"ARGHHHHH!!!!"
Upon arriving at the dungeons of the Red Keep, Rhaegar couldn't help but feel a chill at the sound of the scream, one filled with agony, horror, and pain. Behind him, Arthur Dayne felt a chill as well; he had never heard a man scream with such desperation before. And he had experienced many battles and wars, seeing firsthand how cruel humanity could be to its own kind.
Approaching, Rhaegar saw, under the flickering light of the torches, his mother with her hands covered in blood. Before her, suspended in the air by four chains, was a naked old man. Aside from his face, not a single part of him was intact. However, what made Rhaegar's legs go weak was the realization that the man no longer had testicles or a penis.
Something small, shriveled, and ugly could be seen on the floor below, resting in a pool of blood. Rhaegar knew it would be a horrific scene, but seeing the state Archbishop Roland Gray was in only made him realize that he was still a good man.
Beside the queen, Rhaegar saw Cadmus preparing some green potions with a relaxed and calm expression, seemingly unbothered by anything.
"Rhaella, the healing potion is ready. Give it to him quickly, or he'll die from blood loss," Cadmus said, handing over a vial of healing potion.
Rhaegar rolled his eyes at the casual way he spoke to his mother. But it showed that the relationship between the two was very good.
Rhaella took the vial and, without any gentleness, forced the archbishop to drink the potion, a cold look on her beautiful face. "We have plenty of potions; you won't die so easily," she said in a frigid, chilling tone that promised a long torture session.
"Mother." Rhaegar approached, avoiding looking at the Archbishop; the current appearance of the highest Septon in King's Landing was truly a gruesome sight.
"I presume the preparations for the public trial are ready." Landing a punch on the Archbishop's face, Rhaella asked in an indifferent tone, completely ignoring the pain in her knuckles.
Rhaegar's lips twitched at the scene; he had never imagined his elegant and sweet mother could be so violent. He truly wondered where his father had found the courage to strike her. The woman was truly violent and cruel when she needed to be.
"Yes, the preparations are ready. The entire city has been notified, and we will use the ruins of the Dragonpit as the trial site," Rhaegar said in a calm tone. Although in ruins, the Dragonpit could accommodate eighty thousand people, more than enough.
Rhaella nodded and looked at the Archbishop with a smile, but her smile sent shivers down the spines of Rhaegar, Cadmus, and Arthur. It wasn't that Rhaella was strong or anything else, but her gaze was truly terrifying.
Mental note: If I kill a woman's children, I have to kill the woman too… Cadmus thought with a solemn look. He wasn't afraid of a woman with no power, but being the target of a madwoman didn't seem like a very good thing.
"How is the situation in the city?" Cadmus asked in a calm tone. After bringing the Archbishop to Rhaegar, the queen had simply taken the old man and brought him to the dungeons; the torture session had already lasted three hours, and he didn't know what was happening in the city.
"Complete chaos. I truly don't know what you did to make the people so furious," Rhaegar said in a slightly startled tone. The three dead priestesses were only the beginning; of the hundreds of members of the Church of the Seven in the Great Sept of Baelor, all were killed, their heads placed on stakes.
"There were casualties among the population, about twelve hundred people died in the riot. These people weren't even killed by church members, but by the people themselves during the chaos. Most were murdered, some trampled to death, and some died during the storming of the Great Sept of Baelor. Of course, we've arrested a hundred murderers, rapists, and thieves who will be judged," Rhaegar said with a weary sigh.
Although he had controlled the chaos with the help of the Gold Cloaks and the Red Army, tension still hung over the city.
Cadmus frowned upon hearing the number of innocent dead; it truly bothered him. It was ten times what he had expected. In the end, he had still underestimated the cruelty of people, especially those who harbored resentment against one another. Taking advantage of the chaos, these people had unleashed the monsters within them.
"Although I used a bit of magic to boost these people's feelings, even I didn't expect it to escalate to such a degree," Cadmus said with a truly sincere tone of apology. Although the plan had worked perfectly, the price paid by innocent people was too high.
Knowing he was the source of the deaths of thousands of innocent people was not a good feeling; there was a bitter taste in his mouth, and he felt quite sickened by himself. It might seem a bit hypocritical, as he had tortured and killed people before, but they were his enemies. Killing an enemy and killing an unrelated person were entirely different.
As if the murder had no purpose, a totally callous act toward human life.
Seeing Cadmus's expression, Rhaegar couldn't help but be surprised. He had thought Cadmus would be indifferent to the deaths of mere commoners, but seeing the troubled expression with a touch of regret, he knew the mage was still human.
"I'm surprised you still consider yourself human," Rhaegar said in a slightly surprised tone.
Cadmus rolled his eyes, looked at Rhaegar, and said in a rather annoyed tone, "I've always been human. I don't know why you didn't consider me one before."
"You don't really think anyone would treat you as human when you're capable of burning an entire city, do you?" Rhaegar looked at Cadmus and asked in a strangely amused and provocative tone.
Cadmus was left speechless by Rhaegar's question. He truly didn't know how to answer that. Putting himself in the shoes of a native of this world, if it were him, he definitely wouldn't think he was human.
"That's prejudice against powerful people; they're obviously human from head to toe," Cadmus looked at Rhaegar and replied in a truly annoyed tone. Being treated as something other than human was somewhat offensive.
Rhaella, who was still using the Archbishop as a punching bag, looked at her son and her future son-in-law with a helpless gaze. She was currently torturing a person, and both her "sons" were simply chatting as if they were in a pleasant garden.
"I'm busy right now. Can you two talk somewhere else?" Considering herself a professional torturer, Rhaella found it quite unpleasant to lose her focus at that moment.
Cadmus and Rhaegar looked at Rhaella and then at the Archbishop; both men looked at each other and truly noticed that this was not a pleasant place to talk. Especially with the screams of the Archbishop of the Great Sept of Baelor echoing in the background. Even by their morally questionable standards, it was a rather terrifying place.
"Don't kill him, Mother," Rhaegar said, seeing Rhaella punching Roland with such intensity. "We need him alive to curse the entire population of King's Landing. Only when he completely breaks the people's faith can he die."
"I know. How could I let him die so easily?" How could Rhaella let one of the masterminds behind her poisoning die so easily? She would even come to ask Cadmus to make a double of this man so she could torture him every day for months on end.
If Cadmus heard Rhaella's plans, he would certainly distance himself a bit from the Dowager Queen; the woman was becoming increasingly insane. The pain of losing her sons and daughters had simply destroyed her morality, and only vengeance remained in her life.
If anyone doubted that Rhaella would truly burn Oldtown with everyone inside, they were being deeply naive. She wouldn't just burn everyone in the city; she would even laugh while watching it all burn.
Cadmus and Rhaegar, accompanied by Arthur, left the dungeons, but Roland's screams of pain and agony could still be heard.
"Rhaegar, I advise you and Daenerys to spend more time with Rhaella. She's likely to lose herself in this thirst for vengeance," Cadmus warned Rhaegar in a solemn tone. Although taking revenge was pleasurable, going mad while doing so certainly was not.
"I know. She's looking more and more like my father," Rhaegar said with a sigh. How could he not notice? Although he wanted to avenge his brothers and sisters, he wasn't as vengeful as Rhaella; he was satisfied with killing everyone to avenge the siblings who died without seeing the beauty of the world.
"I'll postpone the trial until tomorrow. I'll let her vent a bit more; maybe she'll feel better, even if only a little, after torturing this church pig," Rhaegar said, letting out another sigh. He truly hoped Rhaella could smile as naturally as before.
Cadmus nodded, but he found it hard to believe Rhaegar's wishes would come true. Rhaella was a mother; that bond with one's own children was simply difficult for a man to understand. After all, they carried the children in their wombs, and with the hormones, postpartum depression, and everything else, a woman's mentality was different.
However, he also hoped Rhaella would get better; the woman deserved to be happy for a long time after what she had suffered her entire life.
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Read my other books:
Game Of Thrones: The God-Emperor of Planetos (400,000 words written).
Percy Jackson: Godwyn the Golden.