The role of this daughter who was carefully sent to the court by her father, Sir Otto·Hai Tarth, has gone beyond mere "companion" or "maid" from the beginning.
She took advantage of the opportunity to get close to the king, and gradually won the king's trust and dependence with her gentleness and worry about the queen's childbirth.
Queen Emma's death in childbirth cleared the biggest obstacle, making the relationship go from secret to public, and quickly heated up.
Viserys seemed to have transferred the grief of losing his wife and the anxiety about the future to this younger woman who could bring more "hope". The former Queen Emma quickly faded in his heart.
Just a few days after the funeral, Viserys impatiently convened Small Council.
However, the core issue of the meeting was not the succession of the crown prince that everyone expected to urgently need to clarify, but the choice of the new queen.
This in itself is a strong political signal: the king is avoiding the promise of establishing Rhaenyra as the official heir.
At the same time, they are eager to consolidate their status and give birth to new male heirs through new marriages.
When Alicent's name was formally proposed, although the ministers present may have felt that the king was too impatient (the queen's bones were still cold), no one publicly objected.
This is not only because of the power of House Hightower (his father Otto is Hand of the King), but also because everyone understands that this is just a formality and the king has made up his mind.
For Princess Rhaenyra, this decision was like a bolt from the blue.
She and Alicent were once close best friends, but now she wants to become her stepmother.
This is not only a betrayal of personal emotions, but also means that a powerful competitor with his own heirs has officially stood on the side of Iron Throne.
Any son Alicent gives birth to in the future will naturally become the biggest threat to Rhaenyra's inheritance.
Rhaenyra's shock and fierce opposition at the meeting were instinctive reactions under the dual impact of emotion and political crisis.
However, her protest was isolated.
Her father Viserys severely reprimanded her, and a public quarrel broke out between the father and daughter at the meeting, which eventually broke up.
This scene clearly marked the beginning of a public break between the "Princess Party" with Rhaenyra as the core and the future "King Queen's Men" with Alicent and House Hightower as the core.
It is worth noting that in this key meeting to decide the fate of his daughter, Sir Otto·Hai Tarth, as a father and Hand of the King, remained unusually silent.
This "avoidance of suspicion" posture is extremely clever. It avoids leaving the impression of an impatient and manipulative king.
He also attributes the "credit" or "pressure" of all decisions to the king himself, maintaining the authority of Viserys,
At the same time, it also puts yourself and House Hightower in a safer and more detached position.
His silence was more powerful than any impassioned speech.
Bystander Redd saw all this clearly.
He knew that this was the inevitable development of the trajectory of the original work.
He looked at Alicent, who was standing behind the king with a decent smile, and knew that this woman's ambition and skills were anything but simple.
The smile she returned silently announced that she had successfully been promoted from the king's "intimate person" to the future queen, and officially entered the core circle of power.
Behind Viserys's ridicule of "old cows eating young grass" is Redd's calm assessment of the king's character weaknesses (susceptibility, desire for recognition and male heir).
The results of the meeting spread like Wildfire in King's Landing, triggering extensive discussion and recalculation in the aristocratic circle.
* A blow to Rhaenyra: This matter caused a double blow to Rhaenyra's reputation and succession prospects.
First, her public quarrel with the king exposed the discord within the royal family and undermined her image as the heir to whom she was destined.
Secondly, and more importantly, Alicent becomes queen, which means that a male heir may be born soon.
Many nobles who might have supported Rhaenyra because of the king's wishes now have to re-weigh:
Support a married princess (which means the throne may eventually fall to her husband's family), or wait for a possible born Targaryen prince with pure blood?
The answer is self-evident. Rhaenyra's support base is being lost invisibly.
* Daemon's dormancy and calculation: In a corner where no one is paying attention, "The Wandering Prince" Daemon·Targaryen is watching all this with cold eyes.
He was disappointed with the changes in his brother Viserys. He believed that the king lost all his energy after the failure of the conquest of Dorne and became indecisive. He only knew how to win people's hearts with benefits.
But they forgot that "dragon" is the real foundation of Targaryen's rule.
Although he has ambitions for Iron Throne, Daemon currently lacks sufficient strength and support, let alone the idea of killing his brother.
He buried more hatred in his heart - remembering the revenge of Redd's broken arm.
He is waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity where he can realize his ambition and revenge at the same time.
* Redd's strategic wait and see: For Redd, the drama in Westeros's court is an excellent window for him to deeply understand power players and evaluate the forces of all parties.
He saw the sway and fragility of Viserys, the deep scheming of father and daughter Alicent and Otto and the prototype of the upcoming "Greens", and the isolation of Rhaenyra and the forbearance of Daemon.
All these divisions and contradictions are levers that can be exploited in the future for Dragon King, which comes from the outside and has disruptive power.
He does not need to rush to intervene, he only needs to continue to consolidate his foundation in Essos, and let the shadows of King Ghidorah and Syrax continue to hang over Westeros.
This hasty queen selection meeting seemed to be just the king's personal emotional choice, but in fact it was one of the key nodes that triggered the "Dance of the Dragons" civil war.
It officially deeply binds the interests of House Hightower with the throne of Targaryen,
It laid the legal and emotional foundation for Alicent to fight for the throne for his son Aegon in the future.
The rifts within Red Keep have become public, and the nobles have begun to silently choose sides, while the storm is quietly gathering under the calm surface.
Mysaria's efficiency exceeded Redd's expectations. In less than a week, she presented the key evidence to Redd:
A copy of the secret letter written by Sir Otto to Oldtown Citadel, in which he explicitly requested the dispatch of three bachelors who are "proficient in gynecological and midwifery medicine";
and a detailed list of the ingredients and dosage of special pharmaceuticals intercepted from a fugitive drug dealer.
Although this evidence cannot directly convict Otto and Alicent of murdering Queen Emma, it is enough to constitute a major irrefutable suspicion.
Once made public, it would be enough to open an unhealable rift between House Hightower and the king.