Third Moon of 101 AC, early spring.
Dragonstone, Dragonstone Castle, Holy Flame Tower.
Daniella Targaryen slowly closed the heavy tome titled *Genealogy and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms*.
Through the blooming potted flowers resting upon the stone windowsill, she gazed toward the vast and mist-covered waters of the Narrow Sea, quietly breathing in the cool spring air rolling in from the east.
Her mood was exceptionally good today.
The Narrow Sea was the long stretch of water separating the eastern continent of Essos from Westeros.
During most winters, the sea became violent and unpredictable under the influence of the freezing winds descending from the Shivering Sea in the far north.
Beginning every year around the tenth moon, storms would ravage the waters between the continents, swallowing countless merchant ships, war galleys, and ambitious adventurers who dared challenge its fury.
Fortunately, Dragonstone was blessed with both a great volcano and a smaller volcanic mountain.
Because of the heat rising from beneath the island, even during winter the castle remained far warmer than most places at the same latitude in Westeros.
Within the walls of Dragonstone Castle, the air remained mild enough for tropical fruit trees and delicate flowers to survive year-round, something almost unheard of elsewhere in the realm.
Daniella looked toward the flourishing greenery she had personally cultivated over the years, and a deep sense of satisfaction rose within her chest.
The flowers bloomed brighter, the fruit trees bore sweeter harvests, and even the grasslands surrounding the castle had become noticeably richer and healthier.
And all of it was because of the fertilizer she had carefully created herself.
In her previous life, Daniella had been a postgraduate student specializing in agriculture.
Old professional habits died hard.
After arriving on Dragonstone years ago, she had once stared at the mountains of dragon dung piled near the Dragonmont and suddenly wondered what would happen if it were composted together with volcanic ash.
The results had exceeded every expectation.
Whether it was crops, pasture grass, fruit trees, or decorative flowers, anything nourished by the mixture grew rapidly and produced far greater yields than normal.
As expected, anything connected to dragons was extraordinary.
It had already been eighteen years since Daniella transmigrated into this world, and over time she had completely confirmed that this was indeed the world of *House of the Dragon* and *A Song of Ice and Fire*.
As she grew older, the memories from her previous life became clearer and clearer.
Even now, she still found this world difficult to describe.
In her previous life, she had only recently graduated from university before joining a desert reforestation survey team.
During one expedition, an enormous sandstorm swept across the wasteland and buried her beneath endless yellow sands.
When she awoke again, she had become a Targaryen princess living during the golden age of dragons.
She had been born on a clear evening after rainfall.
On that day, several rainbows had appeared above Dragonstone while strange clouds filled the skies.
The event was immediately interpreted as a sign of great fortune by the royal court.
Even more unusual was the faint purplish-red flame-shaped mark resting between her brows, causing many septons, maesters, and nobles to believe she possessed an extraordinary destiny.
As a result, Daniella received lavish gifts every year on her nameday.
When she was four years old, she secretly instructed her handmaidens to sell off many of the extravagant ornaments and jewels she considered useless.
That single operation added more than fifty thousand golden dragons to her private treasury.
Unfortunately, despite the secrecy surrounding the matter, rumors somehow spread across the Seven Kingdoms that the young princess was obsessed with wealth.
From that point onward, many nobles intentionally brought her expensive gifts or large sums of gold whenever they visited Dragonstone or attended royal gatherings.
Whether they sought favor from House Targaryen or merely wished to test her reaction, Daniella did not particularly care.
Though they attempted to maintain serious expressions before a child of four or five, Daniella could always see the barely restrained amusement hidden behind their smiles.
Still, if reputation could be exchanged for gold, then she welcomed it wholeheartedly.
Daniella understood this world very clearly.
Westeros followed the cruel law of the jungle more than any modern society ever could.
Power meant survival.
And wealth was power.
Especially for House Targaryen, whose true strength rested upon dragons.
As long as she possessed enough wealth and powerful enough dragons, Daniella also wished to someday realize her dream of becoming an empress.
Of course, she also understood one important truth.
This was the era when House Targaryen possessed the greatest number of dragons in history, and family members could become mortal enemies at any moment.
Although she had only skimmed portions of the original novels in her previous life, she had watched the television series several times and remembered much of the general plot.
Still, certain things in this world had already changed.
For example, on the very night she was born, Dragonstone experienced violent geological upheaval during a massive storm.
Soon afterward, an enormous island more than ten times the size of Dragonstone rose from the sea northeast of the castle.
The emergence of the island greatly expanded Dragonstone’s territory and elevation, while a huge active volcano also appeared upon the new landmass.
Years later, the once-barren island had completely recovered its vitality and become rich with vegetation and life.
In order to increase her influence within House Targaryen, Daniella established contact with the she-dragon Dreamfyre at the age of seven and successfully became her rider.
Dreamfyre had once belonged to Queen Rhaena Targaryen and was among the oldest dragons alive.
She was the mother of Meleys, the Red Queen, and Caraxes, the Blood Wyrm.
At present, Dreamfyre was considered the fourth-largest dragon in the world, surpassed only by Vhagar, Vermithor, and the wild dragon known as the Cannibal.
When Daniella first bonded with her, Dreamfyre measured over fifty meters in length.
However, years of confinement within the Dragonpit had slowed her growth considerably.
After years of careful feeding, training, and constant flying under Daniella’s care, Dreamfyre resumed growing at a frightening pace.
Now her body stretched nearly seventy meters long, while her wingspan exceeded one hundred and forty meters.
Her scales had darkened from pale blue into a deep sapphire color, while silver-pink scales lined the edges of her wings.
Sharp barbs extended from her head down toward her neck, and three pairs of magnificent dragon horns crowned her skull.
Most striking of all was her enormous tail, covered in heavy bone spurs and ending in several terrifying armored plates.
According to Targaryen custom, every child born into the royal family received a dragon egg placed within their cradle.
Daniella’s egg was white with faint pink patterns flowing across its shell.
Unfortunately, it had never hatched.
Even now, the egg remained inside a specially prepared charcoal brazier in her chambers, warmed daily beside the fire.
Over the years, Daniella had tried nearly every method she could think of.
She had dripped blood upon the shell, shed tears over it, and even considered imitating Daenerys Targaryen by walking into flames with the egg in her arms.
Thankfully, reason prevailed.
Although Daniella possessed unusual resistance to heat, fire still hurt quite a lot, and she had no intention of roasting herself alive.
Still, the strange flame-shaped mark between her brows appeared to grant her an unusual affinity with dragons.
Through dreams and instinctive connection, she had easily earned Dreamfyre’s trust and become her rider.
Daniella’s growing reputation, combined with her increasingly beautiful appearance, caused Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen to become somewhat distant toward her from childhood.
Daniella could not be bothered arguing with a child.
Although Rhaenyra was undoubtedly intelligent and outstanding, she was also prideful and stubborn.
Because both her mother and maternal grandmother had long since passed away, Daniella spent most of her life quietly residing upon Dragonstone.
Unlike Rhaenyra, who preferred the splendor of King’s Landing, Daniella disliked remaining in the capital for too long.
She simply could not tolerate the foul smell hanging over the city.
After Daniella successfully claimed Dreamfyre, King Jaehaerys I Targaryen personally granted the newly risen island to her as a fief.
The royal family even held a grand celebration in King’s Landing to honor the young dragon rider.
Yet after politely accepting the gifts and congratulations from the gathered nobles, Daniella immediately mounted Dreamfyre and returned to Dragonstone.
By then, her private treasury already contained 255,508 golden dragons, 5,800 silver moons, 12,000 silver stags, 8,052 copper stars, along with countless copper pennies.
One golden dragon equaled thirty silver moons.
One silver moon equaled seven silver stags.
One silver stag equaled seven copper stars.
One copper star equaled eight copper pennies.
Since settling permanently on Dragonstone, Daniella’s daily life had become highly regular.
She woke each morning at seven with the assistance of her handmaidens before having breakfast between seven-thirty and eight.
The mornings were spent studying High Valyrian, noble etiquette, and ancient histories.
Lunch was served at eleven, followed by a two-hour rest.
In the afternoons, she studied geography, politics, history, and military affairs.
Dinner began at five in the evening, after which her free time finally arrived.
Most nights, Daniella visited the dragons, fed them personally, spoke with her attendants, practiced embroidery, or tended to her flowers and gardens.
She also enjoyed caring for the four massive mastiffs she kept within Dragonstone Castle.
After witnessing the miraculous effects dragon fertilizer had upon plants, Daniella naturally became curious whether modified mixtures might also affect animals and humans.
As a result, she secretly added carefully prepared supplements into her dogs’ meals.
Fortunately, the results proved excellent.
The four mastiffs grew far faster and larger than ordinary hounds from the same litter, while also becoming exceptionally fierce and courageous.
As adults, each beast was more than twice the size of normal mastiffs and nearly as large as half-grown calves.
They adored following Daniella throughout the castle, and even seasoned knights hesitated to approach them casually.
Most remarkably, the hounds no longer feared dragons.
They often accompanied Daniella during feeding time near the Dragonmont and no longer trembled in terror before the great beasts.
As expected, anything touched by dragons possessed miraculous properties.