Rhaegar found the dense garden of pines and cypresses and bumped into Helaena, who seemed to be searching for something.
"Helaena, is something wrong?" Rhaegar greeted her casually.
Helaena's face was tense and she seemed distracted. She stopped and looked over with dull eyes.
Rhaegar's gaze shifted downward and he noticed Long Summer, the sword, in her arms. "Uh huh?" he said, sensing trouble.
Helaena hesitated for a second and quickly responded, "No, brother," trying to hide the sword behind her.
Rhaegar stepped forward, gently rubbing her head, and questioned, "You're not very good at lying, are you?"
Helaena blushed and hung her head in disappointment, muttering to herself, "The guy who doesn't keep his word, he actually ran away."
Seeing her distressed, Rhaegar softened his tone, "Did someone bother you?"
The Red Keep was crowded with all kinds of people, and he had just instructed the Kingsguard to maintain order.
"No," Helaena replied, her eyes filled with timidity as she shook her head. Admitting she wanted to hack someone to death was not very ladylike and could exacerbate the conflict between her mother and brother.
Their mother had raised four children, and they couldn't betray her. Therefore, it was important to avoid a split.
"It better be," Rhaegar said, respecting her reluctance to say more. "But don't keep things to yourself. Tell someone if something happens."
Helaena nodded vigorously, her delicate hairpiece crooked.
"Going back to rest?" Rhaegar asked, glancing at the sword. It wasn't something to pull out lightly.
Helaena agreed wholeheartedly, taking her brother's hand and heading back. Bouncing along the way, she grinned, not looking like the fierce and powerful look she had been moments before.
...
Returning to her bedroom, Helaena hung the sword, Long Summer, back on the wall. She glanced at Rhaegar, who stood in the doorway, and shook her head sadly. Long Summer had yet to prove useful in her hands. She had wanted to get rid of a pest and avoid the afternoon's events.
Thinking of another afternoon of trouble, Helaena murmured regretfully, "A good sword never falls into the hands of a good swordsman."
Knock knock!
A knock sounded at the open door, and a maid arrived, sweat glistening on her forehead. Rhaegar staggered slightly and looked at Helaena.
Helaena, sensing his presence, turned to the maid and asked, "Terra, is something wrong?"
Terra, the queen's personal maid, smiled and said, "Princess, both the king and queen are looking for you."
Helaena stared straight at Rhaegar and said softly, "Please tell them that I don't want to attend the afternoon banquet."
She admitted she lacked Rhaenyra's patience. Facing that group of faceless adults again felt unbearable.
Terra's smile faltered, and she discreetly glanced at the Heir Prince, whispering, "It is the Queen's order."
Rhaegar felt helpless, caught between his sister and the queen. Though he didn't want his sister married off hastily, he lacked the authority to defy their father's and Alicent's decisions.
Helaena remained defiant, "I'm not going to follow orders. She's wasting her time."
"Princess," Terra said, startled.
Helaena turned away and looked out the window at the bustling scene below, finding it noisy and unappealing. She didn't care about finding a nominal fiancé for political reasons. Born into royalty, enjoying the honorary position of princess at the height of Targaryen's prosperity, she saw no reason to submit.
With the princess ignoring her, Terra was at a loss and looked to the Heir Prince for help. She couldn't return without a solution.
Rhaegar said, "Go back and tell Alicent that I will persuade Helaena."
"Thank you," Terra said, relieved, and hurriedly left.
Gazing at the maid's retreating figure, Rhaegar left the door of the room open and pondered. If he remembered correctly, this maid named Terra was actually a spy. Larys had investigated her background but hadn't had time to report it to Alicent. Instead, it was Tormund who benefited from the information.
Rhaegar couldn't help but smile, lamenting, "The huge Red Keep really has all kinds of snakes and rats."
After the banquet, it would be time to send Rhaenyra back to Dragonstone Island. The castle where he had grown up had long since failed to shield him from the storm, and it was far less reassuring than the ironclad security of Dragonstone Island.
...
"Brother!"
Suddenly, Helaena's sharp cry echoed through the room. Rhaegar turned his head and saw a determined little girl marching towards him.
Helaena clenched her teeth and stormed forward, slamming the door shut behind her with a bang. The door nearly hit Rhaegar in the face, causing him to step back. To avoid any suspicion, he hadn't entered the room and instead kept guarding the door.
Now, the little girl was furious.
Helaena leaned against the door and said firmly, "I refuse. You don't need to persuade me."
Her freckled face bore a seriousness Rhaegar had rarely seen, as if her expression alone conveyed the gravity of her attitude.
Sensing her strange resolve, Rhaegar took another step back. Helaena stepped forward and stared at him without a word.
Rhaegar retreated again, and she took another step forward.
After several steps back, Rhaegar's face went blank and he said softly, "I'll make it clear for you. Just use the reason of being sick."
He felt that if he retreated any further, something unexpected might happen.
"I am not sick. I just don't want to go, and I don't need a reason," Helaena insisted, stepping forward again.
"Then what do you need? I'll help as much as I can," Rhaegar said, avoiding her gaze and panicking inside. He knew he must look very embarrassed right now.
"You know what I want," Helaena replied, her expression softening slightly. She walked around him to the balcony without pushing too hard.
Just as Rhaegar breathed a sigh of relief, she added faintly, "Someone at the party asked me to marry them."
Rhaegar, mid-breath, was shocked, "What?"
Whoever had done it so quickly had crossed a line.
"It was a liar who wanted to use two castles to lure me and Dreamfyre," Helaena explained calmly.
Hearing the word "lure," Rhaegar's demeanor turned icy, "House Peake!"
The only one who could offer two castles as bait was House Peake of the Riverlands.
Rhaegar couldn't help but recall the tragic tale of Gael Targaryen, the simple girl lured by a lowly wandering singer, who bore an bastard child and ultimately took her own life.
"So you were carrying Long Summer just now, looking for that Peake?" Rhaegar asked, understanding the situation.
"He didn't keep his word. I thought he would wait for me where he was," Helaena replied, a bit lost.
"Deliberately meeting in private and trying to seduce a princess—this is naked treason," Rhaegar's voice grew cold as he turned to leave.
Lying to the Targaryens, what a way to taste the fury of Dragonfire.
"Wait."
Helaena's urgent voice made Rhaegar halt abruptly. He felt a tug on the corner of his coat and stopped in his tracks, his eyelids twitching slightly. A sense of foreboding told him that there would be no peaceful resolution today.
Helaena's eyes reddened, her open hand blocking the door. She pouted, "You're not Baelon."
"Grandfather?" Rhaegar was momentarily stunned, then began to ponder.
Baelon Targaryen had led an extraordinary life, accomplishing many great things. Born in the spring, he was called the "Prince of Spring." He once bravely challenged Balerion, the Black Dread, earning the nickname "Brave Baelon."
At 16, he disguised himself as a mysterious knight, won a tournament in Old Oak, and earned the title of knight.
Immediately after the dinner, he returned to King's Landing and proclaimed himself a Dragonrider, taking to the skies on Vhagar's back. He later avenged his brother's death in the Battle of the Hundred Candles by burning thousands of Tyrosh mercenaries and was elected as the heir to the Iron Throne.
However, even the greatest lives are marked by unfulfilled regrets. After his wife, Alyssa, died from puerperal fever following the birth of their third child, Baelon was left heartbroken. Despite their sibling relationship, Baelon and Alyssa were a deeply loving couple. Her death left him a lonely ghost, unable to develop feelings for any other woman.
His ambitious sister, Viserra, dissatisfied with their father's favoritism towards male heirs, intended to marry Baelon and become queen. One night, she stripped naked and entered Baelon's chambers. Instead of receiving the response she sought, she was loudly reprimanded and thrown out.
Afterward, Baelon hastily selected a fiancé for her, prompting Viserra to run away from the marriage and eventually fall off a horse, breaking her neck.
Rhaegar darkly recalled these events and wondered what Helaena meant. Was she trying to say he wasn't as faithful to marriage as their grandfather, or that he couldn't bear to see her own marriage treated as a political transaction?
Rhaegar's mind was a jumbled mess as he thought, "Rhaenyra is no Alyssa either."
Rhaenyra had the boldness of her grandmother and took care of him as Alyssa had loved Baelon since she was a child. But Rhaenyra would live a better life, and he couldn't accept the loss of a loved one.
At that, Helaena's teary-eyed, determined eyes said, "I'm not Viserra, either."
She wouldn't use that cheap tactic. Much less would she be so foolish as to ride a horse and fall to her death. She had a dragon, an adult dragon!
"Helaena, you should calm down," Rhaegar couldn't really converse and pushed the door open to head out.
He could marry Jeyne, but he couldn't defile Helaena. That was playing with fire, igniting the family conflict that was already like a powder keg ready to explode.
His power seemed strong, but it was built on family unity. Aegon was whacked as a child and was a good brother with no ambition. Helaena was close to him and had her own ideas. Aemond and Daeron were also aware of their eldest brother's love and responsibility and chose to uphold his authority.
With four dragon riders siblings stabilized, and the Greens without a single royal member as a leader, Alicent had been honest until now. Once Helaena was involved, Alicent wouldn't be restrained, mad at anything. Then, his relationship with his siblings would drop to a freezing point.
He's not afraid of Aegon and the others shaking him down. But it would cause a family split, Targaryen infighting. The reason Rhaegar loves his siblings is to carry on the Targaryen bloodline and unite the family. Infighting together goes against his original intention.
Helaena reached out to stop him, not giving him a chance to get away, and simply said, "Brother, the dragon have three heads."
Rhaegar was pressed against his chest and passively lowered his head. Helaena said, "You already have a Rhaenys, I'm going to be Visenya!"
(Word count: 1,809)