"Already the talk of the town?" Aegon raised an eyebrow, barely suppressing the abnormality in his tone. He realized he might have underestimated the destructive power of high-level gossip involving the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Hand of the King's wife having an affair. However, the purpose of spreading the rumor was not just to disgust others; he now urgently needed to know – had his actions already, or would they, cause enough damage to Littlefinger's plan? "Hmm... what was the reaction of the parties involved?"
"What does it have to do with me?" Tyrion scoffed dismissively. "That Ser Hugh was just a minor attendant. Those notes were likely not his dying words. But the person who wrote these things was very cunning; the content is either impossible to verify after death or consists of distorted and exaggerated facts. There are no loopholes to be found... But Petyr Baelish is the Chancellor of the Exchequer after all, a 'pillar of the Kingdom'. How could a rumor possibly bring him down? Hmm... Though it's true I haven't seen him in a few days. I only know that his brothel is still operating just fine."
"Is that so?" Aegon hid his helplessness. Smart people are generally not too gossipy, and Tyrion's lack of interest in these matters perfectly matched his personality. Fortunately, since this rumor had already spread, there was no need to worry that his inquiries about it would attract the attention of those with ulterior motives. But who should he ask next to see if his objective had been achieved?
...
After thinking for a moment, he decided to find time to "chat" with the Stark guard who brought Arya to class every day. After all, his direct goal was to prevent Littlefinger from gaining Eddard Stark's trust, and to get information in this regard, was there a more suitable person than the subordinate of the party involved?
He quickly discovered that there really was.
"That rumor..." Arya sniffled again. The two adults in front of her were finally talking about something she also knew. She didn't miss the chance to interject, showing off the information she knew like presenting a treasure: "My Father said the King has already written a letter, demanding Catelyn return to King's Landing to explain the rumor and prove herself innocent."
Aegon also came back to his senses at this moment. Right, he had been foolish. Eddard's beloved daughter was right in front of him, why bother going far to find the guard outside the door? He habitually treated Arya as a child who knew nothing, but in reality – a ten-year-old child, a smart one, could already understand everything, just lacking enough experience and wisdom to analyze the meaning of what she heard. Arya was Eddard's daughter and his "apprentice". She could get close to Eddard every day, and at the same time, she was simple-minded and trusted him. If used well, wasn't she his best "ears"?
Realizing the key point, he was secretly delighted. The benefits of connecting with a Stark were far more than he initially thought.
But he couldn't get carried away. Arya might tell him everything, but she would also tell her Father, Eddard Stark, everything. He could get a lot of crucial first-hand information from her, but if he accidentally let Eddard know that he was asking this and that all day, causing suspicion, that would be shooting himself in the foot.
...
Tyrion winked at Arya: "Catelyn? If I remember correctly, that's your aunt."
"Oh right, she's my aunt." Arya also winked back at Tyrion, a little embarrassed: "I don't even know what she looks like... I didn't expect her to be this kind of person!"
"It's just a rumor. Believing everything you hear is a characteristic of the rabble," Tyrion said in the tone of educating a junior. "As for the King's letter, writing it is useless... She will never come to King's Landing. If the rumor is true, Lysa couldn't possibly leave her lair and run here to walk into a trap. And if the rumor is false, it means someone wants to harm her, so she definitely cannot leave the safe Eyrie and come to this godforsaken place, King's Landing."
"Indeed... In the Eyrie in the Vale of Arryn, Catelyn is the Queen, but if she came to King's Landing, she would just be the widow of a former Hand of the King. I wouldn't come either." Aegon nodded in agreement with Tyrion's analysis, then pretended to casually ask, seemingly indifferent: "Hmm - Arya, Hand of the King... what has your Father been doing these past two days? What's his opinion on the rumor, or is he still running around with Lord Petyr Baelish?"
Arya didn't even think before telling him everything she knew: "No, I heard Jory say that Littlefinger has been ordered not to leave the Red Keep, and my Father... seems to be investigating the source of the rumor."
Ordered not to leave the Red Keep? Wasn't this the Otherworld version of "restricting personal freedom, awaiting organizational investigation"! As for investigating the source of the rumor... Aegon subconsciously reviewed the entire process of making and spreading the notes: The ink was the most common ink, and the paper used was common high-quality parchment available on the market. These things were purchased by Tyrion's attendant and had reasonable and legitimate uses. No second person participated in or knew about the entire process. Unless Eddard could infer that it was his doing through the fingerprints left on the notes, there was no way it could be traced back to him.
Ah, I should have worn gloves when I was doing it! But it doesn't matter, Westeros clearly doesn't have this technology.
He breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly feeling a strong sense of unreality: Could it be that Littlefinger, the player in the game of thrones in the original plot, the biggest boss in King's Landing, was defeated by his small rumor?
***
Nothing is impossible. This is the real world. Littlefinger's power comes from schemes and the trust of those in power, without any real foundation. When no one pays attention to him, he is the strongest; but once there is an opponent who knows everything and is well-hidden, targeting him from behind the scenes, forcing him to be exposed to everyone's eyes, his "power" will vanish in minutes, like spring snow under the sun.
Losing the trust of Eddard and the King, and becoming a suspect in the murder of the Hand of the King, Petyr Baelish's ambition is finished. Admittedly, Eddard Stark might suspect that these rumors were a smokescreen spread by the Lannister to prevent him from investigating, and Petyr could also find other ways to make Eddard "discover" Cersei and Jaime's secret as usual, but with this disruption, even if the plot continues with inertia, the outcome will have a huge deviation from the original!
No matter what, the situation won't be worse than what happened in the original plot, right?
...
Aegon didn't dwell long in the joy of easily taking down a major villain with a simple action: Littlefinger was finished, but he wasn't dead after all, and even if he died, it still didn't mean he had won. His opponent was not a schemer, but war – after the last dragon of the Targaryen died, Westeros actually had no realistic basis for maintaining unity, only barely maintaining its non-division under the huge inertia of the wheel of history... The Seven Kingdoms were too large, and at a dangerous historical juncture of "long unity leads to division". The rulers of both Highgarden and the Westerlands were no longer satisfied with the status quo, consciously or unconsciously preparing for war... War was actually inevitable, only differing in "when and why it breaks out", "how big it gets", and "who loses and who wins".
Littlefinger's ambition was finished, but Varys was still stirring up trouble in the dark. He had won precious time for himself and Tyrion's money game. Next, it remained to be seen if he could eliminate the other troublemaker before the inevitable war broke out, and at the same time grow enough to protect himself and be able to determine his own destiny.
***
"Arya did well today. It's Master's fault for being busy with other things and being too late, delaying the sword lesson." Aegon was in a good mood and used the head-patting move again, keenly noticing that the girl was fond of this. This little she-wolf had helped him a lot today, so he had to give her some sweetness: "As compensation and reward, Master will spend the whole day with you tomorrow. Whether it's practicing swords, adventure stories, or going to the paper mill to play, whatever makes you happy, okay?"
---