Seeing that both her father and mother had once again been completely drawn into Daniella’s rhythm, Rhaenyra immediately felt a wave of displeasure rise in her heart.
Ever since childhood, she had always been the center of attention within the family.
Whether it was her beauty, her intelligence, or her status as the Realm’s Delight, everyone around her had always indulged and praised her.
Yet ever since Daniella arrived at King’s Landing and later bonded with Dreamfyre, things had gradually begun to change.
So Rhaenyra immediately folded her arms and retorted unhappily, “Father already rode Balerion the Black Dread.
Why would he lower himself to tame another dragon?
Daniella, you are not only greedy for gold, you are greedy for everything.
You want to possess everything for yourself!”
Daniella immediately stepped back several paces in an exaggerated manner, then made a face at Rhaenyra before laughing mischievously.
“I simply love seeing little Rhaenyra looking jealous of me while being completely unable to do anything about it!”
The sight of the silver-haired girl openly provoking her niece instantly amused both Viserys and Aemma.
Rhaenyra herself had already prepared a long string of rebuttals in her mind, but after hearing Daniella’s shameless response, she was momentarily left speechless.
Aemma covered her mouth lightly, suppressing her laughter before gently intervening.
“Alright, enough.
The two of you have not seen each other for so long, and now you immediately begin quarreling the moment you meet again.”
She then looked toward her daughter with a helpless smile.
“Rhaenyra, your aunt personally prepared desserts for you tonight.
Have you forgotten that kindness already?”
Then she turned toward Daniella.
“And you as well, Daniella.
You are already growing into a young lady now.
You must pay attention to your conduct and image.”
Aemma’s tone became slightly more serious.
“You are both princesses of House Targaryen.
The daughters of the royal family should serve as examples for the noble ladies of the Seven Kingdoms.
Do you understand?”
Rhaenyra obediently lowered her head and answered at once, “Yes, Mother.”
Daniella, however, showed no intention of behaving so obediently.
Instead, she casually shrugged and replied without concern,
“I think House Targaryen already has enough with Rhaenyra being the Realm’s Delight and the shining light of the Seven Kingdoms.”
“My goal is different.”
The silver-haired girl raised her chin slightly, and her violet-black eyes gleamed brightly beneath the torchlight.
“I want to become the shield and guardian of House Targaryen.
I want every person in the world who harbors ill intentions toward our family to kneel trembling beneath the shadows of our dragons.”
Then she spread her hands naturally and smiled.
“If even royal princesses cannot live freely as they please, then what is the point of being born into House Targaryen?”
Cousin Aemma?”
Before Viserys could answer, Daniella added seriously,
“And Cousin, you truly should consider my suggestion carefully.
Only strength can contend against strength.”
Viserys and Aemma exchanged helpless glances.
Both of them possessed naturally gentle temperaments, and when facing Daniella’s overwhelming confidence and fearless personality, there truly was little they could do besides sigh inwardly.
In the end, neither continued the topic further.
Instead, they simply brought Daniella and Rhaenyra back among the nobles gathered throughout Aegon’s Garden and the Painted Table Chamber.
After all, children could still be guided slowly in the future.
Moreover, although Daniella’s words were audacious, part of them was undeniably true.
The princesses of House Targaryen were indeed far freer and more privileged than ordinary noblewomen throughout the Seven Kingdoms.
As the banquet continued, the matter of Daniella winning ten three-masted ships from Borros Baratheon quickly became the greatest topic of discussion among the assembled nobles.
It was almost guaranteed that before long, the story would spread throughout every corner of the Seven Kingdoms.
Many troublesome heirs from noble families would probably experience noticeably easier days afterward as well.
Compared to Borros Baratheon, who drunkenly wagered away ten ships before half the realm, the actions of countless other rebellious noble children suddenly no longer seemed particularly outrageous.
But even if Lord Boremund regretted everything now, what could he actually do?
Very few parents in this world could truly outmaneuver their own children once disaster had already occurred.
At the same time, another thing destined to spread wildly across Westeros was naturally Daniella’s Dragonflame Wine.
Originally, many nobles had already fallen in love with the wine after tasting it, and under Samwell’s enthusiastic promotion, numerous families had placed substantial orders.
Now, after the dramatic wager involving Borros, interest in Dragonflame Wine rose even further.
The great lords of Westeros were not fools.
They understood perfectly well that the amusing story of the heir to Storm’s End losing ten ships over a drinking contest would soon become famous not only throughout the Seven Kingdoms, but even across the Free Cities of Essos.
Borros himself would likely become a permanent laughingstock among the nobility.
Some people had already quietly begun calling him “Borros the Ship-Loser.”
And as the story spread, the legendary Dragonflame Wine connected to the event would naturally become even more famous.
This represented an enormous business opportunity.
After all, beneath every great noble house existed countless bannermen, lesser nobles, merchants, and trading networks.
Those people would never have direct access to Dragonstone itself.
That meant they could only purchase the wine through intermediary noble houses.
Realizing this, many lords immediately sought out Samwell to increase their orders.
By the end of the night, the orders he received had already exceeded five hundred thousand gold dragons in total value.
Fortunately, White Sheep Town had already accumulated considerable reserves of Dragonflame Wine during the past several years, enough to satisfy the current demands temporarily.
Even so, future production would still need to expand dramatically.
At present, the breweries near White Sheep Town could only produce roughly one hundred thousand gold dragons’ worth of new wine each month.
To secure enough barley supplies for brewing, Samwell had already traveled repeatedly throughout Westeros.
Although the realm had enjoyed peace for many years under Jaehaerys’s reign and grain reserves remained relatively abundant, transporting large quantities of grain to Dragonstone was still extremely expensive.
Moreover, Dragonstone previously lacked sufficient trade goods valuable enough for merchants to justify the return voyage.
As a result, grain merchants had never been especially eager to visit Dragonstone.
To attract merchants consistently, Dragonstone naturally needed products capable of drawing interest across the realm.
Unfortunately, because its price remained extremely high, the actual sales volume had stayed relatively limited in recent years, reducing its ability to attract widespread merchant traffic.
Instead, the livestock of White Sheep Town unexpectedly became more famous first.
After consuming the specially prepared feed created by Daniella using dragon-related materials, the quality of the town’s cattle, sheep, and horses improved significantly.
This gradually attracted increasing numbers of livestock merchants.
Combined with the abundant grasslands developing across New Dragonstone Island, the total number of sheep and goats under Daniella’s control had already surpassed two hundred thousand.
Aside from serving as food for the dragons, these herds alone generated tens of thousands of gold dragons in annual income.
The cattle population had also grown to several thousand head, although most had been distributed among commoners to assist with plowing and agriculture.
At the same time, Daniella had improved numerous farming tools and lent them freely to local farmers, greatly increasing agricultural efficiency throughout the island.
After cultivating Daniella’s own ten thousand acres of fertile land, many commoners had voluntarily begun reclaiming additional fields themselves.
Because Daniella exempted land taxes during the first two years, even many impoverished residents from the Fishing Village willingly moved to New Dragonstone Island.
The newly reclaimed farmland had already expanded to nearly fifty thousand acres.
Beginning this year, however, those lands would officially begin paying rent to Daniella.
Even land taxes alone would soon generate annual revenues worth tens of thousands of gold dragons.
And despite all this, Daniella only collected forty percent of the harvest as rent, an unusually low rate by Westerosi standards.
Of course, the mandatory labor obligations remained substantial, since New Dragonstone Island was still deep within its development phase.
However, Daniella never exploited the workers without compensation.
Meals, lodging, and additional subsidies were always provided during labor periods.
Over the past decade, despite all the rapid development taking place across Dragonstone’s new territories, Daniella’s personal treasury had actually not increased as dramatically as outsiders imagined.
Most of her truly massive wealth instead came from another source entirely.
Occasionally, Daniella would secretly ride Dreamfyre to hunt pirates throughout the Narrow Sea, along with certain merchant fleets belonging to especially disreputable Free City families.
Over the years, these operations allowed her to secretly accumulate nearly five million gold dragons’ worth of wealth in various currencies and treasures.
The captured ships themselves were quietly transported to Tarth Island, where Lord Tarth refurbished them.
Ships of mediocre quality were sold off discreetly, while excellent vessels were incorporated into a jointly operated long-distance trade fleet.
As for why Daniella maintained such close cooperation with House Tarth, the reason was naturally connected to her sworn shield, Cameron Tarth.
Cameron was the younger brother of Lord Tarth himself, which allowed trust between the two sides to form rapidly.
Additionally, Tarth had suffered repeated pirate raids from the Stepstones and forces backed by the Triarchy of the Three Daughters.
As a result, House Tarth harbored deep hatred toward pirates and many Free City powers.
This also became an important reason why Lord Tarth willingly cooperated with Daniella’s secret operations.
As for sailors and crew members, slaves who proved obedient and reliable were gradually recruited into service.
Pirates and especially corrupt wealthy merchants, meanwhile, were either fed to dragons or sent into mines to extract ore.
At present, Daniella’s growing fleet had already safely completed one major round-trip voyage through the Free Cities.
And that single expedition alone returned goods worth no less than ten million gold dragons.
This was despite the fact that the voyage had primarily served as reconnaissance.
Dangerous regions rich in gold, gems, and silver had deliberately been avoided.
The main objective had simply been gathering intelligence regarding the political and commercial conditions of the major Free Cities in preparation for future plans.
And next time, Daniella intended to personally accompany the fleet herself while riding Dreamfyre.