When the sword at Redd's waist was illuminated by fluorescent lamps and candlelight, the dark lines appeared vaguely in several places of light, winding like waves and finely broken like stardust. They were the characteristics left when Valyrian steel was forged and could not be imitated. Like a family emblem without words, it had been melted into every inch of steel by this family.
"This sword hasn't been stained with blood today." Redd said, "I don't want it to be stained. But if someone thinks they can stop me, I don't mind having the floor of the conference hall repainted."
Kingsguard Captain's sword slid outward from the sheath. The full blade was halfway out of the sheath, and the tip of the sword drooped slightly. His posture was half defensive and half intimidating.
He stood in front of Viserys, using his body to block the line of sight between Redd and the king.
But the moment Redd pulled out the sword fell in everyone's eyes, the air was completely ignited.
The sword left the sheath faster than anyone expected. It was so fast that Captain Kingsguard's pupils shrank suddenly. The other two iron guards closest to him pulled Longsword out of the sheath at the same time, making a harsh metal friction sound.
So fast that they didn't even have time to form a complete defensive formation - the dark sword blade had already cut through the distance between Redd and Viserys, leaving an almost invisible trace in the candlelight where the air was cut and slowly closed.
The tip of the sword stopped in front of Rhaenyra's throat.
It stopped very lightly, so lightly that it touched the skin on her throat but pressed down no more than half a hair. It did not pierce the skin or leave a wound. It just hung at that position. The coldness on the tip of the knife penetrated into her skin, as if someone had gently attached an ice needle to her Adam's apple.
No one present clearly saw when he got up from his seat, and how he passed through the triangular gap where Kingsguard stood, went around the chair and the corner of the table, and sent the sword to that position.
The movement was so fast that there were no marks left by the friction of boots on the marble floor. It was so fast that Rhaenyra herself had no time to step back or turn sideways. Her pupils went from shrinking to dilating as he approached, and her lips opened slightly when the sword edge stopped in front of her neck, like a fish being fished out of deep water, using all her strength.
Captain Kingsguard was the first to react, but at that distance, his sword had not even been adjusted to block the direction of Redd. The line between Redd and Rhaenyra only had a stable sword tip and a white, slightly undulating neck in front of it.
If he applied more force in any direction, the tip of the knife would penetrate the skin of her throat and trachea, and before anyone could react, there would be one less breathless sound in this hall forever.
"Redd..." Rhaenyra's voice was like bubbles rising from the bottom of the water, with the bubbles and hoarseness after being blocked by something. Each word contained an imperceptible tremor. Her eyes reflected the blade against her throat. She could see her face reflected on the steel through the cold blade, "Don't do this."
Redd looked into her eyes, as if he were looking at a companion whom he had high hopes for but finally found that he could not trust. He spoke slowly under her gaze, and his tone sent a tingling chill down her back. "I am very disappointed in you."
When he finished speaking that sentence, his wrist did not move, his fingers did not move, he only moved his slightly lowered eyes away from her face and turned to the throne behind her and the trembling king sitting on the throne.
The tip of the sword still stopped in place. After a moment, he retracted it at the same slow speed. The blade drew a very thin arc in the air and was returned to the sheath.
The conference hall fell into an even heavier silence than before.
Even the ministers who could still remain sitting straightened their backs. Some closed the documents on their knees, and some put the tea cups back on the table. Master of Ships Tyland·Lannister even stood up and stood next to the tall window behind him, as if looking for a support closer to the ground.
No one dared to move or make any unnecessary noise. Even breathing became cautious, as if measuring the weight of each inhalation and exhalation to ensure that they would not attract any unexpected attention.
The outline of anger can no longer be seen on Viserys's face.
The anger that was overflowing just now seemed to have been poured over by a basin of cold water, leaving only a layer of washed-out embers. The color was still there, but the temperature had almost cooled down.
He stood there, behind him were the fallen chairs and broken armrest fragments, and in front of him were two Kingsguard who had not yet sheathed their swords. His eyes moved back and forth between Redd's sheathed sword and the very light red mark on Rhaenyra's throat, and then he raised his head and looked into Redd's eyes.
There was something in his eyes that was draining away from his body, like a wall being continuously washed away by water, and the sand filling the gaps was being taken away at a visible speed, revealing the original structure and the Rift underneath.
His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but the sound got stuck in his throat and slipped back.
However, before his words could fully fall to the ground, the ground of the entire conference hall began to shake.
At first, it was just an extremely subtle tremor, like a horse tied far away kicking its hooves, or like a thick iron door being closed not far away.
A few people swayed slightly at the table, thinking it was an illusion and looked at each other.
But then, the second wave of vibrations was stronger than the first wave, with a dull low-frequency roar that was transmitted from deep underground and overcame the cracks between the marble slabs and foundation bricks, as if something was slowly but firmly running over the outer wall of the castle, and the layers of wall were being peeled off layer by layer.
Someone yelled "Be careful with your head," but before that shout could reach everyone's ears, a series of tiny sounds of cracking wall bricks and peeling plaster came from the high wall on the side of the council chamber that faced the courtyard and the light-filled atrium. Then those eyes appeared.
The eyes were bigger than the window. They were golden and vertical, like two ignited ambers. They squeezed and deformed the frame of the glass window from the outside, plowing wider and wider cracks on the wall.
The stone wall let out an overwhelmed groan at the moment the eyes were embedded. All the masonry and mortar cracked outward at the same moment, and the entire wall retreated half a foot. Gravel and dust poured down from the cracks and poured into the floor of the conference hall, covering the expensive carpets and marble floors with a layer of gray-white debris.