The orchard was filled with a faint floral fragrance, while the rich aroma of roasted lamb drifted far across the hillsides.
As members of the royal family, Viserys and Aemma had often accompanied King Jaehaerys on hunting expeditions into the Kingswood, and picnics had always been an essential part of those outings.
However, during such occasions, they constantly had to deal with the schemes and social maneuvering of the nobility while maintaining proper royal etiquette and decorum, which greatly diminished the pleasure of even the finest food.
To avoid such restrictions today, Daniella had deliberately ordered the guards and servants to remain far away.
Left alone with roasted lamb and fine wine, the family naturally enjoyed themselves thoroughly.
Everyone personally participated in preparing the meal.
Daniella handled the seasoning.
Rhaenyra was responsible for turning the roasting spits.
Aemma arranged the blankets and tableware.
Meanwhile, Viserys personally carved the roasted lamb.
The family completely cast aside the burdensome etiquette of the royal court.
Viserys ate meat heartily together with Daniella and Rhaenyra while freely drinking wine, thoroughly enjoying the rare relaxation.
Even the pregnant Aemma was gradually influenced by their cheerful atmosphere and could not resist taking a small sip of House Targaryen’s Dragonflame.
Although Daniella had repeatedly stated that pregnant women could safely drink the wine, Aemma, who had already experienced two miscarriages, still did not dare take such risks easily.
Even though Daniella had already conducted numerous tests among pregnant women in White Sheep Town, Aemma had always remained cautious.
But today, with her emotions lifted, she finally decided to try a small sip.
The moment she swallowed the wine, she immediately felt warmth spread throughout her body.
Most noticeably, the faint aches that often lingered around her lower abdomen eased significantly.
Aemma’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.
“It really does help…”
“This dragonflame wine truly seems beneficial for pregnant women.”
At that moment, Dreamfyre, who had been resting near the volcanic region nearby, suddenly soared toward them.
Whether she had been attracted by the scent of roasted lamb or had sensed Daniella’s joyful emotions was impossible to tell.
Fortunately, the place Daniella had chosen for their picnic was spacious and open enough for a dragon to land safely.
The moment Dreamfyre descended nearby, Daniella immediately instructed her personal guards to head to White Sheep Town and bring additional goats.
She then directly fed Dreamfyre the remaining half of the roasted lamb that the family had been eating.
Unfortunately, that amount barely served as an appetizer for the great dragon and disappeared in a single gulp.
Daniella helplessly stroked Dreamfyre’s enormous head and complained affectionately,
“Dreamfyre, you’re becoming more and more gluttonous.”
“It’s a good thing your master knows how to make money.
Otherwise, you would have already eaten me into poverty.”
Watching Daniella interact so intimately with Dreamfyre filled both Viserys and Aemma with deep pride.
“This is our child.”
Meanwhile, Rhaenyra heard Daniella complaining about being poor from feeding dragons, and the jealousy that had only recently been suppressed by familial warmth immediately reignited.
“Who in the Seven Kingdoms doesn’t know that Princess Daniella of House Targaryen is the best at making money?”
“Just today alone, you earned millions of gold dragons from dragon porcelain.”
“That’s almost equal to the royal family’s yearly tax revenue.”
Rhaenyra narrowed her eyes mischievously.
“Is sister already preparing her dowry?”
Daniella turned toward her with a completely innocent expression.
“Preparing a dowry?”
“Why would sister think that?”
“I have absolutely no intention of marrying anytime soon.”
“It’s far too comfortable living together with family.”
“And besides, do royal princesses necessarily have to marry away?”
“I think it would be much better to simply invite a husband into the family instead.”
“That way everything would still remain under our control.”
“Wouldn’t that be far better?”
“What do you think, sister?”
Rhaenyra was momentarily led astray by Daniella’s reasoning.
Without realizing it herself, she subconsciously nodded.
“What you said… actually makes a lot of sense.”
Aemma immediately smiled helplessly and interrupted the sisters before the conversation became even more outrageous.
“Seven save us…”
“You two sisters truly must stop talking like this.”
“As royal princesses and role models for the noble ladies of the Seven Kingdoms, you absolutely cannot say such things outside.”
“People would laugh themselves to death.”
Viserys gently squeezed Aemma’s hand and spoke softly,
“They are still young.”
“Let them enjoy life while they can.”
“As for the future, we can discuss it later.”
Aemma shook her head helplessly but ultimately said nothing more.
The personal guards worked very efficiently.
Less than half an hour later, they returned with more than twenty fat goats.
With the twelve Skinning Knights assisting, the goats were quickly slaughtered and processed.
Soon, all the roasting spits they had brought were filled once again with lamb.
To prevent Dreamfyre from growing impatient, Daniella directly placed three fully seasoned goats atop a large stone and allowed Dreamfyre to roast them herself using dragonfire.
The three fat goats finally satisfied Dreamfyre enough for her to let out several contented roars.
At that exact moment, several immature dragon cries suddenly echoed from the direction of the nearby volcano.
Everyone immediately turned toward the source of the sound.
Dragons possessed extremely high intelligence.
Ever since Glutton had discovered their previous hiding place, the three young dragons no longer dared return to Dragonmont.
Originally, they had barely survived there by scavenging for food.
But today, after venturing out in desperation due to extreme hunger, they had nearly become prey for Glutton himself.
After being rescued earlier by Dreamfyre, the three young dragons had cautiously found a new cave near the volcano where Dreamfyre usually rested.
However, after today’s fright and without finding any food, they had become utterly starving.
Thus, they finally followed the scent of blood and roasted meat here.
Yet the moment they spotted Dreamfyre, all three immediately stopped advancing.
Instead, they circled warily in the sky nearby.
Grey Ghost remained thin and silver-gray, his scales glimmering faintly like mist beneath sunlight.
The green dragon looked much sturdier, with bronze-green scales and dark claws.
Meanwhile, the black dragon was the largest among them, his body covered in charcoal-black scales from head to tail, while his eerie green eyes appeared especially striking.
Seeing their hesitation, Daniella immediately instructed Dreamfyre to lie down peacefully.
Dreamfyre raised her head toward the three young dragons and let out an irritated growl before obediently lowering herself to the ground.
Daniella then ordered several roasting spits to be moved into an open clearing far from the group.
Afterward, she directed everyone to hide within the orchard itself.
Using the dense fruit trees as cover, the entire group quickly disappeared from sight.
Dragons possessed extremely sharp eyesight and smell.
The three young dragons quickly noticed the fragrant roasted lamb left in the clearing.
They circled several times overhead before finally lowering their guard and cautiously descending.
Even so, none of them dared land immediately.
Half an hour gradually passed, and the roasted goats were beginning to smell slightly burnt.
Finally, the strongest among them, the charcoal-black dragon, boldly descended first.
He carefully scanned the surroundings several times.
After confirming there was no danger, he immediately crawled toward one of the roasting spits and began ravenously devouring the goat.
Seeing that the black dragon remained unharmed, the green dragon finally gathered courage as well and swooped down directly onto another roasting spit.
However, the possessive black dragon immediately roared several times at the green dragon to assert dominance.
Unfortunately for him, the green dragon had long since been driven half-mad by hunger and ignored the warning completely.
He instantly grabbed a roasted goat and hurried several meters away before tearing into it greedily.
Although everyone hiding within the orchard was growing somewhat impatient from waiting so long, being able to witness dragons feeding at such close range still left them deeply excited.
Naturally, the most excited person present was Viserys himself.
For House Targaryen, the appearance of three healthy young dragons carried tremendous significance.
Although nobody had doubted Daniella’s earlier account of the dragon battle, hearing about it and witnessing it personally were entirely different experiences.
Now, seeing the three young dragons alive before them and feeding greedily with their own eyes filled everyone with far greater satisfaction and excitement than mere words ever could.