The charcoal in the fireplace glowed dull red, mostly covered by ash, as if about to extinguish.
"What? He found a lot of wildfire!?"
"Yes, my Lord."
Hearing this news, a rare look of solemnity appeared on Varys's face.
Compared to Cersei's disappointment at the coalition's failed siege, Varys was shocked to the point of tensing up completely.
He knew the power of wildfire. If Tyrion hadn't used wildfire to burn most of Stannis's fleet, Stannis could have used his fleet to hold off the coalition while attacking King's Landing.
Not only that, but he actually knew that the Mad King Aerys intended to use the wildfire in King's Landing to perish together with the traitors.
But in the end, Jaime acted, killing all the pyromancers who knew the wildfire storage locations. This made it very difficult for Varys to determine where Aerys had placed the wildfire.
There was some under the Red Keep, some under the Great Sept, and some under the Dragonpit, which had been abandoned for centuries.
But Varys couldn't clear them all out. He could only slowly move the wildfire under the Red Keep to deeper levels—a massive project. So he could only keep this secret as a trump card.
He didn't understand how Jon knew about the existence of this wildfire. Was there some powerful figure in King's Landing he didn't know about?
But that wasn't the most crucial point. The most crucial point was that Jon didn't use wildfire in today's defense!
He repelled the coalition's offensive purely through his command.
Varys had thought Jon, controlling only the walls of King's Landing, would eventually be defeated. But now it seemed otherwise.
Especially when he learned that Jon had started replenishing his troops and had someone impersonate the High Septon to support him, Varys realized this was definitely not just a hot-blooded boy seeking revenge.
On the contrary, his strategy was astounding!
Just as Varys was lost in thought, a maid's voice sounded outside. "My Lord, Her Grace the Queen Regent summons you for council."
"Understood." Stuffing a few copper stars into a crack in the wall, Varys shuffled out of the room in his soft slippers.
Patrolling soldiers were everywhere in the Red Keep. During the day, one could hear the clanking of armor just by closing their eyes.
The maids were also nervous.
They all walked with their heads down, sticking close to the walls.
The flowers in the garden were withering.
Partly because no one cared, and partly because they needed to conserve resources, water being naturally important.
Awooo— Just as Varys stepped out, he heard a long wolf howl under the night sky.
The patrolling soldiers stopped one after another, vigilantly looking for the direction of the howl.
Soldiers on the arrow towers and watchtowers hurriedly stuck their heads out to look around.
Many people now knew Jon possessed a pure white direwolf, and Varys was no exception.
Varys, about to continue walking, suddenly stopped, a question surfacing in his mind.
Although he knew of Ghost's existence before, he hadn't heard Ghost howl.
Is Jon about to attack the Red Keep?
Impossible. The Red Keep's defenses are stronger than King's Landing's.
Is he going to use wildfire? A possibility suddenly popped into Varys's head: Jon using trebuchets to hurl wildfire into the Red Keep.
Although unlikely, if that wildfire ignited the wildfire beneath the Red Keep...
Gulp.
Varys swallowed hard. This was the first time in years he felt panicked.
Varys quickly returned to his room, wrote two letters with the most concise wording, and stuffed them into the crack in the wall.
"Deliver the letter to him as quickly as possible!"
Respected Lord Jon Snow, your combat today was brave and wise. I wish to cooperate with you. If you can guarantee that I retain my position as Master of Whisperers in King Stannis's new dynasty, I will provide you with a secret passage into the Red Keep, and you can avenge Lord Eddard.
Master of Whisperers, Varys.
"Hmm? Why defect so quickly?"
Seeing Varys even reveal his identity in the letter, Jon was greatly surprised.
In his view, even if he held off the coalition's attack, the odds of victory only shifted from one-in-ten to fifty-fifty at best.
He shouldn't be like this, right?
Does he know I found the wildfire and worry I'll use it to attack the Red Keep? But the power of wildfire isn't that terrifying, is it? Although he didn't know if it was true, Jon thought it was worth a try. As long as he killed Joffrey, it would all be over.
"Tell your master I agree."
With that, Jon burned the letter in his hand.
But at this moment, the child messenger took out another letter.
"My Lord, my master said you need to sign this letter."
"Oh?"
Jon took the letter. The gist was that Jon accepted Varys's help, and Varys voluntarily provided secret passages for Jon's army, etc.
Naturally, Jon waved his pen and signed his name.
---
On the other side, Tywin and Mace met again.
Soft music faintly drifted into the warm, luxurious military tent, and the scent of incense almost made one forget the reality of being on a battlefield.
Both sides discussed and summarized today's failure.
However, both sides tacitly avoided an important reason: Mace's impulsiveness.
Tywin had long seen that Mace was an incompetent man who craved greatness and success, but unfortunately, this incompetent man controlled more than half of the coalition's strength.
At this time, they absolutely couldn't act on emotion.
Therefore, before coming, he repeatedly instructed Kevan not to mention Mace's premature attack.
"Father, let me lead the next attack! I will definitely take the gate and chop off that bastard's head!" A "newcomer" joined this discussion—Duke Mace's favorite youngest son, Loras Tyrell.
Loras was handsome, with a sharpness between his brows.
His curly brown hair made him quite popular with noble ladies.
Known as the "Knight of Flowers."
But Loras didn't care about these things.
He had only one thought now: revenge.
After Renly declared his claim to the Iron Throne, House Tyrell betrothed Margaery to Renly.
Renly naturally formed his own "Kingsguard."
However, a proper King's Kingsguard wore white cloaks.
Renly dressed his Kingsguard in "rainbow cloaks."
Thus, Renly's Kingsguard was called the "Rainbow Guard."
Loras was the Lord Commander of Renly's Rainbow Guard.
He believed the person who assassinated Renly was Stannis and thought of avenging Renly every moment.
Since Jon, currently occupying King's Landing, claimed to support Stannis as King, Jon was his enemy.
However, Mace didn't agree to Loras's suggestion.
He couldn't bear to let his youngest son face an enemy like Jon.
Did that bastard touch a nerve? Kevan, seeing Loras like this, couldn't help but speculate inwardly. At this moment, Tywin beside him adjusted his sleeves and said, "Lord Mace, Eddard's bastard is truly cunning. The Tyrells lost many brave knights in today's battle. My plan is to launch an attack on the King's Gate the night after tomorrow. I hope to utilize the Reach army's siege equipment and arrows."
Knowing his impulsiveness caused the attack's failure during the day, Mace responded, "Then what do you think we should do?"
"The Reach army is certainly important too. I hope you can help us distract that bastard's attention then."
Before Mace could speak, Loras expressed his dissatisfaction first.
"Distract attention? Doesn't that mean letting us watch from the back? Tyrells fear no enemy!" Loras reiterated.
"Loras!" Garlan, who had been silent, admonished.
"Alright. Lord Tywin has breached King's Landing once, after all; he is more experienced." Mace naturally didn't want to see his youngest son risk his life, but he still used "Tywin is more experienced" to cover up his own lack of military ability.
After Tywin left, the meeting ended.
The Reach nobles left one after another, and Garlan took his brother Loras out of the tent.
Today's failed siege brought back bad memories for Mace. He led a great army to besiege Storm's End for over half a year but still failed to take it.
Now history seemed to repeat itself.
Compared to fifteen or sixteen years ago, he had aged a lot. His body wasn't as strong as before, and his muscles were atrophying.
Sometimes, walking a bit more made the flab on his thighs chafe painfully.
The scene of Jon fighting everywhere with four flags on his back during the day lingered in his mind.
How he wished he could be twenty years younger.
If I were twenty years younger, I would climb the battlements myself and twist off that brat's head! Just as Mace felt melancholy, a figure lifted the tent flap and returned.
Petyr Baelish.
Petyr had witnessed the entire meeting just now.
Intuition told him Tywin was going for a "desperate gamble."
The Westerlands were being raided and harassed by the Iron Islands and the North, and the Reach army was on a distant expedition.
Although they still maintained a siege on King's Landing, this situation couldn't last long. The possibility of Jon holding King's Landing suddenly skyrocketed.
Petyr believed that since he made the wrong choice at the beginning, he had to make up for it as much as possible now—for example, by defecting!
He was now incredibly glad he had kicked Janos Slynt, the former Commander of the City Watch who conspired with him to kill Eddard Stark, out of King's Landing to the Wall.
Even those Gold Cloak officers who knew the truth had been cleaned out through a mix of murder and purges.
This gave him the possibility to defect again and continue lurking without being reckoned with.
After receiving permission, Petyr came before Mace.
"My Lord Duke, I noticed the defenders on the battlements seem to have increased. This Jon must have relied on today's temporary victory to make those original Gold Cloaks join the defending army."
"Mm, Earl Tarly told me about this."
Mentioning this, Mace frowned even tighter, his wrinkles deep enough to trap a mosquito.
Randyll Tarly, whom he relied on most, analyzed today's battle for him.
He speculated that either Jon had more than ten thousand men, or his troop deployment was superior to his own!
He could always deploy soldiers to where they were needed most, which was the key to Jon's victory.
Additionally, Randyll Tarly warned that if they couldn't breach King's Landing soon, Jon might use the resources in King's Landing to strengthen the defense lines.
And this wasn't Robert's Rebellion; the Reach and Dorne were Royalists.
Currently, Dorne's movements were unclear, and the armies of the North, Riverlands, and Iron Islands led by Robb were in an "idle" state.
Although Stannis returned in defeat, he still had the ability to launch attacks.
They had no chance to besiege King's Landing for half a year.
Petyr carefully observed Mace's reaction, constantly weighing his words. He had to achieve his goal while taking care of Mace's face.
"My Lord, I mean to say, the price House Tyrell paid for the crown is truly a bit high... After all, Lord Tywin relied on Aerys's trust in him and the lack of defense against him to trick open the gates of King's Landing back then. What do you think?" Baelish wished he could tell Mace his plan directly, but ultimately, he only implicitly emphasized words like "trust" and "lack of defense."
"You mean for me to trick open the gates? That Jon is very cunning." Mace tilted his head, looking at Littlefinger, whose mouth was twitching slightly.