After the small council ended, the councilors took their leave from Lord Eddard one after another.
In the spacious council chamber, only Lord Eddard and Domeric remained.
The future father-in-law and son-in-law faced each other in silence. The atmosphere was somewhat stagnant.
In the end, Domeric chose to speak first. He still had other matters to attend to. He needed to meet a certain mysterious person and did not wish to waste time here.
"Lord Eddard, you asked me to stay. Do you have further instructions?"
Lord Eddard looked at his future son-in-law and pondered for a moment.
"Domeric, about what I did earlier… do you think I was too impulsive?"
Before Domeric could answer, he continued:
"To offend the mighty House Lannister, which dominates the continent, for the sake of Lady Darry, whom I had only met a few times."
The corner of Domeric's mouth twitched.
In his heart, he thought:
That was more than impulsive. It was practically self-destruction.
A strange emotion rose in Lord Eddard's heart. His tone no longer carried the same firmness as before. Instead, it sounded somewhat sorrowful.
"Yesterday, King Robert spoke to me. He hinted that I should release the Imp, Tyrion Lannister, in exchange for a handsome ransom from Lord Tywin…
"Heh. Only just now did I learn that the treasury already owes House Lannister three million gold dragons.
"To exchange a murderer for gold dragons… what a filthy bargain.
"Several of the small councilors also came to me privately, attempting to persuade me not to stir up conflict with House Lannister…"
Domeric listened in silence, countless thoughts passing through his mind.
"If it were you, what would you choose?"
Lord Eddard looked into Domeric's eyes and asked in a low voice:
"Would you choose to compromise with the king and his ministers? To compromise with a murderer?"
Without a doubt, Lord Eddard had decided that the Imp, Tyrion, was the true murderer of Lady Darry.
Domeric felt helpless. If the victim had been his family or close friend, he would naturally spare no cost and fight to the end.
But if it was only a passerby, then he would have to weigh things carefully.
Yet when faced with Lord Eddard's persistence, something seemed to touch Domeric's heart in that moment. Something vague and intangible.
Humans were selfish creatures.
But sometimes, for the sake of certain convictions held deep within their hearts, they could even sacrifice themselves.
Throughout history, there had been the humble, the great, the ugly, and the beautiful…
Human life lasted barely a hundred years, yet generation after generation, they had woven the history of their entire race into something magnificent.
In his heart, Domeric still admired Lord Eddard's pursuit of fairness and justice.
After all, this kind of behavior, disregarding personal gain and loss, ignoring the larger situation, and even seeming impulsive and foolish, was actually extremely rare.
"So, even if it risks turning House Lannister against you, you still want to bring the Imp to justice?"
"Yes."
Lord Eddard closed his eyes without moving, his expression unreadable.
"In fact, before this small council even began, I had already sent people to spread this matter throughout all of King's Landing.
"By now, I imagine every street and alley knows that the realm is going to publicly try the Imp."
Domeric froze when he heard this, then immediately understood.
"But in that case, King Robert and the small council no longer have any way to retreat. King's Landing and House Lannister will have no possibility of reconciliation."
"Correct. I had no choice!
"I must judge the criminal before the gods!"
Given Robert's obsession with saving face, Lord Eddard's move undoubtedly cut off his ability to compromise with House Lannister.
After all, once things had reached this point, if Robert still wanted to spare the Imp, Tyrion, in exchange for ransom…
Would the world not laugh at him for fearing Lord Tywin?
For a moment, Domeric had a complaint lodged in his throat that he desperately wanted to spit out:
I admire your conviction, but the problem is that the Imp is not the real murderer!
…
In the original story, because Tyrion was captured by Catelyn, Tywin gathered thirty thousand Lannister troops overnight and attacked Catelyn's maiden house, House Tully of Riverrun in the Riverlands.
Before that, he had already sent the Mountain, Amory Lorch, and others to raid the Riverlands, turning hundreds of miles of fertile land around Harrenhal into wasteland.
At that time, King Robert was not even dead yet, and Tywin already dared to start a war.
It was clear that during the fifteen years Robert had neglected court politics, the authority of the Iron Throne had been declining day by day.
At the same time, it also showed that Tywin Lannister had long been prepared for war.
In the end, the Imp, Tyrion, was only a fuse for the War of the Five Kings.
With or without him, the result would have been the same.
The deeper cause behind the outbreak of the War of the Five Kings was the deeper imbalance, unequal political status, and irreconcilable conflicts of power among the Seven Kingdoms.
Lord Tywin of the Westerlands, because he had chosen his side too late during Robert's Rebellion, had always been pushed outside the fish-wolf-stag-falcon alliance and never truly trusted or given influence in King's Landing.
In the later stages of the war, the Lannisters had barely been accepted by Robert as one of the victors by sacrificing the Mad King Aerys II through Jaime the Kingslayer, and by having the Mountain murder Prince Rhaegar's two children as a pledge of loyalty.
Yet House Lannister had never received political status matching its strength. Tywin had remained stuck in Casterly Rock all these years, likely dreaming of returning to King's Landing.
Prince Doran of Dorne spent his days thinking of restoring the Targaryen dynasty and avenging his sister, Princess Elia.
The nobles of the Reach, led by House Tyrell, were eager to use a new war to gain political status matching their strength.
Stannis of Dragonstone and Renly of the Stormlands had also grown increasingly dissatisfied with their elder brother Robert's absurd rule.
Therefore, the War of the Five Kings had to be fought.
And House Lannister, the lion, had been planning for this war far earlier than most people imagined.
Tywin Lannister had begun planning to overthrow the Baratheon dynasty fifteen years ago, right after Robert's Rebellion ended.
From Queen Cersei's marriage to Robert, to Grand Maester Pycelle's hidden loyalty, to Lancel and other Lannisters taking posts in King's Landing…
This war had already been decided when Robert chose Eddard, rather than Tywin, as Hand of the King.
So Tyrion's public trial had merely provided the perfect opportunity.
Tywin wanted to return to King's Landing and establish a Lannister dynasty. The fish-wolf-stag-falcon alliance was an obstacle he could not bypass.
In the original story, almost the instant Tyrion was captured by Lady Catelyn, the armies of the Westerlands poured out in full force.
Once Jaime fled back to the Westerlands, he joined Tywin and quickly crippled the Riverlands.
Tywin had also previously set a trap to lure Eddard Stark into the Riverlands.
It could be said that the lions had been plotting this for a long time.
Lord Eddard had never imagined that Tywin could mobilize thirty-five thousand soldiers in such a short time and directly smash the Riverlands.
He swiftly dismantled House Tully, the weakest link in the fish-wolf-stag-falcon alliance.
After that, the falcon became isolated, the Vale watched from the sidelines, the stag fell into internal conflict, and the wolf stood alone. The situation became excellent for the lions…
Domeric returned from his thoughts and began considering how to respond to the current situation.
He imagined that once the Old Lion, Tywin, received Lord Eddard's summons, his first choice would not be to come to King's Landing to attend some ridiculous trial.
Instead, he would march straight into the Riverlands and seize the initiative.
…
Returning to the matter at hand, in Domeric's view, the Lord of the Westerlands and Lord of Casterly Rock, Tywin Lannister, was a strong figure of the Seven Kingdoms worthy of respect.
Because in the Westerlands, he had built the deepest degree of centralized authority in all the Seven Kingdoms.
Yes.
Centralized authority.
The political structure of Westeros meant that a monarch's authority was actually quite limited. It was extremely difficult for a ruler to command and coordinate his vassals as easily as moving his own limbs.
But House Lannister was an exception.
And all of that began with that rainy season in Castamere.
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GAME OF THRONES: SECRETS BENEATH THE DREADFORT
🏰🩸 GAME OF THRONES: SECRETS BENEATH THE DREADFORT 🩸🏰
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📢 DARK SECRETS RISE IN THE NORTH! 📢
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Beneath the Dreadfort, old horrors stir.
Power, bloodlines, betrayal, northern cruelty, and buried secrets wait beneath one of the most feared castles in Westeros.
❄️ The North remembers.🏰 The Dreadfort hides.🩸 And some secrets should have stayed buried.
Uncover what lies beneath before anyone else does.
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