If something had to be done, the first step was to figure out what was supposed to happen next—how many major plot-related events occurred in this world during the King's stay in Winterfell?
Searching his memories, Aegon tried hard to recall the plot.
North of the Wall, the Wildlings, gathered at the peaks of the Frostfangs under the call of the King-Beyond-the-Wall, attempted to use the terrain to defend against the White Walkers. Finding this ineffective, they had already begun planning their move South. Aegon hoped he had nothing to do with this. Across the Narrow Sea, thousands of miles away, Daenerys Targaryen, still a young girl, was sold to Drogo by her brother and Illyrio Mopatis. The wedding was already being prepared, and the transmigrator could do nothing about it. And within Winterfell, Lord Stark and his wife received a secret letter from the former Hand of the King's widow, their sister and sister-in-law, Lysa Tully Arryn, accusing the Lannister of murdering her husband. This also seemed to have little to do with him, a member of the Night's Watch?
Compared to these significant events, the "accidental fall" of a noble family's young master in the North—and not even the eldest legitimate son—while climbing a Wall was truly an insignificant interlude. Yet, it was precisely this small matter that now had a direct connection to Aegon's personal interests: Bran's incident was quickly exploited by Littlefinger, who learned of it. Tyrion was framed as Bran's murderer and, while returning South from the Wall, was encountered by his enraged mother, publicly arrested, and escorted to the Eyrie in the Vale of Arryn, where he suffered greatly before narrowly escaping death.
The stories and turmoil during this period might seem exciting and new when viewed through paper or a screen, but if one were truly caught in the midst of it, the danger would likely be no less than facing the White Walkers. Aegon now only wanted to smoothly follow the Dwarf away from the dangerous and arduous Wall, not risk his life to experience a different kind of life.
...
From a knight's squire of House Baratheon he met at the banquet, Aegon learned that the King's party would stay in Winterfell for half a month. Eddard and Robert, brothers who hadn't seen each other in years, had endless conversations and interactions. And as the Lord of the North's younger brother, one of the family's important members, whether out of politeness or respect, Benjen Stark had to accompany the Kingdom's supreme ruler at all times with his brother. This was good news—there were only two members of the Night's Watch in Winterfell at the moment. The First Ranger was busy, and non-Night's Watch members, no matter how high their title or rank, had no right to order Aegon, who was a formal Ranger, around...
This meant that the transmigrator would be unsupervised for these two weeks, with enough time to do what he wanted.
He had originally planned to use this time to scout the terrain, gather information, and plan his escape, but now that he had received Tyrion's promise of help, this was naturally no longer the top priority. Now, he had to find a way to ensure the Dwarf's journey South went smoothly.
Since the tragedy had not yet happened, preventing it at the source was naturally the best option.
As a guest, Aegon lived quite comfortably in Winterfell, with food and drink. In these few days, with no one supervising his training and no work to do, he spent his days wandering around Winterfell, chatting with people to gain a deeper understanding of this world. In the evenings, he would return to his room to read about the history of Westeros and the various noble houses... Occasionally, he also had to continue making up stories to entertain Tyrion, who was interested in the technology and culture of "China." His days were quite fulfilling.
After several days of questioning and investigation, he first determined the location where the next important plot event was about to occur—the Keep.
Winterfell was indeed built by Bran the Builder, but perhaps to prioritize supplying materials to the Night's Watch for the construction of the Wall, Winterfell initially had no Walls. Before the inner and outer barriers were built, what did the Stark family rely on to protect themselves?
Fortresses and watchtowers.
The Northeast corner of Winterfell preserved these two types of defensive structures that existed before the Walls were built.
***
The Ruined Tower was once the tallest building in Winterfell, but after being struck by lightning and catching fire over a hundred years ago, its top collapsed inwards. Since Winterfell already had Walls at that time, and the Stark family was firmly established as the foremost family in the North, this useless watchtower was never repaired.
It was located near the high Wall in the Northeast corner of Winterfell, behind the Old Inner Courtyard formed by the abandoned Keep, Guard Room, and crypts. It was remote and rarely visited, both hidden and secluded... It also met the conditions for being climbable and tall enough to kill someone from a fall. It was almost certainly the place where the Lannister siblings were discovered during their affair and where Jaime pushed Bran.
However, after an on-site inspection, he found that the stairs leading up inside the tower were damaged, and people simply couldn't go up.
After half a day of confusion, having searched all over Winterfell without finding a second abandoned tall tower, he turned his attention to the abandoned fortress he had previously overlooked.
The Keep was a round, squat fortress, right next to the Ruined Tower, the initial object of suspicion. Although as dilapidated as the Ruined Tower, it hadn't collapsed at all because it was built more sturdily. After reaching the top level and looking down, Aegon suddenly understood: the reason he had previously thought it was short was partly because its footprint was large and its shape was squat and wide, and partly because the nearby Ruined Tower was simply too tall, making the human brain prone to illusion when unconsciously comparing the two. But in terms of height alone, the Keep, being four or five stories tall, was certainly high enough to cripple someone from a fall.
Now that he knew the location, how should he prevent the plot from unfolding? Standing in the overgrown Old Inner Courtyard, looking up at the tall Ruined Tower and the slightly shorter Keep beside it, Aegon fell into deep thought.
...
Catch the Queen in adultery? Even if Aegon were given the courage, he wouldn't dare. If the story of Ice and Fire were condensed into one sentence, it would be:
All men must die, and the nail that sticks out gets hammered down faster.
Even Littlefinger, who was cunning, insidious, and did everything imaginable, playing with people's hearts and power to the extreme, was immediately killed off the moment he stepped out from behind the scenes onto the stage... Voluntarily giving up these advantages and jumping into the public eye?
Even without considering the danger of becoming a target, he also had to consider Tyrion, who was about to help him leave the Wall. The Dwarf and that pair of siblings who were also lovers, the Lannisters, were a family.
If Cersei and Jaime's relationship were exposed, given Robert's temper, upon learning he had been cuckolded, he might well turn the Lannisters into the second family in the world, after the Targaryens, that he wouldn't stop until he had killed them all. At that point, let alone helping him leave the Wall, whether Tyrion himself could even walk out of Winterfell unscathed would become a problem.
He absolutely couldn't scheme against Cersei and her brother. So, what about telling Bran Stark not to climb the Wall? That would indeed be a good way to strike at the root of the problem. But first, leaving aside whether he, a small Ranger sent to the Night's Watch for theft, was even qualified to say such a thing to a young master of the Stark family, even if he had an idea to persuade the mischievous child not to climb the Wall, he would still need to be able to talk to him first.
Try?
Days passed, and there was no progress on the matter. Tyrion and Aegon, however, became increasingly familiar with each other. Jon would at least nod in greeting when he encountered Aegon. Apart from these two... he hadn't managed to speak with any other important characters. The vast difference in social class and social circles made it difficult for him even to meet the core characters of the plot, let alone build relationships.
The cold reality dispelled the illusion brought about by the smooth progress of Aegon's plan to approach Tyrion, reminding him once again: In this world, he was still an insignificant minor character.
Aegon was an optimistic person. After his initial frustration, a hint of relief even arose—if not for striking up a conversation with Tyrion that night at the banquet, fueled by alcohol and a flash of inspiration, he probably wouldn't have even achieved the progress he had. Since the primary goal of leaving the Wall had been basically accomplished, changing the plot or anything else, he would just let nature take its course.
***
Having thought this through, Aegon honestly enjoyed another day of vacation life, admiring the pretty maids from the South in Winterfell, watching the young lords and squires yelling back and forth with blunted swords in the training yard... After calming down, he quickly came up with an idea: since he couldn't catch them in adultery or stop Bran from climbing the Wall, why not find a way to prevent the two parties from meeting?
If he couldn't start with the people, he would find a way using external objects!
The idea came to him immediately. The next day, he resumed his daily training warm-up, but the location was not the training ground within Winterfell, but the Old Inner Courtyard enclosed by the three buildings: the Keep, the crypts, and the Guard Room.
He moved a borrowed scarecrow and a worn-out archery target, and also brought a chair from his room. Every day, Aegon would spend an hour swinging his sword at the straw target and an hour shooting arrows here. After finishing training, he would sit down and read for an hour or two... the daytime in the North was not long to begin with.
He spent nearly half of his day on the open ground below the Ruined Tower, hoping to deter the Lannister siblings who might come for a tryst. It was naturally impossible to wait until Cersei and Jaime had chosen a meeting spot and then drive them away. By occupying the place beforehand, the siblings, who were also guests, surely couldn't force him to leave.
As for the potential impact of Bran not being crippled on the subsequent plot, he could only temporarily not consider it—the most pressing matter at hand was to first ensure that Tyrion's help in getting him away from the Wall went smoothly. When he could barely protect himself, how could he worry about so much else?
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