At that moment, the maidservant's eyes lit up.
It worked! The prince had noticed her!
She suppressed her delight, lowered her eyes, and put on a shy yet respectful expression.
"My name is Elise Hightower, Your Highness."
She deliberately placed a slight emphasis on the name Hightower.
"My father is Ser Rodrik Hightower, the younger brother of Lord Hand Otto. He currently serves as captain of the harbor guard in Oldtown."
"My mother is Daisy Florent, of House Florent of Brightwater Keep..."
But the cold voice cut her off.
"I asked what your name was."
"I didn't ask about your parents."
"Are you reciting a menu for me?"
"Or do you think this is amusing?"
The cold words left her a little surprised. According to the scene she had imagined,
the prince should have shown interest next and asked about her family. She could then mention that she had grown up listening to stories about the Targaryens and admired them greatly.
Aemond looked at his mother, Alicent.
Alicent shook her head.
These distant branches of noble houses...
"Enough." Aemond didn't want to talk any further with this clever-by-half girl.
"Put the pudding down, then leave."
The smile on Elise's face froze. She parted her lips, the watery sheen in her blue eyes now giving way to genuine shock and humiliation.
She couldn't believe that the carefully planned encounter had ended in such casual indifference.
In the end, Elise bit her lower lip, carefully set the dessert plate in the middle of the dining table, curtsied with flawless precision, and silently left the dining room.
After the door closed, Alicent sighed deeply and rubbed her temples.
"Rodrik's daughter... She came to King's Landing with her family's merchant caravan half a month ago."
"Lord Hightower said the girl was clever and quick-witted, worth cultivating, and hoped she could come to the Red Keep and see the world."
"I'd planned to have her serve as an ordinary maid by my side and observe her for a while."
She sighed at the scheming girl from a noble family.
After Alicent had successfully become queen, it was only natural that the distant branches of House Hightower saw a chance to rise above their station.
But Alicent had never expressed any affection for the king. It was Viserys who had asked her family for her hand.
She had once objected, too, but her father, Otto, had made arrangements for her.
And Elise clearly wanted to follow in Alicent's footsteps: become a maid to a member of the royal family, win favor with her beauty and cunning, and eventually rise into...
"Fool," Aemond said.
"But she really is beautiful," Helaena murmured.
Aemond looked at Helaena. There was no jealousy in her voice.
A complicated feeling rose in his heart, along with a kind of loss he couldn't put into words.
Just then, a rustling sound came from the corner of the room.
Helaena heard it first. She turned toward the sound, her violet eyes fixed on the corner between the cabinet and the wall.
"What's that noise?"
The sound came again, clearer this time: a rapid scratching, like sharp nails scraping wood, accompanied by a faint squeaking.
Helaena's eyes widened. She gripped her spoon and leaned forward slightly.
The next moment, a fat gray rat darted out of the shadows!
It was about the size of a palm, with greasy fur and a long, thin tail. Its bead-sized eyes glinted in the light.
It raced across the floor, so quickly that it was only a gray blur, then darted beneath the tablecloth beside Helaena's chair and disappeared.
"Ah!" Helaena gave a brief scream and hurriedly climbed onto her chair.
She moved too quickly and knocked over the crystal goblet beside the table.
"Crash!"
The goblet rolled onto the floor and shattered. Clear water splashed everywhere.
Alicent was startled, too, but quickly regained her composure and rose to put an arm around her trembling daughter.
The girl had been afraid of things like mice and spiders since she was little.
"It's all right, Helaena. It was only a rat. It's gone now." Alicent soothed her daughter, gently patting her back.
Then the queen knitted her brows and turned toward the door, her voice suddenly turning cold. "Guards!"
The door swung open at once. Elise entered first, followed hurriedly by two other maids.
"Your Majesty?" Elise's voice was still sweet. Her eyes quickly swept over the table, paused for a moment on Aemond, then darted away.
"There was a rat in the dining room?" Alicent said coldly.
"This is the queen's residence! This is where House Targaryen takes its meals!"
"How do you clean and keep watch around here?"
The noblewomen serving as maids all looked stricken and dropped to their knees together. The oldest maid spoke up with a trembling voice:
"Your Majesty, please forgive us! We wipe the floors every day with lavender and mint water, and scatter wormwood in the corners to repel rats..."
"We don't know, we don't know how that rat..."
"You don't know?" Alicent cut her off, holding back her anger. "That's your explanation? You don't know?"
"What if it had been a venomous snake that appeared today?"
"What if the rat had bitten Princess Helaena? Can you shirk your responsibility with a simple 'we don't know'?"
The maids stayed prostrate on the floor, not daring to look up.
Aemond watched in silence. His expression had shifted subtly the moment he heard the word rat.
His violet eyes narrowed slightly, dark currents stirring within them.
Rats...
Filthy things that lived in the shadows...
But sometimes, the filthiest things were the ones best suited to doing the filthiest deeds.
Two names surfaced in his memory, accompanied by the stench of blood and rot:
"Blood and Cheese."
That remarkable "a son for a son."
Aemond turned his gaze to Helaena.
Because Aemond had struck first and murdered his kin, she had been dragged into the abyss of blood relatives killing one another.
She had watched helplessly as her child was brutally murdered, suffered a complete mental collapse, and eventually leapt from the tower of Maegor's Hold...
Her life shouldn't have been like that.
"Aemond?" Alicent noticed her son's unusual silence.
She released Helaena and looked at her younger son with concern.
"What's wrong? You look so pale... Are you feeling unwell?"
Aemond came back to himself. He drew a deep breath and pulled away from that dark future.
"It's nothing," he said.
"I just think... the Red Keep's sanitation needs a thorough overhaul."
"If rats can get into the dining room of Maegor's Hold, they can get anywhere."
"Your father's study, your bedchamber, Helaena's room..."
He paused.
"This is no small matter."
Just then, the dining room door opened.
A middle-aged man entered, around fifty years old. He was somewhat plump but sturdy, and wore a dark brown uniform of finely woven wool. The three-headed dragon of House Targaryen was pinned to his chest.
He had a kind face, neatly combed gray hair, and a short, well-trimmed beard.
"Your Majesty, Your Highness, Princess." The man bowed. His manner was respectful but not servile, the composure of someone who had served the royal family for many years.
"I am Gyles Rosby. I heard the commotion and came to see what had happened."
"Lord Gyles." Alicent nodded to the steward, her tone easing slightly.
Gyles Rosby.
A younger son of House Rosby in the Crownlands, he had been appointed Master of the Royal Household after Viserys I ascended the throne, and had served the royal family for many years.
He was known for his loyalty, efficiency, and meticulousness. He kept the Red Keep's daily affairs in good order and had earned the king's trust.
"A rat appeared in the dining room and frightened Helaena," Alicent said.
Gyles Rosby's brows immediately drew together.
He crouched to inspect the shadowy corner, then went over to examine the curtain.
When he stood up, his expression was grave.
"Your Majesty, this is an unforgivable oversight."
He spoke gravely, then turned to the maids kneeling on the floor.
"Go and notify the Kitchen Steward and the Head Servant at once. I want to see them within the hour."
"Before dawn tomorrow, every corner of Maegor's Hold—I mean every single corner—"
"must be thoroughly cleaned. Double-layered iron rat screens must be installed at every food storage area, and fresh repellent powder spread in the corners."
He added, "Also, send for the rat catchers."
"Find the best rat catchers in King's Landing. I want them to thoroughly inspect the Red Keep's sewers and secret passages for nests."
"Secret passages?" Aemond suddenly interrupted the steward.
Everyone looked at him.
Aemond stood up.
"Lord Gyles," Aemond asked,
"you've overseen the affairs of the Red Keep for many years. I assume you know something about its secret passages?"
Seeing that the prince was asking him, Gyles explained:
"Your Highness, I don't know those passages very well, either. They twist and turn."
"The rat catchers have served the Red Keep for generations. They know those passages very well."
Aemond knew that the Red Keep's secret passages had been built by Maegor the Cruel, but after they were finished, Maegor had executed all the craftsmen.
But since King Maegor's death, no one had bothered to learn about the passages, apart from the rat catchers who needed to use them.
The Targaryen royal family really did have a lot of faith in people—or else they simply didn't care. They were ignoring such a huge risk.
Aemond asked, "I wanted to ask whether, among those rat catchers, there were two men nicknamed Blood and Cheese."
Gyles froze for a moment, lost in thought.
The dining room fell silent. Alicent watched her son in confusion.
After a moment, Gyles hesitantly spoke:
"Blood and Cheese... Those nicknames do sound a little familiar."
"Ah, yes. About four or five years ago, there were indeed two men who handled rat-catching in the Red Keep's dungeons and sewers."
"I heard they were quite skilled. No matter how cunning the rats, they couldn't escape their traps."
He thought for a moment, then continued. "But their reputations... weren't very good. Some guards said that, besides catching rats, they occasionally stole royal property."
"At the time, I thought the two had sticky fingers, but I had no proof, so I found an excuse to dismiss them."
"Later, I heard they were scraping by around Flea Bottom."
Gyles looked at Aemond, a questioning look in his eyes. "Why are you suddenly asking about these two men, Your Highness?"
"They're both lowborn scum with filthy reputations. They're not worth your attention."
Aemond didn't answer directly. He turned and walked back to the dining table, gently patting his sister's shoulder as he passed Helaena.
The simple gesture made Helaena tremble slightly—not with fear, but with an emotion she couldn't quite explain.
She raised her eyes to meet her younger brother's gaze. Deep in those violet eyes, she seemed to see what was on his mind...
Was he worried about her?
"I just heard some people say they were the best at their trade," Aemond said as he sat down again.
"Since the Red Keep needs a thorough rat-control effort, we should naturally find the best. Don't you agree, Lord Gyles?"
Gyles looked troubled.
"Your Highness, those two live in the roughest part of Flea Bottom, where all sorts of people rub shoulders. It may take some effort to find them."
"And even if we do, is it appropriate to let them into the Red Keep? Their backgrounds are... questionable."
"I'll have Ser Cole accompany you," Aemond said, leaving no room for argument.
"He's familiar with them, and knows how to deal with... people like that."
The steward hesitated for a moment, but finally bowed and accepted the order. "As you command, Your Highness. I'll make the arrangements at once."
He left the dining room, glancing at the maids kneeling on the floor and signaling for them to withdraw as well.
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