Chapter 122 The Great Judgment

Helena held Merar in her arms, held Princess Jaehaena's hand, and walked to the center of the Hall of a Hundred Hearths with her head down. Wormythor slowly lowered his head, staring coldly at the silver-haired princess with his dragon eyes.

"Princess Helena Targaryen, due to the treasonous behavior of her husband, Aegon the Usurper, and the crime of her mother, Queen Dowager Alicent Hightower, who tampered with the will of King Viserys I, should have been sentenced to death, but His Majesty the King and the late Queen were grateful for the princess's refusal to participate in the rebellion and her dedication to protecting the royal bloodline. Therefore, Princess Helena Targaryen's royal identity was retained, but because she was once the false queen of the usurper, her merits should not obscure her faults. Princess Helena, you will go to the Seven Dragons Sept in Midsummer Hall and pray for your husband, mother and deceased son as a nun, asking the Seven Gods to forgive their sins."

Longzel's eyes were full of pity, but he still made a cold judgment.

The nobles below began to whisper. People were very satisfied with the result of the trial. Even Aegon's wife and children could be forgiven. This showed that the brown-haired Targaryen and his young King's Hand were willing to abide by the rules of the game between the nobles, rather than using their powerful force that could suppress the Seven Kingdoms - the dragon to make the betrayer fall into the fate of "Black Heart" Harren, the owner of this huge castle.

Only Duke Borros Baratheon was a little sad. He loved his four daughters very much. Unfortunately, his eldest daughter encountered the queen's dragon on the way to King's Landing. Syrax destroyed his 6,000 troops and half of his eldest daughter's body. Although Cassandra Baratheon and Sir Desmond Cullen avoided Syrax's first round of attacks in advance, no one expected the queen's anger to be so fierce. She rode Syrax to burn the entire forest, so Cassandra Baratheon finally failed to escape. Desmond Cullen was burned to death by dragon flames to protect her, and Cassandra herself was severely burned and died in wailing.

In a rage and fear, Boros finally cut off the head of his second daughter, Maris. Boros still remembers Maris's tearful expression when she saw him and his men walking into the room, and her pleading voice: "Father, I dare not speak nonsense anymore, please forgive me, father!"

And he finally shed tears, and ordered his daughter to cut off her head as she turned from pleading to cursing, and told the maester to record her death as a sudden death from illness. After all, only the people of Storm's End knew that the death of Luthris was closely related to his mouthy daughter.

Now he only hoped that Jacaerys and Longzel didn't know about this matter, and treated the Baratheon family, who had not made a big mistake, as a fart. But even if they knew it, it would not be a big deal now. Anyway, even if he was held accountable, he could use his daughter's head to escape the blame.

Just let his daughter be responsible for her own stupid behavior.

"As for your child, Miss Jaehaenyla needs to give up her surname. Before she comes of age, you will be responsible for her education. After she comes of age, she will be disciplined by Sister Selina of the Seven Dragons Cathedral. I hope she can become the most pious nun under the Seven Gods in the future and help her mother complete the prayer of confession of her sins."

Longzel signaled that Jacaerys would read out the judgment on Meral. After all, this is the top priority of the trial of the Green Party.

"Princess Helena." Jacaerys straightened his back and looked at the child held in the princess' arms. Meral was still a two-year-old baby who knew nothing. He couldn't understand what happened at all. He was scared to tears by the gloomy Harrenhal before entering the Hundred Hearths Hall. Helena finally coaxed Meral to sleep. The nobles present also tried to keep their voices low so as not to disturb the child's sleep.

"My mother originally planned to eradicate the bloodline of the usurper, but I dissuaded her." Jacaerys said gently: "What I want is a kingdom that heals the scars caused by Hightower's folly, not a sinful abyss full of mutual hatred. So, the child is innocent, I can't do it to an innocent child, but I can't sit idly by and watch him threaten the sacred order of succession. My grandfather designated my mother as the heir. This is the king's sacred decree, which overrides tradition. Violating my grandfather's decree and damaging the king's sanctity is Hightower's folly." Jacaerys explained slowly.

This is also what Longzel taught him. Longzel stood aside and nodded slightly. On the night before the coronation ceremony, Longzel and Jacaerys had a long talk all night. During this long conversation, Longzel explained the issue of inheritance to Jacaerys. The male primogeniture law that the traditional nobles of Westeros defaulted to did not exclude the inheritance rights of women. The general order of inheritance was the eldest son, the eldest son's male offspring, other male offspring, biological brothers and older female offspring. The order of the latter two often changed. Take the Royce family as an example. In their order of succession, Lady Rhea Royce's inheritance rights were higher than her uncles and cousins. However, in many cases, especially during wartime, the nobles of Westeros tended to let adult male offspring succeed to the throne, rather than the eldest son's second son or other male offspring. In the case of the husband's death and no offspring, even the wife who married in could manage the territory on behalf of the husband, or even directly inherit the husband's territory, but the latter was a very rare case, so it was rarely used to discuss the issue of inheritance.

Due to the entanglement of oaths or interests, the nobles supported Queen Rhaenyra's inheritance rights through kinship ties, but it did not mean that they recognized women's inheritance rights, nor did it mean that they recognized the eldest heir inheritance law of equality between men and women. After all, this is Rhoynar tradition, not Andal tradition. Therefore, Jakaris must find a reason to make the nobles believe that they have not broken the traditions of Westeros. After all, the law of exceptions has made the Targaryen family drink several bottles of Weiss if only one sister married. The local characteristics of Tello have become special, and the kingdom can no longer bear the disaster in the face of the winter that may come at any time and the spreading plague.

So Ronzel gave Jakaris a suggestion, asking him to obscure the nature of Rhaenyra's female inheritance and instead deal with the issue by emphasizing designated inheritance within the royal family over the traditional default law of male-preferred succession. Specifically, it emphasizes the particularity and sanctity of the king's decree when the royal family handles the succession of the throne. This can not only strengthen the royal power, but also greatly eliminate the confidence of the nobles who believe they can interfere with the royal succession caused by the 101 Grand Council.

At the same time, this statement can also affirm the position of women in traditional inheritance laws through Rhaenyra's inheritance. And then restore the legal rights of female heirs, of course, giving priority to men.

Jakaris's words indeed made many nobles in the audience breathe a sigh of relief, especially those nobles who had vowed to join the Black Party. In fact, they still prefer the traditional inheritance law in their hearts. It is precisely because they abide by tradition that they They kept their oath.

"Melar will still be educated by Princess Helena until he is fifteen years old. After he is fifteen years old, he will be handed over to the custody of Prince Ronzel. The prince will choose a suitable land for him to live on and provide it for him as a nun. Princess Helena and Jahaenera, he also needs to renounce the Targaryen name and swear eternal loyalty and never betrayal. Now, please take the princess's place and swear it in the name of the gods and ancestors." Jakaris said.

Princess Helena hugged Meral and looked at Jagenira with gentle eyes. The little princess sensibly let go of her mother's hand and stood obediently beside her mother.

"By the name of Helena Targaryen, and on behalf of my son Meral, and my daughter Jahaera, by the gods old and new, and by the ancestors and dragons of House Targaryen, I, And my son's bloodline will always be loyal to the descendants of Queen Rhaenyra's bloodline, and will never betray their right to rule and inherit. My son's bloodline will give up all rights to the Iron Throne, the qualification to control dragons, and the right to dragon eggs. of custody, and shall relinquish the name of Targaryen when my son is fifteen."

"Princess Helena, I also make the same promise." Jakaris said as calmly as possible: "As long as Meral's descendants abide by their oaths, I, my successors and descendants will also guarantee their safety. ." He looked at the sleeping Meral. "I gave him the name of his father's dead dragon, 'Sunfire', Meral Sunfire. I hope he can grow up healthy and repent for the follies of his father and uncles."

"Praise for your mercy, Your Majesty." Helena said gratefully.

After dealing with Princess Helena and her heirs, there was the punishment of some people who tried to offend their merits. The most typical one was Urwin Peake, who was deprived of all his territories and titles. Wear black in exchange for a chance of survival and a noble status for your son. As a reward for his final choice to surrender, Titus Peake did not have to serve on the Great Wall. Baiyuan City among the three Peake cities was re-given to Titus Peake as a reward, but at the cost of a large territory attached to Baiyuan City. The magnitude has shrunk.

Then there is the school city. The bachelors and doctors who participated in the conspiracy in the school city were all beheaded in Old Town, and their students were also deprived of their necklaces and needed to re-study under other bachelors and doctors to obtain the necklaces. According to the plan, the school city was completely split up, and the Silver Fleet had already dispatched a large ship, preparing to go to the old town to receive the wealth and knowledge of the school city.

Next is the part that people love to hear and see. As we all know, there are punishments and rewards.

As the greatest contributor to the war, Longzell obtained everything promised before the war. A large area of ​​Urwin Peake's territory, half of the territory south of Hightower, and the territory of Nightsong City were all eaten up by the Varese family. , as well as the appointment and dismissal rights of the port governor of Summer Hall and Silvercrown City, the steward of the royal mint, the custody rights of Aegon and Viserys, fifty years of tax exemption, and the bounty of nine hundred thousand pure gold dragons. Ronzel also proposed to Cregen that he should eat the 30,000 people he brought.

Cregen said, Ronzel, you are an eternal friend of the Stark family.

The nobles of the Riverlands and Vale were also rewarded with tax breaks and gold rewards, and Jakaris promised to send free grain to the north to help friends in the north survive the winter.

Just when the rewards were announced one after another.

Sir Simon Strong, the acting city lord of Harrenhal, walked out cautiously. His reward was originally gold and tax exemptions, but that was not what he wanted.

"Your Majesty, please listen to my request."

Checking in for the first update, today's second update will be later. We have a teacher meeting today and have just returned to the dormitory.