On Danyla's second day in the Red Keep, King Daemon excused himself on grounds of ill health and did not appear at the Small Council for a long time afterward.
Danyla then personally presided over the Throne Room to handle the kingdom's affairs. As Holy Flame Island's power flourished, those affairs had become far more numerous and complicated than before.
"Your Majesty!"
The Master of Coin, Earl Beesbury, held a stack of account books as he respectfully delivered his report to Danyla. His increasingly corpulent body left him prone to gasping for breath whenever he spoke for too long.
"Although the Royal Treasury has over fifty-four million gold dragons on its books, there are only eighteen million actually in the vaults. The Faith of the Seven has long been unable to repay its debts. The annual interest alone, amounting to several million gold dragons, is enough to keep the High Septon awake at night."
Over the years, his duties as Master of Coin had been remarkably easy. He had never needed to worry about money. Even with the enormous expenses of rebuilding King's Landing, excavating the Oldstones canal, dredging and widening the Blue Fork, constructing the new city at High Heart, and even Princess Rhaenyra's grand wedding, the reserves in the Iron Throne's vaults had continued to grow every year.
"My lord."
Daenerys lightly tapped the armrest of the Iron Throne, candlelight reflected in her dragonglass-purple eyes.
"Gold dragons won't generate profits on their own if they simply lie in a vault."
Holy Flame Island had long since begun using banks to engage in finance, yet the Master of Coin before her still liked hoarding gold dragons in vaults to gather dust, just like the ordinary nobles of the Seven Kingdoms!
"Your Majesty means..."
The nervous old earl unconsciously rubbed