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The courtyard's clamor, with Ned and Robert's departure, fell into an eerie silence.
Lynn leaned in the shadow of a colonnade, watching the two figures disappear into the cellar entrance.
One was his nominal sovereign.
One was his temporary protector.
These two were both brothers and comrades-in-arms.
And they were both stepping into an abyss.
Queen Cersei Lannister's smile had long since vanished.
Her eyes were filled with icy fury.
She looked in the direction of the cellar.
Her gaze seemed to want to burn that dark entrance to ashes.
Jaime Lannister stood beside her, a casual smile on his face.
With a gloved hand, he lightly patted the Queen's tense shoulder, an intimate and ambiguous gesture.
"My dear sister, why get angry over a dead man?"
His voice was low, with a hint of mockery.
"A King must have some harmless hobbies."
Cersei said nothing.
She merely withdrew her gaze, her icy stare sweeping across the entire courtyard, finally settling on the Stark children.
Especially Sansa.
Lynn knew.
Beneath that lavish facade, a storm poised to engulf the Seven Kingdoms had already begun.
And he, an insignificant nobody, now stood at the eye of the storm.
He knew what would happen next.
He knew Ned Stark would accept that fatal appointment.
He knew a bloody game for the Iron Throne was about to begin.
This feeling of omniscience brought no sense of security.
Instead, it filled him with a bone-chilling cold.
He was like a person tied to train tracks, clearly hearing the roar of an approaching train in the distance.
Yet powerless to break free.
Not enough.
Far from enough.
Merely knowing the future couldn't change anything.
He needed power.
Power to protect himself, and even... to seize advantages in this storm.
Lynn's hand unconsciously tightened on the hilt of his sword... The cellar steps were wet and slippery from melted ice and snow.
The crypts were always warm because Winterfell sat atop hot springs.
Ned and Robert walked among the deceased of House Stark, their footsteps echoing in the crypts.
The torchlight danced in the narrow passage, stretching and distorting their shadows.
The air was thick with a scent of dust mixed with cold.
Robert Baratheon said nothing, merely breathing heavily.
His corpulent body seemed clumsy on the narrow stone steps.
Ned followed him, equally silent.
He could feel the King's suppressed emotions.
It wasn't the majesty of a ruler.
But a heavy, almost crushing sadness.
They passed rows of statues of Stark ancestors.
The cold stone figures, iron swords in hand, silently watched the newcomers.
Soon, the two stopped before three sarcophagi arranged side by side.
This sculpture was of Ned's father, Rickard Stark.
He was solemnly seated, his stone fingers tightly gripping the sword resting across his lap.
The two adjacent sarcophagi belonged to his children.
One was Ned's eldest brother, Brandon.
The other was Ned's sister, Lyanna, who died at the age of 16.
Now, only Ned's younger brother, Benjen, remained alive.
Robert knelt before Rickard's statue, bowing respectfully before standing up.
"Jon Arryn is dead."
Robert's voice suddenly broke the suffocating silence.
Ned paused.
"I know, Your Grace."
Robert turned.
The torchlight illuminated half of his face, his eyes bloodshot.
"I respected him."
"Though I don't know how he died."
"But I know, I am surrounded by vipers, Ned."
"Liars, cowards, and fawning sycophants."
"I can trust no one."
Robert's gaze was fixed on Ned's face.
"I want you to be my Hand."
This was not a request.
It was a command.
Ned's heart plummeted.
He thought of Catelyn's worries, of the peaceful years in Winterfell, of his children.
He wanted to refuse.
So, he knelt on the ground and said tactfully.
"Your Grace, I am a Northman."
"I do not belong in the South."
"Listen, Ned."
Robert stepped forward, his massive figure almost completely engulfing Ned.
"I am not here to negotiate with you."
"I need a man I can trust with my back."
"In all the Seven Kingdoms, I only trust you."
"And I, I'll eat, drink, and be merry, and whore to my heart's content."
"Damn it, Ned, stand up and speak."
Robert helped Ned to his feet.
"You helped me win this damned Iron Chair, you should at least help me keep it, shouldn't you?"
"We are destined to rule this country together."
"And we should have been joined by marriage, if your sister Lyanna were still alive."
"Fortunately, it's not too late now."
"I have sons, and you have daughters."
"They will continue all of this."
Ned, however, avoided Robert's gaze.
"Jon's son..."
Robert quickly shook his head.
"He's only six! He'll inherit the Lordship of the Eyrie, that's enough!"
Ned was somewhat surprised.
House Arryn had served as Wardens of the East for generations.
This should be a hereditary position!
Robert explained.
"How can a six-year-old be a Warden? He can't command an army."
"If that doesn't work, we'll give it back to him in a couple of years when he's grown!"
With Robert saying that, Ned knew the Arryn family had already been sorted out by Robert.
He himself was probably already sorted out too.
A King's will cannot be defied.
"I obey your will, Your Grace."
Ned's voice was low.
Robert was somewhat angry.
"Damn it, Ned, stop calling me Your Grace."
"Call me that again and I'll beat you to death!"
Ned showed a helpless smile.
After this interruption, some of the sadness on Robert's face dissipated, replaced by a trace of weariness.
Robert turned, facing another statue.
Lyanna Stark.
The craftsman's skill was excellent, forever immortalizing her youthful beauty in stone.
Even the cold stone statue couldn't conceal the wildness and beauty belonging to the North.
Robert reached out.
The huge hand that once wielded a warhammer now trembled slightly.
With rough fingertips, he gently caressed Lyanna's cold cheek.
"Why did they have to put her in this wretched place? She should have been with the blue sky and white clouds..."
"Ned... I always dream at night."
Robert's voice was as soft as a sigh.
"In my dreams, I kill him again and again."
"Rhaegar."
"I use my warhammer to smash open his gaudy armor, to shatter every one of his bones."
"Again, and again."
In the crypt, there was only the crackling of the burning torch.
"You have already killed him, Your Grace."
Ned gently reminded him.
"Have I?"
Robert withdrew his hand, the sadness on his face instantly replaced by a deep-seated hatred.
"But I'm still not satisfied!"
"As long as there is one Targaryen alive, I will not sleep soundly!"
His voice suddenly rose, echoing through the crypt.
"That Viserys."
"And his sister, Daenerys."
"They are still alive, Ned!"
"They hide across the Narrow Sea, breeding like cockroaches, waiting for the day to return and take everything from me!"
Robert's eyes burned with a mad fire.
"I want them dead."
"I want to completely erase the Targaryen name from this world."
Ned felt a chill.
The chill rose from his feet, instantly spreading through his limbs.
Colder than the fiercest winds of the North.
Kill innocent children?
This went against all the honor and principles he believed in.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
But Robert glared at Ned.
"You forgot!"
"The Mad King roasted your father!"
"He put Brandon in a noose, right across from the roasting stand, and your father's screams made your elder brother desperately lunge forward!"
"The louder your father screamed, the more your elder brother couldn't help but lunge forward to save him, and in the end, your elder brother strangled himself to death, dying before your father!"
"The courtiers were forced to watch the execution, and the timid ones dared not speak out, while those loyal ones, if they dared to speak, were all either hacked to death or exiled!"
"Ned!"
"Have you forgotten all this!"
Looking at Robert's face, twisted with rage, all of Ned's words of rebuttal were stuck in his throat.
Hi guys! I use Webnovel to promote my Etsy shop. Sorry if this story isn't very good. In my Etsy shop, you'll find many customized gift products for your loved ones. Please check it out and support us!
etsyshop/BHAGYSMART
Link is in my aboutHi guys! I use Webnovel to promote my Etsy shop. Sorry if this story isn't very good. In my Etsy shop, you'll find many customized gift products for your loved ones. Please check it out and support us!
etsyshop/BHAGYSMART
Link is in my about