Redd gently touched the presence of King Ghidorah through the spiritual link in his mind. The giant beast made a vague grunt at the other end of the link, as if it was disturbed from a light sleep, then turned over and continued to sleep.
Redd withdrew his attention and looked away from the direction of Dragonmont.
Rhaenyra was still standing at the table. She didn't leave or sit down, she just stood there with her hands hanging by her sides and her eyes falling on Redd's back.
Her expression had recovered somewhat from the silence just now, but there was still a trace of stiffness that had not gone away.
She was waiting for Redd to speak, or waiting for a suitable time to speak herself.
Redd When he turned around, he saw her standing there. He didn't say anything, he just walked back to the table, tore off the remaining mutton from the bones, put it into his mouth, and chewed it slowly.
He finished the piece of meat, put the bones back on the plate, wiped his fingers with the wet cloth on the table, and looked at Rhaenyra.
"I will make arrangements for the two children." His voice returned to its usual calmness, "Mesalia will continue to teach them basic reading, writing and arithmetic.
They read those two books by themselves first, and write down anything they don't understand. I will take time to explain it to them once a month.
We can wait until they are older to control the dragon. Now they just need to stay in contact with the dragon and become familiar with its smell and habits."
Rhaenyra After hearing these words, the stiffness on her face relaxed a little. She nodded, her voice softer than before. "Okay. I will keep an eye on their daily reading progress."
Redd didn't say anything more. He walked to the door, picked up the robe hanging on the hanger by the door, put it on his shoulders, and walked towards the corridor.
Rhaenyra followed him out of the restaurant, stopped at the fork in the corridor, and watched him walk in the direction of Stone Drum Tower.
She did not follow him. She knew where Redd was going now, and she also knew that following her would only resurface the unpleasant topics just now.
She turned and walked in the other direction, where the two children's rooms were.
She needed to see what the two little guys were doing with the two strange books in the room, and she also needed to give them a few words of advice before they started studying - for example, don't lose the books, don't read them while eating, and don't put them under the pillow when sleeping.
When Redd returned to the living room on the third floor of Stone Drum Tower, Mesalia was still sleeping.
Her posture was almost the same as when he left just now, except that the quilt slipped a corner due to the slight movement of her body, exposing a small piece of shoulder and collarbone.
Redd stood at the door for a moment, then walked to the bed and pulled the slipped quilt back up to cover her shoulders.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at Mesalia's sleeping face.
Her breathing was steady and slow, her eyelashes cast a fine shadow on her cheeks, her lips were slightly open, and there was a faint arc at the corners of her mouth, as if she was having a good dream.
Her skin looked particularly white in the afternoon sun, and light blue blood vessels could be seen under the thin epidermis, like light blue lines flowing under the surface of white jade.
Redd reached out and pushed the few strands of blond hair scattered on her forehead behind her ears, and gently rubbed the edge of her auricles with his fingers.
Mesalia moved slightly in her sleep, her face tilted towards the direction of his palm, as if she was unconsciously searching for the source of the touch, but she did not wake up.
Redd retracted his hand and sat by the bed for a while, then stood up and walked to the desk by the window to sit down.
On the table is a stack of reports and letters sent from various places, some from Free Cities, some from Valyria city, some from King's Landing, and some from further places.
He opened the letters one by one, browsed them quickly, made brief marks with the tip of his pen on the margins of the pages that needed to be responded to, and put those that did not require replying directly into another pile.
Most of the letters contained routine reports - tax figures, troop movements, project progress, material reserves.
A few letters mentioned noteworthy things - a businessman from Braavos mentioned that the remnants of Dothraki at sea were plundering merchant ships in the middle of the Narrow Sea, and another report from Volantis mentioned that there were some rumors about Red God's faith in City-States, but they had not yet formed a large scale.
He finished processing those letters, wrote the word "read" at the end of the last one, and then put together all the letters that needed to be responded to, ready to give it to Messalia to draft a reply.
He leaned back in his chair and looked out the window at the gradually slanting sky.
The afternoon time is slowly passing, the angle of the sun is changing, shifting from due south to west, and the light spots cast by the light on the ground when passing through the window are also moving slowly, moving from the edge of the carpet to the corner of the desk.
The outline of Dragonmont stands quietly in the distance. Occasionally, thin white steam floats out from the top of the passes of the two active volcanoes, which is blown away by the wind and merges into the sky.
The servants in the courtyard have straightened the blown down flowers and plants, cleared away the broken branches, swept the gravel into the corners, and restored the ground to a smooth surface.
The interrupted daily life is returning to its original track.
Redd sat in front of the desk for a while, and then was attracted back to the bed by a slight movement.
Mesalia woke up. She turned over and stretched her arms to the side. When she found that the side was empty, her eyelids moved slightly, and then she opened her eyes.
Her eyes moved around the room, from the window to the desk, and finally landed on Redd. Her eyes lit up when she saw him, and a smile with a bit of laziness and satisfaction appeared at the corner of her mouth.
She sat up on the bed, and the quilt slid down to her waist, exposing the naked skin of her upper body.
She stretched, stretching her arms upwards, making the lines of her shoulders and chest longer during the stretch, then lowered her arms and pushed her scattered hair back.
"What time is it?" Her voice was still hoarse as if she had just woken up.
"It's just after noon." Redd turned his head from the desk and looked at her, "Are you hungry? I asked someone to leave you something to eat."
Mesalia nodded, got off the bed, put her bare feet on the floor, walked to the clothes rack, pulled a robe, put it on, and tied the belt.
Her movements are very casual, with a sense of relaxation in her own space that does not require any defense or modification.
She walked up to Redd, bent down and rubbed the side of his face, lightly touched his cheek with her lips, then straightened up and walked towards the door.
"I'm going to have something to eat, and then I'll help you deal with those letters." She looked back at him when she walked to the door, "I'll write those that need to be answered before tonight for your review."
Redd nodded. Mesalia walked out of the room, and the footsteps gradually faded away along the corridor, and then were absorbed by the walls and stairs of Stone Drum Tower, becoming blurry and distant.