BXBX NOVEL Chapter 131: gossip
After hearing the news from the maid, Duchess Catelyn Tully ran up the tower in three steps at a time, regardless of the broken bottle, and came to the room of her son Bran Stark.
Then, she saw her son, who had been in a coma for half a month, miraculously woke up!
"Bran..." Caitlin said a word, and tears welled up in her eyes.
"Mother." Bran looked weakly towards the door, where his little wolf was huddled on the bed, licking his cheek passionately with its hot tongue.
This warm feeling moved Bran\'s heart, and he said, "I\'ve thought of the little wolf\'s name, I want to call it Summer."
Caitlin finally threw herself on her son and burst into tears.
It took a long time before she regained her composure. At the same time, the eldest son, Robb Stark, also hurried over to visit his waking brother.
"How did you fall, Bran?" Robb asked.
"I don\'t know either...I don\'t remember anything..."
"Bran, think again." Caitlin helped her son wipe her face, "You know, you\'ve never missed a shot before."
"I..." Bran frowned tightly, as if he was trying his best to remember. After a long while, he uttered a word, "Golden."
"Gold?" Robb leaned forward. "Brother, what gold?"
"I don\'t know, I just remember... Seeing gold."
Caitlin looked at her weak son and said distressedly: "Okay, Bran, don\'t think about it if you can\'t remember it, you have a good rest."
"Um."
After helping Bran cover the quilt, Caitlin took the eldest son and left the bedroom.
Out the door, Robb said: "Mother, do you suspect that Bran didn\'t accidentally fall?"
"Bran has never missed a shot." Caitlin emphasized again.
"Did someone push Bran? But what does gold... mean?"
Caitlin\'s eyes flickered: "I checked carefully later. On the day Bran fell off the tower, your father accompanied the king to hunt in Wolfwood, but the queen didn\'t go."
Robb was startled, and blurted out: "The queen is blonde! Is that what Bran meant by golden?"
Caitlin probably thought of this, her body trembling slightly.
Robb said again: "But mother, why did the queen push Bran down the tower? He was just a child, and he didn\'t offend her."
"I\'m afraid Bran accidentally heard something that shouldn\'t be heard, so she\'s going to kill him!" Caitlin almost gritted her teeth.
After a while, she calmed down and said:
"No, I\'m going to King\'s Landing and tell your father about it!"
"Mother, you don\'t have to go in person, I\'ll send someone..."
"No." Caitlin interrupted her son, "This matter is of great importance, I don\'t trust others, and as the acting castellan of Winterfell, you can\'t leave at will, so I\'m the only one going."
Rob hesitated for a moment, but said: "Okay, I will send a team of guards to follow you."
"No, too many people will attract unnecessary attention. I will go quietly this time, and only take Sir Rodrik with me."
"Okay, then you should be careful all the way."
—————
The king\'s convoy finally arrived in King\'s Landing smoothly.
It\'s just that the weather was not good, and it was pouring rain, so there was no welcoming ceremony, and the nobles went straight to the Red Castle in a little embarrassment.
Duke Ed finally comforted his two crying daughters, and he just wanted to take a quiet hot bath alone, but he didn\'t expect that the imperial chief actually came to the door:
"Lord Ed, today\'s imperial meeting is being held. After the cabinet ministers learned that you have arrived, they specially sent me to invite you to attend."
Duke Ed really wanted to tell the visitor that he was not in the mood to attend any imperial meeting, but his words became:
"Okay, please give me a few minutes to change."
"Yes, my lord."
When Duke Ed finished packing up and dragged his exhausted body to the chamber, he saw Varys, the chief intelligence officer whom he hated the most among several cabinet ministers, and greeted him with a smile:
"Lord Ed, welcome to King\'s Landing!"
Smelling the strong scent of perfume on Varys, Duke Ed sniffled unnaturally:
"Lord Varys."
Turning a screen, Duke Eddard saw Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, the Minister of Finance, and Grand Maester Pycelle.
After greeting them one by one, Duke Eddard came to the long table and saw the crowned stag of the Baratheon family embroidered with gold thread on the back of the first seat. This is the exclusive seat of the king, but obviously, His Majesty Robert I\'m afraid the number of times I\'ve sat here can be counted on my fingers.
Duke Ed sat down on the right-hand side of the king\'s seat: "Sorry for keeping everyone waiting."
He looked around for a week, only to realize that there were only four people including himself.
But in a normal imperial meeting, counting the king, there should be eight people.
He knew that Lord Lord Renly, the Minister of Justice, had gone to Eyrie Castle to pick up Lysa\'s mother and son, so he definitely couldn\'t come, but the other three...
"Should we wait for Your Majesty and Ser Barristan to join us before we start?" Duke Eddard suggested.
"Then you don\'t know when you will have to wait." Petyr showed a faint mocking smile.
"Our honorable Majesty the King has too many things to worry about, so leave these trivial matters to us to deal with." Varys explained.
Duke Eddard shook his head secretly, and asked again: "What about Lord Stannis, Lord of the Sea?"
Varys smiled: "Lord Stannis left King\'s Landing and returned to Dragonstone after learning that you were about to be the Hand of the King."
Duke Ed frowned, thinking that he had not offended the eldest brother of the king.
Varys added: "Don\'t get me wrong, Lord Stannis is not targeting you. Anyone, as long as it is not him, will not be satisfied with this seat."
It was only then that Duke Eddard realized that Duke Stannis wanted to be the Hand of the King himself.
Unexpectedly, he had just arrived in King\'s Landing, and without doing anything, he had already offended an important official of the kingdom.
Oh, more than one.
And the queen...
"In this case, let\'s start." Duke Ed announced, cheering up.
"As you wish." Varys smiled sweetly, and at the same time took out a piece of parchment from his wide sleeve and handed it to Duke Ed, "Master Ed, this is His Majesty sent a messenger back on the way home the day before yesterday, and ordered The urgent errands given to us must be completed as soon as possible."
Duke Ed took the parchment, first confirmed the king\'s seal and Robert\'s signature on it, and then began to read the content.
As a result, the more he read, the more his frown became tighter.
It turned out that the king wanted to hold a tourney to celebrate the new prime minister\'s appointment.
Duke Ed knew that the time when this order was issued should be right after he had a conflict with the queen. Obviously, Robert felt that he had done something wrong to his good brother in that matter, so he wanted to use this method to make up for it.
But Duke Ed didn\'t want such a compensation at all.
He looked at the prize money for the winner of the tournament written on it, and felt a burst of disbelief—
Lance contest champion 40,000 gold dragons, runner-up 20,000 gold dragons, team melee champion 20,000 gold dragons, archery champion 10,000 gold dragons...
In addition to other expenses, this is definitely an extremely huge number.
"How much money is left in the treasury?" Duke Ed asked.
"Where did the treasury come from?" Petyr, the Minister of Finance, spread his hands, "Master Ed, the treasury has been empty for many years."
"The daily expenses of the royal family..."
"Borrow." Petyr shrugged, "This is the only way the tournament can be spent. Anyway, we already owe Lord Tywin more than three million gold dragons, so it\'s nothing to borrow another few hundred thousand."
"Three million?" Duke Ed was extremely shocked, "You mean, the royal family owes the Lannister family three million golden dragons?"
"Three million golden dragons are only debts owed to the Lannister family, and also owed to the Tyrell family, to the Church of the Seven Gods, to the Iron Bank of Braavos, to the Tyrosh Trading Company... zero zero total Add it up, about six million."
Duke Ed opened his mouth wide, not knowing what to say anymore.
After a long while, he said shyly, "How could this be?"
"We have a generous majesty." Petyr chuckled.
"Aren\'t you going to persuade me?" Duke Ed asked.
Pycelle shook his head: "Even Lord Jon can\'t persuade His Majesty."
"Yes." Varys also echoed, "Our Majesty loves martial arts, hunting, food, wine... and what he hates the most is \'counting copper coins\'."
"I see. I will tell His Majesty." Duke Ed said in a deep voice, feeling more and more heavy in his heart.
"It would be best if you could persuade His Majesty to be frugal, but for this tournament, let\'s make a plan first." Petyr suggested.
"I\'ll talk to His Majesty later." Duke Ed ended the topic.
Petyr saw that Duke Eddard was planning to persuade His Majesty not to hold a tournament, and secretly couldn\'t help laughing at his naivety.
Next, several people discussed several other matters.
After the meeting ended, Petyr walked out of the meeting room, only to see Varys follow him again.
"Lord Varys, what do you want?"
"Lord Petyr, my little birds have recently heard some rumors about you in the city."
Petyr looked at the schadenfreude smile on the other person\'s face, couldn\'t help feeling bored, but still asked patiently:
"What rumor?"
"There are rumors about you and Jon Arryn\'s widow Lady Lysa." Varys looked at Petyr with a smile, as if looking forward to his next expression.
Petyr froze, but still tried to maintain calm: "How could someone bring me together with Lady Lysa?"
"It\'s a bit strange. However, rumors say that you have always admired Lady Lysa secretly, but because she married Duke Jon, you have always restrained your feelings. Now that Duke Jon has passed away, you are going to ask Lady Lysa Proposal…"
"Ridiculous!" Petyr tried his best to control his emotions, but failed, "This is an intolerable slander!"
"Perhaps." Varys shrugged, "However, fortunately, this rumor only appeared in the last two weeks and has not been completely spread. If you don\'t want it to damage the reputation of you and Lady Lysa, I suggest that you can Come forward and clarify."
"Can you find out the source of the rumors?" Petyr asked shakily.
"I\'m afraid this can\'t be helped." Varys looked embarrassed, "There are too many people in King\'s Landing, and even my little birds can\'t find out who spread such a humble rumor. However, I think this rumor is also It\'s no big deal, which aristocratic lord doesn\'t have some scandals. Those common people like to discuss these things."
After speaking, Varys left with a weird smile.
Leaving Petyr standing there alone, not moving for a while.
(end of this chapter)