Ever since successfully bonding with Dreamfyre, Daniella had rarely attended royal banquets over the past several years unless the occasion involved major royal ceremonies or important festivals.
As a result, she had gradually become somewhat unaccustomed to the endless socializing and political maneuvering that filled noble gatherings.
Unfortunately, under Aemma and Rhaenyra’s enthusiastic guidance, Daniella was still forced to maintain a polite smile while greeting countless nobles throughout the evening.
After more than an hour of exchanging meaningless pleasantries, listening to flattery, and responding to endless praise regarding her beauty, dragons, and Dragonflame Wine, Daniella finally felt mentally exhausted.
To her, this sort of social interaction was far more tiring than riding Dreamfyre across the Narrow Sea hunting pirates.
Eventually, she finally found an opportunity to quietly withdraw from the banquet and return to Holy Flame Tower early to rest.
Perhaps because of Daniella’s Dragonflame Wine, neither King Jaehaerys nor the assembled nobles showed any intention of leaving Dragonstone anytime soon.
The celebrations and feasts continued day after day, each banquet lasting deep into the night.
And during these gatherings, countless noble young men and women naturally became intoxicated not only by wine, but also by desire and ambition.
Even Daniella’s own four handmaidens were gradually being charmed by the various handsome young lords and heirs gathered on Dragonstone.
If Daniella had not always maintained extremely strict discipline regarding relationships and personal conduct among her attendants, she suspected some of them might already have surrendered themselves emotionally long ago.
Meanwhile, the ten three-masted ships Daniella had won from Borros Baratheon were officially delivered the previous day.
Every vessel arrived fully equipped with complete crews, experienced sailors, and enough supplies to sustain voyages lasting over a month.
Clearly, this represented Lord Boremund Baratheon’s final attempt to preserve at least a small portion of his dignity and pride after the humiliating wager.
Naturally, Daniella did not trust these crews completely.
After some sweet persuasion directed toward King Jaehaerys, she successfully obtained permission to replace nearly half the personnel aboard the ships with sailors and officers from the royal fleet.
This way, even if some hidden problems existed among the Stormlands crews, they would never be able to gain full control over the vessels.
As for the ships themselves, Daniella immediately withdrew two million gold dragons from her treasury and handed the funds over to Samwell.
She instructed him to recruit a trustworthy and experienced captain capable of escorting the fleet safely to Braavos for modifications and improvements.
At the same time, she also ordered him to purchase ten additional warships on the return voyage if suitable opportunities appeared.
To ensure the Braavosi took the matter seriously, Daniella even specifically invited the father of her handmaiden Gariel, Lord Mooton of Maidenpool, to oversee part of the operation personally.
Meanwhile, Samwell also prepared to transport numerous valuable Westerosi goods to Essos alongside the fleet.
A properly organized round trip would undoubtedly generate enormous profits.
On this particular morning, dawn had barely begun illuminating Dragonstone when Daniella was awakened once again by the tiny pink dragon Meraxes.
The powder-pink hatchling behaved much like a hungry puppy.
The small dragon continuously rubbed against Daniella’s body while staring at her eagerly with its beautiful pink-purple slit pupils, clearly expressing its hunger.
Daniella could only helplessly get out of bed before ordering the guards outside the tower to fetch the specially prepared roasted lamb from the kitchens.
Meraxes immediately devoured the seasoned meat enthusiastically.
After eating several pounds of roasted lamb, the small dragon finally became satisfied and curled itself comfortably within the black stone nest Daniella had personally prepared.
Soon afterward, it fell asleep peacefully.
Since she was already awake and no longer sleepy, Daniella simply summoned her maids to help her wash and prepare for the day.
After eating a simple breakfast inside Holy Flame Tower, she changed into her fitted dragonrider leather armor before heading directly toward Dreamfyre.
The previous night’s banquet had ended extremely late, meaning the visiting nobles would certainly not rise early this morning.
Additionally, all of Daniella’s formal lessons had been temporarily suspended during the royal gathering.
With nothing else demanding her attention, she naturally chose to seek entertainment herself.
Soon afterward, Dreamfyre soared into the skies above Dragonstone.
From high overhead, Daniella could clearly observe the rapidly developing lands of White Sheep Town.
Across the fields, countless small figures busily worked the fertile land with visible enthusiasm.
To these commoners, every seed planted represented hope for a better future.
Meanwhile, north of White Sheep Town, the tall chimneys of the expanding brewery district continuously released thick smoke into the sky.
Ever since Dragonflame Wine officially entered the markets of the Seven Kingdoms, demand had increased dramatically.
The workers inside the breweries barely rested at all.
In order to satisfy the massive number of noble orders flooding into Dragonstone, production continued day and night without pause.
Compared to White Sheep Town, the Fishing Village near Dragonstone’s harbor remained much quieter during the morning.
Over the past several days, however, the arrival of numerous nobles had greatly stimulated local business.
The taverns, inns, gambling houses, and brothels remained crowded deep into every night.
And among all those establishments, the most famous by far was naturally the Fire Kiss Garden secretly operated under Daniella’s control.
The Fire Kiss Garden was a luxurious three-story pleasure garden built in the extravagant Lysene style.
Daniella had personally paid enormous sums to recruit skilled craftsmen from the Three Daughters in order to construct it.
Whether it was the interior decorations, exotic furnishings, entertainers, bed slaves, musicians, perfumes, or courtesans, every aspect had been carefully selected under Daniella’s instructions.
Lord Tarth himself had secretly assisted in gathering many of the personnel and luxury goods needed for the establishment.
The costs involved had been extraordinary.
However, the results proved equally extraordinary.
Many merchants who once visited Dragonstone became addicted to the experience and repeatedly returned afterward.
Not only did the Fire Kiss Garden provide Daniella with enormous hidden income, it also became one of her most important intelligence-gathering centers.
Countless secrets, rumors, trade information, and political gossip naturally flowed through pleasure houses every day.
Even many nearby nobles secretly frequented the establishment.
And during the current royal gathering, the Fire Kiss Garden had effectively become the most popular location among the younger noble lords.
Prince Daemon Targaryen himself was one of its greatest patrons.
In recent days, he had practically moved into the pleasure garden entirely, often riding Caraxes directly there each evening.
Of course, Daniella did not waste the profits generated by the establishment.
Large portions of the income were secretly used to gather orphans, spies, servants, and intelligence agents from cities throughout Westeros and Essos.
Since the Fire Kiss Garden officially opened, more than a thousand intelligent and adaptable orphans had already been quietly transported to Dragonstone.
This task was not particularly difficult.
Almost every city in the known world possessed large populations of abandoned children and wandering beggars.
After arriving on Dragonstone, these orphans underwent repeated evaluations and selection processes.
The most promising hundred children were transferred into a specially prepared manor hidden within a valley on New Dragonstone Island.
Although the manor itself appeared simple outwardly, it contained every facility necessary for training.
Inside worked numerous specialists secretly purchased from Slaver’s Bay through Lord Tarth’s connections.
Former gladiator champions.
Assassins.
Healers.
Scholars.
Scribes.
The selected children learned various skills from these instructors and gradually became the foundation of the private force Daniella intended to build for the future.
As for those eliminated during the selection process, they were assigned to wineries, workshops, blacksmiths, farms, or other trades where they could still learn practical means of survival.
A handful possessing exceptional beauty or unique talents were quietly transferred into the Fire Kiss Garden itself.
Meanwhile, the seas surrounding Dragonstone had recently become especially lively.
This season marked the great migration period when whales, dolphins, sharks, and countless large fish traveled northward from the Summer Sea.
As a result, it was also one of the best hunting seasons of the year.
Dreamfyre had already captured many enormous marine creatures recently.
As Daniella guided Dreamfyre through the skies above the Narrow Sea, they soon encountered multiple massive schools of fish.
Dreamfyre only needed to descend close to the ocean surface before violently flapping her enormous wings.
The powerful gusts immediately launched large fish high into the air.
Then, with a burst of dragonfire, the fish were instantly roasted before Dreamfyre swallowed them whole.
After flying for nearly half an hour, they finally encountered a massive migrating school of tuna.
Nearby swam numerous dolphins alongside several enormous great white sharks.
After Daniella confirmed the target, Dreamfyre immediately folded her wings and dove downward at terrifying speed.
The wind pressure became so intense that Daniella’s ears briefly rang painfully.
In the next instant, Dreamfyre’s massive claws seized one of the great white sharks directly from the sea before soaring back upward.
The captured creature barely even struggled while hanging helplessly in the dragon’s grasp.
Creatures within this world generally appeared much larger than those from Daniella’s previous life, perhaps due to the unusually high oxygen levels throughout Planetos.
The great white shark currently dangling beneath Dreamfyre measured at least fourteen or fifteen meters long and likely weighed well over ten tons.
“What a harvest.”
Satisfied with the successful hunt, Daniella prepared to return toward Dragonstone.
However, just as Dreamfyre approached New Dragonstone Island, several smaller dragons suddenly appeared ahead, fleeing frantically through the skies.
One of them possessed slender silver-gray scales that shimmered beautifully beneath the sunlight like drifting morning mist.
“Grey Ghost?”
Daniella immediately recognized the famously timid wild dragon from Dragonstone’s history.
In the future, this poor creature would eventually be devoured by Sunfyre during the Dance of the Dragons.
But what about the other two dragons nearby?
Compared to Grey Ghost, both appeared considerably larger and more powerful.
One dragon possessed bronze-green scales and resembled a smaller version of Dreamfyre herself.
Its claws and teeth were black, while its jade-like green scales reflected brilliantly beneath the morning sunlight.
The final dragon was the largest among the three.
Its body was entirely black.
Its horns.
Its wings.
Its scales.
Everything appeared dark as charcoal itself.
Only the creature’s eerie green eyes shone brightly like ghostly emeralds.