Chapter 473: Chapter 473: The Second Coronation
The Three-Eyed Raven seemed to have urgent matters to discuss with him, but Viserys was in no hurry.
Bran then handed Viserys a branch, telling him that the Three-Eyed Raven would sense it when he took it beyond the Wall.
In the year 293 AC, after the chill of winter, humanity finally welcomed the dawn of a new spring, having endured a difficult and bitter cold.
The coronation of a new king required a very complex and cumbersome process. Although the Seven Kingdoms were not yet fully stable, and rebels from all sides still claimed they would attack King's Landing to kill Viserys and his wicked dragon, the people of King's Landing were not alarmed. For many of the older citizens, the Targaryen family had long been rooted in their hearts as the royal family of the Seven Kingdoms.
The rise and fall of dynasties were ever-changing, but the Baratheon family had only held the throne for about ten years, not enough to change the deeply ingrained perceptions of the people.
Thus, many of the people in King's Landing believed that Viserys was destined to rule, especially after hearing the stories of the Seven's anointing and the Son of the Sun. They were even more convinced that the usurper had betrayed his king, taken the throne illegitimately, and had been punished by the Seven or the Red God, who sent the White Walkers to eliminate the false king.
The appearance of the White Walkers broke the barriers of the Red God's influence in Westeros. War was the greatest change, and Melisandre's preaching spread rapidly through hundreds of thousands, even millions, of refugees from the North.
With Viserys defeating the White Walkers and saving the world, and the previous propaganda of the Red God's church proclaiming him the true king, the Son of the Sun, who would surely dispel darkness, wield the Lightbringer, and defeat the White Walkers, the number of people in King's Landing who believed in the Red God was not insignificant.
Viserys's coronation ceremony was not held in the Great Sept of Baelor but in the throne room of the Red Keep.
The square below the Red Keep was opened to the public, and a large number of people from King's Landing flooded in, making the Unsullied quite nervous as they strictly controlled the order of the square.
The throne room in the Red Keep was decorated very grandly. The dragon bones that had been stored in the cellar were brought out and placed on either side of the Iron Throne.
Vhagar's fearsome and enormous skull could easily be passed through even on horseback, and it looked down upon hundreds, even thousands, of well-dressed local nobles.
In addition to the nobles loyal to the Targaryens near the capital, the Riverlands' nobles had also arrived in King's Landing in recent days.
And next were two important ceremonies: the coronation and the king's wedding.
The Tully family of Riverrun had managed to survive, escaping disaster. Edmure Tully, the Earl, stood among the Riverlands' nobles, no longer the center of attention he once was.
Although the family had lost the title of Governor of the Three Rivers and the Duke of Riverrun, they had at least saved their lives. As long as people were alive, it was good. Edmure's surrender of the city had saved the lives of his entire clan.
Had they followed his father's stubbornness and clashed head-on with the Targaryens, he had no doubt that King Viserys would have set Riverrun ablaze, ending the Tully bloodline.
"Thanks to the gods," Edmure murmured, looking at the silver-haired youth on the Iron Throne, his expression slightly dazed.
He didn't even know if he should thank Lord Bracken for killing his father, indirectly saving the Tully family.
Next to the Iron Throne, the portly High Septon came forward, holding a crown adorned with a red gemstone, while the Red Priestess Melisandre stood quietly on the balcony of the throne room's second floor.
The crown was reforged from a Valyrian steel dagger by the master Tobho Mott of Pentos, and the red gemstone on it was offered by Melisandre.
She claimed it was a gift from the Lord of Light to King Viserys, but no one knew where she had found this magical gemstone.
Holding this red gemstone, one could feel a natural warmth flowing through the body, as if blessed by magical protection, dispelling cold and disease.
Viserys nodded in acceptance of Melisandre's gift.
The coronation ceremony was originally to be held in the Great Sept of Baelor, but King Viserys changed his mind, moving the ceremony to the throne room, having the High Septon come to the Iron Throne to crown him.
Some suspected that Melisandre, who had bewitched the king with her magic or her body, had led him to this wrong decision.
However, in reality, this was a great injustice to the Red Priestess; it was entirely Viserys's idea.
Religion and royal power were inherently conflicting. They rarely complemented each other, as the interpretation of doctrine lay within the Sept, essentially a question of whether the king or the gods were supreme.
Viserys had already dealt with this in Essos by introducing various religions, ensuring that no single, widespread religion could influence his rule.
Now that he was to ascend the Iron Throne, he had to consider some deeply rooted religious issues in Westeros.
The 'High Sparrow' who might emerge from the crowd in the future would surely be dealt with if discovered.
Of course, not all problems needed to be solved with swords; that was a last resort.
At this stage, he still hoped to gradually reduce the influence of religion on royal power through gentler means, like boiling a frog in slowly heated water.
The atmosphere in the throne room was solemn, dignified, and sacred. The High Septon's voice was low as he recited the vows, while Viserys sat on the Iron Throne, never rising.
Finally, the lengthy and cumbersome vows were recited, and the portly High Septon placed the Valyrian steel crown on Viserys's head.
Proclaiming him King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, Prince of Andalos and Pentos, Master of Dragons, Viserys Targaryen the First.
With his dazzling resume, Viserys's titles grew longer and longer. He had trimmed some titles he didn't need for the coronation ceremony, such as the religiously charged 'Son of the Sun' and 'Anointed by the Seven.'
Even the connections between the previous dynasty and the Targaryen kings of old were omitted.
The Targaryen family's rule over Westeros began with Aegon the Conqueror and ended with his father, Aerys II, spanning seventeen kings and two hundred and eighty-three years.
Then the Targaryen kingdom was overthrown by usurpers, who stole ten years before the second prince,
who had fled to the eastern continent, worked hard to return and reclaim the Iron Throne, establishing a new nation encompassing Andalos and Pentos.
From the inside out, it was completely renewed.
Once, Viserys had complained that this was a useless coronation ceremony, but when it actually began, he was fully prepared and engaged.
The handsome young king sat on the Iron Throne, the sunlight from the windows above the throne room shining on him. He wore fitted black trousers, an exquisite black velvet robe, and a metallic dragon-head badge on his chest.
His silver-gold hair was soft, reflecting a gentle glow. The heavy crown pressed down on his hair as his clear, pale purple eyes looked down at his subjects.
Then he stood up, and all the bells in King's Landing rang out together, and the applause in the throne room was thunderous.
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