GOT King of Dragon

"Father, I'm fine..." 

His back completely numb, Rhaegar forced himself to speak with some energy. 

"Rhaegar, my child, did I disturb you?" 

Viserys sat helplessly by the bedside, reaching out to touch his son but hesitating to actually do so. 

"No, I wasn't sleeping deeply anyway." 

Rhaegar smiled faintly and grasped his father's hand to offer some comfort. "I carry the blessing of the White Hart. I'll live to be a hundred years old." 

Viserys clasped his son's hand tightly in return, nodding repeatedly. "You're right. You are a child blessed by the Seven. Pain will not break you." 

Trying to maintain a smile, Viserys asked cautiously, "Tell me, someone mentioned your injuries were the result of attempting to tame a dragon. Is that true?" 

Rhaegar sighed with regret. "Yes, I nearly succeeded in taming Dreamfyre." 

"The Seven Hells! How could you dare try to tame a dragon—Dreamfyre, no less, who's notoriously temperamental—without telling your father?!" 

Viserys nearly lost his composure, unable to believe his eldest son had been so reckless. 

"But I truly almost gained Dreamfyre's approval!" Rhaegar insisted. 

"I didn't see that! All I see is my beloved child lying injured, his back covered with blisters the size of beans!" 

Viserys scolded in a low, anguished voice, expressing both his anger and his concern. He was careful not to raise his voice too much for fear of startling his severely injured son. 

Hearing his father's words felt like salt on a fresh wound. Rhaegar's face flushed red as he retorted, "I'm not lying! I could feel Dreamfyre's fury at being chained and imprisoned. She acknowledged me!" 

"But Dreamfyre nearly killed you with dragonfire!" Viserys growled, his voice trembling with lingering fear. 

"It wasn't Dreamfyre's fault!" Rhaegar blurted. "Someone tampered with her chains. At the final step of the bonding ritual, the chains enraged her, and that's why she attacked me!" 

"Chains?!" 

Viserys froze, his expression darkening as his brows knit together in thought. 

"The chains restraining Dreamfyre were unusual," Rhaegar explained immediately. "They forced her to stay grounded." 

Viserys fell silent, pondering who might have swapped the chains and what their motives could have been. 

Just then, Laenor's voice called from behind. "Your Grace, Ser Erryk is waiting outside. Shall I summon him?" 

Snapping out of his thoughts, Viserys scowled. "Bring him in. I want to know how he's been protecting my son!" 

Ser Erryk entered the room and instinctively knelt on one knee by the bed. 

Viserys fixed him with a piercing gaze, his tone icy. "Give me a full account of today's events, especially how Rhaegar ended up injured. Leave nothing out." 

"Yes, Your Grace." 

Under the watchful eyes of everyone in the room, Ser Erryk recounted the day's events in painstaking detail: 

From leaving the Red Keep for the blacksmith's forge... 

To entering the Dragonpit and encountering Princess Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon... 

To Rhaegar's solitary attempt to tame a dragon and his narrow escape from Dreamfyre's wrath... 

Within minutes, Ser Erryk laid everything bare. 

The more Viserys listened, the darker his expression grew. He glared furiously at Ser Erryk, blaming him for failing to shadow Rhaegar's every move. 

Sensing the tension, Laenor interjected, "Your Grace, the maester named Menas seems suspicious. We could start by investigating him thoroughly." 

"That bastard? Where is he now?" 

Viserys nodded in agreement, then snapped irritably at Ser Erryk. 

Ser Erryk answered quietly, "I've detained Menas in the dungeons." 

"Ser Harrold, I want you to handle this personally," Viserys ordered, assigning the seasoned knight to take charge. 

With the suspect in custody, some of Viserys's anger subsided, and his attention returned to Rhaegar. 

Rhaegar hesitated. "Father, I don't think Menas had the courage to harm me. Could we spare his life?" 

Viserys scoffed coldly. "You're still thinking of others at a time like this. I don't know if that makes you kind or foolish." 

Even so, he didn't deny his son's request and instructed Ser Harrold to leave the man alive—albeit barely. 

Rhaegar turned to Ser Erryk and said softly, "Ser Erryk was loyal and dutiful. This was my arrogance..." 

"Enough. I know what you're about to say," Viserys interrupted, placing a hand on his son's. "I won't punish him. Does that satisfy you?" 

"Thank you, Father." 

Feeling a warmth in his heart, Rhaegar lay quietly on the bed. 

For a while, father and son sat in silence. 

Sensing the mood, Laenor gestured for Ser Erryk and Maester Melos to leave the room with him, giving them privacy. 

After a long pause, Viserys gazed at the sunset outside the window and asked hesitantly, "You... really almost tamed Dreamfyre?" 

"Yes. If it weren't for those cursed chains, I would've succeeded," Rhaegar replied, his voice tinged with regret. 

Hearing this, Viserys fell silent again. A flash of cold determination passed through his lowered gaze. 

Dreamfyre was an adult dragon. While her size couldn't compare to Vermithor, who had hatched in the same era, her ferocity far exceeded that of the younger dragons like Syrax or Seasmoke. 

She was even stronger than the Red Queen Meleys or the Blood Wyrm Caraxes. 

For his eldest son to have nearly tamed such a formidable dragon was an incredible loss, all because of a trivial chain. Worse still, Rhaegar had nearly lost his life. 

The weight of that loss and the sting of such a near success were unbearable for Viserys. 

Gently stroking Rhaegar's disheveled hair, he spoke with a quiet intensity, "My dear child, your father will make this right for you."

--- 

Rhaegar said, "I recently had a dream about the Dragonpit. You once told me to trust my dreams, so I wanted to share it with you." 

"Go ahead! You possess the gift of a dreamwalker. Whatever you say, I will listen attentively," replied Viserys. 

At the mention of a prophetic dream, Viserys looked eager. 

Rhaegar then recounted the same reasoning he had shared earlier with Rhaenyra. 

He emphasized the dangers of the Dragonpit: "Dragons should not be bound by chains, or they will be cursed!" 

Viserys pondered and asked, "Are you saying that Dreamfyre's recent rampage is the so-called curse?" 

"No! Dreamfyre's rampage was mostly caused by human factors; it can't truly be considered a curse," Rhaegar replied. 

However, he added with a hint of warning, "This might just be a reminder. If we continue to restrain dragons with chains, it will undoubtedly bring far more terrible consequences." 

Rhaegar firmly believed that the ancient texts were not baseless. 

Had Dreamfyre not been shackled, the injuries he suffered might have been avoided. 

Viserys's expression was inscrutable, but after some thought, he made his decision: "Dreams don't lie. I will begin a thorough investigation of the Dragonpit and root out any hidden threats." 

"However, the dragons belonging to the family must have a lair in King's Landing. The Dragonpit will remain, but we can consider removing the chains." 

Rhaegar agreed with his father's decision and said, "As long as dragons are no longer restrained by chains, the curse will have no place to take effect." 

As night fell, Viserys looked at his eldest son with concern and said, "Get some good rest. I'll come to see you tomorrow." 

"Alright, see you tomorrow," Rhaegar replied obediently, watching his father leave the room. 

Once the room was empty, silence fell. 

Left alone, Rhaegar collapsed on the bed with a pained grimace. 

How could such extensive burns be nothing? He had only been pretending to be strong in front of his father. 

"Hiss... The power of dragonfire really isn't exaggerated. Just a few sparks nearly killed me," he muttered, gasping in pain and trembling with lingering fear. 

If not for the effect of *Blood of the Dragon*, his frail body would never have survived the burns. 

The fire would have likely burned straight through from his back to his chest. 

"Thank you again, Balerion!" 

Rhaegar thought of Balerion's skull, placed at the center of the Great Sept, and a trace of gratitude flickered in his eyes. 

---

(End of Chapter)