"It's up to you."
Daenerys lightly dropped the half-sentence with a hint of playfulness, then turned and drifted away.
This was not shirking responsibility, but the "imperial sword" Aegor had requested from Daenerys before setting off on his western campaign from the Crownlands.
As the proposer and implementer of the Great King's Landing Plan, he had the final say on the treatment of the Reach nobles and the negotiation terms during this conquest of the Reach. Daenerys would not interfere at all.
Daenerys, who had long since left the novice stage, naturally understood the reasonableness and necessity of this "single command" requirement. Having just been appeased, she was content, and naturally could not go back on her word.
Thus, after respectfully seeing her off, Aegor ordered the negotiating delegation to be received, composed himself, and returned to his Lord Commander's tent to await the guests.
After a moment's wait, noisy conversations approached the tent from a distance. Aegor instructed that the negotiating delegation had to be searched before being allowed to enter. This arrogant and rude command clearly aroused the resentment of those being searched, and protests and disputes quickly arose, interspersed with female voices for some reason. As he was wondering, the tent flap was lifted, and a guard poked his head in.
"Lord, the leader of the negotiating delegation is Margaery. She refuses to accept our search. What do you think..."
Margaery?
Aegor's eyelids twitched.
Doesn't this woman understand that besides being the eldest daughter of House Tyrell, her identity is also the queen of Aegon, the false king?
After a brief shock, he was overjoyed. This meant that if they could not agree on terms, he only needed to detain her, and he would immediately have a heavyweight hostage!
Two armies at war should not detain envoys? He had no noble baggage and did not care about such basic principles!
It was indeed inappropriate to have male guards search the enemy's "queen." This was his oversight. Aegor corrected his mistake immediately and quickly came up with a remedy.
"Melisandre, you search her."
The Red Priestess nodded and followed the soldier out of the tent. Negotiations between female voices immediately replaced the mixed arguments. A few seconds later, everything fell silent, indicating that one side had made a concession. Two minutes later, the tent flap was lifted again, and a slender figure in a dark green hooded cloak followed the Red Priestess in.
"Lady Margaery, hmm... no, Lady? Or should I say Queen?" Aegor met the Highgarden Flower's gaze, which was mixed with shame and anger, with a playful expression. "For you to condescend to come personally to negotiate is truly overwhelming for me. Please, have a seat."
"Hand of the Queen, you wield great authority!" Margaery followed the indication and sat down in front of him, her voice filled with either genuine or feigned grievance, anger, and trembling. "Old friends meeting, and we even need to be searched to see each other? Is years of friendship worth nothing?"
Aegor did not answer immediately. Instead, he put away his false smile, rolled his eyes expressionlessly, and glanced at Melisandre.
The Red Priestess gave him a subtle nod. No problem.
Margaery was neither a magical disguise, nor was she carrying any weapons for assassination.
Interesting.
After he gave a look, Melisandre bowed slightly and exited the tent.
If it were a regular male negotiating ambassador, Aegor would choose to keep the Red Priestess in the room just in case, but Margaery?
Wearing Dragonsteel armor with his sword at hand, and with a table between them, if he were still afraid of such a young noblewoman who had just been searched and was powerless, then he might as well give up.
...
"Special times. Please understand."
He responded indifferently, his gaze sweeping over Margaery.
The Highgarden Flower, in her twenties, had shed her youthful aura and was at the perfect balance point between youth and maturity. At the peak of her physical condition, her attire tonight was simple, plain, yet elegant. She showed no intention of pleasing men, yet she was still quite striking... Normally, Aegor would likely have started with a compliment as a polite opening.
However, in reality, this beautiful lady before him was precisely a part of the stumbling block on the path of the Great King's Landing Plan, and the current offensive and defensive positions were completely one-sided. Whether psychologically or factually, he was too lazy to even think of witty remarks to appease her. Maintaining basic courtesy was already very polite. "If we must talk about friendship, then of course there is some. 'Acquainted for many years' is the only reason you were not immediately arrested and escorted to prison after reporting your identity as the 'false king's wife,' but are still able to sit before me. I hope you cherish this friendly treatment and do not waste time with nonsense."
It was true that there had been a "honeymoon period" of cooperation between House Tyrell and the Night's Watch industry, but at the end of the day, it was just a mutually beneficial transaction. It was true that the rose family did not take much advantage of the Night's Watch due to their traditional principles, but the Night's Watch industry also conducted business fairly, returning the Tyrell family's and Renly's cash investment and network of connections as shares or technology, ensuring their partners did not suffer losses.
There was friendship, but no debt of gratitude. Aegor... when he turned ruthless, naturally felt no psychological pressure.
The emotional card was torn to shreds as soon as it was played. Margaery collected her thoughts and emotions and pulled out the relationship card. "What about Daenerys? I represent Highgarden and the Reach in surrendering to her. Surely she wouldn't refuse to see her nephew's wife?"
"If I were you, I wouldn't expect that to be a life raft."
Aegor sneered contemptuously, revealing no weakness.
Daenerys already had some reservations in her heart about the authenticity of Prince Aegon's identity, but he naturally would not reveal such information, which would give the negotiating opponent greater confidence.
Straightening up slightly, he became serious. "By the commission of the legitimate monarch of the Seven Kingdoms, Queen Daenerys Targaryen the First of Westeros, I am fully responsible for the negotiations with the Reach rebels in the name of the Hand of the Queen. Now, let us get down to business."
Margaery's face instantly turned extremely ugly.
She had come in person partly because her father and brothers had gone out to fight and their whereabouts were unknown, and the only legitimate male member of the family left in the castle was her crippled elder brother Willas, whom she dared not and could not send out. But in addition, two other important factors had also become key considerations. One, Daenerys was also a woman, and the sentries had clearly reported that she had landed in the camp on a dragon. Two, she was Daenerys's nephew's wife, and also bore the Targaryen name. In the game of nobles, this kind of kinship was a very useful stepping stone and protective charm.
Margaery had originally intended to reach a "Lady's Treaty" with Daenerys and make it a beautiful story, but now Daenerys was clearly in the camp, yet did not show herself, instead letting Aegor, this... black-clad Hand of the Queen who was neither a noble nor even a Westerosi, receive her.
This not only thwarted Margaery's original plan, but also conveyed a dangerous signal.
Daenerys might have hardened her heart and decided to be ruthless toward House Tyrell.
Her heart trembled, and Margaery strongly suppressed her panic.
There were two possibilities. One, Daenerys's mind was made up. Two, Aegor was bluffing.
In the first case, nothing she did would help, and panicking would be useless. As for the second, as long as she showed the slightest sign of being intimidated, she would be met with a wide-open, bloody maw.
"House Tyrell has decided to abandon support for Aegon's claim to the throne and surrender to Daenerys and swear allegiance. The Reach will compensate Your Grace for all the war expenses of this western campaign. The amount can be finalized later, as long as she promises the following conditions." Facing an unyielding negotiating opponent, Margaery gave up trying tricks. "Excluding those who died on the battlefield, guarantee the safety and personal freedom of all surviving Reach nobles, retain their castles, lands, and titles, and for those families that no longer have male members, at least leave enough property for their wives and children to live on..."
The demands Margaery first put forward seemed arrogant and ridiculous, but they were actually just necessary groundwork before bargaining, asking for the moon. As the eldest daughter of House Tyrell, she was well aware that after this great defeat, the Reach had no power left to resist. Therefore, when discussing the negotiation terms with her grandmother, the Queen of Thorns, and her brother Willas, she had been fully prepared for a significant bloodletting... However, Aegor did not even wait for her to finish reciting the conditions before quickly interrupting her speech.
"Queen Margaery, can you smell it? Does this tent smell bad?"
Bad?
Margaery subconsciously twitched her nose, but did not smell any strange odor. She immediately understood that this must be a metaphor or insinuation... However, no matter how hard she racked her brain, she could not figure out what Aegor meant in an instant. Not wanting to be left dumbfounded, she could only shake her head doubtfully. "No, Hand of the Queen, what do you mean?"
"I kindly advised you not to waste time with nonsense, but you treated it as a fart, yet you say it doesn't smell bad. Isn't that contradictory and ridiculous?" Aegor snorted coldly, his expression indifferent but his eyes fierce. "You can claim you didn't receive the declaration of conquest I sent from Twin River City, but two months ago in the Industrial Park outside King's Landing, we met and had dinner together, didn't we? What I told you and showed you then, with the Highgarden Flower's clever little brain, how could you forget it in just a few dozen days?"
He casually pulled out a small stack of prepared documents and threw them in front of the young queen. "It doesn't matter if you forgot. This will definitely help you remember!"
With Margaery's memory, she did not even need to pick it up to see. Just a glance from afar, and she knew what it was.
A list registering the general condition of ninety percent of the Reach lordly families. Aegor had held it in King's Landing and spoken arrogantly, claiming he would "invite" all the families marked with red circles to move their entire families to King's Landing to accept Daenerys's so-called hospitality.
At that time, Margaery had thought this was a vulgar and stupid insult and provocation, and she had secretly vowed to repay it tenfold in the future. Who would have thought that now, the clown was herself!
"Let me tell you what should happen next." Aegor did not force Margaery to look at the document he had thrown over, but instead continued speaking on his own. "Due to the stubbornness and bold rebellion of the Riverlands lords, the original conditions are now void. Among the nobles circled in red, one-third must now disappear from the world. This is probably almost fulfilled after this battle. Another third will go Beyond the Wall to plant potatoes, and only the last third, who resisted the least and surrendered the fastest, will still be fortunate enough to receive Daenerys's invitation to move to King's Landing with their families and accept royal hospitality."
"As for House Tyrell, I advise you as an old friend, do not think about negotiating any conditions. Quickly open the gates tonight to welcome the royal army, then quietly await Daenerys's disposition and hope that she will be in a good mood and give you a lighter sentence. That is the best way out!"
(To be continued.)
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