The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Gendry stared at Jon Connington. From the moment he entered until now, no matter what he said, Jon Connington's expression never changed.

The only change was in Jon's eyes, when Gendry mentioned giving up the Iron Throne to the Mountain.

Jon Connington looked at Gendry calmly, his plain face still as firm as a rock: "Your Majesty, I am not familiar with Lord Petyr Baelish. We have not worked together in the royal court."

"Then please, Lord, evaluate him based on your impression."

Jon Connington paused slightly: "Lord Petyr Baelish is good at peering into people's hearts, quick-witted, and skilled in calculation."

"Is he trustworthy?"

"No."

Gendry shifted his gaze to the window. After a long while, he said, "Littlefinger always comes to specifically tell me that farmers should farm, hunters should hunt, generals should lead troops, blacksmiths should forge iron, and everyone should do their job well in their respective positions. He doesn't think I'm worthy of sitting on the Iron Throne. He thinks my father is the only true king candidate for the Iron Throne."

"Oh?" Jon's heart stirred slightly. He sensed something unusual.

"He told me that if I refused to give up the Iron Throne, he would join the courtiers in writing to me, and if I still didn't listen, the generals of the Clegane army would also come to persuade me."

"Did Lord Petyr say this to you personally?"

"Yes. Littlefinger came to me specifically after returning from Dragonstone, telling me that my father wanted me to focus on forging iron."

Jon Connington's expression remained unchanged, but his heart skipped a beat. 'The Mountain wants Gendry to focus on forging iron? What is this implying?' The answer seemed obvious! But can the words of a schemer like Littlefinger be trusted?

"Your Majesty, do the great ministers of the court all feel this way?"

"I'm not too sure, maybe!"

"What about the generals?"

"My father is deeply loved by the generals. The navy, infantry, and cavalry all only obey him. I know Anguy, Comm Warner, Landon Garl, Rafford Clegane, Dunsun Clegane, Polliver Clegane, the leaders of the forty-odd tribes of the Mountains of the Moon, and the leaders of the eight major tribes of the Claw Isle. They would definitely prefer my father to sit on the Iron Throne."

Jon Connington's heart stirred again.

"Your Majesty, how many Baratheon family generals and courtiers do you have by your side?"

"None," Gendry said. "I'm a bastard. I didn't know any of my family relatives before. Many nobles from the Stormlands died in the civil war. When Cersei was regent, she never used Stormlands nobles as courtiers or military officers in the palace. She expelled all the Stormlands courtiers, leaving only the loyal Ser Barristan Selmy."

"Your Majesty, the family of Ser Barristan Selmy, the Captain of the Kingsguard, has always been loyal to the Baratheon family. Stonehelm is a vassal of Storm's End."

"Lord Jon, I don't know how to get close to the great nobles of the Stormlands, and I don't want to get close to them. I'm a complete stranger to them. Since I sat on the Iron Throne, I haven't been able to fall asleep in the king's bedroom every night. Only after I'm exhausted from forging weapons can I fall asleep."

Jon Connington looked at Gendry, and he thought of his adopted son, Aegon Targaryen VI.

Aegon didn't want to be king. This was the deepest secret in Aegon's heart, but Jon raised Aegon, was Aegon's adoptive father, and he saw this hidden point in Aegon's heart. But he thought it was just Aegon being young and ignorant. As long as he was given training, he believed Aegon would mature.

Before Aegon knew his true identity, he had to learn many things every day, including theology, history, literature, customs, humanities, geography, swordsmanship, horsemanship, archery, writing, various languages, and many other knowledge. In front of the teachers, he had to be polite, kind, strong, hardworking, studious, progressive, sunny, cheerful, and compassionate. But at that time, Jon, who was 'hoping his son would become a dragon,' didn't know that Aegon had always been very repressed. He learned to say what Jon and the other teachers liked to hear, and do what the teachers liked him to do, in order to gain recognition, praise, and appreciation, and to avoid severe punishment.

Later, after Aegon became king, he told Jon that he had been forced to study since he was a child, and he had never been happy in his heart.

Jon remembered the expression in Aegon's eyes when he told Aegon his true identity, which contained fear in shock. In the days that followed, he often suspected that he would be assassinated. Perhaps it was fate, or perhaps Aegon had a premonition about his fate, but in the end, Aegon really died in an assassination.

Under the eager expectations of Jon and others, Young Griff finally became king.

The Golden Company, Jon Connington himself, as well as the sword master Rolly Duckfield, the theology teacher Sister Lemore, and the history, humanities, and language teacher Septon Haldon—everyone supported him to become king and cross the Narrow Sea to compete for the Iron Throne.

Jon Connington's 'plan,' which he had painstakingly managed for more than ten years, was finally realized, but it also quickly ushered in its final ending: the Golden Company was absorbed and disintegrated by the Mountain, Aegon VI was killed by the Faceless Men, and the four teachers who had grown up with Aegon, except for Jon Connington himself who was persuaded by the Mountain to choose to live in a humble way, all died one by one.

Jon Connington looked at Gendry, this young blacksmith who was originally a bastard, unknown, uncultured, and illiterate, but because of his bloodline, he, like Aegon VI, was also supported by those who needed him to become king.

"Your Majesty, have you been unable to fall asleep since you became king?"

"Yes, Lord."

"Has being king brought you a lot of confusion?"

"I can't handle the vast majority of affairs. The hand that holds the iron hammer can't breathe as soon as I pick up a quill pen to learn to write. I know that those great nobles also despise me from the bottom of their hearts. Although they are respectful to me in front of me, I know what they are thinking in their hearts. This makes me feel irritable and anxious. I can't deal with hypocritical people, but the palace is full of hypocritical nobles, shameless liars, and flattering flatterers. Their affectation makes me sick."

"Your Majesty, feel your beating heart, do you sincerely desire to be king? If you really want to, then you should work hard to learn and adapt to the ways of the world in the palace, instead of going back to the blacksmith shop to forge weapons."

"Not really, Lord," Gendry shrugged. "Of course, who wouldn't want to be king? No one would believe me if I said I didn't."

"I believe you."

"Oh, that's what makes you different from them. My father told me that you are upright, honest, honorable, and full of wisdom."

"I am a complete failure, Your Majesty. I have served two generations of kings. The first king was Aerys Targaryen, who everyone secretly called the Mad King. He was killed by the Kingslayer, Jaime Lannister; the second generation was Aegon Targaryen VI, who was my child. I raised him. He has another name, Young Griff, and I am Old Griff. He was only king for two months before he died at the hands of the Faceless Men. Being king is indeed not an easy or comfortable thing. Without determination, talent, and loyal courtiers and generals, it will definitely not be done well, and may even lead to disaster."

"Loyal courtiers? I believe my father. When he was still Duke Tywin's general, he knew my true identity. He brought me to the Westerlands and made me one of his blacksmiths, instead of killing me. When Queen Cersei sent people to hunt me down everywhere, he didn't hand me over either."

"The Hand of the King knew you were Robert's bastard before the civil war broke out?"

"Yes. In the 298th year of Aegon's reign, before the civil war broke out, my father knew the secret of my birth. He knows almost everything, he is like a prophet."

Jon's heart was shocked, but his face remained unchanged. The vicissitudes of life had long honed Jon Connington to be indifferent to joy and anger.

"How could the Hand of the King have known the secret of your birth before the civil war broke out?"

"Father is a chosen one, Lord. Lady Melisandre said that my father is Azor Ahai reborn. My father killed the Night King in Winterfell. Only Lightbringer can kill the Night King."

Jon Connington was silent for a long time. When it came to matters of theology, Jon didn't understand much. He revered gods and fate. But he believed that Littlefinger's matter of wanting Gendry to give up the Iron Throne was mostly man-made. The Mountain being a chosen one might be true, but does a chosen one have to sit on the Iron Throne? No, that's just a beautiful excuse.

Jon slowly said, "Your Majesty, if I were you, I would choose to be a blacksmith, not a king."

"...Oh...?"

"Your Majesty, before I returned to the court to be a historian, I was a prisoner of Daenerys Targaryen. Her Majesty the Queen hoped that I could be her Hand of the King. I refused. Between the Hand of the King, who is second only to one person and above ten thousand, and a small, insignificant historian, I chose the historian. Now it seems that my choice and judgment were correct."

"I heard my father say that you wanted to stay in the palace to write Aegon VI's deeds into the royal biography. Although Aegon is of Prince Rhaegar's bloodline, he is your only child-like child. He is everything to you. Your life, your soul, your hope."

"Yes, Your Majesty. However, if I choose to be Daenerys Targaryen's Hand of the King, I can still write Aegon VI's biography. I can also ask the archmaesters of Oldtown's Citadel to write it, and then collect the book into the Citadel, and incorporate the book into the royal history through the Citadel, to be passed down from generation to generation. The books in the royal palace all come from the Citadel. The scholars in the royal palace all have the special privilege of personnel appointment and removal only from the Citadel. Only I, the historian, and Grand Maester Qyburn became exceptions during the war."

Jon chose the historian between the Hand of the King and the historian. He said his choice and judgment were correct. This made Gendry stunned!

Did Jon already know that his father could ride a dragon to defeat Daenerys and capture her?! Or, with Jon's wisdom, did he think that Daenerys could not win.

Gendry decided to tell Jon his troubles. He believed in Jon's uprightness and wisdom. This belief came from intuition: "Lord Jon, I proposed to my father that he sit on the Iron Throne, and I was severely reprimanded by him. I dare not mention this matter to him again. My father was very angry. His anger impressed me."

An impressive common saying is timid, afraid, fearful.

"Oh!"

"Lord, if I must give way to my father, but my father will definitely not accept it, what else can I do? Please teach me!"

"Perhaps there is a way, Your Majesty."

"Convene a meeting of the great ministers of the court?"

"Your Majesty, the Hand of the King can refuse you, reprimand you, and scold you in person. Which great minister of the court is he afraid to scold? At the meeting of the great ministers of the court, who dares to stand up and mention this matter? Who dares to put a crown on him? No one dares, Your Majesty!"

Gendry was speechless! Who dares to go against his father's wishes? He didn't dare, who among the great ministers of the court dared? Littlefinger? Berney Clegane? Rolph Spicer? Vargo Hoat? Grand Maester Qyburn? Or the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Barristan Selmy? The traditional privilege of the Lord Commander of the Iron Guard to make any proposals has also been announced to be abolished by himself.

"Your Majesty, tonight, your father has already severely warned you. I think you dare not put a crown on him either, do you?"

Gendry shrugged, revealing a wry smile: "Yes, Lord. I would never dare to mention asking him to be king in front of my father again. My father's anger, I don't think anyone is not afraid of."

"Your Majesty, there may be a way that will not make your father angry, and he will never blame you, and at the same time, he will have to accept the crown."

"Oh, what is that way? Lord!" Gendry was pleasantly surprised, but at the same time, a faint, small bitterness arose in his mouth.

Jon Connington, who is known for his uprightness, strength, and wisdom, also tends to him giving up the Iron Throne. This still makes Gendry feel a little lost. He has sat on the Iron Throne, and that throne does make him very uncomfortable. Sitting on it, he can accidentally cut his skin with the sword edge. The throne, which is full of sword tips facing outward, has also killed several kings who fell while walking. But there are also rumors that the kings who were killed by the Iron Throne did not fall, but were pushed onto the sword tips of the Iron Throne.

Gendry doesn't like sitting on the Iron Throne, and he doesn't want to be king either. He likes forging weapons more than picking up a quill pen to issue letters and orders, but the feeling of being unanimously thought that he should step down is still not pleasant for him.

But he also understands that staying away from the throne with sword edges facing outward is the most correct choice for him. Just like he understood what Jon told him about 'choosing to be a historian instead of choosing to be Daenerys' Hand of the King.'

Gendry is not stupid!

But as a king, in such a complex and turbulent world, in a situation where courtiers want him to give way and the Hand of the King wants him to forge iron, just not being stupid is far from enough. Jon Connington helped Gendry make a choice.

The monarch and his minister, in the small, quiet historian's room, talked all night until dawn. Many of the taboo words that cannot be known to outsiders are only known to the two of them, and will forever remain a secret.

As winter approached in the 301st year of Aegon's reign, Gendry Baratheon I decided to abdicate. Later historical records recorded that he was the king of Westeros with the shortest reign.

*

The Westeros civil war began, and many people declared themselves the rightful king, but their reigns were all short-lived. Stannis Baratheon I (deceased), Renly Baratheon I (deceased), Joffrey I (deceased), Shireen Baratheon I (deceased), Balon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands (deceased), Euron Greyjoy, the Crow's Eye, who successfully seized the Seastone Chair through the Kingsmoot (deceased), Robb Stark I (deceased), Tommen I (exiled overseas), Aegon Targaryen I (deceased), Daenerys Targaryen I (prisoner of war), and now Gendry Baratheon I, none of them reigned for long.

Of these, only Tommen, Daenerys, and Gendry are still alive. Tommen I is in exile overseas, his claim to the throne gone; Daenerys is a prisoner of war, her claim to the throne gone; and Gendry I is about to abdicate... the throne remains insecure...

*

As soon as dawn broke, Gendry left the Scribe's Study. After a night of enlightening conversation, he understood why he had to abdicate, and he also learned how to do it in a way that would be comfortable and pleasing for both father and son.

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