Inside the great hall, the air had frozen solid.
Viserys's gaze wavered back and forth between his eldest daughter, kneeling and pleading, and his second son.
His lips trembled, the words that spilled out weak and disordered. "Rhaenyra… I have already named you… why must you still force me to…"
"But the realm has never truly accepted it, Father!" Rhaenyra's voice rose sharply.
"Now the entire kingdom whispers in the shadows, smearing my sons' bloodlines with the vilest rumors!"
"And now Prince Jacaerys has lost an eye—those hyenas will only howl more brazenly! A one-eyed man… how is he to rule the Seven Kingdoms in the future?!"
She crawled forward on her knees a step, her gaze burning. "Father, I ask you—now!"
"Give Jacaerys a guarantee that no one would dare question!"
"He is the undisputed heir."
"And the line of succession must be placed above Aegon and Aemond!"
"Your Grace!" Otto could finally remain silent no longer. He stepped forward, urgency in his voice, trying to rein in a situation on the brink of collapse.
"Prince Jacaerys's injury pains us all, but the order of succession concerns the fate of the entire Seven Kingdoms. How can it be decided hastily under the weight of grief and fury?"
"Moreover, whether Prince Aemond truly bears guilt has yet to receive a just judgment!"
He attempted to pull the runaway situation back under control.
"Judgment? A thorough inquiry?" Daemon let out a snort of laughter, his tone laced with mockery. "My dear Hand, how exactly do you intend to be just?"
"Do you mean to put our children to the question?"
"Or are you planning to drag this out for months, to make a great matter small?"
"Daemon!" Viserys let out a weak, angry rebuke.
"I have made myself clear enough, brother," Daemon said, giving not an inch. "Tonight, your eldest grandson— a possible future heir to the Iron Throne—has been blinded."
"Your eldest daughter, the heir you yourself named to the realm, is kneeling here, using her son's blood and tears to beg you to give him a certain future."
"And you…" he drew out the word.
"Are still hesitating?"
"I… am not…" Viserys's words were completely cut off by a bout of racking coughs, and he bent forward, hunched over.
Aemond merely watched coldly.
His father's frailty and evasion, his sister turning an eye into a bargaining chip, his grandsire Otto's calculations, Daemon's undisguised fanning of the flames, his mother Alicent's despair…
His gaze slowly swept across every face in the hall—greed, fear, hypocrisy, anger, and the cold indifference of those untouched by the matter.
At last, he let out a low laugh.
The sound was soft, yet it made all the clamor, arguing, and weeping come to an abrupt halt.
Everyone's eyes were drawn, unwillingly, to the silver-haired youth.
"So," Aemond spoke, his voice terrifyingly calm.
"Is this the price you want?"
Aemond suddenly turned his gaze on the already deathly pale Lucerys, his tone turning sharp. "And you! Lucerys Velaryon! You boneless little thief!"
"It was your hand that held the dagger. It was you who drove that thing into your own brother's eye socket!"
"And now you do not even dare to straighten your spine and admit what you did?!"
"You spineless wretch—daring to do it, but not daring to own it?"
Lucerys was struck as if by a heavy blow. His body, already trembling with guilt, lurched violently.
He staggered backward, nearly collapsing, unable to meet Aemond's searing violet gaze.
"Aemond!" Princess Rhaenyra shouted sharply, cutting him off.
"I have already shown you enough mercy! I did not pursue your responsibility!"
"Mercy? Sister?"
Aemond seemed to hear the most absurd joke in the world. The flames in his eyes flared violently, nearly bursting forth, threatening to burn away what little reason he still possessed.
"You accuse me with a baseless charge of murder?"
"But, sister—your lofty manner, as if you were deigning to grant me charity, truly makes me sick…"
Aemond stepped forward. "I bear responsibility."
He pointed at the trembling Lucerys.
"But does he bear no responsibility at all?"
Silence fell over the Blacks.
The previously aggressive Aemond suddenly lowered his voice. "One eye… can be exchanged for the future ownership of the entire kingdom?"
He paused, sweeping his gaze across the crowd.
"That is a very profitable bargain."
Before the words had even faded, Aemond's body burst into motion like a hunting leopard!
His target was not his lofty sister, but the waist of the Kingsguard nearest to him, caught off guard for an instant!
Clang!
A sharp screech of metal scraping against metal.
A flash of cold light— the short dagger that belonged to the Kingsguard was already clenched firmly in Aemond's hand.
Everything happened in the span of a single breath. No one had time to cry out; they could only stare wide-eyed at this mad scene unfolding before them.
"Were you not all clamoring for me to take responsibility?!"
Aemond roared, his voice warped by extreme fury. Without the slightest hesitation, he pressed the icy, razor-sharp blade hard beneath his left eye socket.
"Then I will grant you your wish!"
"I will bear it!"
"An eye for an eye! Blood for blood!"
"Aemond! No! My child!!!" Alicent let out a scream of utter agony.
Rhaenyra, Daemon, Corlys—indeed, every noble present—drained of all color in an instant, left with nothing but shock and disbelief.
They had imagined this stubborn boy's resistance, his arguments, even his tears.
They had never imagined something so brutal, so utterly reckless—such a self-destructive counterstrike!
Viserys was struck as if by an invisible hammer. His entire body shook violently; he lurched to his feet from the Iron Throne, only to collapse back into it, powerless.
He was stunned by his son's action. From his throat came only ragged "hh… hh…" gasps, not a single word able to form.
Just as the dagger's tip was about to pierce the eyeball, about to give rise to yet another irreparable tragedy—
"Stop! Aemond! I beg you… I beg you…"
Alicent fell to her knees on the cold stone floor, her heart breaking as she cried out.
His mother's almost blood-weeping wail slammed straight into Aemond's heart.
The wrist pressed beneath his eye socket faltered, just slightly.
In that instant—
Several Kingsguard who had reacted charged like fierce tigers, lunging from multiple directions at once!
They clamped down hard on Aemond's arms and shoulders, using all their strength to wrench the dangerous dagger away. With a loud clang, it was flung far aside.
Then they forced Aemond down, pinning him brutally to the ground.
"Hah…" The Kingsguard whose dagger had been seized was already soaked through with cold sweat along his back, dread lingering in his heart.
If the prince had truly mutilated himself—or even died—the fate awaiting him was easy to imagine.
"Mm!" Aemond was held fast by several burly Kingsguard, his face pressed against the icy floor. His mouth was stuffed full with strips torn from a white cloak, ripped apart.
The guards feared the prince might bite off his own tongue.
Aemond could only give voice to muffled, beast-like sounds of rage.
Yet those violet eyes still glared fiercely toward the seats above, staring at his biased father. The fire burning within them had not dimmed in the slightest.
Viserys looked at his second son, subdued on the floor yet still struggling, and felt only exhaustion and a pounding headache.
The shock and trouble this son brought him were, astonishingly, even fiercer than those caused by his troublesome brother Daemon.
"Ga—gag him properly!" the king waved his hand irritably as he gave the order, his voice thick with frustration.
The rough cloth was stuffed in deeper. Before Aemond's eyes remained only stifled roars and unyielding resentment.
Alicent collapsed weakly to the floor, watching her son treated so roughly, her heart cut to the bone.
Yet another thread of relief allowed her to breathe a little easier—at least, the worst outcome had not come to pass.
An ugly, suffocating silence settled over the entire great hall.
The matter seemed to have reached a dead end—eyes, accusations, defenses, succession, madness, an eye for an eye…
All troubles had tangled together into an inextricable knot.
It seemed that today, there would be no clean ending after all…
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