat to eat."

Baylor calmly swallowed his food, then wiped his mouth and looked at Mond Hightower with an uncertain gaze.

"Or is it that, in the eyes of the Hightoar family, the life and health of a prince are far less important than atonement to the Seven Gods?"

As he spoke, Baylor paused deliberately for a moment, and said with great regret, "If that's the case, then I should write a letter to my father in King's Landing and ask him to rescind the order that I should eat meat."