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Burn the current king and put himself on the Iron Throne?
Was she out of her mind?
When Onyxia dropped that suggestion, Leo almost actually considered it for a second.
After all, Aegon the Conqueror had used his dragons—the ultimate "nuclear option"—to make every king and lord in Westeros kneel and sing his praises.
Right now, in this entire Game of Thrones world, Leo was the only one who had a dragon.
And not just any dragon—Onyxia was the Black Dragon Princess. She could talk, she had magic, and she was insanely powerful.
If she was willing to work with him, conquering Westeros and claiming the Iron Throne wouldn't be that hard.
That had been Leo's long-term plan all along.
But!
Just like Benjen Stark told Tyrion back at the Wall: everything before the word "but" is bullshit!
There was no way Leo could accept Onyxia's proposal right now.
She was only saying it to knock out one of the three favors as fast as possible. She wasn't actually thinking about what was best for him.
If he got excited and agreed, he'd be a complete idiot.
He was a complete outsider here. No army. No loyal nobles. No support from the smallfolk. What the hell gave him the right to be king?
Just one dragon?
Even if he used the dragon to force most people to submit, it wouldn't mean shit.
Nobody would genuinely accept him. He'd just become public enemy number one.
And once Onyxia finished her three favors and the contract ended… then what?
Without the dragon, he'd be nothing.
To actually sit on the Iron Throne and stay there, he needed a solid base of loyal followers. Otherwise his rule would be a house of cards that would collapse the second the wind blew.
Besides, taking the Iron Throne and becoming King of the Seven Kingdoms was only step one.
His real enemies were the Night King and the Army of the Dead waiting beyond the Wall.
If he seized power through pure violence and fear, the entire realm would only pretend to follow him. When the White Walkers came, what army would he have to fight them with?
If Leo really wanted to rule, he needed to build up his own power base first. Wait for the War of the Five Kings to kick off, establish a real foundation, and only then reveal the dragon card. That was the only way people would truly accept him as king.
Onyxia's suggestion right now was straight-up suicide.
It was a joke that would push him straight into the abyss.
Or maybe—even after everything—Onyxia still couldn't forgive what he'd done to her in the game and was deliberately trying to screw him over with this terrible idea?
Leo's head was spinning. Looks like patching things up with Onyxia was still going to be a long road.
"Look…" Leo chose his words carefully. "Catriona… I want to formally apologize for everything I did to you before."
"What?" Onyxia sounded stunned, like she couldn't believe what she'd just heard.
"I said, I'm formally apologizing." Leo repeated it slowly and clearly. "Even though… to me, all those times I killed you were just part of a game… for you, it was real pain and humiliation. So… I'm sorry."
His apology was completely sincere—both in tone and from the heart.
Put yourself in her shoes. Anyone who got killed over and over again, then had their head chopped off and mounted in a public square as a trophy… of course they'd be carrying around massive resentment.
It might have been just a game back then, but now that Onyxia was standing here in the flesh, Leo couldn't just shrug it off.
Whether it was for his own future or basic respect for someone who was basically his partner now, Leo genuinely wanted to make peace with her.
His heartfelt apology was met with long silence.
Leo had no idea what Onyxia was feeling, so he just waited quietly for her response.
After a while, her voice came through the system again. Not the usual roaring anger—this time it was sharp and accusing.
"You filthy, scheming humans! Lying and using people is all you ever do! I saw plenty of it back in Stormwind!"
"An apology? Hmph… save it. I don't need your fake sincerity!"
"Remember this—we only have a simple contract between us! Once I finish the three favors, we're done. No more ties!"
She vented for a bit, then went quiet again. But she didn't end the connection.
A few moments later, her voice returned. This time it was smaller, a little awkward…
"To… to make sure you don't get yourself killed before the contract is finished… I've decided to be merciful and help you out a little. You… you just stay in King's Landing and wait for me. I still have some things to take care of here…"
By the end her voice had gotten really quiet, and the tone was one Leo recognized all too well.
It was classic tsundere.
Leo felt a huge wave of relief.
Sincerity really was the ultimate killer move!
Onyxia had clearly accepted his apology deep down, but she refused to admit it out loud. She had to keep acting cold, disgusted, even hateful.
Otherwise she wouldn't have volunteered that last part—telling him to wait for her to come back and offering to help.
In his head, Leo could perfectly picture her making that stubborn, pouty face like the tsundere girls in anime.
And then he remembered what she looked like in human form—that stunning black-haired beauty with the onee-san vibe.
Tsundere + elegant older-sister type?
Just imagining Onyxia's gorgeous looks combined with that icy, prideful, secretly soft personality made Leo want to grin.
Who would've thought the famous Black Dragon Princess had this side to her?
He wanted to laugh, but he forced it down. Laughing right now would ruin everything.
Still… with transmigration and game systems being real, maybe Onyxia wasn't exactly the same as the giant dragon boss from the game anymore either.
"Hey! Did you hear me?" Onyxia snapped when he stayed quiet too long.
Leo quickly answered and asked what she was actually doing in Essos. Since they were both outsiders, what business did she have to handle there? Did she need his help?
"None of your damn business!" came her irritated reply. "Just stay put in King's Landing and wait like I told you!"
"Sorry, but that's not gonna work," Leo said firmly. He'd apologized, but he wasn't going to roll over for everything.
"After what just happened, I realized my so-called 'crew' is basically worthless. So I'm planning to cross the Narrow Sea and head to Essos."
"I'm going to build myself a real army."
This was something Leo had thought through carefully.
He planned to follow Daenerys's path and buy some Unsullied in Astapor.
The Unsullied were Essos's specialty—slave soldiers castrated young and trained through brutal discipline until they became perfectly obedient and fearless in battle.
With zero background or power base in this world, building a loyal, high-quality army like that was his best short-term option.
"You're coming to Essos?"
Onyxia's voice rose slightly in surprise.
"Good. Then I'll wait for you here. I'm already in Essos right now."