Hand Over the Dragon Egg!

Everyone wanted to get a close look at the Dragon Egg, but everyone behaved very restrainedly. After taking a quick look, they would turn around and leave to make room for the people behind them, and even politely give way to each other.

Queen Selyse was almost the first to be surrounded and admired, though it wasn't obvious, Jon could tell she really wanted to take the Dragon Egg back to King's Landing's Landing to Stannis.

And Melisandre might even have a way to hatch Dragon Egg fossils.

At least it was a method she thought was worth trying.

"If Stannis hatches the dragons, then the Baratheon will truly be the chosen ones." They will overthrow the Targaryen, inherit the Iron Throne and the dragons, and starting at least another three-hundred-year dynasty will not be a problem.

Following Selyse was Catelyn, accompanied by Sansa, Arya, and Rickon, with Myrcella pushing Bran's chair close behind.

Sure enough, taking advantage of this lull, a pair of prominent ears walked towards Jon; it was Colin Florent.

"Congratulations to His Majesty the Duke and Miss Margaery on their marriage."

Thank you, Sir.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Colin couldn't wait to reveal his true purpose. He glanced at the Dragon Egg and said rather cryptically, "If His Majesty could also obtain such a Dragon Egg, I think he would be very happy."

"If Your Majesty likes it, I may present it to Your Majesty," Margaery said quite naturally.

In her view, while the Dragon Egg were beautiful, it would be better if they could be exchanged for truly useful political leverage.

"Really, Miss Margaery?" Colin asked in surprise.

Colin was surprised that things went so smoothly. He had thought Jon would agree and Tyrell would refuse, but now that Margaery was being so cooperative, Jon would naturally be no problem.

"No!" Jon said in a deep voice, coldly refusing.

"Your Grace?" Colin asked, his face full of confusion.

"I gained His Majesty's favor through the swords in my hand, through the heads and blood of my enemies, not by offering my new wife's dowry to curry favor."

"Jon! You!" Colin was clearly furious, thinking the man before him was utterly ungrateful. "Don't forget how you got your dukedom!"

"Is it a problem that it was bought with the heads of Joffrey and Tywin?" Jon retorted without any politeness.

Margaery glanced at Jon, who was refusing to budge, and unconsciously moved closer to him.

"Very well, I will tell His Majesty the truth about this," Colin threatened, but Jon ignored him completely. Next, it was the two of them's turn to look at the Dragon Egg.

However, one of them had already met the other, and the other not only had met the other but also owned more than one, so they only glanced at each other symbolically before stepping aside.

This temporarily shifted everyone's attention away from the two individuals.

Margaery also temporarily separated from Jon and returned to her mother and grandmother.

Looking at the crowd around him, Jon knew all too well what it meant to be too powerful and overshadow his master. No matter how well he had behaved in King's Landing, Stannis would not let him off the hook when it came time to be suspicious of him.

After all, no matter how close she was to him, it couldn't compare to how close Renly was to him.

Jon was unwilling to break with Stannis, especially Euron, until he had taken the Iron Islands and completely eliminated his worries about the future. Euron was truly a strange fellow.

Jon summoned Sandor and whispered to him, "Sandor, have someone keep a close watch on that adventurer's ship. Ideally, have a few ships surround it!"

"Yes, sir." Sandor left as inconspicuously as possible after receiving the order, but his tall stature still caught Margaery's attention.

She is intentionally or unintentionally distancing her family from Euron.

Jon walked toward Euron, and Euron immediately noticed Jon approaching and put on a smile.

"Your Excellency Aeron."

"Your Majesty the Duke."

Jon looked at Euron's purplish lips and said, "Lord Aeron, it is truly admirable that you were able to escape Valyria unscathed."

"Your Grace, you flatter me. My adventures are nothing compared to your glorious achievements. You may not know, but even in the Free Cities, countless people are talking about you. You are a living legend."

The two exchanged compliments, and Jon asked him for more information about Daenerys, but Euron seemed to know only limited details.

It cannot be ruled out that this guy is hiding something.

During the conversation, he didn't mention the Unsullied or Slaver's Bay, but judging from the timing, Jon should be arriving soon; Daenerys might already be in Slaver's Bay, having begun her War of Conquest.

Of course, learning about Daenerys's current situation was just a side effect; Jon was merely observing her reactions through conversation.

The two then talked about Valyria, and Euron Jon's question flawlessly with his well-rehearsed explanation.

However, Jon didn't intend to find out what Jon's purpose was in coming to Highgarden through conversation. Now that Sandor was watching his ship and his men were all inside the castle, he could be easily caught.

However, he soon encountered an unexpected situation— Jon had planned to identify all of Euron's sailor puppets in Highgarden over the next two days, but as a groom, this otherwise mundane task proved quite difficult.

First, Selyse called Jon over and questioned him about why he ignored her questions.

A group of Florent attacked Jon, but Jon didn't tolerate it at all. First of all, he had the right to distribute the spoils of war.

Furthermore, he stated that his distribution was fair, just, and reasonable.

But Selyse clearly didn't see it that way. In her view, Jon's legitimacy in the Westerlands came entirely from Stannis, so he should be entitled to whatever he wanted.

As the saying goes, "If you don't see eye to eye, even half a sentence is too much," Jon simply said that he would personally go to King's Landing to apologize after the wedding and then left.

She was left with a group of Florent in a state of impotent rage.

Then there's Mace, where the father-in-law drags his son-in-law into drinking heavily—it's practically a staple of the entertainment industry, from commoners to nobles.

He kept saying how much he Margaery, how difficult it was to raise her from a tiny baby to this age, and how he hoped Jon wouldn't let Margaery down.

He even accidentally let slip that he never expected Jon to conquer Casterly Rock, and only hoped that he could fight the Lannister.

Jon didn't pay any attention to this. Mace was the kind of person who was particularly guileless, as could be seen from his act of sending him armor.

Of course, Jon kept nodding in response to his concerns, promising himself that he would treat Margaery well. At the same time, he kept pouring wine for Mace until she was drunk before he was able to escape.

Besides Mace, Oberyn was also quite enthusiastic. Because he himself was extremely adventurous and had even formed a mercenary group in the Free Cities, he launched into a lengthy analysis of the previous Battle of the Green Fork, the Battle of King's Landing, and Jon.

"Jon, did you really use Wildfire to stop the rain that was supposed to fall on Casterly Rock? How did this happen?"

"I knew it! That's why I got diarrhea from drinking rainwater when I was a kid. Turns out there were dirty things in it."

"A condensation nucleus? Why can something so tiny be called a nucleus? I think it should be called a condensation nucleus, condensation—okay, let's just call it a condensation nucleus."

"I'll definitely give it a try when I get back to Dorne. If I succeed, then crops can be grown on Dorne's vast deserts!"

Jon never expected Oberyn to be such a chatterbox.

However, this guy is really smart. He understands some novel concepts as soon as Jon mentions them. No wonder he was able to get four or five necklaces from the Citadel.

The necklace of the Citadel is like a degree certificate; Oberyn is like someone who has studied four or five almost unrelated subjects.

However, after all this commotion, it was basically dark by then, Jon could only take advantage of the night when no one was around to search for Euron's mute puppet.

On the first night alone, they found nearly twenty of them. These mute puppets were mostly distributed near the stables and kitchen, and their intentions were quite clear: either they were preparing to poison or set fires.

Although they couldn't get into the kitchen, with Euron's command, they could still intercept them halfway and tamper with things a bit.

Euron, Euron arrived almost a month earlier than Jon, and in that month he had already infiltrated every corner of Highgarden with his mute puppets.

There were people among the musicians. Euron somehow made one of the musicians sick and then replaced him with his own mute puppet.

His men were with the guards, and although these men couldn't speak, they were very good at clown talk and quickly became friends with the guards.

Compared to the entourage who followed the noblemen all day, the mute men who went on adventures with Euron had seen far more and could always come up with some novel gadgets.

Furthermore, Jon discovered that Margaery's handmaids had also become interested in Euron's men, and that he himself had even seduced the bastard daughter Falia Faria.

However, Euron did it very discreetly, because almost the entire castle's attention was focused on Jon and Margaery, and as the most popular adventurer in the castle at the moment, no one cared that Euron flirted with one or two maids.

Jon observed all of this through the Raven, and thought that his target couldn't possibly be one or two maids; if that were the case, he wouldn't need to offer the Dragon Egg to Mace.

There's no need to risk your life by entering the Highgarden.

He could have easily settled down near Highgarden first, and then slowly seduced her with his eloquence and sweet talk, without taking such a big risk.

Besides seducing the maids, Euron also frequently visited Selyse. It must be said that this guy was quite skilled with words; even the usually cold Selyse was shaken to the core by his wit.

This led Jon to suspect that Euron might be after the King's Blood.

Thus, Jon had to deal with the guests while searching for Euron's mute puppets. After two days, Jon found a total of thirty-seven mute puppets in the castle!

If I kill just one of them, Euron will definitely notice, and the others will surely riot, allowing this guy to escape. Ideally, I should take control of all these puppets at the same time.

This means we need a lot of manpower. Sandor took more than thirty people to the port, and now I only have about sixty left, half of whom are old fogies.

The Mountain Clans veterans Jon brought were all brave warriors, and he had brought them here "to feast" as a reward for their service.

They may perform well on the battlefield, but when it comes to dealing with the cunning Euron, their reaction and adaptability are simply inadequate.

For people who have lived in the mountains their whole lives, seeing a castle like Highgarden is like a caveman stumbling into a concrete skyscraper.

After much deliberation, Jon found Willas. Although Velas was not yet the Lord of Highgarden, nor the acting Lord of the city, he was responsible for most of Highgarden's affairs.

"You mean there's something wrong with that adventurer?"

"Yes, I can almost vouch for it with my father's honor, Sir Willas!"

Seeing Jon's seriousness, and trusting the intuition of a military genius, Willas stared at Jon for a few seconds before nodding and saying, "Tell me, what do you need me to do?"