While the great nobles vied for the right to purchase Dragon Porcelain, her cousin Daemon sidled up to Danyla with a roguish look and said,
"Danyla! Since I'll be helping you protect your lands from now on, why not give me eight or ten pieces of Dragon Porcelain as payment?"
"When I get my hands on something good, I'll remember you too!"
As Daemon drew near, Aemma instinctively pulled Danyla closer to her.
Beside them, Rhaenyra excitedly joined in when she heard what Daemon said.
"I want some too! Me too!"
Danyla replied with a proud, haughty expression,
"I've already commissioned exclusive porcelain for every member of our Targaryen royal family! As Targaryen dragonriders, how could we use the same things as everyone else?"
Her words left Daemon and Rhaenyra speechless.
Little bitch!
That was what both of them were thinking at that moment.
"Danyla is right. From now on, you must always remember your standing as members of the royal family."
That was what Viserys said aloud, but inwardly he was relieved.
Thank goodness I didn't speak first!
Having secured the largest share of the Dragon Porcelain purchase allotments, King Jaehaerys left with the Kingsguard, satisfied.
Danyla and the other members of the royal family followed soon after. As for the nobles, Samwell would naturally deal with them. As Earl Celtigar's second son, he had more than enough intelligence, standing, and status to handle them.
"Cousin Viserys, Aemma, Cousin Daemon, little sister, why don't I take you for a stroll through the nearby orchard?"
"The fruit trees are in bloom right now. The hillsides are beautiful."
Aemma had felt much better since coming to Dragonstone, so she readily agreed.
"That sounds lovely! The flowers in Aegon's Garden are beautiful, but I've grown tired of looking at them these past few days. What do you think, Viserys?"
"I'd like to have a look too! Let's all go together!"
Fun-loving Rhaenyra was naturally delighted. Daemon, however, chose that moment to speak up.
"I was just about to ride Quicksilver on a patrol of Dragonstone! There's still no sign of those three young dragons, and I want to look for them. I won't intrude on your family outing! Please excuse me!"
With that, Daemon strode off alone toward Dragonmont.
Danyla and her family, meanwhile, passed through White Sheep Town with their personal guards and maids, making their way leisurely toward the hillsides to the north.
After three years of development, White Sheep Town had grown several times larger. Almost all its streets and houses were built from blackstone. To relieve the oppressive effect of so much black, most roofs in White Sheep Town were covered with red tiles, while the doors and windows were painted in brighter colors.
Various trees lined both sides of the roads, with flower beds and comfortably shaped blackstone seats placed at short intervals. This made White Sheep Town not only clean and tidy, but also full of life.
Danyla had paid for the construction of the roads and houses. Her subjects were allotted homes at low prices, payable in installments. This firmly tied them to the town as they slowly repaid their debts to Danyla through hard work.
Freemen who came here to make a living could only rent homes. Of course, if they were willing to become subjects of White Sheep Town, they could enjoy the same treatment as the other subjects, along with the right to reclaim land for cultivation.
Over the past year, White Sheep Town's rise had drawn tens of thousands of displaced people from across the Seven Kingdoms to settle here.
To accommodate them, Danyla was also building Dreamfyre Village near the mountains, on the farmland she had already developed, specifically for people who would farm for her.
The dozens of shops on either side of the main road were rented out to merchants who came to do business. Danyla herself owned seven of them, all the largest shops in the prime locations.
The most lavish was the porcelain shop, a detached three-story building with over 3,000 square meters of floor space. With the courtyard, warehouses, and staff living quarters behind it, the property occupied nearly ten mu.
Next came the tavern and inn, whose main business was Dragonfire Wine. Its grounds covered eight mu, only slightly less than the porcelain shop.
Then came the silver shop, spice shop, silk shop, crystal workshop, and smithy, each occupying three to five mu.
Apart from the spice shop, which did good business thanks to the barbecue seasoning Danyla made from dragon metabolic by-products, the others had received a lukewarm response.
However, the hundreds of artisans of various trades whom Danyla had paid a fortune to buy from Slaver's Bay the previous month had already arrived. Once they had settled into their new surroundings, she could assign them work.
Westeros
After leaving White Sheep Town and crossing a mountain stream, they reached White Sheep Town Orchard.
Aemma fell in love with the vibrant orchard before her at once! She drew Danyla into an embrace and marveled affectionately,
"My dear Danyla, how do you always manage to come up with so many wonderful ideas?"
"The Vale's fruit harvests are among the best in the Seven Kingdoms, yet not a single orchard there has been tended this beautifully!"
Viserys agreed.
"Danyla truly lives up to her name as House Targaryen's Dreamwalker!"
To give her unusual ideas a plausible explanation, Danyla had shown her family certain traits of a Dreamwalker when she was very young. As a result, they attributed everything she devised now to that gift.
After three years of development, White Sheep Town Orchard now covered more than forty thousand mu, spreading across almost every hillside within roughly ten kilometers.
Most of the fruit trees had entered their peak fruit-bearing years, so their blossoms were now at their most glorious. Petals of every color drifted on the breeze, instantly lifting everyone's spirits.
For once, Rhaenyra let her girlish nature run free. Without taking no for an answer, she pulled Danyla along to romp through the orchard.
Viserys and Aemma supported each other as they watched their two "daughters" play with wild abandon, their eyes filled with affection and contentment.
Viserys gently stroked Aemma's swelling belly and said with a yearning expression,
"Aemma! If you can give me another son, my life will be complete!"
In a rare moment of playful petulance, Aemma replied,
"Wouldn't you love another princess like her sisters?"
Viserys took her hand fondly and said,
"Of course I'll love any child of ours! But we already have two wonderful daughters, so a son would be best this time!"
Aemma replied helplessly,
"All I hope for now is that he'll be born safely and grow up as happily as his two sisters!"
"Viserys, I don't want to endure the pain of losing a child again!"
Danyla and her family enjoyed their outing so much that none of them wanted to go back.
So Danyla sent servants back to Dragonstone Castle to bring some delicious food and proposed a family picnic in the orchard. Everyone agreed.
Danyla did not want to wait too long, however, so she first sent someone to have a few sheep slaughtered in White Sheep Town and brought over. They could have some roast lamb while they waited. Since the introduction of the special barbecue seasoning, White Sheep Town's roast lamb had become unrivaled in the Seven Kingdoms.
Just as the family began to tire from walking, the marinated goats arrived.
Danyla then took it upon herself to roast the meat for her family.
They rarely had an opportunity to spend time together like this, so everyone was very happy that day.
Before you continue