Brienne's movements were unnatural, her expression unnatural, and her tone unnatural as well.
However, Gawen Farlin held a preconceived bias toward her, the sort that assumed "ugly people tend to make trouble, and ugly women especially so." Because of that, he noticed nothing amiss.
"Why are you seeking an audience with His Majesty? And in what capacity do you intend to see him, Brienne of Tarth? As Daenerys's un-cloaked Iron Guard? Or as the White Knight of the false king Aegon?"
Gawen Farlin's smile gradually turned venomous. "You are the heir to the Isle of Tarth. Your father swore fealty to the Baratheons, yet you have changed masters three times in succession.
"Tsk, tsk. Someone as shameless as you is perfectly suited to a false king who defiles his own bloodline."
"Clang!" Brienne drew her sword in fury, the long blade with black-and-red ripples pointing straight at Gawen's nose. "If you dare insult my liege one more time, I swear that no one will stop this sword from cutting out your tongue!"
Hearing this, Gawen Farlin was equally enraged and was about to step forward to teach this ugly woman a lesson, to show her that the name "Giant Slayer" was not to be lightly mocked.
"Enough!" A lean knight with a face full of pockmarks shouted sharply and stepped in to grab Gawen.
The pockmarked knight's gaze was sharp as he swept his eyes back and forth between Brienne and Gawen, then growled, "You represent more than yourselves. Do you intend to start a war in Winterfell?"
Brienne's blue eyes were filled with resolve as she answered calmly and without servility, "I do not wish to cause trouble, but a White Knight exists to resolve trouble for their sovereign."
The pockmarked knight raised an eyebrow, finding her words somewhat baffling. However, when he turned to look at Gawen, he understood at once. His companion must have said something insulting about Aegon again.
"What are you doing here?" the pockmarked knight asked.
"Ser Richard, I wish to request an audience with Lord Stannis."
The pockmarked knight was named Richard Hope, a Stormlands noble. His swordsmanship was superb, and his horsemanship exceptional. He had once been a strong candidate to become Robert's White Knight, but unfortunately, he had been born with an ugly face covered in pockmarks and scars.
Cersei despised his looks and spoke ill of him repeatedly in Robert's presence, ruining his once-promising future.
"What do you want with His Majesty?"
Perhaps it was the freckles on Brienne's rough, round face that made her seem approachable, because the pockmarked knight's tone was relatively gentle.
Brienne pressed her thick lips together hard and said stiffly, "I have a few questions I wish to ask Lord Stannis."
Richard did not ask what she intended to ask. Instead, he directly instructed the guards to go upstairs and seek the king's permission.
Given Brienne's status, standing, and renown, she was qualified to request an audience with anyone in the Seven Kingdoms.
The Stag King did not refuse the daughter of Tarth, the un-cloaked Iron Guard, or the White Knight of King Aegon.
Before long, Richard personally led Brienne to a spacious sitting room on the second floor.
On a square table as large as a bed, a massive map of the Seven Kingdoms was spread out. The Stag King was bent over the tabletop, marking locations on the map with a pen.
If Brienne had been a bit more seasoned and less nervous, she would have been shocked to discover that the places he was marking were not in the North, not the Wall or the Dreadfort, nor the Vale or Storm's End.
They were King's Landing.
"What do you wish to ask?" The Stag King was wholly absorbed in his work over the map and did not even lift his head.
Brienne stopped three paces from the table, because four iron-armored guards standing to either side of the Stag King turned their sharp, questioning gazes toward her.
"My lord, was King Renly killed by you?"
This time, Brienne voiced the question that lay in her heart. Her expression, tone, and movements were all completely natural.
Yet the words were like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky. The four guards and Ser Richard behind her all changed color at once.
The Stag King finally raised his head. From his deep-set eyes shot two icy beams as he ground his teeth and said, "Brienne of Tarth, do you know what you are saying? Even the White Knight of a false king cannot speak so recklessly before me."
"Lord Stannis, please look into my eyes and answer this question directly!" Brienne split her wide mouth and shouted at the top of her voice.
"Insolence!" Overcome with rage, the pockmarks on Ser Richard's face seemed to glow red like tiny stars.
He stepped forward, clamping his left hand tightly around Brienne's right arm, her sword arm, while his right hand pressed down on the hilt. With a harsh rasp, the blade slid halfway out of its scabbard.
"Your Majesty, she slanders you to your face!" the knight requested permission from the king.
The Stag King roared at Brienne, "Get out."
"Without an answer, I will not leave."
Brienne wrenched herself free with force, actually pulling the lean man off balance and nearly sending him stumbling to the ground.
"Clang!" Every pockmark on Richard's face seemed to express humiliation and fury as he drew his sword, ready to strike.
"Ser Richard, stop!"
Fortunately, his king had not entirely lost his reason.
After the pockmarked knight retreated angrily to the side, the Stag King lifted his chin slightly. He cast a brief glance at Brienne's lake-clear, pure blue eyes, then lowered his gaze again without betraying any emotion, and said, "Brienne of Tarth, I did not expect you to go to such lengths for that false king.
"Because he uses lowly mixed blood to masquerade as a Targaryen and is despised by the people of the Seven Kingdoms, you slander and tarnish my name in order to drag me down to the same level as him?"
Brienne's tightly pressed thick lips parted slightly, and the stubbornness on her rough, round face turned into confusion.
After standing stunned for a long while, she finally said haltingly, "Lord Stannis, what are you talking about? The people of the Seven Kingdoms do indeed harbor misunderstandings about King Aegon, but that does not mean they place him on the same level as you."
The Stag King was just about to say that of course they were not on the same level, that he was far more noble than Aegon.
Then he heard Brienne continue, "King Aegon's experiences are simply too fantastical. It is natural for people to misunderstand and question his identity. But you, on the other hand, have issues of character and faith.
"You murdered Lord Renly. You committed kin-slaying. You burned the statues of the Seven and the godswood, and you worship foreign evil gods. You are a blasphemer."
"Your reputation is far worse than His Majesty Aegon's!"
"Crunch, crunch." A crisp sound like chewing broad beans ground between Second Stag's teeth.
"Leave this place while I still haven't changed my mind."
Ser Richard once again pressed his hand to the hilt of his sword, staring at the female knight with murderous intent.
"My lord, you still haven't answered my question," Brienne straightened her back and insisted. "Before becoming one of His Majesty Aegon's Kingsguard, I first served as one of His Majesty Renly's Blue Cloaks. For the rest of my life, I will never abandon my vow to avenge King Renly!"
"Blue Cloaks?"
The anger on Second Stag's face gradually faded as he sank into thought.
During the War of the Five Kings, there were in fact five kings in total.
It was only that Renly met his end far too early, without fighting a single battle, so he was generally not counted among the rebel kings. One of Cersei's ten great warships was even named after Renly. In other words, the Iron Throne officially never regarded him as a rebel king.
Yet among the four rebel kings, Baratheon, Second Stag, Renly, and Robb, only Renly established a complete Kingsguard.
Robb and Baratheon never intended to vie for the Iron Throne, while Second Stag had long waited in vain for Barristan to arrive.
Renly called his Kingsguard the "Rainbow Guard."
The White Knights bore pure white as their sigil, while the seven members of the Rainbow Guard each wore cloaks and armor in a single color of the rainbow.
Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet. Brienne was one of the Blue Cloaks.
So when Daenerys once called her a "Kingsguard without a cloak," that was actually incorrect. She had long been a Kingsguard knight, and she did have a cloak, a blue one.
"I never expected you to still remember your former duty," Second Stag sighed deeply.
Renly had seven Rainbow Guards in total. Aside from the two slain by the Knight of Flowers, five remained.
Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers, defected to the Lannisters. Brienne was falsely accused of murdering Renly and had no choice but to flee. The remaining three all transferred their allegiance to Second Stag.
Even though Second Stag was angered by the female knight's "slander" against him, he deeply admired her perseverance and loyalty.
A trace of unmistakable sorrow appeared on the king's face as he lamented, "Renly was my brother. I did not love him much; that is the truth.
I was just as grieved by his death.
But I did not murder him.
I am the king, the commander of an army. On the night Renly died, countless honorable knights in my camp saw their king.
Such a thing cannot be fabricated. Tens of thousands of people can testify for me."
Do not think that Second Stag was deceiving Brienne. He had said these very words to his trusted minister Davos as well.
Or rather, this was his genuine belief.
A genuine belief does not equal the truth, otherwise one can only imagine how many gods would reside in asylums.
Brienne was indeed momentarily shaken by Second Stag's sincerity, but in the next instant, she found the flaw in his words.
"You used blood magic to kill King Renly. I saw it with my own eyes. It was not a living man, but a shadow.
Lady Catelyn saw it even more clearly than I did. The shadow was the same height as you, with the same appearance. It was your shadow.
Therefore, your alibi does not apply to this case!"
"Hahaha! How can a shadow reveal one's appearance? Utter nonsense!" the pockmarked knight pointed at the floor and burst into laughter.
Beside them, the fireplace roared with blazing flames, and the red glow cast the shadows of those nearby onto the floor.
The shadows twisted and shifted, their shapes indistinct, let alone their features.
"The shadowbinding blood sorcery is different from ordinary shadows. It is almost corporeal, with clearly discernible form," Brienne said.
"Where did you hear such heretical nonsense?" Second Stag ground out through clenched teeth.
"From Queen Daenerys. She has already thoroughly studied the blood sorcery you used to murder King Renly."
"So it was her, slandering me from the shadows all along." A swollen vein throbbed on Second Stag's forehead, his teeth grinding audibly.
"Queen Daenerys did not slander you. She merely formed a mage corps and made the blood sorcery you used to murder King Renly a key subject of study.
Tyrion manages the mage corps' fire magic division. He knows all of the queen's research findings. You can no longer hide it."
Brienne stared coldly at Second Stag and spoke in the tone of a verdict.
Second Stag's expression twisted even further. "I explained myself only because I admired your upright and noble character. But now I see I was wrong. You have already been brainwashed by those traitors, beyond redemption!"
"Leave. Do not let me hear another word from your tongue, or Ser Richard will help me cut it out." He waved his hand and turned away, as if he did not even wish to look at her again.
"Your Majesty, you are too merciful. Even if she is a white knight of a false king, saying such treasonous words deserves a beheading as a warning," the pockmarked knight said, glaring at Brienne with malice, secretly hoping she would stubbornly retort once more.
"I have sworn to avenge King Renly. Lord Stannis, it does not matter if you refuse to admit it. I will go ask the Red Woman.
If it is confirmed that you truly killed King Renly, I will kill you. I swear it.
If it is proven that I misunderstood you, I will lay down my sword, kneel before you, and submit myself to your judgment."
With that, Brienne turned and left.
"Your Majesty?" The pockmarked knight drew his sword and looked toward his king.
A dark glint flashed in Second Stag's eyes as he said calmly, "Leave her be."
(End of Chapter)
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