"Second," Rhaenys continued, seeming oblivious to the Queen's crumbling composure as she steadily pushed forward with her conditions.
"I wish for the younger generation to learn to coexist. They must understand the true meaning of family, duty, and honor."
Her gaze locked onto a figure among the Greens who had been feigning indifference to the proceedings.
"I ask that Prince Aegon remain on Driftmark to serve as a squire and ward for two years under my husband, Lord Corlys."
She gestured to the boy.
"Aegon will grow up alongside Jace and little Lucerys. They will eat at the same table, train in the same yard, and learn to respect one another. In this way, there will be no more ill words or bloodshed in the future."
Prince Aegon, who had been hiding behind the crowd, secretly rejoicing that the storm seemed to have bypassed him, instantly turned pale.
Everything that had erupted in the hall tonight, the accusations, the debates, the blood, the oaths, the betrothals, swirled in his mind.
Even as dense as Aegon was, he understood the danger.
The tension between the Blacks and the Greens had reached a breaking point.
If he went to Driftmark, he would not be a guest; he would be a hostage.
"No! I don't want to! Father! Mother! Grandfather!"
Aegon shrieked, losing all composure expected of the eldest son.
"They'll kill me!" he screamed, backing away.
"They'll definitely take the chance to kill me! I'm not going! I won't go even if it kills me!"
"Silence, Aegon! Do not speak such nonsense," Viserys barked, though his brow was deeply furrowed.
Even he could see that this request was excessive.
To take the Queen's eldest son as a ward immediately after her second son was maimed...
"No! Viserys! How can you be so partial! So cold!"
Queen Alicent cried out as if crushed by the final straw.
"I have already lost a daughter to their schemes! Are you going to take my eldest son from me as well and hand him over to them?"
"Are you even a father?!"
Extreme grief and rage caused the Queen to lose all reason.
Without warning, she violently pushed aside the handmaidens supporting her.
She rushed toward Rhaenyra, hands clawed, like a moth flying into a flame.
She wanted to strangle this woman.
This woman who threatened to gouge out her son's eye, who claimed her daughter for a bastard, who demanded her eldest son as a hostage, and who now stood there acting as if she were bestowing mercy!
"Alicent!!" Viserys stood up, a mixture of shock and anger on his face.
Everyone was stunned by the Queen's sudden, uncharacteristic outburst of madness.
Rhaenyra reacted quickly.
Just as Alicent reached her, hands aiming for her throat, Rhaenyra raised her own hands and firmly gripped Alicent's wrists.
The two women, once best friends, now mortal enemies, stood inches apart.
Their breath mingled, their gazes locking with venomous intensity.
"Have you had enough, Alicent!" Rhaenyra hissed through gritted teeth, tightening her grip on the older woman's trembling wrists.
"Me?! Am I the one being unreasonable?!"
Alicent's face was a mask of tears and fury, her heart breaking in her chest.
"My entire life! I have spent it meeting everyone's expectations of me! Playing the part of the submissive, obedient daughter! Playing the part of the virtuous and sensible Queen!"
Her voice cracked, raw with years of suppressed resentment.
"Always upholding the so-called stability of the realm, the harmony of the family, and those damned laws and traditions!"
She leaned in until her face was almost touching Rhaenyra's, her eyes filled with bone-deep hatred.
"And you! Rhaenyra Targaryen! You are always doing as you please! You act with total abandon! You ignore tradition! You trample upon the laws of the realm! You make all of Westeros pay the price for your selfishness! And yet... you always act like the victim! As if you are the one being wronged!"
"Let her go, Alicent!" Viserys stumbled down from the throne, shouting.
But Alicent's words were like a flood bursting through a dam, impossible to stop.
"Duty?! Sacrifice?! Family?! These pretty words you use to lecture others, have you lived up to them yourself?!"
"All your 'duty' and 'sacrifice' are nothing more than a means to satisfy your own desires! You hide behind your father's protection, enjoying every privilege while never paying the price!"
"And now, you've taken my Helaena, and you want to take my Aegon too! Even so, you stand there with that look of compassion, acting as if you're granting me forgiveness!"
"Rhaenyra... is your heart made of iron?!"
Rhaenyra held Alicent's wrists tightly, facing these accusations that were a mixture of painful truth and bitter prejudice.
A flash of unavoidable embarrassment and sharp pain crossed her pale face. It was the agonizing pain of having one's facade stripped away, exposing the ugliness within.
She looked at the beautiful face before her, a face she had once loved, a face she had shared countless secrets with, now twisted by hatred and tears.
A surge of resentment, mixed with an emotion she didn't want to admit even to herself, welled up in her heart.
She shoved Alicent away with a sudden burst of strength, causing the Queen to stumble back.
"Save your hypocritical performance, Alicent Hightower!"
Rhaenyra shook her head, tears shining in her own eyes.
"You're exhausted too, aren't you? Hiding behind that mask of righteousness?"
"You've always, always looked at me with that judgmental gaze of a mother! But I only have one mother, and that was Aemma Arryn..."
"You all blame me for not living according to tradition, for not following the path set for a 'good woman' or a 'good princess'! Your Hightower family has been secretly fueling those rumors about my sons... Do you think I don't know?!"
She took a deep breath, her chest heaving.
"At this point, which of us has clean hands? Who is more noble than the other?"
The handmaidens hurried forward to support Alicent, who was nearly unable to stand, her body trembling with rage and sorrow.
"Alicent..." Viserys reached out to support his wife's thin shoulders.
He wanted to say something, to comfort, to explain, to mediate, but he found all words to be hollow ash in his mouth.
Alicent looked up at him with eyes full of tears and slowly shook her head.
Her voice was soft, yet it pained Viserys more than any scream could.
"I hate you, Viserys..."
"I hate how partial you are. I hate how... weak you are."
King Viserys was struck as if by lightning. He staggered back.
Perhaps... perhaps from the very beginning, marrying Alicent had been a mistake.
He had craved her youth, her beauty, and her gentle comfort.
Yet in doing so, he had turned his daughter's best friend into his wife, and eventually, he had turned these two sisters into mortal enemies.
"Take the Queen..."
He turned away, unable to bear the despair in his wife's eyes. He waved his hand weakly.
"Take her to rest. Look after her well."
The handmaidens lifted Queen Alicent. She no longer resisted.
It was as if her soul had been drained away. Silently, she allowed them to lead her from the hall.
Viserys stood dejectedly, watching the darkness where his wife had disappeared.
A wave of intense self-loathing washed over him.
He loathed his own indecisiveness. He loathed his inability to settle the conflict.
And most of all, he loathed himself, a King who was forever pushed, pulled, and forced into making decisions he never wanted to make.
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