Chapter 399: Pregnancy

The news exploded in Pentos like a bomb, causing a huge uproar.

The news leaked out, and countless citizens, mercenaries, and sailors in and outside the city couldn't help but discuss it. Even in the taverns, they raised their glasses to the king.

The leader having an heir is the best insurance for the whole faction, safeguarding everyone's interests.

Viserys rose to fame at a young age, shouldering the heavy responsibility of reviving House Targaryen. With his step-by-step progress, numerous interest groups have gathered under the banner of Targaryen. Everyone relied on this banner for their livelihood.

From Pentos to Andalos, from the Tower of the Hand to the Norvos Mountains, from the Andals, Rhoynar, and Dothraki, to the Unsullied and the Golden Company, and so on.

However, Viserys rose to fame too early, was young, held a high position, and the disadvantage of having no offspring was exposed early on.

For a faction leader, a king of a country, not having an heir is a very dangerous thing. Everyone's interests cannot be guaranteed, and a seemingly strong country can easily disintegrate overnight.

Just like the previous Sea Lord of Braavos secretly sent a Faceless Man to assassinate Viserys.

Their enemies all knew that the biggest weakness of the seemingly unstoppable House Targaryen lay in Viserys himself.

If Viserys suddenly died, House Targaryen would easily fall into division due to the lack of successors. After all, both princesses are dragon riders and legitimate Targaryen heirs.

Rhaenys, a few years older, holds the title of Princess Regent, has extensive regency experience, and is supported by the Dornish and other soldiers.

Although Daenerys is younger, her bloodline is more pure than Rhaenys', and her title as the Mother of Dragons gives her a higher reputation among the people. She also has the support of many Andal soldiers who followed Viserys early on.

However, all of this is based on the condition that Viserys has no offspring.

Once Viserys has an heir, all problems will be solved. His successor will only be his offspring and will be supported by all his officials.

Inside the Palace of the Nine Towers.

Now that Viserys and Rhaenys have left, Pentos has entered the era of Daenerys' rule.

"Honorable Daenerys Targaryen, Princess of the Stormborn, Mother of Dragons."

The president of the Merchant's Guild prostrated on the ground, loudly calling Daenerys' name.

Not long ago, the Merchant's Guild and the port workers had a conflict, mainly over wages and working hours.

Pentos did not explicitly ban slavery, so the issue of slavery still exists in this city, and there are a large number of workers in addition to slaves.

This time the conflict mainly stemmed from a previous smashing incident.

The silver-haired girl sat on the throne where Viserys and Rhaenys once sat, wearing a golden crown and looking a bit restless, her pretty little face full of tension.

Now Daenerys is at an age where she can't sit still, but her brother has thrown this mess directly at her.

After listening to the defense of the president of the Merchant's Guild and the complaints of the labor representative, Daenerys took a deep breath.

Her beautiful light purple eyes looked helplessly at the Hand of the King beside her, Jon Connington. She didn't understand what either side was saying.

The man with red-gray hair wore the golden Hand of the King badge. He felt the princess's plea for help, thought for a moment, and then spoke.

"Wages for the workers can be increased by 20%, and working hours can be appropriately reduced."

The workers demanded that the merchants double their wages, otherwise, they would not be able to live in the expensive city of Pentos.

However, Jon Connington did not support this demand after some consideration but still asked the merchants to curb their greed a bit.

There are several main reasons. First, the merchants are the main taxpayers in Pentos.

The city officials cannot collect taxes from ordinary workers, they can only rely on merchants. However, the rise in commodity prices indirectly collects taxes from the workers.

The second is the issue of slavery. The price of slaves is not cheap in fact, but if the price of labor rises too sharply, such as a demand for a 100% increase, then the merchants would rather pay a high price for slaves than hire cheap labor.

This is not good for the stability of the city and the healthy development of the economy.

The Pentos government still encourages merchants to hire workers rather than buy slaves. Slavery threatens the development and centralized rule of the country.

Plus, considering the current direction of the king's rule...

"Abolishing slavery is inevitable, but the resistance to reform is not small."

Jon Connington made a decision. The merchant representative bowed slightly, accepted the result, and then stepped down.

The labor representative was somewhat dissatisfied, but seeing the cold eyes of the fully armed Unsullied soldiers around him, he could only shrink his neck, thank the princess for her judgment, and then step down.

After the merchant representative and the labor representative stepped down, Jon Connington patiently explained to Daenerys why he made such a decision.

In the end, royal power still represents the interests of the major nobles, but not entirely, ruling is the foundation.

Daenerys nodded as if she understood.

Then another noble proposed that since Princess Arianne Martell was pregnant, Pentos should hold a celebration.

This not only signifies that House Targaryen has a successor, but it also proves that the king 'can'.

Even if this child miscarries in the end, everyone has taken a reassurance pill, after all, they have been waiting for this reassurance pill for a long time.

Arianne has been pregnant for two months. She didn't pay much attention when she missed her period last month. However, when her period still didn't come in the second month, she was reminded by her maid to check, and then she received the good news.

Whether Arianne will give birth to a princess or a prince for Viserys is worth celebrating.

And correspondingly, the wedding of the two should also be put on the agenda. Viserys originally planned to hold the wedding after unifying the Seven Kingdoms in King's Landing, but it seems that it might be too late now.

Viserys is still in Westeros fighting the White Walkers, and of course, he knows nothing about his impending fatherhood.

And Daenerys, still young, is somewhat confused about the matters of men and women and the fact that her brother is about to have a child.

But in the end, under everyone's gaze, she nodded slightly and agreed.

Oberyn wrote a personal letter ready to tell his brother, Prince Doran, the good news.

And at this moment, snowflakes suddenly began to fall outside the window, Oberyn, holding a quill, stared blankly at the scene outside the window.