Seeing the throne room erupt in a frenzy, Earl Hightower immediately crawled to the steps of the Iron Throne and, with a trembling voice, excitedly defended himself,
"Your Majesty, the Cuy family has already been stripped of their titles and exiled for that matter. The Hightower Family did indeed fail in their oversight regarding that incident, but we, the Hightower Family, were certainly not involved."
"Moreover, I had not yet inherited the family title at that time, so I truly knew nothing about that matter!"
At this moment, the former Hand of the King, Otto, also spoke up,
"Yes, Your Majesty! At that time, Princess Rhaenys was entrusted to the Church for discipline, and the Hightower Family was not aware of the specific circumstances. After discovering the princess was missing, our Hightower Family mobilized all its forces to assist in the search. I believe Doctor Wigg and the then-living Sister Magna can both attest to this."
King Jaehaerys felt a sudden surge of displeasure when Otto dared to mention his other two children.
Wigg, as his only surviving son, was 39 years old this year. Since entering the Citadel to study, he had almost completely lost contact with the Targaryen Royal Family. During this time, even King Jaehaerys's attempts to gather information or arrange for people to enter the Citadel through him had failed.
After Prince Baelon's death, King Jaehaerys immediately tested Wigg's attitude, as his age and knowledge were quite suitable for him to succeed as the next Crown Prince.
However, Wigg directly refused King Jaehaerys, citing the Citadel's rules, and suggested that the next Crown Prince be jointly nominated by the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms.
If Danni had not appeared, King Jaehaerys would have thought this was indeed a good method. At least the next Crown Prince chosen this way could gain more support, which would have a positive effect on his future rule.
But now the Old King had already made his decision and was not preparing to convene a Great Council.
Magna was the sixth child born to King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne Targaryen.
As a child, Princess Magna was gentle, quiet, and extremely intelligent. It was said that she would read "The Seven-Pointed Star" every night before bed and hoped to take a nun's vows in the future. She was extremely kind-hearted and showed considerable talent in healing the sick.
When she was young, Magna loved to cling to her sister, Princess Alesha, just as a young Alesha had closely followed Prince Baelon. Alesha, in turn, tried everything to avoid Magna, repeatedly getting angry at the "little brat" tugging at her skirt. Later, Magna became a guiding star for her younger sister, Daniella.
In 73 AC, the year Magna turned ten, she entered the Church as an acolyte as agreed, eventually becoming a nun. Queen Alysanne declared this was to thank the Mother for the many children she had bestowed upon her.
At that time, Daniella's grandmother, Princess Daniella, could not find a suitable husband for a while, and Queen Alysanne was also preparing to send her to the Church to become a nun. But Magna told her mother that Daniella could not devote herself to the Church because Daniella was illiterate and could not read "The Seven-Pointed Star."
Finally, Queen Alysanne had no choice but to marry Princess Daniella to an elderly Duke of the Vale, and not long after giving birth to Daniella's mother, Aemma, she unfortunately died of childbed fever.
After Princess Rhaenys's sex scandal, she was assigned to oversee and guide her sister Rhaenys to become a teaching nun for the Silent Sisters. It is said that Princess Rhaenys's escape at that time also received assistance from Princess Magna.
Princess Magna held a relatively high position in the Church, and in her short life, she significantly fostered the intimacy between the Royal Family and the Church. At the same time, she also cultivated a group of Church members who were close to the Royal Family.
In 87 AC, Magna left the Sept to accompany her grief-stricken mother, as Queen Alysanne had lost three daughters in just five years: Alesha, Daniella, and Viserra.
In 89 AC, during King Jaehaerys's first estrangement from Queen Alysanne due to Princess Rhaenys, he went to Oldtown to visit his daughter. It was later Magna who suggested that her father, Jaehaerys, marry Rhaenys to Sea Snake Corlys, which began to mend the relationship between Jaehaerys and Alysanne, and ultimately led to the reconciliation of the King and Queen in 90 AC.
In 92 AC, after the second estrangement between the King and Queen erupted, Magna mediated and played a significant role. At that time, Magna's father, King Jaehaerys, bypassed Magna's niece, Rhaenys Targaryen, and chose Magna's brother, Baelon Targaryen, as his heir, which angered Queen Alysanne, who felt the King should not favor boys. In 94 AC, it was Magna who persuaded them to reconcile, ending the quarrel.
As one of the Lady Nuns, Magna often had to care for many children suffering from greyscale. She unfortunately contracted the disease herself and died in 96 AC.
Therefore, because of Princess Magna's contributions, the relationship between the Church and the Royal Family greatly improved. At the same time, a group of nuns loyal to the Royal Family was also supported.
Because almost all of King Jaehaerys's children had preceded him in death, he had a distorted attachment to family affection. If not for Daniella's appearance, which gave him his last warmth, the Old King would likely not have lived much longer, just as in history.
So his children were almost the Old King's greatest taboo now. Otto's mention of his two children at this time made King Jaehaerys's heart grow even colder.
Meanwhile, Earl Hightower continued to wail, his voice choked with tears,
"Your Majesty, our Hightower Family was the biggest victim of this Oldtown riot! Our family's elite forces were almost completely wiped out, and the accumulated wealth of a thousand years in our treasury was all used to compensate for the losses caused by this riot."
"To prove the innocence of the Hightower Family, I immediately handed over the management of the Oldtown Garrison to Princess Daenerys."
"Although the Hightower Family has always been the largest patron of the Citadel and the Starry Sept, we cannot interfere with their internal operations. This riot was entirely instigated by the monks of the Seven Gods Church and has no connection to the Hightower Family."
"I beg Your Majesty to judge wisely!"
King Jaehaerys could not help but curl his lips slightly upon hearing this, then said to the Bald-headed Archbishop, who was watching the show from the side,
"Your Grace, Earl Hightower accuses the Oldtown riot of being entirely instigated by the Seven Gods Church. Do you have anything to say in your defense?!"
"Ah?!"
The corpulent Bald-headed Archbishop, who was thoroughly enjoying the gossip, did not expect the artillery fire to suddenly shift to him.
He hastily took a few steps forward, dragging his magnificent silk robes, the various gem decorations on them jingling incessantly.
"Your Majesty, Earl Hightower's words are truly too absurd. The Blessed Bishop of the Starry Sept has already sent a letter explaining the situation; all those monks who incited the riot were close to the Hightower Family. Without the Hightower Family's instigation, they would never have acted this way."
"So the root of this matter still lies with the Hightower Family. They simply want to use the Church to incite public sentiment and thereby intimidate the Royal Family, so that Your Majesty might lessen or waive their punishment."
"I hope Your Majesty will see clearly!"
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