"Speak," Lady Stoneheart said, truly allowing him to speak.
Saved!Littlefinger secretly let out a breath of relief, and a bit of composure returned to his face.
"The business with the dragonbone dagger was my mistake. It belonged to Robert, but he never used it, so I thought Tyrion had taken it."
"I swear, apart from that, I have never done anything to betray you.
Look at Sansa — I was the one who saved her from the Lannisters' clutches.
I also ran back and forth, paying a huge price to persuade Aegon to give up the Dornish princess Arianne and marry Sansa instead.
Since you've been resurrected, why not come with me to the Eyrie to see the young couple?"
The pallor and panic vanished from Littlefinger's face, leaving only a wide, brilliant, tender, poetic smile.
"I've met Aegon," Lady Stoneheart said.
"Haha, isn't he a spirited and handsome lad? I tell you, he's not all show — he's almost as brave as his father and as gentle as Princess Elia. Truly a rare son-in-law!"
Littlefinger seemed to slip fully into the familiar, intimate mode of chatting with an old friend — or old lover.
"Aegon is indeed good," Lady Stoneheart nodded. On her face, still covered in dried blood and gaping wounds, a rare hint of relief and joy appeared.
"Sansa, since childhood, has always held the most innocent and romantic fantasies about handsome princes, noble knights, and legendary love.
She longed for the sweet love described in stories and songs.
But cruel fate was like a knife that carved her pure little heart into…"
Lady Stoneheart touched her own cheek. "Carved into this."
"Now it's fine. All misfortune has ended. She has fulfilled her childhood dream and begun a happy, beautiful life. And you can start anew as well."
Littlefinger raised a sincere smile, his voice as soft as a lover's caress.
"Yes, once you're gone, she can have a happy future." Lady Stoneheart nodded.
Littlefinger's smile curdled on his handsome face like spoiled milk.
"Catelyn, I thought our misunderstandings were settled. With my aid, Sansa would sit firmly as queen — first marching south to King's Landing, then north to destroy the Freys and Boltons and restore the Starks to Winterfell," Littlefinger said with deep meaning.
"Ah, Littlefinger, I'm sorry."Lady Stoneheart suddenly sighed. She reached out a slick, eel-like hand and stroked the bewildered man's cheek.
"I'm sorry," she apologized again. "I apologize for my youthful frivolity. And I apologize for the heartfelt contempt I once held for you.
Lysa was right. You are clever. Intelligence can change one's station — it can create destiny.
She swore to me, with great seriousness, that one day you would achieve something great enough to make me regret everything.
I didn't believe her. Now, I truly regret it."
These words were completely beyond Littlefinger's expectations. Suddenly, he realized he no longer recognized the woman he had adored for decades.
Of course — she was now a resurrected specter, no longer the girl who once stood among flowers with her hands clasped behind her back, wearing a shy and hopeful expression as she bent down to kiss the boy on the grass.
"So many years have passed. Why bring that up?" he said, voice trembling as he forced a smile.
"Today, you must die. If you don't, I won't rest. And neither will my Sansa."
Lady Stoneheart's expression turned cold again, chilling and ghost-like, as though she had come to claim a life.
"If you want to kill me, you should at least give me a reason," Littlefinger said, tears of grievance welling up.
"You betrayed Eddard."
"I did not!" Littlefinger denied instantly. "Who told you that? They're lying!"
"Who in the Seven Kingdoms would doubt Ser Barristan's words?" Lady Stoneheart gave a cold, owl-like laugh.
"Barristan?" Littlefinger looked baffled. "Isn't he in Slaver's Bay? Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
"No need to argue. As Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, no one knows more than Barristan about the events of the coup in King's Landing. You betrayed Eddard."
"This is another huge misunderstanding!" Littlefinger wailed, his lips pouting. "I wanted to help Eddard. I swore that to you — have you forgotten?
But he refused to listen to advice.
And besides, I don't count as a betrayer. It was Sansa — Sansa told Cersei about Eddard's plan to send her and Arya away from King's Landing.
That was how Cersei confirmed Eddard meant to oppose her to the end and struck first.
I promised to help Eddard bribe the Gold Cloaks, and I kept my word. But the ones I bribed could just as easily be bought by the enemy — who has more money than the Lannisters?
So I did everything I could. Destiny simply played its hand. I was helpless!"
Lady Stoneheart stared at Littlefinger's wounded, aggrieved expression, amazed he could still produce such a coherent defense under these circumstances.
"You poisoned Jon Arryn," she said.
"I—" Littlefinger instinctively prepared to shout his denial, but suddenly he thought of the inexplicable mention of Barristan.
Maybe Catelyn had gotten solid evidence from some other bastard.
He couldn't deny it.
"Alas," Littlefinger sighed sadly. "I loved you — madly, just as Lysa loved me madly.
I confess before the Seven, I am guilty. When Lysa begged for my love, I couldn't refuse.
I am guilty. I slept with her not because I loved her, but because I loved you. She was your sister. You looked alike. I always saw her as you."
It was the plain truth.No one knew what Littlefinger was thinking. Lysa's looks were in no way inferior to Catelyn's — and her love for him was…
Put it this way: excluding ancient figures like Prince Daemon Targaryen or Jeyne of Runestone, among "modern characters," Lysa was absolutely "Westeros's number-one infatuated woman."
Yet Littlefinger placed all his true affection in the subconscious longing for Catelyn, who had always looked down on him.
Back in King's Landing, Littlefinger often boasted that he had taken the Tully sisters' maidenhoods. He wasn't exactly lying — when he was with Lysa, he really did imagine she was Catelyn.
"You make me sick," Lady Stoneheart said, genuinely disgusted.
And truly, Catelyn wasn't wrong.
Littlefinger might have been a devoted pursuer, but she never treated him as a backup suitor — he wasn't even worthy of that. His station was too low; only someone like Eddard, a duke's second son, was fit to be a fallback option for the Tully ladies.
"I disgusted you, and I'm very sorry." Littlefinger gave a bitter smile, then added, "Lysa and I had too many illicit affairs. I slipped up in front of Jon, and Lysa had no choice but to…"
Littlefinger was incredible. He could toss out flawless lies at will, and Lady Stoneheart actually began to waver.
But the truth was nothing like that.
Littlefinger first lured old Jon into discovering the affair between Cersei and Jaime. When Jon was halfway through his investigation, Littlefinger poisoned him.
Then he used the same method to make Ned discover Joffrey's illegitimate birth, and had Ned discover on his own that old Jon had died during an investigation into the royal bastards.
With that, Ned would be absolutely certain that the Lannisters killed his honorable foster-father to silence him.
A war between the wolves and lions would be impossible to avoid.
"You killed Lysa!" Lady Stoneheart said.
"You've seen Sansa? She betrayed me?!" Littlefinger's pupils shrank as he let out a shocked, hoarse cry.
When he shoved Lysa through the Moon Door, only he, Sansa, and Marillion had been present.
Marillion was a handsome bard whom Lysa used as a consort whenever Littlefinger was away.
Littlefinger had tortured Marillion into madness, and Marillion confessed his "crime" before the lords of the Vale: because Lysa had grown cold toward him, he killed her out of jealousy.
Littlefinger's training skills were no worse than those of the High Sparrow.
Meaning, the only people who knew the truth about Lysa's death were Littlefinger and Sansa.
Now a third person knew.
His darling, his sweet little girl—she had betrayed him!
"You think my daughter is a fool?" Lady Stoneheart sneered.
Littlefinger froze, then suddenly threw his head back and burst into wild laughter.
"Hahahahaha! She's finally graduated—my perfect successor!"
"No wonder… no wonder I was brought here without a sound. So Her Majesty the Queen helped."
Lady Stoneheart looked at him coldly, without a flicker of emotion. "You hid in the shadows for too long, and you could only see the world of light.
But you never realized that in a place darker than where you lurked, someone had been watching you.
I've watched you for more than a year. With the end you've met today, you can't say you weren't asking for it."
"A year?" Littlefinger dropped his madness and stared in disbelief.
"The Riverlands fell into chaos. Refugees fled either to King's Landing or to the Vale, which was untouched by war. The Eyrie has taken in many servants from the Riverlands this past year, hasn't it?
Your singing, lute-playing 'Seven-String Tom' is my spy. The kitchen helpers, the laundresses, the stable boys—even your guards—some of them belong to me.
Killing you would be no harder than killing a dog." Lady Stoneheart said.
"In that case, why not kill me? Instead you watched me sleep with your daughter day after day. Her belly is swollen because of me already. Were you planning to use her to make up for what you owe me?" Littlefinger asked with a playful grin.
He was no ordinary man—knowing he was doomed, he simply let go.
Lady Stoneheart stared straight at him. "I owe you nothing.
I didn't kill you only because I overheard your plan to arrange a marriage between Sansa and Aegon.
I'm extremely pleased with that match.
And Sansa isn't pregnant. She lied to you."
"That's impossible. With how many times—" Littlefinger's smile vanished.
"You're a good teacher. You even taught her how to make moon tea."
"Why? Doesn't she have even a little love for me?" Littlefinger's face twisted, and he screamed hysterically.
Lady Stoneheart nodded. "She did. That foolish girl once loved you. She was even willing to imitate Cersei and bear a usurper's bastard for a king. But she loves her mother and her family more.
The honor of House Stark and House Tully cannot be tarnished by your bastard.
And I will never allow such a child to haunt Sansa like a nightmare for the rest of her life.
She deserves the best the world can give—an honest husband who truly loves her, and children born of love.
Not a life burdened by sin, guilt, and fear."
Littlefinger said mournfully, "Is my bloodline so worthless? In all Seven Kingdoms, who is smarter than me? I even dreamed she would bear a son both beautiful and brilliant…"
"To let you die understanding, every thought and action of yours has been seen through by Daenerys." Lady Stoneheart recounted what had happened in the cave in the Riverlands that day.
"Even for Sansa's safety alone, I would never let her deceive someone as perceptive as Daenerys."
"That woman is a demon?" Littlefinger muttered.
"Sometimes outsiders see the truth more clearly," Lady Stoneheart replied.
"But I never provoked her. Why is she exposing my secrets everywhere?" Littlefinger cried out in grievance.
The next chapter is a bit… strange. Please be cautious. Honestly, you can skip it.
(End of chapter)
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