Daniella’s favorite thing to do was to go to the Dragonmont to feed the dragons.
At Dragonstone’s Dragonmont, there were loyal Dragon Guards of the Targaryen Family specifically responsible for feeding and training the dragons.
Most of these Dragon Guards were descendants of bastards from the Targaryen Family.
Perhaps for this reason, the dragons rarely harmed them, yet because their bloodlines were not pure, it was also difficult for the dragons to be close to them.
They were illiterate and could only speak valyrian, having been selected and trained as Dragon Guards since childhood.
Most of them had already been taken to King’s Landing to continue serving the dragons of House Targaryen in the Dragonpit there.
Only a dozen or so remained on Dragonstone.
Every day, the Dragon Guards would drive flocks of sheep into the dragon caves, allowing the dragons to feed at will.
To be honest, this was a bit of a waste.
Although sheepskins and wool were not expensive, they were still worth one Copper Star, which is sixteen Copper Pennies—enough to buy sixteen loaves of white bread.
That was equivalent to five days’ worth of rations for an adult.
So, Daniella asked the Dragon Guards to slaughter and marinate the sheep first, then carry them to large iron racks near the dragon caves to be roasted.
Of course, they wouldn’t dare stay nearby, but Daniella did.
Dragons wouldn’t easily harm those of Targaryen blood, right?
Over the years, Daniella had accumulated thousands of Gold Dragons in private savings from selling sheepskins, and that was after she had given half to the servants who skinned and sold them.
For this purpose, Daniella specifically sought out twelve teenage valets from among the orphans in King’s Landing to be responsible for skinning the sheep.
These boys were indeed selected by Daniella from hundreds of orphans; they were good in both appearance and intellect.
Daniella wanted to train them into her personal guards.
To this end, she specifically hired Bronn, a sellsword knight from King’s Landing with superb swordsmanship, to teach them.
Bronn’s skills were not at all inferior to those of the White Cloaks, so the boys practiced well.
Skinning sheep became much more efficient as a result.
Her niece Rhaenyra even gave them a nickname: the Order of the Sheepskinner Knights.
For a time, the reputation of the Sheepskinner Knights echoed through the Seven Kingdoms.
However, Daniella didn’t care at all.
There weren’t many people in this world who could make money from their reputation, but I’m one of them!
Ever since Daniella fell in love with feeding the dragons, she had visited Bronze Fury—Vermithor, Gentle Queen—Silver Wing, The Ugly One—Sheepstealer, and The Old Bitch—Vhagar one by one.
Daniella didn’t dare provoke the Fierce Dragon—Glutton; after all, that old dragon was both cunning and dangerous.
Vermithor and Silver Wing had been left on Dragonstone by King Jaehaerys for a long time, likely because he was too old and no longer fit for dragon riding!
Every time, Vermithor would simply pick up the whole roasted sheep Daniella prepared for him and leave, quite heartlessly.
Furthermore, both he and Silver Wing rarely left the Dragonmont.
Fortunately, Silver Wing would occasionally give Daniella a look and wouldn’t refuse her closeness.
Sheepstealer truly lived up to the name; he only liked to steal.
Every time, he would wait until Daniella left before coming out to drag the roasted sheep away.
She also looked… tsk tsk, quite ugly.
Her so-called mud-colored scales were neither black nor gray, even tinged with a color like yellow dung!
The dragon’s head was also quite bald, without horns or barbs, actually looking a bit like Vhagar.
Vhagar was currently Prince Baelon’s mount, but because she didn’t like the Dragonpit, she often flew back to Dragonstone on her own.
She, however, gave Daniella a lot of respect; every time after being fed, she would roar a few times at Daniella and flap her wings.
Occasionally, she would give Daniella a look, as if saying she was doing great.
Vhagar liked to perch on the rocks on the beach, and she was always lazy when eating sheep.
Fortunately, not only did she allow Daniella to touch her, but she was also willing to listen to Daniella muttering under her head.
From time to time, she would snort a bit of smoke from her nose, as if responding to her.
This day, Daniella rode Dreamfyre for a few laps around Dragonstone and saw that after years of development, New Dragonstone Island finally had an air of prosperity.
After finishing today’s flight and returning to the castle, Daniella instantly felt the atmosphere was a bit off.
Scholar Gerardys told everyone with a heavy face:
“Black ravens have brought dark tidings: Prince Baelon has passed away.”
Like everyone else, Daniella fell into a state of great shock.
At this time, the steady and prudent Scholar Gerardys softly reminded Daniella:
“Princess, according to tradition, when a member of the Targaryen Family passes away, they are to return to Dragonstone for the cremation ceremony. We should begin our preparations.”
Hearing this, Daniella forced herself to perk up and began instructing the attendants on the relevant reception matters.
“Ser Alfred, please ensure everyone stays alert. Arrange for people to strengthen patrols in the Fishing Village, especially for screening outsiders. Enforce a curfew during the funeral period.”
“Maester Tigris, please prepare the necessary supplies. I’ll leave the rest to you and Ser Alfred!”
The steady and kind Old Scholar and the eccentric Captain of the Guard Alfred respectfully complied,
“Yes, Princess!”
“Anne, there should be many female guests visiting this time, so I’ll trouble you to handle the preparations for their reception.”
As Daniella’s governess, Anne was also a noble lady from House Stokeworth of King’s Landing.
“Yes, Princess! Leave it to me!”
“Alright, everyone go prepare!”
After finishing the various matters, Daniella sat on the Dragonstone Chair and gazed at the giant Painted Table, falling into deep thought once more.
Dragonstone is an island formed by the eruption of the Dragonmont’s active volcano, located at the mouth of Blackwater Bay.
Beneath the mountain lie rich dragonglass deposits.
For centuries, besides Dragonstone castle, there was only a single Fishing Village of ten thousand people on the island.
Many ships traveling the Narrow Sea would come here to replenish supplies and fresh water, or to escape storms.
So, although the Fishing Village was not large, it still brought some tax revenue to the Targaryen Family.
Before ruling the Seven Kingdoms, the main income of the Targaryen Family came from their own ocean trade.
Now, with the support of the Seven Kingdoms, the family fleet had long been reorganized into the Royal Fleet and kept in King’s Landing port as a decoration.
Not far southwest of Dragonstone is Tide Head Island, the residence of House Velaryon, who also came from Valyria.
To the north is Crab Island, where House Celtigar, another vassal the Targaryen Family brought from Ancient Valyria, resides.
Despite Dragonstone being ancient and strong, its vassals were few; because the islands were sparsely populated, it was difficult for the lord to muster an army.
But as the newly born island in the northeast corner expanded its area by over ten times, King Jaehaerys gathered tens of thousands of refugees from King’s Landing to settle at the junction of the new and old islands.
Now, it has developed into a town living off sheep herding and growing crops like barley, oats, and soybeans—White Sheep Town.
After successfully riding a dragon, Daniella directly asked her Great-grandfather, King Jaehaerys, for Goat Town and New Dragonstone Island as her own territory.
Because Daenerys Targaryen was the youngest dragon rider in history, and since that place was just dispensable wasteland in their eyes, they agreed to Daniella’s request as if coaxing a child.
Now, Daniella was a royal princess with her own fiefdom, a first in the Targaryen Family.
It had always been the tradition of the Targaryen Royal Family that only the heir to the throne was eligible to be titled Prince of Dragonstone and obtain the governance of Dragonstone.
Furthermore, the Targaryen Family currently had large wealth reserves, and the historical situation of needing to borrow money from the Iron Bank had not yet occurred.
With few royal family members, everyone lived very affluently and comfortably, never feeling that Gold Dragons were particularly precious.
Everyone naturally took Daniella’s actions as a child’s game of playing house, completely not taking it to heart.
Since you think that way, that’s great!
Anyway, New Dragonstone Island rightfully belongs to her, Daenerys Targaryen!
According to the laws of the Seven Kingdoms, no one can interfere anymore; otherwise, she could just ride her dragon and unleash her ultimate right in their faces.
She knew that in history, Rhaenyra had clearly won, but because of insufficient funds, she forcibly raised taxes, which led to her being driven off the stage by the strongest combat force in the series—the King’s Landing mob.
In the end, she was even reduced to the point where she didn’t even have the fare for a ship back to Dragonstone.