The Three-Eyed Raven said indifferently, "Today is a day of judgment. I will not conceal the crimes of House Stark, and I am prepared to bear the responsibility.
The punishment that belongs to us, we will accept in full. The blame that does not belong to us, I am sorry, but we will not take even a share of it."
"My grandfather had ambition, but who among those who play the game of power does not? Ambition is not a crime. The fault lies only in what wrongs he committed.
If the War of the Usurper carries a hundred parts of guilt, House Stark bears only five. The rest belong to the other houses."
"Five parts is too little, isn't it?" Tyrion shouted.
"I said it already. The fault lies only in what was done wrong. What wrong did my grandfather commit? At most, he facilitated the marriages between House Stark and Houses Tully and Baratheon. After that? Did he unjustly kill anyone?"
"That is because he died early!" a noble shouted.
Bran nodded. "I admit that. Had he not died early, he would certainly have committed more crimes. But you cannot use things that never happened as evidence for conviction.
"In the game of power, dying early might even be considered a kind of fortune. The earlier one dies, the fewer mistakes one makes." He sighed.
The dwarf's expression twisted.
He wanted to loudly refute it, but what Bran said made sense.
Rickard had started the War of the Usurper, but he and his unfortunate son had long since been brutally executed by the Mad King. They betrayed their king and died at his hands, which could already be considered atonement.
Their tragic deaths had even earned House Stark considerable sympathy, almost like an unconventional form of merit.
Then what about his own father, Tywin?
It seemed the same. Dying early meant committing fewer wrongs. If he had lived until today, who knew how many sins he would have committed? And his death had also been quite miserable, almost as if it, too, had accumulated merit for House Lannister.
The dwarf felt thoroughly confused.
Daenerys pondered for a moment before saying, "Rickard violated the bond between ruler and subject and was one of the instigators of the unrest. His crimes were grave.
However, what my father did to him and his son was equally appalling. Let the two cancel each other out. Duke of the North, what do you think?"
Jon frowned and thought for a moment, then asked Bran again, "Did Grandfather truly intend to seize the Iron Throne?"
"You should ask whether he did those things," Bran replied calmly. "I can tell you that he did.
You should understand that since radical maesters were involved, and more than one at that, I cannot lie. The Citadel still stands, and the maesters are not all dead.
In fact, at least twenty archmaesters now know this secret."
After a brief hesitation, Bran chose not to mention that the Citadel's archmaesters had murdered Archmaester Walgrave to silence him.
Now, the debt of the "great scholar from another world," Archmaester Walgrave, had been pinned on the Faceless Men, who were hated by people across the world. He was content with that, and so was the Dragon Queen. Let the House of Black and White continue to bear the blame.
"Seven gods above! What exactly are the maesters doing? First the 'real world,' and now they want to overturn the 'mad gene' of the Targaryens.
If the War of the Four Kings had not happened, if Joffrey were still on the throne, would the Citadel have purged the Lannisters as the 'second generation of mad blood'?
Do they still remember the vows they once swore?" Bronze Yohn cried out in outrage, and the surrounding nobles also looked grim.
A few maesters responsible for recording the trial stood nearby. At this moment, they wished they could disappear into the ground.
At the very least, they wanted to remove their maester chains and take off their gray robes.
Jaime's cheek muscles twitched as he argued, "Our House Lannister has thousands of years of history. We have never produced a Mad King."
Bronze Yohn replied, "Can you deny the madness of Joffrey and Cersei? Are they not Lannisters?"
"What drives people mad is not blood, but the Iron Throne," Jaime said in a deep voice.
"Before the Targaryens became kings of the Seven Kingdoms, they also had thousands of years of history without awakening any so-called 'exclusive Targaryen madness,'" Tyrion said strangely.
The nobles in the hall froze for a moment before breaking into murmurs.
"Do not stray from the topic. Today's subject is not the Iron Throne," the Dragon Queen reminded them.
Then she asked impatiently, "Jon Stark, do you agree with my ruling just now?"
"I agree," Jon sighed and said solemnly. "House Stark acknowledges the crime of our ancestors in breaking their oath of loyalty and is willing to reconcile with House Targaryen. The matter is settled between us."
Rickard and Brandon had died such tragic deaths, yet in the end, it amounted to nothing.
Daenerys nodded and then looked at the remaining Starks one by one. "And the rest of you?"
"I agree," Sansa said.
"I agree with Jon's decision," Arya said expressionlessly.
Bran asked, "If my grandfather's crimes cancel out with Aerys's, then what about my father and my uncle? They did participate in the war that overthrew the Targaryen dynasty."
"Your father bears no guilt. I have said that long ago. Your uncle should not have concealed the truth of Lyanna's elopement, but he later took the black. Whatever crimes he had are now absolved," Daenerys said.
At this point, she turned to the two Lannisters. "If Duke Tywin were still alive, I would seek revenge against him. But since he died at Tyrion's hands, our grievances are more or less settled. What do you say?"
"I completely agree," the dwarf said almost eagerly. "My killing of Tywin was not patricide, but the resolution of the blood feud between House Lannister and House Targaryen. It was the will of fate!"
"Shameless!" the surrounding nobles muttered, looking at him with disdain.
The dwarf, however, stood straight with a radiant smile.
Jaime nodded to the Dragon Queen, accepting the outcome as well.
Daenerys concluded, "The secrets of the War of the Usurper are now known to all. Essentially, it can be defined as a game of power.
In the game of power, the boundaries between right and wrong, justice and evil, become blurred.
What we once thought was a completely mad Aerys was in fact defending his own kingship. What we thought were victims, House Stark, were actually the initiators of the game.
However, the Mad King was indeed mad and committed crimes deserving of the gods' curse. He died as he should.
Likewise, even if Rickard bore original sin, he deserved a fair and just trial, not a blasphemous torture.
In this matter, it is difficult to determine whose crimes were greater or who suffered more injustice. But without a doubt, they were all guilty, and none of them died unjustly."
Although the Dragon Queen spoke reasonably, those in the hall still felt something strange. The Mad King was her own father, yet she claimed his death was justified. Saint Daenerys was truly impartial.
The impartial Dragon Queen sighed. "The innocent are not guaranteed a smooth life, but those who violate the teachings of the gods will certainly be punished by fate.
Aerys, Rickard, Tully, Arryn, Lannister, Baratheon—whether victors or losers in the game of power, none of them escaped the final judgment.
I hope that through today's trial, those who come to power in the future will take heed. If you manipulate power today, tomorrow fate will manipulate you."
"If those in power do not play the game of power, what are they supposed to do?" the dwarf asked.
The Dragon Queen answered seriously, "In virtue, set an example for the people. In action, bring them peace and stability.
After accomplishing these two things, if you still have the time and energy to play the game of power, the Seven Gods will not object."
Then her expression turned cold as she said indifferently, "But if a lord cannot protect the peace of his lands, cannot ensure that the people have homes, fields to cultivate, rewards for their labor, care for the young, and support for the elderly, yet still exhausts the people and squanders wealth to wage wars for personal desire,
then I guarantee that even if the king does not punish him, and even if the laws of the Seven Kingdoms do not punish him, when he reaches hell, the Stranger will make him repent for a million years."
"A million years!" The nobles turned pale. It seemed that none of them were truly qualified "noble lords."
Would they have to repent in hell for a million years?
They instinctively touched their chests.
Feeling the shape of the indulgence pouches hidden beneath their clothes, they quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
"The Mother is merciful! Long live the true dragon, King of the Seven Kingdoms, Daenerys!" While the nobles remained uneasy, the commoners, merchants, craftsmen, and bards at the outskirts erupted in excitement.
In a Westeros where commoners and livestock alike were considered property of the nobility, the Dragon Queen's standard of judging nobles by the well-being of the people was both novel and deeply stirring.
She had not yet worn the crown, but they sincerely wished her to be their queen, hoping she would transform the Seven Kingdoms into the "paradise-like" realm she described.
Daenerys raised her hand, and the cheers subsided. The hall fell silent once more.
"Now that the trial concerning the participants of the War of the Usurper has concluded, we return to the original case."
She glanced at Arya. "However, since the Three-Eyed Raven has volunteered to answer all questions,
we might as well follow the timeline and resolve all the troubles that have plagued Westeros these past years. At the very end, we will judge Arya Stark.
After all, everyone understands that the tragedy at Casterly Rock was not an isolated incident, but a culmination of many events."
"What do you all think?" she asked.
"Only by resolving hatred can we unite against the White Walkers," Barristan declared.
"I have long grown weary of the chaos in the Seven Kingdoms. If Her Majesty can cleanse the corruption and restore order, I could not wish for more," Bronze Yohn said with emotion.
Beside him, the Onion Knight forced a bitter smile. The collapse of order and honor in the Seven Kingdoms indeed required a great trial to restore the noble ideals of knighthood. But how he wished it could have been carried out by his own king.
As he thought this, nobles from the Westerlands and the Reach shouted, "In these past years, kings and great lords alike have abandoned their oaths and trampled on honor. Only a great and glorious knight-queen like Your Majesty is qualified to conduct a grand public trial for all the Seven Kingdoms!"
"We all accept it!" The other nobles and the surrounding commoners echoed in agreement.
Sansa's expression was complicated, a mix of envy and jealousy. Yet deep down, she could not deny the truth of their words.
Other than the Dragon Queen, no one truly had the authority to hold such a grand trial.
"The Queen is popular wherever she goes," the eunuch Belwas muttered, pulling a strip of dried squid from his coat pocket and quietly chewing on it.
Daenerys glanced at him, then clapped her hands. "Since everyone agrees, let us begin.
Starting from the end of the War of the Usurper, any matter involving morality and honor may be brought forward for judgment. Who will go first?"
"I will!" Old Barristan raised his hand, his expression complex as he looked at the Three-Eyed Raven. "Did Robert truly laugh when he saw the bodies of Princess Rhaenys and Prince Aegon?"
Daenerys covered her forehead.
"He laughed. He even kicked Princess Rhaenys's head, because her eyes were wide open, as if she were staring at him."
"Ah..."
(End of chapter)
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