Red Keep.
Tower of the Hand.
Tyrion stood before the arched window of his study, swirling a glass of wine filled with summer red, his eyes vacant as he gazed at the Red Comet looming overhead.
He is seriously considering the current situation.
" Golden Tooth has fallen, and Robb's army is wreaking havoc in the West." "Father is still facing off against the Bolton alliance in Harrenhal." " The armies of Renly and the South continue their advance towards King's Landing, though at a glacial pace, they are still advancing."
Fortunately, Stannis did not intend to attack King's Landing first, but instead led his fleet to besiege Storms End...
A look of relief crossed Tyrion's face; this was the best news he had heard in a long time.
"O gods!"
"I hope they fight to the death first, then give me a little more time!"
He brought the glass to his lips and drank deeply to relieve his inner pressure.
"Ha Yi"
Tyrion let out a sigh of relief.
He turned and walked back to the long table in the study, casually placed the wine glass on the table, and began to study the map carefully.
"According to intelligence, that squid Balon has actually sent troops to attack the North. I believe that wolf cub has already heard the news. If he can withdraw his troops back to the North, that would be great!"
He nodded his finger at Branded City, then pointed to the Iron Islands.
"Perhaps...we could join forces with the sea monster..."
Tyrion pondered inwardly, but Galon's image inexplicably surfaced in his mind.
" Glover wasn't with Bolton or Robb; he must have been left behind by Stark to defend the North."
"That young man's wisdom is extraordinary. With him in the North, the Iron Islands may not be able to conquer Winterfell in the first place."
"But if the Iron Islands weaken, then there will be room for cooperation."
"But Jaime killed Theon, so to convince the sea monster... he needs to come up with a foolproof explanation and terms..."
Just then, with a loud "bang," the study door was forcefully pushed open.
Tyrion frowned immediately, looked up and said, "Krown, you are...:"
Before he could finish speaking, he saw Cersei walk into the study with a displeased look on his face.
"I summoned you, how dare you not come?"
Upon entering, Cersei coldly questioned her younger brother.
Tyrion then remembered the man Maegors Holdfast had sent earlier, and said nonchalantly, "Who gave you permission to enter my tower?"
Cersei scoffed, "Your tower? This is my son's royal city!"
Tyrion noticed the mockery on Cersei's face, as if to say, "What right does a dwarf like you have to live in the Tower of the Hand? It's only because my son is the king."
He was a little angry and cursed his servant Crown in his heart, intending to reprimand him later. How could no one stop him?
Tyrion walked past Cersei, closing the door as he added, "Actually, I was just about to come find you."
"oh?"
Cersei looked disgusted. "Do you think I'd believe you if you said that?"
Tyrion walked to the other side of the long table, picked up the wine jug, and poured wine.
"My dear sister, your words have hurt me deeply."
"If I've done anything to anger you, please just say so," Cersei said, making no attempt to conceal his rage. His sharp voice echoed throughout the room. "You actually sold my Messiah to Dorn! Do you really think I won't be furious?!"
Messiah!
Tyrion thought of his kind and lovely niece. "How could we sell her off? She's a princess; arranged marriages are what she was born to do."
He paused, then blurted out, "Do you still intend to marry her off to Tommen?"
Cersei instantly flew into a rage. She stepped forward and knocked the wine glass out of Tyrion's hand.
Bang! The liquor spilled all over the floor.
"Just for saying that, I should pull out your tongue!"
"Whether you're my brother or not, I am Joffrey's regent, not you!"
"I absolutely disagree with selling the Messiah to the Dornes, just as I was sold to Robert Baratheon. "
Tyrion watched his sister grit her teeth, wiped the spilled wine off himself, and sighed.
"Why not?"
"Going to Dorne is safer than staying in King's Landing."
Cersei stared at Tyrion and snapped, "Are you hopelessly stupid, or are you insane? Don't forget, the Martell family doesn't like us at all!"
Tyrion was well aware that the Martell family disliked Lannister.
Not only do I dislike them, I can even say I extremely hate them!
During the War of the Usurper, Lannister's entry into King's Landing allowed the Mountain to rape and murder the Dornish princess, leading to a bitter feud between Lannister and Dorne over the years.
Even so, Tyrion still believed that Dorne would agree to the marriage.
He looked up and tried to persuade his sister.
"Yes, the Martell family hates us, but Prince Doran's hatred for Lannister can only be traced back to the previous generation."
"And their war with Storms End and The Reach has lasted for over a thousand years!"
"What's even more advantageous for us is that Renly takes Dorn's support for granted."
Tyrion paused, observing Cersei's slightly softened expression, before continuing.
"Misai is nine years old this year, and Tristan Martell is eleven years old."
"I have proposed that they marry as soon as they turn fourteen."
"Prior to this, she stayed at Sunspear as a VIP, under the protection of Prince Doran."
Cersei hesitated for a moment, then pursed his lips. "She's a hostage?"
"No, Messiah is a distinguished guest!"
Tyrion insisted, "Let me be blunt, Martell is definitely a better match for Messiah than Renly is for Eddard Storm."
"Moreover, I intend to appoint Sir Alex Oakhurt as his bodyguard."
With Kingsguard around, I believe no one will underestimate her status!
Cersei's lips twitched slightly. She had already learned from Varys that Eddard, who had been legalized by Robert, had been secretly imprisoned by Renly, and his fate was unknown.
Seeing that she didn't speak, Tyrion realized that her heart was beginning to soften, so he pressed his advantage.
" Martell is a man who values honor; he would never harm nine-year-old Messiah, especially such an innocent and sweet girl as Messiah."
"As long as Messiah is in Sunspear, Prince Doran will believe that we will keep our promise."
"Furthermore, our terms are very generous—hand over the murderer of his sister, offer him a high-ranking position in the imperial court, and several castles on the frontier..."
But Tyrion was interrupted by Cersei before he could finish speaking.
"Too many!"
Cersei walked away from him, her skirt swaying, as agitated as a lioness.
"Not only did you give me a large sum, but you also did so without my consent, so it has absolutely no legal effect."
Tyrion explained, "We desperately need to win over the Prince of Dorne. If we offer too little, he might just ignore us."
But Cersei insisted, "Too much!"
Tyrion's eyes flashed, and anger flared within him.
"How would you give it to me? The hole between your legs?"
Cersei slapped Tyrion's head to the side.
"Dear sister," Tyrion touched her cheek, suppressing her anger, "I promise you, this is the last time you will hit me!"
Cersei smiled dismissively.
"Don't try to threaten me, you little brat!"
"You think having your father's piece of paper will make everything alright?"
"I'm telling you, Ned Stark also had a piece of paper, but what happened to him?"
Tyrion's eyes darted around, thinking to himself, " Stark doesn't have Gold Cloaks, mercenaries, or mountain clans."
But he didn't say it aloud, and instead continued the previous topic.
"Think about it, if she stayed in King's Landing, would she be safe?"
"If we fail to hold King's Landing, her head will be hung on the city walls along with ours!"
Cersei shuddered; Tyrion's words struck at the deepest fear within her.
Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.
Tyrion was somewhat at a loss.
He had never seen Cersei cry since they had gone through childhood.
Tyrion's lips moved, and he awkwardly moved closer to Cersei, tentatively reaching out to pat her shoulder and comfort her.
But Cersei immediately dodged and twisted away, shouting, "Don't touch me!"
Tyrion's face stung as if he'd been slapped hard by the Bear Slayer.
Cersei blushed deeply, as if it were a shameful thing for Imp to have seen his vulnerable side.
"Don't look at me!"
"Don't... look at me like that... you're not allowed to do that!"
Tyrion turned his head. "I'm not trying to scare you, really. I want to assure you, Messiah will be fine!"
"Liar!" Cersei said angrily from behind him, "I'm not a child. Don't try to fool me with empty promises. Didn't you promise me you'd rescue Jaime?"
"Hmph, where is he?"
Tyrion shook his head helplessly. "Let's go to Riverrun. I was originally planning to try and trade Arya for Jaime, but that little she-wolf is too fast."
Cersei sniffed. "Is this how you rescued your brother?"
Tyrion sighed and then explained.
"Our people discovered that Gentry and Arya were mixed in with the Nights Watch team."
"Although they stopped Nights Watch and killed them, Arya and Gentry managed to escape by accident."
Cersei said impatiently, "How far could those two children have run? Quickly send someone to bring them back!"
Tyrion shook his head.
"My dear sister, you know we're short-handed right now."
" The Stannis brothers are coming soon, and I need men to defend the city. The reliable men I have to chase them with are the ones I found by being very frugal!"
"If you could give me half of the family soldiers protecting Joffrey, I guarantee I'd catch that little she-wolf very quickly."
"No!" Cersei immediately rejected Tyrion's suggestion. " Joffrey needs protection; he doesn't have many Royal Guards left."
Upon hearing Joffrey's name, Tyrion couldn't help but say, "You shouldn't have let Joffrey run rampant in the first place, and you even let Ser Barristan leave. If he had protected Joffrey, I would have had more manpower to capture Arya and Gentry."
Cersei couldn't stand hearing anyone talk about Joffrey, and said coldly, "What ability does an old man who's about to die have to protect the king?"
She paused, then said impatiently, "Besides, he's involved with that servant from Nüquan Town. Who knows if he's plotting something?"
" Didn't Varys say that he and that servant were also tracking Gendry's whereabouts?"
"You must find them as soon as possible and kill them!"
Upon hearing Cersei's command, Tyrion felt a jolt in his heart, and his head throbbed as if wildfire had exploded.
"My dear sister, what else are you hiding from me?"
" What exactly does Hooliman Mouton know?"
Cersei curled his lip. "What could he possibly know? Just some baseless rumors."
"Making something out of nothing?"
Tyrion stared intently at Cersei, without uttering a word.
Cersei felt uncomfortable under his gaze. "He's had dealings with Stark, and I'm just worried that Stark might tell him something."
After saying this, she bluntly ordered, "You'd better catch him right now, or I'll look down on you again!"
Then, Cersei turned and left the study.
Tyrion watched Cersei's retreating figure, a wave of indescribable weariness washing over him.
"Sigh, maybe only in moments like these does she consider me family."
Tyrion took a deep breath, suppressing his inner weariness, and thought to himself with a bittersweet smile.
He shook his head, summoned the guards at the door, and ordered them to send more men to search for Arya and Gendry.
He then devoted all his energy to the defense of King's Landing.
On the other side, in a fishing village about two kilometers northeast of Gods Eye Lake.
Arya and Gentry, whom Tyrion had been trying to capture, hid in a half-collapsed cellar in the fishing village, clinging tightly to the damp mud wall, avoiding the search party, Lannister.
Since the two were discovered by Lannister, Yoren's Nights Watch team has been almost completely wiped out.
If Arya hadn't rescued Jaqen from her cage, and Jaqen hadn't fought off Lannister, she and Gentry would probably have fallen into Lannister's hands as well.
Even so, the number of people being arrested continues to increase.
The three were separated during a recent escape.
Arya and Gentry fled to the now-abandoned fishing village to hide temporarily.
At this moment, both of them were dressed in shabby clothes and looked emaciated.
Arya's original boyish short hair became even more disheveled, and Gendry's strong body had become much thinner due to hunger and travel.
"Did you hear that?"
Gendry lowered his voice, gripping a thick iron rod tightly in his hand as a weapon.
Arya listened intently; her "wolf dreams" and her life on the run had sharpened her senses.
"The sound of horses' hooves...and dogs barking..."
Her face turned pale. "The hunting dogs! They're coming again!"
"Damn it!" Gendry cursed under his breath as the sounds grew closer. "We can't hide here anymore, we have to keep running towards the lake!"
Like startled rabbits, the two crawled out of the cellar and ran towards the reeds by Gods Eye Lake.
But the sound of horses' hooves and dogs barking behind them grew closer and closer, and even the shouts of soldiers could be heard.
"There it is!"
"Catch them!"
Just as the two were running into the reeds of Gods Eye Lake, a group of eight people spotted Arya and her companion.
The Lannisters shouted excitedly.
One by one, they cracked their whips, as if countless golden dragons were piled up before their eyes, and frantically spurred their horses to catch up.
Suddenly, a Lannister shot out an arrow, trying to stop the two men's desperate run.
But his captain yelled at him, "Damn it, don't fire the arrows!"
"If they die, we'll suffer a huge loss!"
The others immediately understood, and one by one they put down their bows and arrows and gave chase.
Thanks to this, Arya and Gendry ran a little further, but their speed was nowhere near that of the horses.
In a short while.
The two were cornered by Lannister's cavalry on the shore of Gods Eye Lake.
"It wasn't easy, we finally caught you two!"
The captain looked delighted, his face beaming with joy.
Arya's heart pounded in her throat. She pulled out her sewing needle, not caring whether this small weapon would be of any use against Lannister.
Despair flashed in Gendry's eyes, but he still pulled her behind him, raised the iron bar, and prepared for a final fight.
Seven Lannister soldiers, grinning maliciously, dismounted, drew their swords, and surrounded him.
The captain, looking at Arya with a greedy glint in his eyes, said, "Little wolf girl, come back with us obediently, and Her Majesty the Empress Dowager will treat you well!"
Despair instantly enveloped the two children.
Just then, a strange thing happened: several arrows, never seen before and seemingly made of some kind of pale wood, shot out silently from the depths of the reeds.
They weren't fast, but their accuracy was terrifying. In an instant, they pierced the necks or eyes of seven Lannister soldiers, freezing the savage smiles on their faces. Before they could even scream, they collapsed limply to the ground.
The captain's smile froze, and he looked in a panic in the direction the arrow had come from. "Who?"
Several tall figures slowly emerged from the reeds.
They wore dark green leather clothing, carried weirwood tree bows, and had ancient and serene eyes.
" Green Men?!"
The captain cried out in shock, never expecting that an organization that had never been involved in worldly conflicts for thousands of years would actually kill Lannister.
"You have broken your oath, you…"
Before the captain could finish speaking, the Green Men leader shot him in the head with a weirwood tree gun.
"Clean up the battlefield!"
The Green Men leader spoke in a hoarse voice, and the Green Men behind him quickly removed the arrows from Lannister's body and disposed of any traces of their presence.
Then, the Green Men, who were in the lead, turned their attention to the bewildered Arya and Gentry.
" Since the old gods guided you here, you should not die here."
"Child, come with us..."
He waved his hand, and two other Green Men stepped forward, gently but irresistibly grabbing the two men's hands.
" The Isle of Faces will offer you temporary refuge until your destined moment arrives."
"Let's go, the lake will cover all your tracks." Before Arya and Gendry could answer, the Green Men, who were in charge, led them back into the reeds and disappeared into Gods Eye Lake.
Just an hour after they left, the former Kingsguard Barristan Selmy arrived hastily on horseback with Hooliman Mouton.
"I'm late again..."
Ser Barristan sighed as he looked at the corpses on the ground.
Hooliman gasped for breath. "Strange, who exactly is protecting Prince Gendry?"
"Did Lord Stark arrange for someone else to protect them?"
Barristan shook his head. "Whoever they are, they're friends, not enemies. We must find them as soon as possible, escort Prince Gendry to the North, and then fulfill Lord Stark's dying wish, bringing a true king to this country!"
Hooliman nodded in agreement. "Yes, I also need to complete the task that Duke Ned entrusted to me and expose the true face of Lannister!"
After Barristan was forced to resign from Kingsguard by Joffrey, he did not leave King's Landing immediately, but instead pondered where he should go next.
By chance, he rescued Hooliman, who had been captured by Gold Cloaks.
And from Hooliman, they learn the truth about the deaths of Ned and the King.
Barristan was struck dumb.
He never imagined that his own negligence would lead to King Robert's death.
At Hooliman's urging, Barristan decides to find Prince Gendry and bring him to Stark in the North, as Lord Stark had instructed.
Let this country welcome a true king once again.
" Lord Barristan, can you tell which way they went?"
Barristan observed the footprints and noticed that part of them extended northward.
After thinking for a moment, he rode off with Hooliman towards Harrenhal.
After they left, many more people came one after another.
As a result, they, like Barristan, chased after Harrenhal.
No one could have imagined that the Green Men organization, which had never been involved in politics for thousands of years, would open its doors to worldly fugitives for the first time.
Meanwhile, a scene of brotherly love and respect is unfolding on the Iron Islands.