Chương 783: Chapter 783: Countermeasures
The news of Ib's fall had yet to reach Westeros, as Ib was extremely remote, with Far Ib sharing the same longitude as the Bone Mountains, even farther than the Red Waste of Vaes Dothrak.
For the Westerosi, Ib was nearly as distant as the Summer Isles and Yi Ti, all belonging to the ends of the world.
After presiding over the highest-level meeting of the imperial military, Viserys donned a dark fur cloak and returned to his bedchamber.
The wind and snow continued to rage outside.
His wife, Rhaenys Targaryen, was clad in a suit of silver dragon scale armor, with a thick white fur mantle draped over her shoulders for warmth, along with a black and red cloak.
Her figure was graceful and tall, with a pair of deep brown eyes. At her waist hung the Valyrian steel sword Dark Sister.
"My husband."
Not long after Viserys had returned to his bedchamber in the newly rebuilt Castle Black, his wife Rhaenys entered the room.
"Rhaenys."
The two embraced briefly, then parted.
When the Long Night descended, Viserys was not at Highgarden. At that time, the entire world had plunged into chaos, and Highgarden was naturally no exception. From the royal family members and the Highgarden steward to the common maids and stablehands, everyone was in a state of panic, believing that the end of the world was nigh.
Viserys was in King's Landing, not Highgarden, at the time. Thus, the young queen Rhaenys had taken the initiative to step forward, summoning her companion Rhaegal to protect Highgarden and save this imperial royal garden from chaos.
Not long after, nearly all the nobles of the Riverlands had sent their families to Highgarden, as they had no overlord above them. As a direct royal domain, they could only come to Highgarden to seek the royal family's protection when faced with problems.
Even without Viserys's help, Rhaenys had proven her mettle. She single-handedly held Highgarden, allowing all the Riverlander nobles' families to enter the castle and making proper arrangements for them.
Rhaenys's capabilities had earned the unanimous praise of the Riverlander nobles' families, who had loudly chanted the name of the Princess of Summerhall.
However, Daenerys had also suddenly left Highgarden before the Long Night fell. Rhaenys did not know where Daenerys had gone.
Although by seniority, Daenerys was Rhaenys's aunt, they should have been sisters by age. In fact, Rhaenys had even taken care of Daenerys when she was younger, back when Daenerys was still a swaddled infant.
Thus, their relationship was complex. As they grew up, Daenerys developed more of her own ideas, and Rhaenys could no longer control her.
After the Long Night fell, Rhaenys had initially been worried about Daenerys's safety, but seeing her fly to the Wall as well, Rhaenys had breathed a sigh of relief.
However, Rhaenys was unaware of what had transpired in King's Landing. Daenerys had once argued with Viserys, then angrily flown to Dragonstone alone. Rhaenys had only sensed that Daenerys's expression was a bit odd when they met today.
"Do you know what's wrong with Dany?" Rhaenys asked after exchanging some brief pleasantries with Viserys in the room, especially after experiencing the terror of a disaster. "I felt her expression was a bit strange when she saw me today."
Viserys fell silent for a moment upon hearing his wife's words. He recalled what Daenerys had said not long ago, especially her accusations towards Rhaenys, but he did not voice these thoughts and instead shook his head.
"I don't know."
"Is that so?" The brown-haired female dragonrider furrowed her brow at his response but did not dwell on it further.
"You should have returned to Highgarden before coming to the Wall," Rhaenys remarked. "Sister Allayne and the children need you very much."
When the Long Night fell, Highgarden had descended into chaos. If not for Rhaenys stepping forward, who knows what state it would have been in.
However, when the Long Night descended, Viserys was not at Highgarden but in King's Landing. In King's Landing, he had discussed with the Small Council ministers and swiftly arranged a series of preparations to deal with the Long Night.
These included extending the lockdown of the city to curb panic, strictly inspecting incoming and outgoing ships and caravans, prohibiting all food from leaving King's Landing, sealing all granaries, banning public and private sales to prevent skyrocketing food prices, cracking down on the black market, and rationing food as needed.
The Valyrian Empire's series of political measures had played a very prominent role. King's Landing had become the large city in the world to suppress the chaos of the Long Night in the shortest time, while Pentos and Andalos had also quickly followed suit to maintain stability.
As for the empire's other major cities like Oldtown and Gulltown, they had all experienced some unrest to varying degrees, while the overseas city-states were even more of a mess.
They had never thought to stockpile food in advance, and the limitations of the Free Cities' system meant they lacked a stable, unified voice to the outside world.
The magister councils were a commercial battlefield, with the magisters harboring their own agendas.
When the Long Night fell, they were slow to react, not immediately realizing what it was. However, when they finally realized that this was the Long Night of eight thousand years ago descending once more, they began frantically buying up all the food supplies in the market.
With their immense wealth, they instantly emptied all the local cities' food stores, directly causing black market food prices to skyrocket.
Even if the Long Night lasted for decades, these magisters would not starve. However, the people who truly needed food could not obtain it even with money or could not afford it, leaving them to starve to death.
In contrast, the measures taken by the empire could be considered swift and effective.
During this time in King's Landing, Viserys was busy with these matters. Once the issues in King's Landing were dealt with, he had mounted his dragon and flown to the Wall.
"My fault," Viserys sighed, but the brown-haired young queen before him blinked her eyes slightly.
"Of course, I know you have many things to attend to, especially with such a disaster occurring," Rhaenys said. "You are the backbone of the entire nation, Viserys."
"Your identity is not just as Sister Allayne's and my husband," she continued. "More people need you."
"We'll overcome this disaster, won't we?"
Viserys could only remain silent in response to Rhaenys's words. In truth, he had no certainty either.
The Long Night was an invisible, intangible enemy, with no clear basis. It left him at a loss, not knowing how to proceed. He could only do what he could and leave the rest to fate or wait for their enemy to make a move and reveal a weakness.
However, faced with Rhaenys's expectant gaze, he naturally could not voice his true thoughts, for as Rhaenys had said, he was everyone's pillar of support. Everyone was looking to him.
If even the emperor lost heart, the fight against the Long Night would be lost before it even began.
Thus, after a moment of silence, Viserys did not disappoint Rhaenys's expectations and nodded.
"Mm."
Hearing his assurance, much of the worry in Rhaenys's heart dissipated. Her child was only three years old. She did not want Haelos's memories of the sky to be entirely black.
"I'm going on patrol," Rhaenys said, standing up. Viserys nodded, and she turned to leave the room.
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