"Great-Grandfather, you're not joking with me, are you?!"
Danyla had never imagined that King Jaehaerys, wise and discerning all his life, could make such a grave mistake. It seemed that even the wisest rulers grew muddleheaded in their twilight years!
"Vaegon is a Doctor of the Citadel! Once a society's moral bottom line is breached, the disaster it brings upon a country is as terrifying as a dam bursting."
"Wait..."
In a flash, Danyla seemed to realize something. She looked at King Jaehaerys in disbelief.
"Your Majesty, you knew about their existence long ago, didn't you?"
"Perhaps you never gave up on having Vaegon inherit the Iron Throne, did you?"
Faced with Danyla's accusations, King Jaehaerys looked deeply apologetic, but offered no explanation. He knew she was too clever to be fooled by any excuse he could invent.
"Ha! So that's it. So that's it!"
Danyla's gaze swept over the guilt-stricken King Jaehaerys, the openly gloating Sea Snake Corlys, and Princess Rhaenys, who clearly felt they shared the same plight. Everything suddenly became clear.
"Making an exception to name me Holy Flame Prince, allowing the chaos in the Riverlands to spread, sending me away to Braavos-all of it was just another move on your chessboard."
"You're my elders, my blood kin. I have no right to reproach you. I hope you can keep control of the entire board, but don't ever expect me to take part again!"
With that, Danyla left the Throne Room without looking back. Urrax, who had been beside King Jaehaerys, let out an angry roar and breathed a stream of golden-red dragonfire at the spikes around the Iron Throne, melting many of the metal barbs.
It was only because King Jaehaerys was sitting on the Iron Throne that Urrax had spared it. Otherwise, the dragon's target