Over the next couple of months, Wylis spent all his time developing Ramsgate and laying out plans so his almost a year-long journey to the South wouldn't halt or slow down the development of his fief.
He had too many backlogs, too many inventions to make, to make his little industrial revolution a success in the industrial district. He had to make too many building designs and dumb them down. From large amphitheaters to one colosseum-like arena, and countless bathhouses across the city.
Since you only get to design a city once, Wylis had decided to go all out and include as many good things as he could. The labour was cheap anyway, and he didn't completely rely on the internal income of his fief.
In that duration, he also spent plenty of time with his children, teaching them to read and write, or to wield a sword, or a bow and arrow. He also got Rhaenys her pony and taught her to ride it. He spent time with his women and also his family.
He didn't know if Lady Lyarra had accepted his lifestyle, but Old Nan appeared to have adjusted to her new life. No longer a servant, just a giddy grandmother with more tales to tell than the kids could hear.
During that time, the construction on the entire housing street in the north-western part of his city was finished. It wasn't lavish, but it was clean with well-developed houses. It had a wide main road and plenty of clean side streets. There were also multiple bathhouses. Slowly, the houses got allotted to the earliest, most loyal people of Ramsgate.
In his second month, he had to take his time out and work with the growing population of wandering maesters, and write down the Ramsgate Code of Law. He did that in response to a rape and murder incident that reached his ears.
Of course, the criminal was executed publicly. But it also meant that Wylis had to get involved personally. He didn't want that as he knew the population would grow, and that he wouldn't be there forever.
So, the law code was designed.
For the crime of murder, execution was the punishment. For the crime of rape and murder, the punishment was execution. For rape, the punishment was twenty years imprisonment with rigorous labor in the construction, future mines, or other fief projects, with compensation to the victim from the culprit's possessions. For small thefts, the punishment was cleaning the roads; for slightly heavier thefts, or crimes such as causing small-scale civil unrest or physical assault resulting in minor injury, the punishment was cleaning the sewers for a limited time period ranging from a month to years.
In short, Wylis covered almost every crime he could think of, and the maesters could brainstorm. He still left some for the interpretation of the appointed bailiff. However, all executions had to be approved by either Lord Kaiser, Lady Kaiser, or the Admiral of the Navy.
At the same time, Wylis trained his falcons that had arrived in his absence. There were a total of fifteen, and more were being sought by Qyburn. They were lovely birds, and teaching them to carry letters for him was easy.
After that, he trained them to go to specific locations across Westeros by telling them to follow certain ravens he'd first send to that destination. The goal was to teach the falcons those locations.
In the future, he hoped to use his falcons to dominate the skies. In case of a war, he could completely cripple the enemy's information exchange through ravens, or even spy on them by capturing the said ravens.
However, as time went by, some matters took precedence.
One of them was Rhaella's childbirth. He took care of the woman personally and helped her bathe during the last month of her pregnancy. But because it was too embarrassing, he eventually let other women do it instead.
But there were some signs. She often complained of an ache. He checked her using the best of his abilities and instruments, but there was no way of knowing what went on inside the womb.
He could only pray for everything to go normally.
####
Year 286 AC, 9th Moon,
"Aaaaaah!"
Her screams were audible outside.
Wylis allowed the midwives-in-training to be childbirth specialists to help Rhaella through her childbirth. There was also Qyburn inside, who was almost as good as him but in a more limited scope.
Those ten midwives had been training for over a year now, and soon they would teach tens more. But that didn't make it any easier for Wylis. Childbirth was always akin to the grim reaper's scythe. It was like a coin toss, and he hated relying on luck alone because he couldn't control it.
Outside the door of the sterilized, clean birthing chamber, he paced back and forth. He cherished Rhaella a lot; she was sweet, kind, and one of the most comforting people in his life. Their connection had been different, but pure ever since Red Keep.
"Calm down. Qyburn is good at his work," Lyanna said.
But Wylis did not calm down. All the women were waiting there. Viserys was also there with Daenerys in his arms. They were all seated, but he couldn't do that. In fact, he had discarded his cloak and stood only in a thin tunic, so if he had to go inside, he could put on the clean gown fast and wash his hands.
Click!
At last, the door opened.
Wylis stood in front of it, waiting for a smiling face. But instead, he saw Qyburn's frown, his hands covered in blood.
"I-It's a boy, my lord, but I cannot stop the bleeding."
"Move!" Wylis bellowed and threw his boots, storming inside and closing the door. He rushed to wash his hands with the prepared solution, then slid the surgeon's gown that the midwives had helped him put on.
"Uwaaa~"
He heard the babe's cry on the side. Chubby, massive, dark-haired, and loud. But he focused back on Rhaella, and the first thing he saw was how much blood had already been spilt.
"Damn you, there's no time left. Fetch Chett at once!" He checked Rhaella's pulse and cursed under his breath as it weakened. "Keep her awake. Slap her if that's what it takes."
He got to work quickly, cleaning her first. But the truth was, there was nothing he could do. He didn't have the equipment for deeper surgeries.
"You! Bring the babe and have him suckle her!" Wylis ordered.
He would have done it himself if he weren't dealing with other things. The goal was the release of oxytocin, which would help contract the uterus.
"Save your mother, boy!"
Wylis nodded at the sight of his son, merrily drinking milk. Rhaella was awake, so she reacted right away, teary-eyed, her hands cradling the babe. But she was too weak to hold him, so the midwife was there the entire time.
Meanwhile, Wylis performed the uterine massage. However, seeing that the bleeding wasn't stopping, he had to resort to the last option.
"Cloth!"
It was clean and sterilized. He inserted it and then applied pressure on the uterus. He just hoped this was uterine atony and not a tear in the birth canal or something else.
"My lord?"
Right then, Chett entered, cleaned, and was wearing a gown. The tall squire looked shaken, eyes full of horror.
"Lie down on the other bed, Chett. Rhaella needs your blood. Only what is needed will be taken, I swear it. I'll not have you dying for this."
"I swore to serve you till death, my lord. Take it all if you must."
This fool.
When Wylis looked into Chett's eyes, he saw a man who had already accepted death. The resolve in them told him everything; he came to die if needed.
He wasted no time and focused on Rhaella. He told a midwife to continue the massage while he began the blood transfusion. Then he returned to take that midwife's place. At a glance, he realised three men were working to save Rhaella.
The newborn lad suckled on her. Chett was giving his blood. And Wylis was trying to stop the bleeding. It made him somewhat emotional and scared. Ashara and Lyanna were just a month away from their childbirth.
I have to work on medicine and surgery more.
An hour went by. Wylis had stopped the blood transfusion long ago; he had no intention of killing Chett. Besides, there were more with O-negative blood waiting outside. Not that it was needed, as Rhaella's complexion began to get better. Her pulse became stable.
The lad sucking her had already fallen asleep after exhausting himself to save his mother. Rhaella was also sleeping. Thankfully, the bleeding had also stopped by then. All that remained was cleaning everything and injecting penicillin later to avoid infections.
Thud!
Wylis fell on his ass, tired like he'd fought a long battle. The others were the same. But while the rest closed their eyes, Wylis stared into empty space with a frown.
[Son(Bastard) - Rhaella Targaryen
Life Points Available - 10]
[Strength - 5/10
Dexterity - 1/10
Intelligence - 0/10
Charisma - 8/10
Vitality - 6/10]
The boy had shockingly high Vitality, a number he'd never seen before. Same for Charisma, already close to ten. Targaryen blood truly held magic, it seemed. Even in Strength, the boy was gifted. However, when it came to Dexterity and Intelligence, the boy was… normal. It somewhat proved the theory that some Targaryens are born with gifts in one aspect while lacking in others.
However, that wasn't what had Wylis frowning. It was something else, something far more frightening.
Ting!
[Rhaella Targaryen - Permanently Unreproductive]
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Advance chapters on [PATREON] are in long-form format. I have 12 long chapters of this story on P@treon. That's equal to 45-50 Webnovel chapters.
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