#illegitimacy rumours

[stonelord1]

Athelstan--Our Greatest Monarch?

Athelstan–Our Greatest Monarch?

A recent poll searching for Britain’s ‘Greatest Monarch’, came up with the surprise winner of… drum roll, King Athelstan. Not that the Anglo-Saxon king wasn’t so great, but the winner is a little surprising since most people seem to have believed the ‘crown’ would go to Elizabeth I. (Yawn!) I hope the voters actually remembered Athelstan in reality and have not just recalled his name from…

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#"The last Kingdom" #Alfred #Anglo-Saxons #Athelstan #Bernard Cornwell #books #Brunaburh #Cheshire #Constantine II #Dissolution of the Monasteries #Eadgyth #Edward the Elder #Elizabeth I #Germany #House of Wessex #illegitimacy rumours #legal reforms #Malmesbury Abbey #novels #piety #royal burials #Scotland #St. Aldhelm #St. Cuthbert #Tom Holland #Venerable Bede #Vikings #York

[cerulianvermillion]

Enemies (with benefits) to lovers Guili hostage prince au where zhongli is the sickly prince of a small kingdom married off to the empire as a consort for a political alliance and Guizhong is the grand empress, rumoured to be heartless and calculating who only wants power.

#zhongli #guizhong #guili #genshin impact #Zhongli is sent away to be the empress' boytoy while his half-brother (osial?) inherits the throne #Guizhong feeds the rumours of her ruthlessness to fend off the corrupt ministers by her side #Zhongli knows the empire has the means to cure his ill health- something his family never cared about #Zhongli is proper and princely but he's willing to give away his dignity and pride for the sake of his people #Guizhong doesn't mind the rumours or enemies as long as her empire prospers and war ends and her people thrive #we love semi unhinged guizhong #Guizhong was not in-line for the throne at the time so she was often overlooked and even looked down upon. #Guizhong's predecessor was a terrible ruler who was corrupt and wasted national money and the people suffered so she vowed to fix everythin #Guizhong spends her days mingling with the people and experiences the consequences of the recklessness of her predecessor first hand #Because of both his health and his illegitimacy zhongli was never able to step out thus growing up very sheltered #they learn to trust other people and bond over their sense of duty #原神 #alternate universe #fanfic idea #fanfiction #headcanon #hostage prince au

[simpingland]

Never Pretending// Jace Velaryon x Fem!oc. Part 1.

Anon request:Major fluff and angst and jealousy- I’m thinking childhood best friends into enemies after the driftmark fight and through episode 8 when they meet again.

Summary: Gaella Targaryen (Alicent's kid) and Jace Velaryon were friends long before they understood what green and black meant. When they meet again six years later, they realise that there was always something more to both the court and their own friendship. Part 2

A/N: This will continue. This request was beautiful but had spoilers, so I won't post it completely. Stay tuned for part 2!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a time when Gaella had dreamed of being betrothed to Jacaerys Velaryon, and though she had never told her mother, her childhood was a happy one because of him. Born in the same year, the servants could always see the little blonde and brown heads wandering around the castle. Jace likes to wake her up early to explore corners that they were already starting to see too much, but Gaella's imagination helped her to see everything in a new way. And so the years passed, walking side by side, while the girl told him the legends of the kings and princes before them. He was the one who dared to cross the areas forbidden to them by the adults, and she was the one who knew the stories forbidden to them by the adults. Everyone knew of this friendship, but few approved of it. Gaella was aware at an early age of the rumours about Jace and Luke, her brother Aegon told her plainly one day when no one was around.

She never had the courage to tell Jace the truth. His love for Harwin was tender, but he also admired Leanor, and he loved to show off Vermax. The last thing Gaella wanted to do was to dispel that happiness, to pull him abruptly out of the limbo his mother had put them in to protect them. What Gaella did dislike was that the Prince was never confused by his appearance, never asked questions, and participated so actively in Aegon's jokes, unaware that Aegon was one of the greatest spokesmen for his illegitimacy. A rift started when Jace began to feel confident enough to make fun of Aemond. Prince Aemond wasn't particularly nice to Gaella, but they shared a taste for studies and could hold entertaining conversations. So when they laughed at his desperation to get a dragon, only Gaella understood how cruel the joke had been.

"There was no need to make fun of something that is not his fault," Gaella said to Jace as they walked back to the castle.

"It was Aegon's idea," he tried to justify himself.

"You're not much better if you follow him after..."

That night, Jace didn't want to apologise to Aemond. But the next morning, knowing that he had irritated his dearest friend, he woke her up with a piece of cake hidden in a napkin. He gave it to her as an apology, and the girl couldn't stay angry much longer. Such was Jace, as sweet as he was unruly, much quieter than his brother Luke, but both had inherited the mischievous side their mother had been known for.

King Viserys might be the only one who smiled at the thought of seeing Gaella and Jace together. He loved to hear their daily scurrying on the other side of his door, reminding him that life was beautiful and innocent for some still, and that the enmity between his wife and daughter was being offset by the friendship between their children. But her mother, Alicent, despite trying to connect with her, always ended up scolding her. She scolded her when she found her disobeying her orders, yelled at her when she stained her clothes, and of course, always pulled her away from Jace every chance she got. At first, Alicent let her be. She was so small, and she could control her. But as she grew older, the arguments were no longer about rules or dresses. Some day, which would come sooner rather than later, Gaella would be a woman, a woman who must marry, and whose company must be kept from men. Whatever Gaella's feelings for Jace, what mattered was that no one should suspect anything more than friendship. The night Jace and Gaella made peace, the two of them left the castle, escaping to an abandoned tower where they spent the entire day playing and talking. She kissed him goodbye with a kiss on the cheek that left his face flushed, and Gaella went into her room thinking that this would be the end of the best day of her life. But when she saw her mother waiting for her, she knew it wasn't true.

"How is it that you are so smart, Gaella, and at the same time, be so dumb?" she asked. The girl made herself small before Alicent.

"I'm sorry, mother. It's just that we didn't have lessons today and we got distracted..."

"I don't care where you went, what I care about is who you went with," she interrupted her, raising her voice.

"It's Jace, mother. Nothing bad can happen to me being with Jace."

"Oh, how innocent you are, my love." She walked over and knelt down to be at her level, holding her hands lovingly. "I was close friends with your mother a long time ago, too... but they don't love us. Not really."

"Jace does love me, mother," tears began to well up in the girl's eyes, confused and hurt.

"You know well that Jace is not a Targaryen like you. That he who claims to be their father is not telling the truth. It is not right in the eyes of the Seven, and it is not right for the throne. And Rhaenyra knows it too, and soon Jace will. And all of this, Gaella, do you know what this means?"

The girl shook her head.

"It means we are in danger. Your brothers, me...you. Those with sense will refuse to bow the knee to Rhaenyra and her bastards and she will seek to annihilate any other option the people may have. And that other option is us."

"But Rhaenyra is my sister...and Jace is my friend and would never hurt me."

"That's what they think now. But when your father leaves us, Rhaenyra will want to keep you trapped, and she'll end up with us. Everything Jace does now is to try to use you in the future. He'll make you live a life in captivity, while he kills Aegon and Aemond, and any children they may have. And then you will see that this is all a big lie. They want us to cover for them while they lie to others. The only scenario in which you come out alive is the one where they use you to have platinum-haired heirs. Is that the future you want?"

Gaella didn't know what future she wished for yet, she just wanted to worry about her dinner and her soft pyjamas. But she also knew she didn't want to see her family die, no matter how long she might still be alive.

"No, mother," she whispered.

"Then you must resist, stay away from Jace."

The next dress she wore the next day was still blue, like the previous ones, but the headband that held her hair back was green. And that day she told Jace that she would rather go with Helaena to sew. It was a lie, and during the long hours of sewing, Gaella thought constantly of how much she missed Jace. Then she heard her mother's voice, and it all made sense again. Days passed, and Jace kept calling her, but she gave him little more than a smile. The prince made the most of the little time he allowed her, accompanying her wherever she went before he strayed, telling her a summary of the things that had happened in her absence. Lessons with him were still fun, but Jace became aware of Gaella's newfound ignorance of him. He said a secret farewell to the Prince as they left for Dragonstone. She wore no green anywhere and gave him a big hug in secret. She wept silently for days, only Helaena could see her.

By the time they were reunited at Driftmark, Jace's absence had become routine, and she bonded with Aemond. Still, he never wanted to go out beyond the library and would get angry when Gaella insisted on mischief. When she saw him at Laena's funeral, she was immediately happy. He looked sad, and the news of Ser Harwin's death had reached all the lords. And she went to comfort him when she found him holding hands with Baela Targaryen.It was silly, but the pain in her chest was so great that Gaella turned away, trying not to cry. Remembering the one time they had hold hands like that, she recognized the affection and curiosity in the grip between Baela and Jace.

Aemond was eyeing Vhagar, not paying attention to anything else, so when he told his sister he was going to claim her, she couldn't stop him, he was determined. Then the worst happened. Holding Aemond's hand as his eyelid was sewn shut, Rhaenyra deflected attention to the fact that someone had told the truth, that Jace and Luke were bastards. That night, she could see everything her mother explained to her and how lonely they could be. The next day, Jace tried to win a hug from Gaella, but Gaella, dressed head to toe in green, turned her back on him, without a word.

Six years passed, and Jace had sent a few messages that Gaella refused to answer. Every day, more and more locked up in her castle, more and more still, for the walks took her back to those precious evenings with her friend Jace. The only words she began to hear were those of Alicent and Aemond, Helaena's sadness when they sewed, Otto's speeches, and the unpleasantness of Aegon's presence, made an impression on Gaella. Rightly so, she was deeply saddened, but she was at ease with the routine and felt tremendously annoyed when they arrived back at court. Of course, it was Rhaenyra's first accusation of her children's origins, and it would not be a pleasant visit.

She could see him when she looked out the window. How much he had changed...Gaella never imagined that Jace could have been so handsome and that indeed, with his Strong features, his mother's genes made him look like a true prince. He could see her then, and Jace didn't know what to do, for he had long since given up on their friendship, yet there she was, peering out, dressed in green and not daring to approach. He could see her slip back inside within seconds of connecting glances.

Over the years, Jace could get a sense of what had happened, and his mother had never told him otherwise. And he would not be ashamed to be the son of a man as brave as Harwin, but he had a right to his throne because he was ready for it. Still, it couldn't stop him from dreaming at night of winning back Gaella's smile. And he could not help but feel anger when he thought that she had already chosen sides in such a cowardly way. Now he saw her and did not know if he really recognised her in all that harshness. He searched the castle slyly for her, with Lucerys at his side. It was in the night time, prowling the gardens, that he could see her enjoying the cool wind.

"The castle has changed so much since I was here," Jace told her. The girl only gave him a sidelong glance.

"You've changed a lot too," she replied dryly.

"No, not really." He looked down at her green dress and the lack of smile on her face. "You have changed, even if you still have the same face as when you were little."

"You can not talk about what I am like when we haven't spoken for six years."

"It's not because I haven't tried to avoid it." Jace bristled, but she only stood up straighter in her place. "I've written to you and you never answered."

"I didn't say I disliked the lack of contact. I know very well what I have and haven't done over the years. And I'd like to keep things the same."

As Gaella turned to leave, Jace stepped in front of her, blocking her path and forcing her to look him in the eye.

"Do you really think I don't have a say about you? We were friends, thick as thieves." Jace was trying to recognize something in her face to keep faith.

"We were children together, but we've grown apart."

"We haven't grown that far apart, Gaella. Tell me, do you still enjoy stories about Nymeria? Do you still drink orange juice with honey biscuits in the evenings?" Jace watched as his friend's sparkle returned to her eyes for a moment. "You're certainly still sitting on the yellow rose bench in the garden. That hasn't changed."

Gaella did not know what to say. She shook her head and looked at the Prince before her. His broad shoulders and brown eyes looked at her with an affection she needed, genuine affection, not the familiar kind.

"You don't understand, Jacaerys. You cling too tightly to something that existed for too short a time. We can no longer be children, and we can no longer pretend that all will be well. Tomorrow you will be robbed of an inheritance you clearly do not deserve. So I'm not going to lie to you. I don't want to... I don't want to lie to you."

And with that, Gaella tried to walk away, leaving Jace behind, whose last words she heard echoing in the garden, leaving her heartbroken for the entire night.

"I've never pretended, Gaella. I've never had to do it with you."

~

The next day, Gaella's gaze didn't travel far from Jace. She couldn't help it, though he was good at it, only glancing back at her from time to time, not getting flustered, knowing that Gaella was caught between her brothers. But he would not let her have the satisfaction of knowing how much he cared for her. He'd already tried, and he'd already wasted his time. Besides, now he had to worry about Luke and about honouring his future wife, Baela. When the call ended bloodily, the night came slowly and stormily. A forced dinner, to please the old king.

Jace was talking to Baela, of whom he was somewhat fond, when Gaella came through the door. In a green dress, of course, but so beautiful that Jace lost the thread of his conversation. Her curves stood out, reminding him that indeed, much time had passed and she had begun to become a woman. A woman who gave Jace a rather dirty look, not really understanding why. Gaella almost left when she walked in and saw them together again. A beauty like Baela who made Jace smile and who would spend the dinner by his side. She instead sat next to her brother Aemond, who was silent and disgusted by the happy ending of the boy who snatched his eye. When their mothers apologised to each other, Jace pointed his glass discreetly at Gaella and immediately wanted to cry. He still didn't understand. Life was never that fair. And every time he and Baela smiled at each other, Gaella felt like throwing herself between them. As her mother had told her, Jace had only wanted to use her, and now that she would not be his wife, his attention was elsewhere. And when he asked Helaena to dance, she could see him glancing sideways at her, as if he felt the same pity for her as he did for Helaena. And as it now costum with the family, the scene ended violently.

Gaella walked to her sister's room to help her put her children to sleep, as always. She had put on her blue sleep dress with woven clouds. When Jace couldn't sleep, his shoulder sore from the fall he walked across the hall, where he recognized her voice. Gaella was telling stories with the passion that had entranced him as a child. And he waited for her to finish, enjoying the scent of his old friend. Little did she know that he was there, listening and smiling.

"You should go to bed. They'll put you on the ship early tomorrow," Gaella told him when she found him half asleep outside the room.

"Your voice has put me to sleep. As I suppose it has put the children to sleep."

Gaella tried to suppress a smile. She blushed as Jace ran his eyes down her dress.

"And now it's my bedtime," she informed him, still in her seat. Jace just smiled.

"Goodnight then."

She didn't move, she couldn't because he wasn't moving. She watched as he clutched his shoulder.

"Does it hurt?"

"Quite a lot. But I just need to move it a bit...forget that the bump is there." He moved his shoulder slowly, and his face couldn't hide the pain.

"That's not how you fix things. I think you learned that lesson today."

Jace just sighed, watching her face, the one he had missed so much.

"I should have asked you to dance too. You're a better dancer than Helaena."

"That's a lie... I was always stepping on your feet."

Jace laughed.

"True, true... but I liked you better. I liked dancing with you because I had an excuse to touch your hands." He could see Gaella remember and smiled slightly. He didn't know that Gaella felt electricity when they had danced as children." I see you, Gaella. And I'm more than willing to help you get out of here, where they have you trapped in green and sat with a man who barely speaks a word to you. Sometimes I see you so clearly... I know you are in there, beneath all that."

She stared at him, her eyes glowing with unwanted tears about to fall. And then Gaella shook her head, returning to his dark gaze.

"You should have asked your future wife to dance."

Jace watched again as her curly white hair moved as she turned her back on him once more, disappearing into the darkness of the hallway. The pain in his shoulder returned to Jace immediately.

#house of the dragon #house of the dragon fanfiction #jacaerys velaryon x reader #prince jacaerys #jacaerys targaryen #jacaerys x reader #jacaerys velaryon x oc #jacaerys x oc #harry collett

[henriettadreaming]

I find it so funny when Team Black stans get so angry about Alicent "spreading rumours" about the legitimacy of Rhaenyra's sons, putting them at risk of being killed.

First of all, these rumours are clearly true. Rhaenyra knows they're true. Viserys knows they're true, even though he acts blind to it. I'm sure the servants and guards across the Red Keep knew they were true and had a grand old time gossiping about it. Hell even Daemon, who's all the way in Pentos, knows Rhaenyra's children are illegitimate.

The illegitimacy of Rhaenyra's children affects Alicent's children. By Westerosi law bastards cannot inherit land or titles, meaning that even if Rhaenyra were to ascend the throne with no issue, Aegon should legally be her heir instead of Jacaerys.

Viserys knows his grandsons are illegitimate, and does everything in his power to shield them anyway. He's always protected Rhaenyra and allowed her indiscretions where likely no other king would. He continues to protect her from the consequences of her actions, saying that anyone who spoke out about his grandson's parentage would have their tongue removed.

And you can love and support Rhaenyra as much as you want, but you cannot tell me if the roles were reversed she wouldn't speak out against Alicent. If she knew, or even believed, that any of Alicent's children had been fathered by say, Ser Criston or Tyland Lannister, that she wouldn't hesitate to run straight to her father.

#hotd #house of the dragon #alicent hightower #anti team black #anti rhaenyra targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen critical #team green #pro alicent hightower

[aphroditesmoon]

sea, swallow me (part I)

jacaerys velaryon x fem!velaryon!reader

Part 2

summary: when jacaerys finally meets the hidden bastard of corlys velaryon, he loses interests in his betrothed Baela and intends to make her aunt his, but are you really what your family has made you up to be?

warnings: this fic is inspired by the movie 'song of the sea', CANON DIVERGENCE, slowburn, aged up jace (18 yrs old), reader has selective mutism (she CAN talk), reader is 5 years older than jace, selkie! reader, reader's race is NOT specified. cursing, nsfw content in future chapters,typical ASOIAF sexism, typical asoiaf targcest.

A/N: this part is moreso an introduction, the next chapters will have more stuff going on promise<3

taglist: @marytargaryen , @cdragons , @libdarkheart

♧♣︎♧

The day that the rumours of Corlys' Velaryon's illegitimate child was spread by the man himself in vague tell-tales, was the same day that Prince Jacaerys Velaryon was celebrating his third name day.

The skies on Driftmark turned dark by afternoon, a rare sighting of a thunderstorm had appeared. And while every mankind on the land had went off to hide themselves in the comfort and warmth of their homes, an 8 year old child of the seas drifted ashore, she had not drowned, but she knew to act that way as to lead the oblivious guards towards her.

Brought onto land to be passed around to the servant quarters, you fell right into the master of the land himself.

Corlys should've brushed you off, should've sent you right back to the kitchen maids, but the unnerving bravery in your eyes hadn't made sense for a child that was supposedly, probably, had almost drowned due to a shipwreck.

So he took in the sight of you, standing tall, wordless when spoken to, similar even when not. A white complicated looking hugging your body. He is not one to be superstitious, even moreso his wife Rhaenys who had been againts his suggestion the moment it was spoken aloud, but his heart made him halt whenever he even thinks of shrugging you away.

The trusting unknowing look you have for him wasn't helping, you gazed at the life around you in awe, suprise, and even fear at times. So he did what everyone warned him againts, he announces her as his bastard child from a dead noble woman, and them proceeded 1to denounce your illegitimacy, claiming you under the Velaryon name.

The whispering guards and chattering servants could talk all the wanted, for all they knew, the real truth of who you were was uknown to everyone but Corlys Velaryon.

♣︎♧♣︎

Your heart's yearning was divided in two. The calling of the sea, and the wanting of land. You were not as free as you sister Laena nor your brother Laenor, and you weren't given respect as much as they did either, given your known identity.

But you relished the joy of being able to dance on your two feet, to feel water as how it feels to a man, and to see the people in a much closer view.

You don't mind the constant nagging of your maidens as they fuss over your unkempt hair or your bare foots often forgetting their shoes. You asked for this, and you don't regret it. Besides, there was no one there for you in the sea, your kind understood you, they know you, but your mother has left you in her death, and you don't quite crave the grief and loneliness again.

Though now that you've grown, you realise, it was quite inevitable either way.

The day you lost your sister, you thought that was the end of it, but the gods had taken your brother too soon enough. You cried for the first time that year, and you felt what the mortals had written poems and ballads of.

For all of your wanting of more freedom, you were glad to be confined in your room during their funerals.

You would've thought that the passing of her children would make Rhaenys Targaryen more open towards you, but you were wrong. You were greeted with hostility you've never known. The glare she often saved for you reads what others couldn't understand; it should've been you, not them.

Laena's daughter Rhaena had been placed under her care soon, you rarely saw her. Rhaenys' making sure that your paths never cross.

But even with the power she held over you, your father's power proved to overtook hers when he announced that you were to be introduced to society, and to your extended family, for your own benefit and the Velaryon's house, in his own words.

So you locked up your white coat in your treasure box, and you prepared yourself for your first feast, a celebration for your two and twentieth name day.

♣︎♧♣︎

The attendance for your feast was outstanding. The servants had said so, it hadn't been a minute since it started, and the usually empty hall was already half full.

You knew from Corlys' warning, that half of these people aren't really here for your name day celebration, they're here to see if the rumours were true. "Do not talk to anyone I haven't." He speaks sternly. You stared at him blankly, receiving a sigh of realization. "Right, well, don't, warm up to anyone I haven't." He corrects himself.

You nod once smiling thankfully at him before leaving his chambers.

He and Rhaenys would be the first to be announced, and then Rhaena, and then you.

But staring at the large doors hiding what you've heard to be a room full of nothing but hungry vipers, your stomach churns.

You flinch when you feel a set of hands clasp your shoulders gently. It was Rhaena. "Are you alright?" She asks in a hushed tone. You nod your head twice.

She holds you still as her eyes lingers on yours longer than before. "Do you want to walk together?" She asks again.

You don't hesitate to accept her offer, nodding at her question. Please, you almost whispered back. She smiles at your answer and you feel her hands slowly sliding away. "Alright, I'll let grandsire know, don't fret." She tells you soothingly betore making her way to Corlys.

A few minutes after that, Rhaena scrambles by your side as your father and his wife enters first before you, their names loudly announced, as if everyone and their mothers didn't know who they were. Humans are hilarious.

Your hand unintentionally grips Rhaena's as your names were announced after. Her fingers easily intertwining with yours. "Don't smile." She notes quickly when she saw you grinning widely. Your smile died immediately. You walk side by side, your feet trying to move in the same rhythm and steps as hers, and your eyes watching straight at your seated father, staring back at you with a small smile etched on his lips.

You could feel the stares still when you finally reach the table, giving out a elieved sigh as you take your seat by Corly's right, Rhaenys to his left, and Rhaena to your right, hands still clasped together until noble houses are starting to be announced.

You do as you're taught, you smile and nod, and let your father do all the talking.

House Lannister stood out to you most so far. You can't decide if Jason Lannister is arrogant or bad at arse kissing. A person to turn any conversation about themselves

"You are as beautiful as they say." He starts, eyeing you in whole. "Tell me my lady, do you ever envy your siblings that had dragons?" You hesitated, turning to Corlys instead of responding.

"She does not, and the both of us know she would not need one, my dear girl fares better in the sea." He answers for her with a bitter laugh at the end of his sentence, as if shooing the man. "Ah I see, truly a daughter of yours then." The table turns silent. Jason Lannister's own smile dissapear as quickly as it came, realizing his mistake too late.

Your father's lips pursed together, a brow raised as he leans closer to the table. "Yes, she is." The coldness in his voice indicated the Lord of his time to leave. With a quick thank you and honor to meet you's, Lord Lannister leaves.

You hear the man next to you mutter an incoherent insult under his breath, wiping a hand over his already tired face. "People have eyes, Corlys." Rhaenys justifies. "And Mouths." She added, making him groan as House Baratheon are announced. "Oh believe me, I know." He replies shortly, awaiting Lord Baratheon. Thankfully the man was quick, and polite, though you were sure you weren't the only one who noticed how his eyes stayed on your face, a judgmental intent behind them.

But at least he knew not to say anything disrespectful out loud before walking off.

You watch your father's eyes light up for the next house, a relieved sigh escaping his lips. House Targaryen. "Finally, a house with more manners." His wife snorted at his words. "Pretend niceties aren't manners." You feel Rhaena stiffen next to you. "That boldness of yours will get you in trouble one day Rhaenys." He warns lightly, in which she only hums carelessly in return.

You almost laugh at contrast of the white and darkhaired family walking your way. Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, heir to the throne, holds your eyes as she walks nearer. You hae never met your sister in law before, you've seen her through faraway window glances, but she looked at you like she's seen you, like she recognises you.

Her husband, prince consort Daemon Targaryen however, you have met. Once, while he had been staying in Driftmark with Laena during her pregnancy with Rhaena. He saw you leave Laena's room the same moment he was about to enter and spoke your name in a guess. When you turned in his direction at the call, his suspicion was confirmed. What he never understood howerver, was why would Corlys go through many lengths of restricting her from meeting people and hiding her identity?

The court wouldn't have given two shits over another man's bastard daughter. He knows it well enough.

It seemed the question he bore was the same question everyone else wondered, thus why they're all here, willing to feign courtesy and respect towards a so called bastard.

Now he's seeing her again, and it makes things even more confusing. Surely he knows how ignominious she'd feel, being put under the spotlight after 15 years of entrapment. Did he know that this feast was as good as feeding you to wolves? Was that what he intended to do in the first place? Sell you up to the first noble lord willing to take in a bastard Velaryon girl as his wife? And why did Daemon Targaryen cared so much about this girl, when he knows that nothing about her deems worthy of his attention.

Those thoughts ran through the mind of Daemon Targaryen until he's close enough to you that he had to turn his eyes towards Rhaenys' and Corlys' faces instead.

"And where has this lovely dear been all along?" Rhaenyra was the first to speak, greeting the lord and lady of the house properly first. "Ah well, if you had been here more frequent with my son, you could've caught her plenty." He replies easily.

Daemon hummed and bobbed his head. "It's true, I believe this isn't the first time we've met, yes?" He raises a brow at you, a small warm smile painted on his lips.

You responded with a smile that matched his and nodded once. The veracity in your every move made you look like a puppet with strings he's not sure who holds in their hands.

What Daemon Targaryen has not realized yet, was that Corlys velaryon's hands on you were barely a grip. They lead you because you let them. And for a girl who swam her way up into one of the most richest and well known houses of Westeros at 8 years old, you knew more than anyone thought.

♣︎♧♣︎

The dark coloured halls of the Velaryons were lit brightly with gold ornaments and lights. Jacaerys doesn't think he's ever seen much wealth be spent on his mother's own wedding.

The singer hired for the event pauses only for a few minutes before she resumes her orchestral performances. No one pays the music mind of course. The center was you.

He'd kiss your hand and tell you that you had your father's eyes. But that was a lie. His ears maybe, if he squinted closely at yours. He smiled at you and he says the things that he should. It is lovely to meet you. It is a lovely feast. May you continue to age as gracefully as you are now.

And then he walks away and never look back, just as he's told to.

It shouldn't be that big of a deal, or at least thats what he thought. But his mother had given him clear instructions earlier that evening. Do not mingle, do not talk more than you should, the rumours around you sre bad enough. The people will see what they want to and spin those pictures into false stories.

A bastardy affair? Laughable. He's sure the Queen would eat it right off her spy's hands. But still, his gaze on you lingered.

You had an air around you that gave the idea of naivety and carelessness. But he's not so sure if that's the real case here, or are you just so sure in your own sense of self and identity to not fear the men ready to point their fingers in your direction at the first moment they could.

He hopes he'll never see you again after this, his curiosity has always won the best of him.

"She is pretty, though Rhaena's right, you only see how much she resembles grandsire when you're up close. I've met her once, as a child. I don't thisnk we talked at all, but I do remember her gifting me a scarf." Baela's calm voice reached his ears clearly even through the loud chatting and extravagant music.

He raises his head from his food to glance at her. "That's nice, do you still have it?" The girl shook her head and pursed her lips. "No, Rhaena stole it, and then lost it." His face breaks into a grin. "Sounds like her."

He gives another quick glance to your table and looked again when he notices you weren't there. His head moves slowly until he catches the sight of you, standing straight, in front of Dalton Greyjoy. The Red Kraken was what they called him.

Jacaerys could see him speakingas he frowned, glancing from your face to the nothingness behind you as he's deep in his own talking. You were silent, only your eyebrows moved up and down to indicate understanding. He forgets sometimes how some men prefer their women mute.

The Greyjoy boy was waving his hands now, as if an invisible object laid before him. You start to lean slightly againts the serving table and he wondered the same thing you were; when will he stop talking?

"He's a little bit too young to be that pretentious now, isn't he?" Jacaerys says loud enough for Baela and Lucerys to hear him. "He's a year younger than you." His younger brother quipped. Jace frowns. "What? He's 17?" Baela hums in reply. "Doesn't make him any less pretentious." Jace concludes, earning a laugh from both of the people seated by his side. "Ah yes, he's probably explaining how killing people works to her." Baela adds. "I wish someone would tell him how conversation works, she hasn't said a word still." Luc says, the three of the them staring at you now.

"She's mute, Luc." Jace corrects, turning back towards the table, watching as his mother and Daemon make conversations with the other houses. "No she's not, Rhaena said she's heard her talk to grandsire before in one of her letters." The boys' eyes widen. "Then why does she never talk to anyone else?" She shrugs, feeding herself a spoonful if pudding.

A sigh escapes him as he pushes away his plate, his appetite lost. If he'd ask you to talk? Would you? Is that what it was, had no one asked you to talk?

Dalton Greyjoy's face seems unamused as you shook your head at him, his mouth moves once more and his head tilts at you in question, you shook your head again, immediately moving away from him, and straight into Jacaerys' stepfather. The 17 year old took in his defeat and walked away, and Jacaerys watches as Daemon Targaryen speaks so slowly that he can't make up what he's saying fron where he's situated.

You held a steady posture, and your face doesn't give away any reaction, it is stoic, but not cold. "Should I ask her to dance?" Jace suggests. Luc and Baela shares a look of disagreement. "Right in front of our parents? You know we shouldn't get too close to her." He almost doesn't even hear what his betrothed says when he stands up abruptly. "I'm gonna ask her."

Baela stutters and he hears Luc mutters for the love of the gods, as he makes his way to you and Daemon.

He can see his stepfather sigh audibly when he arrives. "Ah, You've met Prince Jacaerys, the heir after his mother, Rhaenyra. Jace, we've been talking of her fondness of the sea, your father said he's only taken you sailing with him when you were 8?" You nod, acknowledging the prince with a smile.

"Then, have you been on a dragon? Surely Laena or Laenor must've offered you a ride once." You shook your head.

Daemon's grin only widens. "Well that only means that you're long overdue a staying at Dragonstone, right Jacaerys?" A nervous laugh leaves the younger man. "Oh yes, I do a bit of uh, sailing sometimes, on my mother's orders. I also have a dragon." He explains, taking in your beauty properly.

"You've seen a dragon up close?" He tries, watching Daemon relaxes as his eyes darts from you to Rhaenyra. Both men are disappointed when you sshook your head, nudging utin Corlys' direction. "He worries to much for you, it is true that getting too close to a dragon for someone without valyrian blood in their veins, is dangerous. But with the right company, you won't have a problem."

You suffer the awkward conversation between the two men, willing for someone to drag you away.

It wasn't that they were rude, or terrible. But you don't think you've ever talked to this much people in your life. Your voice disaappears as it always do, and your usual smile is starting to feel forced.

You were enticed by the idea of travelling to Dragonstone. You've never seen much if anywhere outside of Driftmark, it was boring. But you also knew that the Targaryens are no different from the other houses. They don't offer kindness in return for nothing. And they sure as hell did not see you as family, for you know how much they protect their families.

So why such civility and effort? You could offer no allegiance as a bastard, nor could you even be used as a pawn.

You've blocked out half of what Daemon Targaryen has been saying the past two minutes, eyes still on him, trying to ignore the boy staring intently at the side of your face.

When the older prince finally excuses himself, you were relieved, only to turn around towards his stepson who's been awaiting your attention. "Do you dance?" You shook your head. A dissapointment 'oh' came after. "Do you not know how?" He tries again. The same answer prevails.

You could dance if you wanted to, but you doubted it'd make you feel better. In fact, you're sure dancing with him would attract more attention and not just to you. His mother surely won't be pleased with more rumours surrounding her son. So you give a bow and you leave, walking far away enough until you're sure he's not looking.

But you don't see him watching you barely sit by your father for barely a second before disappearing completely from the crowd. And you didn't see him do the same thing.

#jacaerys velaryon x reader #house of the dragon #jacaerys velaryon #hotd x reader #jace velaryon x reader #house of the dragon x reader #game of thrones #jace targaryen x reader #hotd #jacaerys targaryen

[burningvelvet]

Mary Shelley’s Lake Geneva diary from August 2nd, 1816…

“Friday, August 2. — I go to the town with Shelley, to buy a telescope for his birthday present. In the evening Lord Byron and he go out in the boat, and, after their return, Shelley and Clare go up to Diodati; I do not, for Lord Byron did not seem to wish it. Shelley returns with a letter from Longdill, which requires his return to England. This puts us in bad spirits. I read Rêveries and Adèle et Théodore de Madame de Genlis, and Shelley reads Pliny’s Letters.”

This was the day that Percy, Claire, and Byron discussed Claire’s pregnancy and what they were going to do about custody rights. Shelley had already known about Claire’s pregnancy for at least a month and was most likely the first to know, since after he and Byron almost drowned on June 25th he had secretly written a will that left sums to Claire and any person of her choice — her name being near the top of the list along with Mary, his wife Harriet, and all his children. Considering that Byron later believed the Hoppner Scandal (unconfirmed rumours that Claire had a secret child with Percy which was given for adoption or aborted) — and that historians believe Claire and Shelley were probably sexually involved at various periods — some people believe that the paternity of the child was called into question. Claire’s identity as the child’s mother would be hidden from the public to protect her reputation, and Byron and Shelley both accepted responsibility for the child (though Shelley was arguably more attached), although everyone agreed that the child (Allegra) looked and acted like Byron, and was therefore his.

Byron in a letter to his sister about Claire and the rumours surrounding his time at Geneva:

“. . . as to all these ‘mistresses’ — Lord help me — I have had but one. Now don't scold — but what could I do? A foolish girl, in spite of all I could say or do, would come after me, or rather went before, for I found her here, and I have had all the plague possible to persuade her to go back again, but at last she went. Now, dearest, I do most truly tell thee that I could not help this, that I did all I could to prevent it, and have at last put an end to it. I was not in love nor have any love left for any, but I could not exactly play the Stoic with a woman who had scrambled eight hundred miles to un-philosophize me, besides I had been regaled of late with so many ‘two courses and a dessert’ (Alas!) of aversion, that I was fain to take a little love (if pressed particularly) by way of novelty. And now you know all that I know of the matter, & it's over.”

A decade later, Claire Clairmont wrote to Jane Williams:

“What would I not give to have an unhappy passion, for then one has full permission and a perfect excuse to fall into a happy one; one has something to expect, but a happy passion, like death, has finis written in such large characters in its face there is no hoping for any possibility of a change. You will allow me to talk upon this subject, for I am unhappily the victim of a happy passion. I had one; like all things perfect in its kind, it was fleeting, and mine only lasted ten minutes, but these ten minutes have discomposed the rest of my life.

The passion, God knows for what cause, from no faults of mine, however, disappeared, leaving no trace whatever behind it except my heart wasted and ruined as if it had been scorched by a thousand lightnings.“

Sadly, Allegra Byron died at the age of five due to a sudden outbreak of typhus in Romagna where Byron had enrolled her in a private convent school. This was a betrayal to Claire, as they had promised each other that Allegra should never be apart from one of her parents, due to Claire’s prediction that something terrible would happen if so. However, Byron argued that having a good Italian-Catholic education would give Allegra higher marriage prospects in Italy than any education she could have in England, partly due to her illegitimacy and partly due to the tarnished reputations of the Byron/Shelley/Godwin households, among other reasons. Claire blamed Byron for Allegra’s death, and she felt that while Shelley sympathized more with her, Mary sympathized more with Byron. Three months later, Shelley followed Allegra to the grave, and the already fragmented social circle would further break apart.

#mary shelley’s 1816 journal #english literature #literature #romanticism #poetry #lord byron #aesthetic #dark academia #history #writing #percy shelley #claire clairmont #jane williams #mary shelley #geneva #lake geneva #lac leman #switzerland #villa diodati #romantics #poets #letters #journals #biographies #frankenstein

[harryofderby]

If the rumours of the illegitimacy of Richard of Conisburgh, Earl of Cambridge turn out to be true and there is some circumstantial evidence backing it namely that he was left out of his wills of his father and brother Edmund and Edward respectively; his mother Isabella of Castile was rumoured to have an affair with John Holland, Duke of Exeter which was recorded by the chronicler Thomas Walsingham amongst others; and her petition to Richard II ( the half-brother of the aforesaid John Holland) to grant a pension to Richard of Conisburgh.

Having said that, if this is true; this will make Richard, Duke of York and his sons and grandsons NOT Plantagenets which is ironic considering that Richard of York was the first one to use Plantagenet as surname.

Having said that, if this is true; this will make Henry VI not only the last Lancastrian but the last Plantagenet too which makes me feel even sadder considering that not only did he just lose his son but he is also the last of his family with none by his side except Margaret.

#richard duke of york #richard of Conisburgh #house of plantagenet #house of lancaster #house of york #henry vi of england #Henry VI being the last Plantagenet is quite poetic if true #as the dynasty began with a henry in 1154 #and ended with a henry in 1471

[dreamingsnowflake2013]

The incident 10 years ago, the late Sword Wielder mentioned probably refers to Gong Shangjue's mother and younger brother being murdered. That's when the once happy and kind child he used to be died and he became this taciturn, cold man. The loss of Gong Shangjue's younger brother explains why he dotes on Yuanzhi so much; in a way, he's adopted his younger cousin to fill the void left by the loss of his own sibling.

Considering Ziyu is now the same age as Lang would have been, weren't it for the rumour about his illegitimacy (which had most likely been planted and stoked to create strife in the Gong family) Shangjue might have come to love Ziyu the same way he does Yuanzi.

Even their mothers died around the same time, so they might have connected and grown closer through it, weren't it for the rumours.

#my journey to you #zhang ling he #ryan cheng #cdrama

[hollowwhisperings]

Blackfyre Conquest: An Autumn King

i've struggled to find any Meta on how Young Griff's conquest will go, politically & logistically, that don't immediately interrupt themselves with "...but then Dany will show up with Dragons".

A lot of fans are very pro-Targaryen and pro-Conquest: a lot of Westeros would probably be on board too, though for less romantic reasons. No one "loves" the commander of a foreign army & Ned successfully rallied a Rebellion with very good reasons. The Targaryens were never entirely welcome in Westeros but the War of the Five Kings certainly made a "return to stability" with a Targ King an easier sell than it would have been earlier in the series. That this Targ King is non-incestuous, seemingly sane, has a sizeable Army, has multiple houses already sworn to him... and seems to be an Actual Politician? The Lords might frown at exactly "how" legitimate their King really is but, overall, "Aegon VI" would be vastly preferable to who Westeros has currently:

1) an increasingly unpopular Queen-Regent whose family Did The Red Wedding & whose claim rests on a toddler-king of Dubious Parentage.

2) a King who's lost his Lands to the foreign invader, has a Pet Witch (called his "true" queen) who burns people alive, has converted to a Foreign Religion (& burned religious sites), is a rumoured Kinslayer, and was Never Very Popular in the first place (Stannis doesn't take bribes, keeps insisting his disabled daughter is his Heir, went to help the Night's Watch for Some Reason, wasn't as fun as his brothers, makes poor conversation at parties, etc) .

3) Euron Greyjoy.

4) a theoretical infant child of King Robb of the North & Trident... and the Treacherous Jeyne Westerling whom he Lost a war over.

5) Robb's legal heir as per his last Will, his "brother" Jon whom he legitimised as "Stark" but is currently busy being the 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch (it is unlikely that Jon's getting murdered by his men would be Advertised to the Realm & though Jon is almost certainly going to pull a Dany in WoW, he is currently a Ghost).

6) the allegedly sole surviving non-bastard Stark, Prince Rickon, who's spent the past few [books] entirely raised by [Freefolk] & is a toddler.

7) Some Targaryen Girl in Essos, last seen while... on fire & being abductes by her own dragon, apparently.

While most Lords will see Aegon's commanding the Golden Company as a Pretty Obvious allusion to his not actually being the miraculously surviving son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen & Princess Elia Martell. The "truth" of Young Griff's identity is pretty irrelevant to his successfully conquering Westeros (which seems very likely, give or take a Kingdom). Robert Baratheon's kingship was won by conquest: his grandmother being a Targaryen princess was an afterthought, an extra touch of "legitimacy". Tommen's claim to the Iron Throne is through his legal status as King Robert's surviving Heir. Stannis's claim is through the illegitimacy of Joffrey & Tommen's claims making him Robert's heir instead.

Aegon's claim to the Iron Throne is not actually his alleged parentage: it's through Conquest (the same would be true for Dany, Euron and any Heir of King Robb). Most Lords would see the Golden Company, famously founded to make a Blackfyre king, and conclude that Aegon is a Blackfyre Pretender: this is, in the short-term, irrelevant.

Some might rejoice at the alleged survival of one of Prince Rhaegar or Princess Elia's children: Targaryen Loyalists, the Dornish, smallfolk out of the loop on why there was a Rebellion. Ned Stark Loyalists would know Ned mourned for Princess Elia & her children, that Robert became King because Ned wasn't interested & be more concerned about Winter than how recently incestuous the latest Southron King's family tree may be.

As far as most of Westeros is aware [going into Winds], its Key Requirements for a Monarch are: being Alive & (ideally) Sane, being Old Enough to reign unsupervised (15 at minimum), having a loyal Army (see: Euronpocalypse, the Red Wedding, the lawlessness of the Riverlands), being Male, not being the immediate product of incest (Tommen aside, Prince Rhaegar only had 2 great-grandparents), not being a blasphemous arsonist, & not being in debt to the Iron Bank.

Robb Loyalists, those still surviving, would Wisely stand back and allow the Golden Company to deal with the Bolton-Lannister-Frey alliance: even if Jeyne Westerling is found alive & with an infant son, few would accept her and most would be unwilling to replace one child monarch with another (that applies to Rickon too). Northerners are proud but, as one of those Dead Starks might say, Winter is Coming.

The Wars over the series have made the southern land route impassable: the Twins are held by the treacherous Freys, the Riverlands are a lawless hellscape, King's Landing is run by Lannisters & Tyrells, and the Reach is itself "Tyrell Territory". With such a dangerous land route, the North relies on itself & seatrade. While the North does have eastern ports that allow trade with the Vale, the Vale itself is currently held by Petyr Baelish, publically aligned with the Lannister Regime. The North's primary port, White Harbour (held by Lord Wyman Manderly, known Stark Loyalist) is on its western coast, along the Narrow Sea. Euron & rogue Ironborn aside, Aegon's Armies have already seized Storm's End after coming across said sea. Having already seized Storm's End and with Aurane Waters' having Absconded with the Crown's Fleet that would guard the Blackwater... The Golden Company can comfortably blockade all traffic from Westeros to Essos (give or take a Lys). Even assuming Aurane Waters isn't in cahoots with Team Aegon (he's a Velaryon bastard), he took the Crown's fleet to the Stepstones and thus holds control over naval passage between the eastern & western coasts of Westeros (& to Dorne).

So, unless Sansa usurps control of the Vale from Baelish within the first third of Winds; unless Prince Doran or seadragons take out Aurane Waters' pirate fleet; unless the Golden Company's AND Euron's respective fleets get taken out without ANOTHER navy taking their place... Westeros really, really needs Aegon to successfully conquer Westeros if only to quickly reestablish vital trade routes for Winter.

Speaking of Euron's fleet and Trouble at Oldtown... there is Trouble At Oldtown and no one is equipped to keep it contained: on land, the sons of Lord Hightower have been taking the Ironborn threat seriously (with Lord Hightower seemingly having Anticipated the supernatural threat Euron seeks to invoke though how successful his & his daughter's Efforts may be remains Unknown); at sea, the Redwyne Fleet is Worried & very probably in Cahoots with Aegon. It will be a Trip, going back to sea from the Stormlands & then South to Oldtown, but a Redwyne-Velaryon-Blackfyre Naval Alliance is the Best and Geographically Closest forces available to Oldtown.

There are a few characters who've been sent to seek aid from Essos, given the Ironborn threat & the general political instability: Prince Quentyn was one (RIP) and Lord Hightower's youngest son, Ser Humfrey, is another. If the Hightowers weren't Team Aegon before, they soon will be.

The Reach is an increasingly vital kingdom to the survival of Westeros: with the Riverlands in the state it is & with the ongoing socio-economic fallout of Dany's very sudden conquests of half the Free Cities, The Reach is the most reliable source of food for the entire continent. That's part of why the impending Euronpocalypse is so Worrying to those otherwise removed from the Oldtown plotlines: Oldtown is one of the most important ports of Westeros, exporting grain from the Reach & importing goods from Essos.

Oldtown is also the Headquarters for the Citadel, where maesters are trained to: manage rookeries, the interkingdom communication system; learn histories, including those of long Winters past & who survived to give tips on Resource Management; and study medicine (to varying degrees of competency but Still).

The maesters are imperfect, often outright incompetent (as much by accident as by any potential Conspiracy): they're still the ones in control of the [telegram] network, the meteorologists, the ones able to not only access the historic archives but how to read them & any knowledge therein. It is certainly more helpful to have scholars than to not have scholars, especially with Winter nearing and many surviving Lordlings having known only Summer (& never educated on "How To Lord" due to how far down the line of succession they were before the Wars).

For those in Westeros who hold to the Faith of the Seven, Trouble At Oldtown would be an apocalypse all of its own: Oldtown is the centre of their Faith and its destruction would greatly demoralize persons of all stations, especially with increased Magical Activity and rumours of [fire zombies, ice zombies, wolf zombies, dragons].

Team Aegon seems the most likely to "contain" the Euronpocalypse, having both method (naval power) & means (the Golden Company, 4 kingdoms' worth of vassal lords) to do so. Aegon's also one of the few "primary" characters who would even know that there IS a Euronpocalpse: Team Aegon, Prince Doran, Queen Cersei, Lady Olenna, Lord Manderly, Asha's faction of Ironborn, the Reacherlords, the Iron Bank, & (probably?) Brynden Rivers are the only ones who could plausibly know of a Euron Threat, let alone organize a Timely Response to it. Regardless of how successful said Response may be, Team Aegon helping with Oldtown smooths the way for his becoming recognised as a Legitimate Leader for Westeros.

I'm fairly certain that Team Aegon will conquer (most of) Westeros over the course of Winds, I doubt he'll have the time to be crowned King or even spend time on a throne: he'll be too busy.

Aegon's Conquest being successful is Pretty Dang Important to the greater scheme of things: it will introduce Key Characters to each other (Arianne & Dorne, Sam & thus the NW, "Alayne" through Baelish, Team Oathkeeper through Jaime's controlling the Crown's armies); restore supply routes; "consolidate" power to enable discussion of Continental Threats long neglected (through both Regional & Interpersonal Conflicts). Aegon's Conquest would act as a kind of "triage" for Westeros, a quick means of uniting different groups (for & against him) and he won't actually need to sit the Iron Throne to do it. It is most likely that, after securing the Reach & Stormlands, Aegon will find that the Frey Civil War had "taken care of" the North & the Riverlands, with Robb Loyalists willing to Play Nice but (understandably, thinketh Aegon) wary of bending any knees. Dorne, regardless of Prince Doran's personal opinion on Aegon's identity, would act "compliant" due to Arianne's involvement & the Rocky Dornish having been in Cahoots with the Blackfyre Regime from the get go. Even a false Aegon would be preferable to a Lannister, as far as the North & Dorne are concerned. The Ironborn post-Euronpocalypse would go back to battling themselves internally, likely while facing heavy [sanctions]: they'd be too busy licking their wounds to be much of a threat to anyone.

That leaves three kingdoms: the Westerlands, cornered at all sides & bereft of much of its Leadership through Wars & the Frey Civil War; the Crownlands, King's Landing likely being besieged for Cersei to later blow up; and The Vale.

Who runs the Vale? The worst, most consistently dangerous backstabber of them all: Lord Petyr Baelish. It will probably be Baelish who undoes all that triage work Team Aegon started, likely via assassinating the kid or "exposing" him to the Right Wrong Crowd (whether Petyr has actual knowledge or evidence against Aegon is irrelevant: this is not his first Smear Campaign).

Assuming it hasn't happened already (in great tonal dissonance with the Euronpocalypse), Little Lord Robert Arryn would get his Tourney at the Gates of the Moon just in time for Aegon to secure his "final" kingdom.

The Frey Civil War would have affected the Vale just as it affected the rest of Westeros (Dorne excluded) but, from the clues I've found in the Vale & Darry-branches of Freys, it's likely that the Vale Freys will have fared better than every other branch of their extensive family tree, likely due to their joining the Aegon Bandwagon prior to Lord Walder's death.

Others have drawn parallels between what we know of "Alayne's'" Tourney and the historic Tourney of Ashford Meadow: essentially, the Tourney is implicitly tied to the themes & character arcs of both Sansa Stark (in the role of "Lord Ashford's 13 year old daughter", defending Queen of Love & Beauty) and Brienne of Tarth (in the role of her ancestor, Duncan the Tall: knightly but never technically Knighted underdog). The Ashford Tourney is best remembered for being the Introduction of Ser Duncan the Tall, a Sudden Trial of Seven, a quietly averted Blackfyre Rebellion, and the tragic death of the greatly beloved Crown Prince Baelon "Breakspear" (& Some Guy from House Hardyng).

Yeah. Dany doesn't even need to leave Essos: Aegon's doom will come courtesy of Thematic Parallels and Foreshadowing.

Prince Baelon "Breakspear" was a living representation of a Westeros at peace: he was the product of one of two political marriages that peacibly joined Dorne to the Seven Kingdoms (the Second Marriage featured one of those Princesses Daenerys); he was a Competent ruler, becoming his Father's Hand at age 26; his nickname was gained when he bested Ser Daemon Blackfyre (yes, THAT Blackfyre) at a tourney (the Wedding Tourney of his Aunt Daenerys); he had two adult sons, presumably with a wife (the sons are the only proof of her existence); and one of Baelon's sons was healthy enough to score 7 victories at the Ashford Tourney!

Which he. Uh. Very unexpectedly died at. Baelon, that is. The Crown Prince. The People's Prince. The Golden Child who promised a Peaceful & Prosperous Future. The son of a Targaryen prince & a Martell mother. A character who Very Strongly Reminds One Of Young Griff, the hopeful Aegon VI.

Aegon is likely to attend the Vale Tourney in order to diplomatically add the Vale to his collection of Kingdoms: Baelish is likely to trade [Sansa]'s betrothal with Harry the Heir for the Shinier Prince Aegon (whether he dissolves the existing betrothal via Having Harry Killed By Tourney or by outing Alayne as Sansa "Key to the North" Stark-Lannister, who was, btw, Spared the marriage bed bc Child Bride so Totally Eligible my dude just Sign Here).

Then Brienne will show up, probably with Jaime, and Some Kerfuffle will Ensue (if only because Sansa & Brienne are Alleged Kingslayers) that leads to Robert Arryn's Tourney becoming Brienne's Trial of Seven for Sansa's Innocence, just as Ser Dunk's defense of the (common) maiden Tanselle so changed the Ashford Tourney.

There is a Rather Formidable enemy of Young Griff whom I have only hinted at: allow me to combine the Clues.

There exists in the ASOIAF series a Certain Character who Knows More than they Should, who has an implied past connection with a young Euron Greyjoy, who is infamously opposed to Blackfyres, who was present for the Ashford Tourney, whose Past & Present can connect just about every active plotline in the series: a disappeared Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, a Hand to two Targaryen Kings & the Master of Whispers to more (with his "thousand eyes and one"), one of the three Great Bastards born to Lady Melissa Blackwood by King Aegon IV, and current tree-wizard mentor to an entirely separate Kingly-coded character.

Brynden Rivers.

If Aegon survives Euron, Cersei, Jaime, AND Baelish? He certainly won't survive Brynden. Whatever Brynden may be right now (tree abomination, Old God Hivemind, puppet king to Feyfolk, Bran Stark's lunch, the distant Blackwood cousin of every surviving Stark), there is no reason to believe Brynden would allow a Blackfyre to go unchallenged, especially in the guise of a "true" Targaryen.

(not that i believe Brynden hopes for a Targaryen Restoration via Dany or Jon: it very much appears that Brynden & the Singers are grooming Bran Stark for kingship, though where & who exactly they expect him to rule is still Unclear)

I hope to do more exploration into what Aegon [Blackfyre]'s Conquest might look like, cobbling together clues from Quentyn's Doomed Quest and Queen Marge's Court (as "microcosm' to the Reach in macrocosm) and historically Targaryen/Blackfyre loyalist Houses. I'm fairly certain I can figure out how the Aegon Conquest will play into the resolutions of the Frey Civil War, (some) Winterfell Conspiracies, the specifics of the Euronpocalypse, & my "Dornish Spring" Theory as well. I'm much less certain on how Stannis would fare against Aegon: would he demand Legitimacy? would he sic Melissandre on him? would Stannis Get Over Himself in service to the Looming Winter? would he even have a leg to stand on the matter?

And would Aegon survive long enough to meet Daenerys, let alone Argue Legitimacy with her? (They'd both be rulers by conquest, not inheritance & it's not like Dany has any backing for her identity beyond "I look traditionally Valyrian" and "these are some dragons i hatched from stone mid-resurrection". The layyer it should be noted, is considered a Death Magic-induced Miracle, not some Secret Targaryen Blood Limit: it's Unique to Daenerys Stormborn, not to "House Targaryen")

#asoiaf theories #blackfyre conquest #valyrianscrolls #young griff #tourney of ashford meadow #tourney at the gates of the moon #euronpocalypse #geography as a plot device #the many conspiracies great & northern #frey civil war #the golden company #which child king would westeros like best #the answer is none of them #nobody wins musical chairs #brynden rivers meta #apocalypse at oldtown #blackfyre rebellions #that awkward moment when the targaryen loyalists team up with blackfyre rebels but no one knows if they should point it out #dany doesn't even go here #team not-lannister #winds of winter spec #baelon breakspear #dunk & egg meta

[mononijikayu]

so historically there are comparable thoughts about the velaryon boys being legitimate.

so, richard duke of york has black hair and his wife cecily neville has light hair, so blonde. they produced a couple of children but one of the most important was edward iv of england who had brown hair.

a lot of times, this fact actually got twisted. that he didnt look like his father enough or that his father was away and he couldn't have fathered edward. those were all made up to make edward look lesser in the eyes of his contemporaries. edward had to fight the rumours of illegitimacy based off the greed and politically motivated moves of others. especially by both of his brothers, george of clarence and richard of gloucester. they too wanted the crown but as eldest son, edward was the one who managed to maintain his claim. and later on, he is betrayed by richard, who claims falsehoods on his brother and his own nephews.

now his own wife, elizabeth woodville had red copper hair and probably inherited it from her mother, jacquetta of luxembourg. her own father lord rivers, was probably of dark hair as her own brother lord anthony has gotten black hair in medieval contemporary depictions.

the power of elizabeth's hair is actually the stuff of legend in the plantaganet line because it was her hair that would later be the staple of the later tudor dynasty and even as far as the stuarts who became the main line.

she and edward had a big brood of children but their eldest son named was named edward v and he was born of blond hair. which he probably got from his father's line, which he also could have gotten from his mother's line. various ancestors can provide something interesting all the time.

so, up above we can see that with richard and cecily's union, the dark colored hair hair and blonde hair equates to black or brown hair - which edward does get. his own brothers as far as we know have also the same predicament in hair. however we also know that his sister mary of york, duchess of burgundy inherited fair/blonde hair as well. YET it would also have been very likely for him and his siblings to have inherited copper red/red gold or blond hair because its in the genes already.

as mentioned before, edward and elizabeth have many children besides edward v and his brown hair to her red hair equated to blond and copper blond in the family. edward v inherited lady cecily's blond hair and his sister elizabeth of york had her mother's copper red.

this later on with many brood of other children later on would pass on to the rest of the plantaganet children and into the tudor dynasty and become such a famous trademark for them.

BUT had edward v not been blond or for elizabeth of york to not have copper red, it would also be possible for him or her to have gotten red copper or even black/brown hair/ blonde.

because as we mentioned before, it is in the family already. their grandmother lady cecily had blond hair and their own maternal uncle anthony rivers also has dark hair.

as long as there has been a family member close enough, it doesnt matter which generation it decides to come or skips - that character trait will continue to pass on. just as character traits, just like traumatic experiences, just like language and heritage and culture - the genes and the features like hair come with it.

it would have been very possible for any of the velaryon boys to earn any trait from genes already there, waiting to be rebirthed in one of them.

like we have to understand that there was 100 years of intermarrying by the time of rhaenyra. like we dont know how many kids orys and argella completely had. we dont know how many kids davos baratheon had. we dont know how many kids ronnell arryn had or if he had sisters or who they all married and had kids with.

but the one thing that is sure is that there would be a lot of new blood that could be in rhaenys and aemma and even from corlys himself who had first men blood from the masseys. the genetics that they bore and brought to a very intrinsic incesteous bloodline is gonna be an interesting, fresh, lottery.

they could pass that on to their descendants. a lot of the bastardry claims about the velaryon boys is highly politically motivated, especially when we consider the fact that their claim rests on the matriarchal line. which is important because westerosi law is salic, male to male. and then viserys made it semi - salic by naming a female heir and her male sons his heirs.

a great way to undermine the claim of the heir's heir is to declare them bastards, illegitimate and a stain on the dynasty. especially the heir being a woman, it would be easy to call them out for 'improper' behaviour because of the double standards settled between man and woman in a heavily patriarchal society like westeros. many people were really desiring a male line for the male line. and it didnt matter if the male claimant was not a good ruler. what mattered was them being a man in a mam's world for the sake of preserving the status quo. and rhaenyra challenges that by being heir and having her own line exist.

like here we see that no matter the dominant features - some genes would overpower that and produce children with different features than what we are used to. genetics is a mystery box that people dont understand. even with magic, the targaryens are not exempt from intermingling their blood outside house targaryen and forging new flow in the veins. like, the fact that the valyrians had ties of marriage with first men is already interesting enough. that brings A LOT OF POSSIBILITIES.

that is why its important to look at asoiaf as also having traps especially in terms of features. being a targaryen isnt only the silver hair or lilac eyes. if it was, then we wouldnt have the pleasure of enjoying characters like baelor breakspear or daeron, son of maekar i who inherited more diverse genetics than their other targaryen counter parts. like i expect GRRM loves to play around things in the story and make us have a lot of stuff to ponder about. and its insane.

#hotd #house of the dragon #fire and blood #fire and blood meta #hotd meta #asoiaf meta #house targaryen #jacaerys velaryon #lucerys velaryon #joffrey velaryon

[une-sanz-pluis]

What are the famous rumors about Margaret of Anjou and her son Edward? How exactly did house of york attack them?

The most famous contemporary rumours are:

She was an adulteress

She cuckolded the king

Her son was actually bastard

Her armies were full of violent, rampaging foreigners who had left a trail of devastation behind them

She had no loyalty to England itself, had promised Scotland Berwick-Upon-Tweed and France Calais

She was entirely responsible for the handover of Maine and Anjou to the French

We know that the Yorkists spread rumours of her adultery and the bastardy of her son. Georges Chastellain explicitly names Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick as the source of the specific story Margaret had an affair with a wandering player who was the father of Edward of Lancaster. The rumours about Edward of Lancaster's bastardy came at a time where Henry VI was within Yorkist hands and Margaret and the Prince were at liberty, i.e. the active threat against the Yorkist regime. When York had Henry VI disinherit Edward, it was in his best interest to denigrate Edward so to present him as an undesirable alternative to York.

The rumours of Margaret's adultery had a two-fold purpose. First, they presented Margaret as a subversive, untrustworthy, immoral figure who would not submit as a woman "should" and would foist a bastard on the throne, threatening the dynasty. Second, they attacked Henry VI by showing him as unable to control his wife. If he could not "rule" his wife, how could he rule the kingdom? He was a weak king who would raise another man's son to be king and thus was not fit to wear the crown at all. The reality is that beyond these rumours with clear propagandic and political value for the Yorkists, there is very little evidence that Edward of Lancaster was illegitimate or that Margaret had committed adultery. Certainly, around the time Margaret's pregnancy was confirmed, Henry VI and the nobility behaved as if she was pregnant with his son, and after his birth, there is no suggestion that nobility had suspicions of Margaret's adultery or Edward's illegitimacy. Indeed, he was almost immediately invested as Prince of Wales. Henry VI was unwell and unable to recognise his son immediately but did so immediately on his recovery. The story that he claimed Edward was the son of the Holy Spirit is a sceptically recorded rumour and we should treat it as such.

The accounts of Margaret's rampaging army of evil foreigners are exaggerated, unable to be backed up by surviving contemporary evidence according to B. M. Cron. Likely, the stories were exaggerated by those in the Yorkist camp to discourage various towns from admitting her. Her failure to gain admittance to London, which refused her entry on the basis of such rumours, was effectively the undoing of the Lancastrian effort to secure the throne after their initial victories. The stories she was going to hand over Calais and Berwick to the French and the Scots may have had some basis in truth but we must remember she was in little position to negotiate, and whether she intended to honour these promises is impossible to known. On a similar note, the hand over of Maine and Anjou was unlikely to have anything to do with her. This was an agreement made by William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk during negotiations with Rene of Anjou, when Margaret was only 14. Any role she played in the negotiations beyond the symbolic is probably non-existent. We know she was asked to intercede with Henry to ensure that they were handed over, but there is no evidence that she did or what she thought of it. All of this presented as someone who was "not English" and was more loyal to England's old enemies (Scotland and France) than England itself, and thus hardly a suitable Queen of England.

The rumours have developed over time into new myths that have no contemporary evidence, including:

She was responsible for the murder of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (there is no evidence for this; she is not known to have any personal dislike of him)

She felt nothing but apathy or loathing for Henry VI (there is no evidence for this; there is some evidence of them working together).

She personally oversaw the horrors during the sack of Ludlow, where the child Richard III was so traumatised, and cackled evilly (she was not present)

She was personally present at the Battle of Wakefield and ordered Richard, Duke of York's head to be crowned with the paper crown and spiked above the gate, evilly cackling (she was in Scotland)

She raised her son to be a cold-blooded psychopath and rapist (very little remains of Edward of Lancaster's personality, most evidence of this alleged "psychopathy" comes from a source hostile to the Angevins (i.e. Rene of Anjou))

She personally terrorised Anne Neville and approved of her son terrorising Anne Neville (there is no evidence that Anne was terrorised at all, the particulars of her relationship with Edward are unknown)

She was the lover of [insert specific man's name here] (there are only two contemporary rumours that mention any specifics of her supposed lover, the first is the "wandering player" rumour mentioned above, the second is a sceptically reported and wild rumour that she was planning to murder Henry VI and marry the Duke of Somerset.)

#ask #anon #margaret of anjou #edward of lancaster

[isadomna]

Juana of Portugal (1439-1475)

She was the posthumous daughter of King Duarte of Portugal and his wife Leonor of Aragon. Juana grew up in exile with her mother, due to the intrigues of the Portuguese court, and lived first at the Monastery of Santa María in Medina del Campo and later in Toledo, where Leonor of Aragon died. At the age of six, Juana returned to the Portuguese court of her brother Afonso V.

In 1455 the young Juana married her cousin Enrique IV of Castile, who had repudiated his first consort after thirteen years of marriage. The couple produced no children. The marriage was annulled on the grounds of an impotence that was specific rather than general, an impotence that applied only to Enrique’s relationship with Blanca of Navarre. Yet such an extraordinary  explanation amounted to a case of maleficium (spell), with the clear implication that Blanca was the guilty party, and in addition she was obliged to leave Castile and return to Navarre.

Juana of Portugal was described as beautiful, cheerful and coquettish. The sources speak of the licentiousness introduced by the young Queen and her ladies in the austere Castilian court. They liked to use perfums, makeups, dresses that displayed too much décolletage, and flirting with men. One of her ladies, Guiomar de Castro, was King’s mistress, causing the anger of the Queen, and other, Mencía de Lemos, was Cardinal Mendoza’s mistress. 

Six years after her wedding, Queen Juana was pregnant. Some say it was a miracle, others that it was the result of some sort of artificial insemination that the couple had tried, as was recorded by a german traveler. During this period, Juana insisted that Enrique's teenaged brother and sister, Alfonso and Isabel, forcefully be brought to the court and away from their sick mother. Many saw this as a way of making sure her daughter's path to the crown would encounter no obstacles. The Queen gave birth to a daughter named Juana, officially proclaimed heir to the Crown of Castile and created Princess of Asturias.

Queen Juana planned the marriage between her sister-in-law, Isabel of Castile, and her brother Afonso V of Portugal, and her daughter with her nephew Prince Joao. She wanted with these weddings an annexation of the Crown of Castile with the kingdom of Portugal.

In early 1460s, Castilian nobles became dissatisfied with the rule of Enrique IV, and believed that Princess Juana was not King’s daughter. They called her la Beltraneja, a mocking reference to her supposed illegitimacy. Propaganda and rumour encouraged by the league of rebellious nobles argued that her father was Beltrán de la Cueva, a royal favorite of low background who had been elevated to enormous power by Enrique and who, by some, has been suggested as Enrique's lover.

Many nobles refused to recognise Princess Juana and preferred that Enrique instead name his younger half-brother, Alfonso as his heir. This was agreed to on the condition that Alfonso marries little Juana. Not long after this, Enrique reneged on his promise and began to support his daughter's claim once more. The nobles in league against him conducted a ceremonial deposition-in-effigy of Enrique outside the city of Avila and crowned Alfonso as a rival king. 

Queen Juana and her daughter were removed from the court. They lived in various castles as hostages, separately or together, protected by a faction of the nobility. The love affair of Queen Juana with the Bishop Fonseca’s nephew, Pedro of Castile, and the birth of her two illegitimate sons, caused great scandal. As a result of the need to conceal the pregnancy of her illegitimate sons, Juana of Portugal is considered the inventor of the farthingale.

In 1468, Alfonso of Castile died and Princess Juana was stripped of her succession-rights. Her aunt, Infanta Isabel, was placed before her, on condition that Isabel marry a man chosen out by the monarch. Queen Juana and her daughter sent a formal appeal to the Supreme Pontiff. Enrique accepted to divorce his wife and send her to Portugal, but Juana remained in Castile as king's wife, though separated of her husband. Isabel married Fernando of Aragon with the opposition of Enrique IV.

In 1470, Princess Juana was engaged and then married by proxy to the Duke of Guienne, brother of Louis XI of France. In the face of the French ambassador, King Enrique and Queen Juana swore before a crucifix that the Princess was their legitimate daughter. The French marriage never consummated, because the duke died two years later in France. Queen Juana always defended her daughter’s rights to the throne, and she had an active political participation. Queen Juana tried to get the support of nobles and cities, but with meager success and without palpable results. In 1474, Enrique IV died at the Alcázar of Madrid and rumors circulated that the late monarch had been poisoned, his wife and his daughter demanded an investigation. Queen Juana died a few months after her husband’s death at the age of 36. In the last months of her life, she lived at the convent of San Francisco in Madrid. The cause of her death is unknown.

Bárbara Lennie played Juana of Portugal in TV series "Isabel"

#juana de portugal #juana de avis #joan of portugal #women in history #spanish history #barbara lennie #Isabel tve #enrique IV #juana la beltranejs #juana de trastamara #juana de castilla

[henriettadreaming]

I haven't really been in the HP fandom for a long time because the author sucked so much of the joy out of it, and the older I got, the more flaws I saw within the work.

But something I thought of recently was the similarities between Aemond and Snape in regards to bullying and violence.

In HOTD, Aemond is bullied by his brother and the Strong boys, is attacked four against one, and subsequently loses his eye because of Lucerys.

In HP, Snape is bullied by The Marauders, Sirius lures him to The Shack on a full moon, and he is close to being killed or turned into a Werewolf by Remus.

In both cases, Aemond and Snape never receive any kind of justice for what was done to them. Aemond is actually further threatened with harm, and Snape is supposed to carry on as normal afterwards and keep quiet about Remus being a Werewolf.

In both cases, the characters don't really appear to learn from their actions. Remus, who is presented as the least arrogant and least involved in the bullying, tells Neville to imagine Snape in his grandmother's clothes when dealing with the Bogot. This is something the whole class finds hysterical and quickly spreads around the school.

Lucerys doesn't appear to care about permanently maiming his uncle, and laughs at the pig presented at dinner clearly remembering the Pink Dread they gave Aemond to their amusement.

And in both cases, we're not supposed to care about Aemond or Snape because their bully's are shown as the good guys.

The Strong boys are Rhaenyra's perfect sons. They have to deal with awful rumours about their illegitimacy. They were protecting Rhaena and Baela, defending themselves. I've even seen some say they were defending Vaghar, the largest dragon alive.

The Marauders are Harry's father, God father, and the only connection to his deceased parents. They fought in The Order and are good people. Snape is an awful person and horrible to Harry, so everything that is done to him is justified.

I find it interesting how we're supposed to view bullying, violence, or assault as okay as long as the victim apparently deserves it.

#house of the dragon #harry potter #hotd #aemond targaryen #severus snape #the mauraders #lucerys strong #jacaerys strong #team green #harry potter critical #hotd critical

[alicentsgf]

What you think of Aemond? Do you ship him with Helaena? Do you think he is the father of her children?

Aemonds my baby boy and I love Helaena endlessly but I have really complex feelings about it. Because I think Aemond loves Helaena very deeply and Helaena probably feels similarly but I haven't figured out how it is that love manifests. Like I don't ship it, but I do see how people see it. There's a tenderness between them that can be read a few ways but definitely not ignored.

I do know I don't really believe Aemond's the twins father. I just feel like Aemond has such a sense of duty, just like his mother, and he cares about Alicent's opinion and happiness too much. He would never be able to act on his feelings. We saw how he immediately bowed his head and prayed at that dinner table - he cares about this stuff. He's seen his whole life how Alicent condemns Rhaenyra and her children for them not being trueborn. Both he and Helaena have seen the damage rumours of illegitimacy can do. Imagine the damage if they were caught together? If theres the tiniest chance the twins are Aemond's then Aegon knew. In fact it would've had to have been his plan. he likely would have had to beg Aemond. I don't see Aegon doing that; Helaena herself said it, Aegon doesn't want her but he turns to alcohol, not his brother.

I understand why the show would go there with the twins, hotd loves to make the characters hypocrites, but I hope they don't because I really feel it goes against Aemond's characterisation. If there is a romantic attachment there, I personally believe neither of them has ever acted on it to such an extent.

#aemond targaryen #helaena targaryen #hotd #helamond #ask #anon

[silverhallow]

theories scrolling around that QC's daughter that will be in the QC show is named princess sophia who had a bastard daughter in her youth will be how they introduce sophie - thoughts on how this could change benophie's love story?

Well the part about QC having a daughter called Sophia is the truth… and it’s rumoured she had an illegitimate child so it’s entirely possible.

I am it depends on the times and stuff seen as I’m not sure even Bridgerton can change history too much and QC dies in 1818 so depends on the timeline…

But that being said I’m not sure I’m arsed to be honest.

They were gonna change the story around, they’ve changed almost everyone’s so far so having Sophie connected to QC and the royal family, wouldn’t be a million miles away from the book in terms of her illegitimacy so depending on how they do it… I could be on board

#bridgerton #ask ash #sophie beckett

[felisglacialis]

The Empress (Part ||)

Rumors questioning Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria’s legitimacy have been circulating within the Austrian Court. What do her parents and elder sister think about this? What do they do?

Current year: 1853

Valerie heard her 14 year old sister talking to Her favourite Lady In Waiting in the drawing room of their summer home Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl. Thought it sounded more like arguing to her.

“Don’t you dare make such treasonous accusations!” Elisabeth shouted, loud enough for 10 year old Valerie to make out what she said. 

“Y-Y-Your Imperial Highness!….I didn’t mean to…I was just implying that”

“What, that my Sister is illegitimate? That her father is not The Emperor? How dare you!”

Valerie had never heard her Sister this angry before. It was quite shocking, more shocking than the rumors of her own illegitimacy. 

These rumors were swirling in and out of Kaiservilla for months now, mostly the fancy talk of lower servants. When the imperial family arrived, the Ladies in waiting had to be more careful about their gossiping and shut out their willful thoughts as these thoughts could imprison them for life, or even worse, death.

Emperor Franz Joseph I was married to Duchess Alexandra of Denmark, who later became Empress Alexandra of Austria by marriage. But everyone close to her called her Alix. 

Together they had Two children. GrandDuchess Elisabeth Of Austria who was future empress of Austria and future queen of Hungary and Marie-Valerie. They all lived somewhat happy lives although there were problems in all.

Franz and Alexandra had to bear the burden of ruling an all powerful Austro-Hungarian empire, Sisi had to bear the burden of being heir. And Valerie now had to bear the burden of various rumours spreading about who her real father was.

There are plenty of Ladies in waiting and nobles who live at Kaiservilla and that means that there are various mouths to blab whatever they want about whoever they want. 

A few months ago, the topic of Empress Alexandra and her Rumoured lover Count Andrássy was being spoken about. And somebody must’ve put together that Valerie might not have been her father’s daughter.

These were obviously just nonsensical rumors because Valerie was Franz’s child. She was legitimate. 

But Valerie herself didn’t know that and neither did all of the servants who had been blabbing their mouths off for months. 

“Get out of my sight This Instant! Never Show your Face Ever Again!” Sisi practically Shouted being somewhat taller then her favourite lady in waiting, at the frightened Lady In Waiting who unfortunately gossiped at the wrong time to a footman.

The lady in waiting scurried off and Sisi sat down on the nearest chair and was trying to hold in tears.

“Sisi..” Valerie walked in from the other room. “Was that Lady in waiting talking about me?” She asked.

“Oh Valerie…” Sisi held out her hands to embrace the trembling young girl who started to cry.

“Don’t pay any mind to what that filthy Lady in waiting said. It was all lies and it wasn’t true at all.”

Sisi stroked her Sister’s unruly dark brown hair and continued to do so until Valerie broke the embrace.

“But..sisi…I heard it all…I don’t know what this all means.” Valerie was on the verge of hysterics. 

Seeing her Elder sister so upset ignited something in her that is usually hidden away. It made her angry and confused and utterly upset.

“Valerie Sister..” Sisi soothed. “All you have to believe is that you are Our father’s daughter, you are my Sister. If somebody said that you aren’t then shame on them!” 

Sisi gave her sister a little playful slap which turned the sad frown on Valerie’s face into the wide smile that would be seen playing outside with her dogs or drawing pictures with her mother.

“You are Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, youngest daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, King of Hungary. That is who you are and you can’t listen to anybody if they say otherwise, especially the nasty servants who gossip.” Sisi softly placed a hand on Valerie’s face.

“Okay Sisi, I love you very much.” The two hugged firmly again.

“Next time Valerie, don’t eavesdrop okay?” Sisi said strictly, but with a laugh.

“Okay Sisi!” Sighed smart Valerie as she skipped out of the room.

~

Later that night, when Valerie was doing her nighttime prayers, Sisi was informing her father Franz about the events of the day.

“Franz, Papa..,” Sisi spoke to her Father who was sitting calmly on the bed taking his boots off.

“Many people are questioning Valerie’s legitimacy, today I caught a maid servant gossiping with a footman. I’m greatly concerned.” Sisi went over to sit next to Franz who wrapped his arm around her.

“Sisi, you know those rumores are false. I remember the night we conceived. It couldn’t possibly be anyone else. What makes you so worried?” Franz said saying the truth to his angered 14-year-old Beautiful Daughter.

Sisi wanted to say that the rumors were specifically stating that Count Andrássy was the suspected father and slept with the empress Alexandra, and that she never did anything with him except one small kiss, but Alexandra couldn’t say that to her husband’s face. 

She loved her father Franz, and Andrássy’s and Alexandra rumoured kiss brought her no affectionate feelings towards her mother. minus disgust and anger, but this was just not the right time.

That was a story for another day.

Sisi decided to tell her father Franz the truth about half of the worries about this situation.

“I’m worried because Valerie was in the other room and she could hear me yelling at that maid.” Sisi was close to tears as she covered her hands with her mouth about to Weep into salty tears.

“She has never heard me that angry before and she came up to me afterword and was quite distressed...” Sisi wept into Franz’s arms while he gently stroked her back.

Franz and Alexandra might not have been passionate soulmates because of they’re different personality’s, Alexandra was Passionate gentle and charming, franz was quiet and charming and courteous. but after all these years of marriage, Franz still loved Alexandra, and the feeling was mutual. Sisi was closer to her father then her mother, Alexandra mostly was busy since she became empress at 19.

“Sisi Daughter..hush now, I will talk to her, I promise.” Franz stated his Daughter in the eye and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead.

He then exited the room and let Sisi undress peacefully into her dressing and releasing her hair from her twisted braids Loosing them to the ground making her hair cover her as cloak.

As Franz was walking to Valerie’s rooms, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking more deeply about the rumors.

Why would anyone think that Valerie is not my daughter?

Valerie heard a sudden knock on her bedroom door.

“Valerie, darling, it’s Papa, can I come in?”

“Enter.” Valerie spoke softly as her nanny calmly put the book away and exited the room.

Franz came in and slowly sat down on Valerie’s bed.

“What’s wrong Papa?” Valerie noticed the solemn look on her father’s usually joyful face. At least he was joyful when she was around.

“Valerie…” Franz spoke in a nervous but fairly calm tone. “sisi told me about what happened today.”

Valerie’s face fell into a sad frown.

“Does everyone think like that maid thinks?” She said desperately. “Sisi says that I shouldn’t listen to them…but I did.”

“Oh Valerie my dearest,” Franz wrapped his daughter in a tight embrace and rocked her around like he did when she was a baby. 

“Look in my eyes, Valerie, you are my daughter. And Future Empress Elisabeth’s Younger sister. Nothing can or will ever change that.” Franz was disgusted by these ugly rumors. His heart knew that Sisi could’ve and would’ve been unfaithful at times, and he could’ve been too. But he knew deep down in his heart that Valerie was his and Alexandra’s child, nothing could convince him otherwise.

“Papa is that really the truth?” Valerie asked longingly.

“sisi shouted at the Lady in waiting she didn’t deserved to be shouted at..” Valerie said having Empathy for the lady in waiting.

“Darling,” Franz cooed. “It will forever be the truth.”

“Oh Papa I love you so much!” Valerie gave her father a kiss on the cheek and a tight squeeze before hopping under her covers.

Franz kissed the little girl goodnight and exited calmly.

He knew that everything was going to be okay, and if not, he would take care of it.

~

#I hope you like this!#🤍#rumors about our my sister #fan fiction#historical-epic#history fan fiction#My fics#archduchess marie valerie#archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria#Marie Valerie of Austria#emperor franz joseph#empress elisabeth of austria#franz joseph i#Elisabeth of Austria#Austrian royal family

#Marie Valerie #Empress sisi #Empress Alexandra #Austria #1850s #history #fanfic #hungarian