Chương 2: The Emperor and Lioness
Codex: Ten Commandments of the Silver Knights of The Empire
The Code of Chivalry of the Silver Knights that every Knight of the Empire must follow. These commandments are an integral part of Imperial society and government and are often used to dictate the actions of the Imperial Noble.
1st Commandment: To serve the Great Ones and worship the Old Blood
2nd Commandment: Bear true allegiance to His Holy Imperial Majesty, The Holy Imperator
3rd Commandment: Work to promote the unity of the Empire, even at the cost of individual liberty
4th Commandment: Defend the domains of the Empire and expand the glory of the Empire too beyond
5th Commandment: Protect the weak and fight for the right
6th Commandment: Always fight the enemies of virtue and order
7th Commandment: Never give up the fight until the foe be defeated
8th Commandment: Never to break Faith with a friend or ally
9th Commandment: Honor and valor are reserved for allies; death is judgment for the enemies in battle everything is permitted
10th Commandment: Root out and destroy Greenskins, the Beasts, the Daemons, servants of False Gods, those who corrupt the Arcane, and purge the Heretic, Mutant and Unclean, wherever they may hide.
***
Some time earlier, Lannisport Castle
After they returned to the Castle of the Lannisport, Tywin Lannister went to fetch his daughter to give her the newest instructions. From what he saw about the Imperial Delegation, he knew that they were the real deal.
An actual Empire ruling over a continent behind the Sunset Sea... Just the procession of fifty humongous warships and the smell of an army of thousands of Knights that came with it was enough to affirm him in his decision.
From what he could see, the Holy Arcadia Empire was highly militaristic and appreciated competency and merits, especially personal abilities and capabilities. Those who contributed well would be rewarded and those who did not...
From the little talks with the Imperator, he found out that even the Noble Houses of the Empire would be stripped of their privileges and titles if they didn't perform well in managing their territories and contributing to the state.
Not to mention, even though Tywin Lannister hated to admit it, he knew that their civilization was way ahead compared to that of Westeros. Just looking at the craftsmanship and power of their weapons and armor would put them maybe even centuries ahead.
"I have found you a match... You will be at your best behavior possible, and if you dare to sabotage this..."
Tywin Lannister said to his daughter in the castle's solar when he called for her to tell her a few things. He will use the connection to the Empire to strengthen the Westerlands to become the most powerful Kingdom within Westeros.
Be it in the Military, Economic, or the so-called Industrial area, as the Imperials called it.
"So, to whom did you decide to ship me off?"
She asked patronizingly at her father's command. Deep inside, she hated being treated like this just because she was a woman. Just because of her gender, she was meant to be forever a broodmare for children and a tool for political alliances.
"As you may have noticed... we have very special guests beyond the Sunset Sea and the entire port is swarming with their behemoth-like warships."
He stated sternly, having enough of his daughter's behavior.
"The man I have chosen is the Emperor of the foreign power and just troops that brought with him on the voyage are not even a fraction of his military might and yet would be enough to contend against some Kingdoms of Westeros with this alone."
He knew his daughter very well; she was rebellious, wanted to train like Knight when she was younger and had a full head of other nonsensical things.
"I don't care what you think, Cersei... I brought you here in hopes that I could wed you to the Emperor Karl Franz and I will make that happen. Rhaegar is married to Dornish Princess, which cut out the path to the Iron Throne... let Aerys keep that piece of scrap iron."
He stood up from his seat and motioned his daughter to follow him, which she did as he pointed at enormous warships bearing the sigil of skulls with griffons and hammers bearing the Sigil of The Empire.
"Do you see that? Fleet strong like that would destroy the Ironborns like children and on top of that, they have thousands of Knights and apparently also Wizards with real Magic, not some paltry tricks... not to mention their longevity...."
The Lord Paramount of Westerlands looked at the fleet of the Empire, and even though Cersei was young and not very educated in the matters of state, politics and military because in Westeros, women were not in positions of power.
Be it from the point of Faith of Seven are One or from the traditions of the Nobility of Westerosi.
"Your Job is to secure the favor of the Emperor at any cost. I have already found out that he already has one fianceé in his homeland and due to the fact that polygamy is common, he will have no problem taking multiple wives at that."
He stated sternly as his daughter frowned, but seeing the eyes of her father, which were drilled into her very own soul, she remained silent. Tywin meanwhile knew that Karl Franz was engaged to Lady Maria Vileblood, daughter of Lord High Magistrate Annalise Vileblood, ruler of Cainhurst.
She herself was the most fearsome warrior in the entire Empire and while it was weird for the Westerosi standards to see women fight and Faith of Seven considered it barbaric, he couldn't help but have certain respect.
Every member to whom he spoke only held two feelings towards Lady Maria.
Reverence and Fear.
He knew that his daughter would have strong concurrent, but he didn't doubt that she would succeed...
She was Lannister, a proud lion.
"Right now, there are no suitable bachelors in Westeros, aside from a few less savory ones, and we don't have enough interests in the Essos to search for a match there. You cannot marry one of the bannerman, for that you are a too precious a tool."
Hearing that, Cersei frowned and her expression morphed into several shades of anger, but deep inside, she knew that resisting was futile. In the end, as long as she was in Westeros, she would be nothing more than a glorified child bearer and bargaining chip to strengthen her House.
"So, I expect for you to gain the favor of Imperator Karl Franz so he decides to agree to my proposal and we could benefit from it... be it military power, riches or longevity of their Religion."
Tywin Lannister wasn't a very religious man; in fact, he hated Gods for taking his beloved wife from him when that little monster was born. Yet, he couldn't help but be shocked when he found that those who worshipped the Healing Church and drank the Old Blood could easily live centuries.
Even the Emperor himself was more than five hundred years old, despite not looking older than thirty. That was way longer than the entire Targaryen Dynasty in the Seven Kingdoms.
***
"Now, before anyone could start screaming and shouting, let's all calm down and resolve this situation in a more civilized way."
I stated calmly when I saw that Tywin Lannister was already going to burst out in anger, though fortunately, there were almost no people in the vicinity. At least that was good or the poor servants would end up dead so that nobody would spread rumors about the House Lannister.
Even though, from what I could see, Magic in Westeros was already being slowly reduced to myth and legend, they still understood the significance of the Blood Curse and to hear that the daughter of Lord Paramount was cursed would be a severe blow to his reputation.
This would be a severe blow for someone as prideful as Tywin Lannister, who put the reputation of his Lineage far above everything else. Not to mention, when he noticed how the people of the Empire reacted to it, he knew that he would be an embarrassment before the foreign power.
Meanwhile, the person in question, who was the epicenter of the attention, was right now shaking in fear; nobody knew what... it could be the way her father was looking at her with a stern and piercing gaze.
Ort the High Scholar Jinfarah, who was looking at her with some kind of curiosity and practically every single person in the room was turning their gaze on her way. I went to her and put my right hand on her shoulder, signaling her to calm down.
"Calm down, just breathe and calm yourself... while the Blood Curse could be problematic, it is nothing that the Healing Church Church or our Wizards won't be able to resolve."
I said calmly as I saw that Cersei was looking down, not meeting my gaze, but she was considerably calmer compared to moments ago.
"Now, the most important question... did you give someone your Blood willingly in the past? Especially to some Magic user?"
This was the most important thing to find out because we would be much more hard-pressed without locating the person who cast the Blood Curse. The sole good thing about the entire situation was that the person who cast the Blood Curse wasn't particularly powerful.
If the spell caster was more powerful, then they would need to think of another strategy to get rid of it.
***
3rd POV
After Karl Franz calmed down everyone, the young Lannister started recalling the events of what happened and hearing that brought various reactions. Her father was visibly enraged; Karl Franz listened attentively while the old wizard frowned or a bit before he grimaced more deeply.
After his encouragement, she started retelling the story of how she went to someone called Maggy the Frog and got a prophecy from her after she gave the witch her Blood. Hearing that, High Scholar Jinfarah frowned deeply because he could see that the young girl was technically scammed...
"I must say, young lady, that all things that the witch told you are lies... in the first place, to make a prophecy, one doesn't need blood."
After everything was said, the elderly member of the Scholars of Bryngenwerth stated.
"So now what... what should we do?"
The Lord of the Castrerly Rock broke the silence when he saw that his daughter was on the verge of an emotional breakdown after she started crying, leaning over Emperor Karl-Franz for support.
Even though Tywin Lannister always seemed cold and distant, he truly loved his eldest children, Cersei and Jamie.
"We need to find this Maggy the Frog... that would be the first step... after securing her, we can break the Blood Curse."
High Scholar Jinfarah stated, not even looking at the Lord of the Casterly Rock, though the Wizards were known for their eccentric behavior and in The Holy Arcadia Empire, personal strength was far more valued than noble titles.
"She is the fortune teller from Lannisport who dealt in cures and love potions. We can assume that 'Maggy' is not even her true name, but most likely a bastardization of the word 'maegi', a term for women from Essoss who practice Blood Magic."
Hearing Kevan Lannister speak that even made several people from The Holy Arcadia Empire look at them with a certain degree of mockery because they were even that someone like her was living in their city and did nothing about it at all.
In the Empire, there were very strict laws regulating Magic users and against the servants of the foul powers, there was no mercy. They would be hunted down immediately after they appeared so they couldn't corrupt their nation.
"Then find her and bring her here... for that, I will send a few Templar Knights to help you in this endeavor."
Karl-Franz said because he wanted to be sure that Maggy the Frog was caught and he had a feeling that if it was left up to more mundane means, she would escape. Magic users, as a whole, were very problematic to deal with.
"Fear the Old Blood... As the Old Blood is the path to the Ascension by the Great Ones, praise the Great Ones!"
Just then, everyone heard the voice of one of the men who arrived at the meeting room. Garbed in the white clothes of a priest, bearing the sigil of the Great Ones and a grail-like object filled with Blood, with people bowing around it and three flowers around it in a pyramid pattern.
"Praise the Great Ones, Father."
The man before them, who arrived with several others, were from the Templar Knight Executioners, the Holy Knight Executioners of the Healing Church. They were superhumans of the Healing Church with physical strength no less than Ogres and standing on the same level as the Reiksgarde.
Now, seeing them there, everyone grew a bit tense because, from a brief contact that the Westerosi had with the Imperials, it was clear that almost everyone was a religious fanatic; their reverence for their religion was...
To absolute extreme as they worshipped the Religion of the Great Ones.
"Praise the Great Ones, The Chosen One."
The Church Executioners bowed to Emperor Karl-Franz.
"Lord Lannister, this is Father Galahad of the Healing Church, and behind him are the Holy Knight Executioners... they will accompany your soldiers to ensure that the witch is safely caught."
Karl-Franz stated that even Tywin Lannister agreed with this because there was no time to debate his own stance towards religions, but it was time to act. And it seemed that the Templar Executioners were the best to deal with the Magic users.
With that, Tywin ordered some of his men to go and lead the Templar Executioners to find Maggy the Frog as fast as possible. Nobody dared to be a tad slower as the armed men quickly departed to finish their tasks.
***
MC POV
As I watched the Church Executioners depart, I sat down and started praying.
Before my reincarnation, I was an atheist or agnostic; I never believed in God, or rather, I believed in something that was transcending our understanding of the Cosmos, but I didn't know what it was.
Only after I met the Great Ones, I saw the Truth, obtaining the Isight and saw the depths of the Cosmos, something that the mortals could never achieve. One could say that I became a religious fanatic of the Great Ones.
Because even though all the horrors I experienced for whatever reason, probably not more than their own entertainment, it was still worth... at least this world is far more interesting than boring, mundane life on Earth.
Not talking about the endless possibilities that the Cosmos is bringing to us.
I sat down on the nearby sofa and started praying to the Formless God of Blood Oedon, the main God of the Great Ones, the one that we all worshipped and the one that I met personally and got the Old Blood from him.
Other people in the room either dispersed or returned to their matters. It seemed that with the revelation of Lord Tywin's daughter being Blood Cursed by some witch destroyed the festive mood for the banquet.
Lord Tywin, together with his brother, went to take care of some other things, or they were talking with other members of the Imperial delegation to Westeros. The High Scholar Jinfarah was already collecting information about Westeros and politics once again.
"You can sit down next to me if you wish..."
Even though my eyes closed, I knew that Cersei Lannister was standing before me and observing me for more than a minute. With my trans-human senses, it was almost impossible to miss out.
She nervously fidgeted when she heard my voice, but soon enough, she sat down next to me as I was still praying. I could tell that she was still nervous from being studied like an object by High Scholar Jinfarah, but that was normal...
Those of Bryngenwerth didn't care for anything aside from pursuing the deepest mysteries of Truth.
"You seemed to be very nervous, my Lady."
I said mildly when I looked at her sitting down next to me.
"And you seem to be very religious, Your Majesty."
I could hear the nervousness in her voice, stress, anger, hatred, pain and sadness all in one, yet it also contained a longing for comfort. Certainly, I was very good at reading people with Insight; there was nothing that could escape my attention and my "eyes".
"Yes... The Empire stands strong on the Steel, Faith and Magic."
Slowly saying, I finished my prayer as I looked directly into her eyes; for a moment, I admired her beauty... even though she was only fifteen, she was very beautiful for her age...
"Let me tell you a story..."
I began slowly to tell.
"There was once a City that discovered in Ancient Tombs what they called the Blood of the Gods. Those who drank it or were injected with the Blood grew stronger, faster, more powerful, had great healing capability..."
I said... before her eyes, I took my dagger from my waist and cut deeply before her shocked and horrifying eyes that turned into wonder when she saw such injury being healed in a matter of not even seconds.
"And granted almost complete protection from diseases and plagues. Those who drank the Blood would live longer; overcoming centuries with no problem for them and some even discovered that they could tap into the Arcane Energy and obtain various supernatural abilities."
I made a pause as I showed her that my hand was fully healed, and it looked like nothing happened to it.
"But yet, without Faith and with greed, it led only to the disaster. The people who drank the Blood from the Ancient Tombs in their endless avarice in pursuit of power and greater evolution began to be corrupted by the very own power they sought, whose willpower failed and who were overcome by their greed were turned into nothing more than endless beasts that plagued the lands of Lordran."
It certainly brought back some memories, not happy ones, but they certainly were good in some twisted sense.
"Thus, one of the first expeditions to the Ancient Tombs decided to establish a religion to worship the beings from whom the Blood came and to see if the humans could become something greater. And when the Formless God of Blood Oedon sent down the Chosen One, the Healing Church was established, and the corruption began to fade."
As was my part with the Great Ones...
"Those with strong Faith in the Great Ones would never have to fear the corruption of the Old Blood and could enjoy all the benefits... as long as they genuinely believed in the Great Ones, everything was possible. So, yes, my Lady, I am very religious; from a person to not believing in anything to a Chosen One of Great Ones is a great step..."
I swore that I could hear her gasp at my revelation, not that it was some kind of secret because, in the Lordran, it was common knowledge, as I bore the mark of Oedon, the Rune tattooed on my body.
Indeed, life was full of twists and surprises... sometimes they were indeed shocking, even for my own tastes.
"We are born of the Blood, made men by the Blood, undone by the Blood. Our eyes are yet to open. Fear the Old Blood."
***
Streets of Lannisport, some time later.
After the soldiers were sent to apprehend the witch known as Maggy the Frong, Tywin Lannister also ordered the entire Lannisport to be locked down for the time being.
It was of utmost importance that nobody left the city and the witches were known for their craftiness and scheming nature. It was no doubt that she would try to escape, but for that, he already mobilized several hundreds of Red Guards.
Among the Lord Paramounts, the standing military was non-existent and the sole military strength that the Houses possessed was that of their own Household Guards.
Tywin Lannister always wished to build a standing military of the Westerlands that would be solely loyal to the House Lannister and he was already working on it, albeit a bit slowly for his tastes.
It would achieve two things... for the first one, it would drastically strengthen the might of Westerlands and for the second, it would weaken the power and influence of individual Noble Houses.
Now that he had seen the professional military of the Holy Arcadia Empire and how it operated and when he talked with the Knight-Kommandant of Silver Knights Ornstein, he was determined to do the same, even if it meant openly copying the structure of the Imperial Military.
"Is it here?"
Father Galahad asked while readying his sword. He was surrounded by two Church Executioners of the Healing Church, several Silver Knights and a whole bunch of Lannister's Reg Guards.
"Yes."
The captain of the Lannisport's City Guards answered rather nervously because something didn't really sit well with him.
From what he was told, they were going to apprehend an old woman and yet there were several people for that, giving him a far more dangerous feeling than Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane.
But he was just the captain of the City Guards and it was not his place to question the order of his Lord, not to mention the people leading their group looked like religious fanatics even more than those mad worshippers of Faith of Seven.
"Then let's start."
Father Galahad ordered because he could smell the foulness of the Blood Magic in here, practices that went against the teaching of the Healing Church, committing the vilest of the heresies.
Suddenly, before he could open the door, he felt something was wrong, like, very, very wrong right now.
"This is..."
***
MC POV, Castle of Lannisport
After I finished my prayer to the Great Ones, it appeared that Tywin ordered his daughter to make a tour of the castle for me, but at the same time, I could see that she was very uncomfortable with all of this.
The first thing was that her father was enraged with her for her entire affair with the Maggy the Frog and right now, she was being practically sold to a stranger. Yet, in the short time of vulnerability, she said that she wanted real power, not just to become a glorified broodmare for her husband.
"Now that we are alone, please drop that mask of pure, innocent lady... not that you are very good at maintaining it..."
I said to her once we were in a place where nobody could see or hear us; aside from that, the entire area was protected by the Reiksgarde, so nobody would even dare to peek at us. As I said that, I could see that Cersei scowled a bit...
"And so what? Everybody in this stupid country is looking at me like three holes to be fucked and one to spit out children... From what am I different from a glorified prostitute? My father sees me just a tool to strengthen the House Lannister; the Faith of Seven sees me just like an obedient cocksleeve and nothing more and nothing less."
She immediately fired; probably, it was a good idea to talk to her on equal ground without any pretensions. At the same time, I was pleased with her response, even though her vocabulary was a bit more vulgar.
"Yes, it is... compared to The Holy Arcadia Empire, your society is backward, stupid and primitive. The fact that you are a woman doesn't make you any less valuable... while here in Westeros, you would always be nothing more than just a trophy wife, without real power, without martial prowess, without political influence, without the opportunity to do actually do something, in the Empire there would be countless possibilities."
Thus, I started telling her about The Lordran, that she could do whatever she wished if she ever married me...
"I can see the ambition behind your beautiful emerald eyes; I know the type of people like you, maybe even better than you know yourself... You want power, power for its own sake, power to be used and wielded. You want it not because it is a duty, not because it is a burden that you must take up, but to fill the emptiness inside you Cersei, the knowledge that you were born the wrong gender."
I could see that she started shaking either from anger or from the sole fact that I was able to read her like a book. Certainly, some bits that I remembered from the canon of ASOIAF helped a bit, but most importantly, during my long life, I have learned to read people.
And read them very well...
"And do you know what?... There is nothing wrong about wanting more power as long as you use it responsibly."
I said as her eyes shot towards me very quickly.
"What do you know about power? About ruling? I seriously doubt that your father would actually teach you something usable; in the end from what I have seen and heard, it is not a trend..."
Her eyes were wandering around me and in truth, I could see that maybe I was a bit hard on her with my speech?
Probably yes, considering the fact she was fourteen, but at the same time, I needed to break her arrogance and pride, or else it would become a real problem at a later date.
"And If I married, you could do I what I wish?"
She asked me after sitting there several minutes in silence straight away, pondering over my previous words.
"You could also become a warrior of renowned prowess if you wished so... even though you have not trained for a long, anyone experienced could tell that you have good basics of swordsmanship."
I said as she stopped in her tracks; something that nobody knew, but when they were younger, she would often switch places with her brother. As they were twins, they could easily pass as each other...
"One of the most powerful and renowned warriors of the Empire these days is a woman too... Lady Maria."
I could see that her eyes glinted when I mentioned Lady Maria, though, at the same time, I had two motives for mentioning her.
One of them was to motivate her that her gender was not something that dictated her future and simultaneously to see her reaction if I revealed that I was close to another woman.
Not to mention, her father for sure already mentioned this information to her, but weirdly enough, while I saw there a hint of jealousy, it was aimed most at the fact that Maria was still able to become one of the most powerful warriors within the Empire despite being a woman.
"Father told me that polygamy is commonly practiced in the Empire."
We both were sitting on a sofa with a clear view of the Lannisport, though from this view, it was a beautiful city for the standards of Westeros. In Westeros, polygamy was not commonly seen, even amongst the nobility, mainly because the Faith of Seven was against it and considered it barbaric.
At the same time, I considered Fath of Seven as the basic definition of barbarism... quite ironic.
"Indeed, especially among the Greater Houses Lord High Magistrates and Elector Counts... and also among the Hunters. For the people of the Old Blood, it is hard to have offspring and the higher Level of your Old Blood is, the harder it is to have a child..."
I said with some sort of sorrow...
Never in my life would I have thought that I would want to marry and have children with Maria... we have been intimate for a few decades already, since the anniversary celebrations at Cainhurst, but there were no signs of her being pregnant.
At this point, it was clear that Tywin Lannister intended for her to marry me, and in truth, I will agree... not only due to Insight but from what I talked with her, she was beautiful, scheming, talented, and ambitious.
A rough diamond.
The Insight was the gift from the Great Ones, Sha Naqba Imuru: The Omniscient Omnipotent Star, the one who saw the deep, and with it, I can see many things from countless futures, and I saw a certain one here.
The Insight was the thing that made my decision in this matter much easier, as it was never wrong...
Yes, she had some problems with her temperament and low cunning, but she was a rough diamond that everyone ignored just because she was female. And it was clear that Cersei wanted to prove everyone wrong...
I like that confidence.
After tutelage by Annalise Vileblood on the topic of politics and Gehrman in the area of martial training, she would become a force to reckon with. With her mind no inferior to her father, as the old lion was a good schemer and strategist and with her martial prowess no inferior to any Hunter.
"You are like a rough diamond, my Lady... you have very good predispositions to become someone truly great if you overcome your issues with anger and learn to be better at cunning..."
Saying that, I could see her scowl, but after some time she spent with me, she had to admit that I was right. I was probably the first person who treated her for who she really was, and not for who she was supposed to be.
Everyone would certainly fear the daughter of Tywin Lannister because of the deeds he did and the things he achieved, but I did not.
"So, what do you think? Would I be a good partner? And please... when you answer, tell me your honest thoughts and not some bullshit."
I said because I decided to be more proactive.
"I think we can come to an agreement and forgive me for my crass language, Your Majesty, but fuck my father and the old traditions... I want to be my own person who will dictate my own fate."
She said after some time with a roaring passion that was very attractive to me...
"Not to mention... I find you very amicable and handsome, Your Majesty... though..."
She said very straightforwardly with a slight blush as I chuckled at that.
"Though you fear how it would be if I had two wives? Or do you fear for our children that they will kill each other for the Throne or what?"
I knew exactly what she wanted to say... it was common among the nobility of Westeros and Essos to have such kinds of things, especially with the Faith of Seven having a very hard stance on the bastard children born without marriage.
"Then you don't need to fear anything. Maria is a very nice woman who would certainly appreciate sister-wife and I would love all of our children equally. And to the last thing, it is not possible because when I retire, the Emperor will be voted among the candidates of the Imperial House and only the one with the highest achievements and who is most competent would become the Emperor."
She slowly nodded at that, calming down considerably at my assurances.
Not to mention, my marriage with Cersei as a bonus would allow me to have reason to meddle with the Westerosi affairs and, at the same time, open doors to participate in some canon events that I could barely remember.
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