Justice

The air in the hall had gone still.

Viserys's gaze darted between his eldest daughter, kneeling and pleading, and his second son.

His lips trembled as he struggled to speak, his words weak and confused. "Rhaenyra... I named you my heir... Why must you still ask me to personally..."

"But the realm has never truly accepted it, Father!" Rhaenyra's voice suddenly rose.

"Now the whole kingdom is whispering in the shadows, sullying my sons' blood with the most vicious rumors!"

"Now that Jae has lost an eye, those hyenas will only howl more brazenly. How can a One-Eye rule the Seven Kingdoms in the future?!"

She shuffled forward on her knees, her gaze blazing. "Father, I want you to do it now!"

"I want you to give Jacaerys a guarantee no one would dare question! He is the undisputed heir."

"The line of succession must also place him ahead of Aegon and Aemond!"

"Your Majesty!" Lord Hand Otto could no longer stand by. He stepped forward, his manner urgent as he tried to turn the tide before it swept them all away.

"We all feel for Prince Jacaerys and his injury, but the succession of the kingdom affects the entire Seven Kingdoms. How can it be decided in haste, under the sway of grief and anger?"

"What's more, Prince Aemond's guilt has yet to be fairly judged!"

He tried to rein in the runaway situation.

"Judgment? A thorough investigation?" Prince Daemon scoffed, speaking with derision. "My dear Hand, how do you intend to be fair?"

"Do you plan to put our children on the rack?"

"Or drag this out for months, hoping to make a mountain out of a molehill?"

"Daemon!" Viserys weakly rebuked him.

"I've made myself perfectly clear, brother," Daemon said, refusing to back down. "Tonight, your eldest grandson, a possible future heir to the Iron Throne, lost an eye."

"Your eldest daughter, the heir to the kingdom you named yourself, is kneeling here, begging you to give her son a secure future with his blood and tears."

"And you..." He drew out the words.

"Are still... hesitating?"

"I... am not..." Viserys's words were cut off by a wrenching bout of coughing. He doubled over.

Aemond merely watched with cold eyes.

His father's weakness and evasion, his sister turning an eye into a bargaining chip, his grandfather Otto weighing his options, Daemon's blatant instigation, his mother Alicent's despair...

His gaze slowly swept over every face in the hall: greed, fear, hypocrisy, anger, and callous indifference...

At last, he let out a quiet laugh.

It was soft, yet all the noise, arguments, and weeping abruptly ceased.

Everyone's eyes were drawn, almost against their will, to the silver-haired boy.

"So," Aemond began, his voice frighteningly calm.

"This is the price you want?"

Aemond suddenly turned to Lucerys, who had long since gone deathly pale, and spoke with biting sharpness. "And you! Lucerys Velaryon! You spineless little thief!"

"You held the dagger in your hand. You were the one who drove that thing into your own brother's eye socket!"

"And now you don't even dare stand tall and admit what you did?!"

"You spineless coward. You dare do it, but you don't dare own up to it?"

Lucerys reeled as if struck. His body, already trembling with guilt, lurched.

He stumbled backward, nearly collapsing, unable to meet Aemond's searing violet gaze.

"Prince Aemond!" Princess Rhaenyra shouted, trying to stop him.

"I've already shown you enough mercy! I haven't even held you accountable!"

"Mercy? Sister?"

Aemond looked as if he'd just heard the most ridiculous joke in the world. Flames roared in his eyes, threatening to blaze out and burn away every last shred of his reason.

"You accuse me of murder with no proof?"

"But, sister, your high-and-mighty act, as if you're trying to grant me some favor, makes me sick..."

Aemond stepped forward. "I am responsible."

He pointed at the trembling Lucerys.

"But isn't he responsible at all?"

The Blacks fell silent.

Aemond's aggressive tone suddenly softened. "One eye... is that enough to determine the future of an entire kingdom?"

He paused and looked around at everyone.

"That's a fair trade."

Before the words had even left his mouth, Aemond sprang up like a leopard!

His target wasn't his lofty sister, but the waist of the nearest Kingsguard, who had let his guard down for a moment!

"Clang!"

Metal scraped sharply.

A flash of cold light, and the short dagger belonging to the Kingsguard was firmly in Aemond's grip.

It had all happened in a heartbeat. No one had time to cry out; they could only stare wide-eyed at the mad scene.

"Isn't this what you've all been demanding, over and over—that I take responsibility?!"

Aemond roared, his voice twisted by fury. Without hesitation, he pressed the cold, sharp blade hard beneath his left eye.

"Then I'll do as you wish!"

"I'll take responsibility!"

"An eye for an eye! Blood for blood!"

"Aemond! No! My child!!!" Queen Alicent screamed, her voice unbearably shrill.

The color drained from Rhaenyra, Daemon, Corlys, and every noble present, leaving only shock and disbelief.

They had expected the stubborn boy to resist, argue, or even cry.

But they had never imagined he would strike back so brutally, with such reckless self-destruction!

King Viserys jolted as if struck by an invisible hammer. He lurched to his feet, then fell helplessly back onto the throne.

Stunned by his son's actions, he could only gasp, "Hh... hh..." and couldn't manage a single word.

Just as the blade's tip was about to pierce his eyeball, just as another irreparable tragedy was about to unfold—

"Stop! Aemond! I'm begging you... please..."

Queen Alicent fell to her knees on the cold stone floor, crying out in utter anguish.

His mother's nearly bloodcurdling wail struck Aemond deep in the heart.

The wrist holding the dagger beneath his eye faltered.

In that instant,

several Kingsguard who had reacted in time pounced like tigers, rushing him from every direction!

They pinned down his arms and shoulders, using all their strength to wrest away the dangerous dagger. It clattered across the floor, thrown far away.

Then they forced Aemond down onto the floor and held him there.

"Whew..." The Kingsguard whose dagger had been taken had already soaked his back in cold sweat, shaken by how close it had been.

If the prince had injured himself—or even died—the consequences for him were all too easy to imagine.

"Mm!" Held firmly down by several burly Kingsguard, Aemond lay with his face against the cold floor, his mouth stuffed with torn strips of his white cloak.

The Kingsguard were afraid the prince might bite his own tongue.

All Aemond could manage was an enraged, trapped-animal whimper.

But his violet eyes remained fixed on the throne, staring at his biased father. The flames burning in them had not gone out in the slightest.

Viserys looked at his second son, pinned to the floor yet still fighting, and felt only exhaustion and a headache.

The shock and trouble this son brought were even more intense than those caused by his troublesome brother Daemon!

"G-get his mouth stuffed!" the king ordered irritably with a wave of his hand, his voice laced with frustration.

The cloth was stuffed farther in. All Aemond could do was glare as muffled growls of fury and resentment filled the hall.

Queen Alicent slumped to the floor, her heart breaking as she watched her son being handled so roughly.

Yet relief welled up alongside her anguish, easing her just a little. At least the worst hadn't happened.

An awkward, suffocating silence settled over the whole hall.

It seemed they had reached a dead end. Eyes, accusations, defenses, succession, madness, an eye for an eye...

All their troubles had become a tangled knot, impossible to unravel.

It seemed there was no way to bring things to a proper end today...