Her king father Viserys, the man who was still lying on the bed before Redd left and was so frightened by Daemon's body that he couldn't take care of himself, began to gradually take back his power after his body recovered.
He did not take any radical measures, did not abolish Rhaenyra's status as crown prince, did not publicly support Aegon II, and did not mention Great Council again.
He just slowly and continuously adjusted the personnel composition of Small Council, transferring those officials promoted by Rhaenyra to insignificant positions one by one, and reassigning those who were loyal to him to key positions.
Alicent played a key role during this period. Through her meticulous and thoughtful service and continuous emotional investment, she occupied an increasingly important position in Viserys's trust.
Her father, Sir Otto, resumed the key role of Small Council after returning to King's Landing, responsible for providing liaison and coordination for those nobles who supported Aegon II.
Rhaenyra's situation on Small Council has become very passive.
She is still the crown prince and still has legal inheritance rights, but her influence is being reduced bit by bit.
In a meeting, she tried to propose a bill on tax adjustment, but Sir Otto put it on hold on the grounds of improper procedure.
On another occasion, she defended an official accused of corruption at a meeting, only to have the official arrested on Viserys's order the day after the meeting.
The letter described a detail - Rhaenyra had to sit at the bottom of a Small Council because she was late, and the seat that originally belonged to her was temporarily assigned to Alicent.
No one raised any objections to this, and no one thought there was anything wrong with it.
It was a slow and silent degradation, like a beach gradually revealed when the tide recedes. It would not be noticed by anyone, but the change was indeed happening.
The last message in the letter piqued Redd's interest.
The daughter of Laena·Velaryon, Sea Snake Corlys·Velaryon, actually rode a dragon alone to Free Cities.
According to the intelligence description, she set off alone in the name of traveling after Rhaenyra successfully roped in House Velaryon to her side.
She rode her dragon from Driftmark, went south along Narrow Sea, passed Stepstones, and then entered the territory of Free Cities.
It was a long route that required stops at multiple islands and ports for supplies.
It takes great courage and independence for a young woman to ride a dragon alone across half of the known world.
What made Redd pay more attention was the message hidden in the letter - Rhaenyra had successfully won over House Velaryon to her side.
It seems that this woman is not so stupid.
After Redd left, she faced the power recovery of Viserys alone, and was gradually marginalized in Small Council. However, she secretly did another thing - to win over the Sea Snake family through marriage and promises, and arranged allies in advance for possible future succession battles.
Laena's travels are likely to be more than just traveling. She may be conducting preliminary communication for the trade agreement between House Velaryon and Free Cities, or she may be delivering some messages for Rhaenyra that are inconvenient to pass through the raven.
Redd became interested in Laena herself. In the memory of her previous life, this woman was a tragic character.
She was in a partnership with Daemon·Targaryen, and the two fell in love during their travels. However, Laena encountered dystocia during childbirth and did not want to die on the delivery bed because of dystocia. In the end, she let her dragon burn herself to death with Dragonfire.
That was an extremely strong choice and an extremely tragic ending.
But that was the fate in the original work.
In this world, Daemon has been killed by Redd himself, and his body was already a shriveled mummy when it was sent back to King's Landing.
Laena did not establish a romantic relationship with Daemon, and her fate line shifted.
Redd I don't know if she will die at the original time, and I don't know how the subsequent plot will change if she doesn't die.
If Laena is still alive, Aemon Germany has no chance to tame Vhagar, because in the original work, Vhagar was tamed by Aemon Germany after Laena died.
If Aemon Germany does not have Vhagar, his threat will be greatly reduced, and the strength of the Alicent camp will also be weakened. This will have a chain reaction on the future power structure.
Redd wrote a reply, asking Mesalia to continue to pay attention to Laena's whereabouts and notify him immediately if she arrives at Volantis.
As the host, Laena came to his territory, and he had to receive it personally.
This is not only a matter of etiquette, but also a political issue.
Laena is the representative of House Velaryon and the daughter of Sea Snake Corlys. When she comes to the territory of Free Cities, if she is not given proper reception, it will be interpreted as contempt for House Velaryon.
However, if the reception is too grand, it will be interpreted as public support for the Rhaenyra camp, which may intensify the conflicts on the King's Landing side.
Redd needs to find a suitable balance between the two.
He handed the reply to the raven who sent the message, then unfolded the map on the table again, and took another look between the reconstruction plan of Valyria city and the construction plan of underground Dragonpit.
Those projects are progressing as expected. Although Douglas complained, the work was still done well.
Dothraki The addition of slaves solved the problem of manpower shortage, the stability of sea routes ensured the supply of materials, and the blockade of underground passages temporarily prevented the orcs from coming out. Everything was slowly moving in the direction he planned.
The news of Laena is just a small chess piece in this huge plan, but sometimes small chess pieces can also trigger big chain reactions.
He closed the map, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a while, waiting for the next batch of information from Mesalia to arrive.
King Ghidorah began to absorb the geothermal and nuclear radiation energy of Fourteen Flames on the third day after the underground fortress was destroyed.
That evening, when it flew back to the camp from the direction of the rift, it did not land at its usual location, but instead turned to the group of volcanic peaks in the distance that were spewing dark red smoke and lava.
Its three heads were facing the direction of the craters at the same time, and the golden light between the scales on its neck began to flow faster, as if some ancient instinct was awakened by the strong energy field.
Redd stood on the edge of the camp and watched King Ghidorah slowly fly towards the direction of the volcanoes without giving any order to stop it.
He let King Ghidorah judge by himself which energy could be absorbed and which areas were suitable for access, because that judgment did not require his intervention. King Ghidorah's instinct in this regard was more accurate than any human knowledge.