Cadmus smiled at the king, but didn't say what he was thinking. Rhaegar might be thinking he was doing the right thing, but in his eyes, the man was creating a possible civil war within House Targaryen, which others could use to make the kingdom even more fragile than it was.
Could Prince Maekar try to rebel? Not at the moment, but with the right flatterers and ambition inflamed by anger and resentment, things could turn into something extremely bad in the future. Cadmus didn't think things would be peaceful.
Cadmus stopped thinking and watched the melee combat with curiosity and interest. All the knights were together in the arena, everyone against everyone. It was a chaotic fight with men fighting and defending with ferocity.
Of course, because of the plate armor, it was extremely difficult to injure the opponent, but experienced warriors tried to pierce the armor joints while the young ones tried to cut the enemy's armor with their swords.
The young knights, when they saw that it wasn't working, resolved things by throwing the opponent to the ground and starting a fistfight. The smart ones drew daggers and tried to attack the exposed parts of the opponent's armor.
"This is brutal." Cadmus commented upon seeing a young knight be stabbed with a dagger that pierced his neck. The eighteen or seventeen-year-old boy died drowning in his own blood; it was simply brutal and bloody.
"Tournaments are like that; I didn't want Maekar to participate, but the boy is more stubborn than an untamed horse." Rhaegar said with a sigh; there was a feeling of concern in his eyes. After all, he knew what tournaments were like and how many died.
Another young man had just died, but the opponent didn't leave unscathed, as there was a dagger in the armor joint in the armpit region. He staggered before fainting; some squires quickly pulled him out of the arena.
"I presume that most of these knights are second sons of noble houses." Cadmus asked in a calm tone. "What a waste of people; they are the height of the world's militarism; they are trained from childhood in war tactics and know how to ride a horse."
"Do you think I wanted this to happen?" Rhaegar asked in an imposing tone. "These second sons want fame, honor, and glory, but what they want most is lands and titles; they don't want to join my army and prefer to help their own noble houses."
Moving his Wand to create a silence field around them, a spell created by Snape, Cadmus looked at the king and said calmly. "I've cast a spell over us; even if we shout, no one will hear anything."
Rhaegar showed a surprised look and knew that Cadmus wanted to say something serious.
"Centralize the king's power, Your Grace." Cadmus said in a calm tone. "Take away the nobles' right to create and change laws within their own territory, take away their right to create an army, create schools, and promote commoners to important positions. There are many ways to centralize power."
Rhaegar was silent for a moment, before finally speaking. "My grandfather, Aegon V, tried to make reforms, giving a little power to the commoners; the following month, all the nobles were in King's Landing gently asking the king to reconsider. In the end, the reforms completely failed. The House Targaryen of the Age of Jaehaerys I no longer exists."
Of course, Rhaegar wanted to make reforms and decrease the power of the nobles, especially after Robert's Rebellion, mainly at this moment, where Great Noble Houses no longer accepted his orders. He saw how much power the nobles had, but he had no way to change that.
Even if it were only in the Crownlands, he had no way to do it or the support he had would completely disappear.
"In the end, a Targaryen without a dragon is not strong enough to subdue everyone." Rhaegar said with a tone full of helplessness, revealing thoughts he hadn't even spoken to his own wives or anyone.
"And if Your Grace had a dragon, would you burn your enemies or would you be like Jaehaerys I, wanting a status quo instead of a long war to pacify everything?" Cadmus asked in a solemn tone and continued speaking:
"If Jaehaerys had burned Oldtown, burned the enemies, burned the traitors, even if everything was fragmented, full of death and ashes, over time, everything would heal and a continent clean of 90% of the rebels would have disappeared; House Targaryen could create as many laws as they wanted and would have control over the entire continent."
Rhaegar showed a cold expression when he heard Cadmus's words; he felt a deep envy of Jaehaerys, who had House Targaryen at its peak; if he were in the Old King's place, he would have done what Cadmus had just said.
And Jaehaerys would have done the same if he knew the current situation House Targaryen was in. A fragmented world of House Targaryen was better than an intact world of some other Great Noble House.
"Unfortunately, I don't have a Dragon." Rhaegar said, sighing; there was a deep helplessness in his voice.
Cadmus didn't answer, but there was a satisfied smile on his lips. Rhaegar was more determined than he expected. This was good; the world needed a determined and cruel king in the future, not a pacifist and naive king.
While the two were talking, the fight in the arena continued.
Maekar used his shield to defend against the enemy's sword; when he blocked the attack, he advanced towards the opponent, knocking him to the ground. The young prince wasted no time and drew his dagger, plunging it without any hesitation into the enemy's neck.
The prince could see the knight's eyes widen; the fear and terror in his gaze made Maekar seriously wonder why this tournament was happening. To die was to never have hope; to die was to never have the chance to see those he loved again. Was dying for glory as important as he expected?
Maekar withdrew the dagger from the enemy's neck and breathed heavily; just one battle left him out of energy. He finally understood why Arthur always said to make the minimum effort possible in a battle, especially in a war.
Humans didn't have infinite energy, and when two men fought, they used all their strength to kill the enemy, so it was very common to get tired in just one exchange of blows. People who kill three or five men on the battlefield were the elite of the elite, a man who could fight against a crowd of twenty unarmed men without any problem.
Looking around, Maekar saw Arthur Dayne not far from him; the legendary swordsman was calm and didn't even look like he had fought. Which was not possible, given the five men lying on the ground around him. None were dead, as they gave up when they were defeated.
Maekar felt sincere admiration in his eyes; he was truly worthy of the best swordsman Westeros had ever seen. However, he noticed that Arthur was not looking at him, but at the man wearing golden and red armor, lions on both shoulders.
Jaime Lannister. Maekar recognized the man in an instant.
"Ser Arthur." Jaime greeted the man who taught him to train when he was still a Kingsguard; there was bitterness in his voice.
"It's been a while, Kingslayer." Arthur said in a calm tone; his blue, almost purple eyes stared at Jaime with an indifferent look.
Jaime's jaw clenched upon hearing his words, but he relaxed again. "The king dismissed me; he broke my vows." He said with a tone full of bitterness and pain. Being the first man to be expelled from the Kingsguard would be a stain he would carry for eternity.
"Tywin wanted peace, and for that, he asked for you in exchange for peace." Arthur said in a calm tone; he looked directly into Jaime's eyes and continued. "But that doesn't change the fact that you wanted to kill King Aerys."
"You know what he wanted to do." Jaime almost growled when he mentioned it.
"I would rather die than try to kill the man I promised to protect with my life." Arthur said in a calm tone. "Even being mad, he trusted us more than anyone in this world, but you still tried to kill him. There were other ways to stop him, but you chose to raise your sword to the man you swore to protect."
He didn't say that Jaime was wrong to stop the king; he said that Jaime was wrong to try to kill the king. Aerys was a weak and powerless old man; Jaime could have tried to arrest him and wait for the arrival of Prince Rhaegar.
But instead, he tried to kill Aerys. If it weren't for the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard arriving in time, the king would be dead and Jaime would be called Kingslayer from that day on.
Jaime smiled bitterly; he was young and thought he was doing everything for the kingdom, but seeing it now, Arthur was right. He could have locked the king in one of the rooms and waited for reinforcements or even the prince.
"I have no excuses for that; let's fight." Jaime said in a calm tone; he wielded his sword with both hands and entered a combat stance.
Arthur didn't seem surprised and drew his sword, the legendary sword Dawn, said to be made from a star, came out of the scabbard with a milky golden glow.
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Read my other books:
Game Of Thrones: The God-Emperor of Planetos (500,000 words written).
Percy Jackson: Godwyn the Golden.
Game Of Thrones: The King's Court Wizard