At this time, Casterly Rock still had a thousand troops plus two thousand miner recruits, which was already close to the safety alert line for Casterly Rock's defenders.
Even Alyssane Lefford had repeatedly pleaded with him not to send Soldiers elsewhere.
Daven also assured Lady Lefford that he would intensify patrols at night, and would even personally inspect the city walls and outposts, which finally appeased Lady Lefford.
That afternoon, Daven, as he promised, inspected the city walls of Casterly Rock, while observing Jon's army camp in the distance, and the defending officers gave him reconnaissance reports.
"My Lord, the cooking smoke in the enemy army camp today is much less than yesterday. They must have moved some troops away last night," said the officer, who looked nearly fifty years old and very experienced.
Daven saw the cloak on the other party, blue with a golden pillar, which should be a collateral noble of the Lefford Family, as no one serving as an officer in Westeros would be of common birth.
Following him was a young man of seventeen or eighteen. From their facial features, it was clear they were father and son.
"Then how many people do you think that bastard's camp still has?"
"Ser, I don't think it's more than five thousand! And judging by the banners, basically only his own army is left."
Daven nodded, feeling much more at ease.
He looked at this Lefford beside him and thought that if he were to guard Casterly Rock, or even inherit Casterly Rock, then the pressure on Casterly Rock would be much less.
At least he wouldn't be pestered to keep the Soldiers.
"What's wrong with that? They're all Leffords anyway." Daven thought. Just then, the Maester of Casterly Rock rushed in, almost tripping over his grey Maester's robe because of his hurried steps.
"Ser!"
The Maester came before Daven and solemnly handed him a letter.
Daven glanced at it and saw it was a golden scroll tube, which made him feel as if cold water had been poured into his stomach. The previous letters from Casterly Rock had all been requests for him to deploy troops. He hoped this time it would be different content.
Daven took a deep breath, calming himself, and opened the scroll tube, his eyes widening involuntarily.
In the short letter, the word "Iron Islands" was particularly striking.
The letter stated that the Iron Islands were invading the Cragspire area, with over three hundred Longships. Not only had the closer city of Oakhaven already sent troops for support, but Tywin also requested Casterly Rock to send as many Soldiers as possible.
"Seven Hells, these damned pirates!" After confirming the order in the letter, Daven tightly clenched the letter in his hand. This was Tywin's order; he had no choice.
Daven looked down at the camp. It should be mealtime now, but there was very little cooking smoke. There were definitely not five thousand people below the city, which made Daven finally make up his mind.
"Ser Daven? Why are you moving the troops again?" Early the next morning, Lady Lefford received the bad news almost as soon as she opened her eyes. She simply had her maid help her wash up quickly and then came to Daven's side.
"Ser Daven, now we only have five hundred Soldiers and a thousand miners still in training. This is simply not enough, no matter what."
Facing Lady Lefford's worries, Daven helplessly said, "My Lady, if our enemy were still over twenty thousand, then it certainly wouldn't be enough, but now our enemy is less than three thousand—" Daven lied and continued, "Most of them are already exhausted Riverlands Soldiers. Believe me, even with only the remaining Soldiers, I can guard Casterly Rock for you and for the Westerlands."
————
Daven had to tell Lefford about the Iron Islands, telling him that if the Ironborn rampaged, Casterly Rock would face attacks from both front and rear, and the situation would only get worse.
At this moment, Daven remembered Tywin's instruction: "If necessary, you can interact more with Lady Lefford."
As a man, how could Daven not know Tywin's meaning? After thinking for a moment, he said, "My Lady, rest assured, I will strengthen patrols around your castle tonight."
Seeing Daven say this, Lefford breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Then—I'll have the children go to bed early tonight."
————Late at night, Daven lay in Lady Lefford's bed, with portraits of Lady Lefford and her deceased husband still hanging on the wall.
The family of four looked particularly warm.
When Daven saw the painting on the wall, he always felt that her husband, Leo Lefford, was looking at him, which made him very uncomfortable, so he shifted his gaze to Lady Lefford beside him.
He saw her sleeping soundly, leaning against his shoulder and arm, and even sucking her thumb like an infant.
Daven adjusted his sleeping position slightly, trying to go back to sleep, but he couldn't, always feeling that something wasn't quite right.
Especially with the pile of orders recently received from Tywin, it made him feel that someone else was in charge of Casterly Rock.
In short, it wasn't the Tywin he remembered.
The more Daven thought about it, the more suspicious he became. He suddenly wanted to send someone to Casterly Rock in person to ask if there was any problem with that series of orders.
From Casterly Rock to Casterly Rock, there was only Sarsfield in between, and the three fortresses were connected by wide, flat roads. If light cavalry were sent, a round trip wouldn't take much time.
Might as well send someone back to Casterly Rock tomorrow to ask Lord Tywin.
Daven took a long, deep breath, then exhaled the stale air from his chest. He wanted to fall asleep quickly, but suddenly felt something poking him from beneath.
Gently shifting his body, Daven fished out the object and found it was a small piece of fabric. The room was too dark, so he used the moonlight from outside to get a closer look. It was fine linen gauze adorned with lace.
Noble ladies and Young Misses liked to use this material for their undergarments. Daven noticed that Lady Lefford's undergarment was also adorned with several small pearls, and these pearls were the "culprit" that made him feel poked.
Gently tossing the fine linen gauze undergarment to the foot of the bed, Daven tried to go back to sleep.
But just as he was drifting off to sleep, he suddenly opened his eyes wide, as if he had heard something. Daven looked towards outside the city, his brows tightly furrowed, listening intently.
Suddenly, a rush of footsteps sounded, and a young man's voice came from outside. "Ser! The enemy has begun to attack the city!"
"What!"
Daven could no longer care about Lady Lefford, who was still sleeping with her arms around him. He suddenly pulled his arm away, and Lady Lefford abruptly woke up.
She opened her eyes to see a muscular body sitting up, shirtless.
Just as Daven stood up, he suddenly felt a chill on his back, followed by a burning pain.
Daven stood up and turned to look at Lady Lefford, who was half-crouching naked, holding a dagger in her hand.
The blade of the dagger was stained with blood. Daven touched his back, his hand covered in blood.
"Woman! What are you doing!" Daven roared in anger, like an enraged lion.
How could he not see that the woman who had just been intimate with him was trying to assassinate him.
However, she had never practiced with swords or knives, so that blow only cut Daven's skin and flesh, but did not hit a vital spot.
"Ah—" Lady Lefford knew that since her first attempt failed, she would have no more chances. She let out a cry and lunged at Daven with the dagger.
But the difference in their physiques was like an antelope pouncing on a tiger.
Under the stimulation of pain, Daven's reactions became even more acute. Halfway through Lady Lefford's lunge, his fist met her.
Daven's fist smashed into Lady Lefford's face, knocking her to the ground.
Lady Lefford cried out in pain. She trembled all over, slowly got up, and with pale lips, said, "Casterly Rock belongs to Leo's son and mine! No one can take it away!"
"No one is trying to take your Casterly Rock!" Daven roared, feeling that this woman was somewhat unreasonable.
Although he had thought about this in his heart, he had not actually implemented it. Moreover, having a collateral branch replace the main branch was a major matter that required many people to deliberate together.
"Hmph, you haven't," Lady Lefford said, her usual gentle, lustful demeanor replaced by a cold one. Her mouth was stained with strands of hair, looking terrifying like a female ghost crawling out of the water. "But that old man and his son can't wait!"
It turned out that there were already divisions within the Lefford Family.
The collateral branch believed that as long as they helped Tywin defend Casterly Rock and contributed to its defense, they could replace Leo's son as the Count of Casterly Rock in the future.
If the collateral branch replaced the main branch, the main branch would certainly not have a good end. To solidify their position, her two children would probably not live to adulthood.
As the Lady of the house, Alyssane Lefford naturally did not want to sit idly by. Since they wanted to contend for the inheritance by defending Casterly Rock, she would assassinate Daven and open the city gates!
It was a pity that for a woman with no martial arts skills, it was not easy to even get close to Daven, let alone assassinate him.
Even if Daven was unarmed, he was not someone a woman with a dagger could assassinate.
"Foolish woman!" Realizing the whole story, Daven felt even more strongly that those letters could never have come from Tywin.
He absolutely had to send someone on horseback to Casterly Rock to inquire.
"Damn it! You really deserve to go to Hell, you foolish woman!" Daven cursed, still not appeased, and kicked the naked body fiercely.
Lefford groaned from the blow, and outside, the Soldiers' urging voices came again: "My Lord, the enemy has begun attacking our fortress on the mountain, there are people everywhere!"
"People everywhere?! How is that possible!"
Daven couldn't understand. Shouldn't there only be five thousand people besieging the city below?
But the wound on his back was still bleeding, and the moment the cotton lining touched the wound, it made him wince in pain.
In this situation, he couldn't afford to think too much. He could only quickly don his armor, meet this wave of attack, and then consider his options.
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