In the king's study, Stannis sat behind a table, with Davos and Grand Maester standing beside him. Pycelle.
To his right, directly opposite him, Olenna sat in a chair with Mace and Margaery standing behind her, while Jon was directly opposite Stannis to his left.
The two sides reached an agreement on some details of the wedding. After confirming that Tyrell agreed to marry Margaery to Jon and would provide support in the subsequent attack on the Westerlands, he was not too concerned about other issues.
He had so many things to deal with that he often worked late into the night these days, which was the complete opposite of Robert's situation.
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Jon felt that Pycelle, the "old national advisor," often had to work overtime with him. He felt that if things continued like this, Pycelle probably wouldn't survive the winter.
Now that the general direction has been determined, Stannis plans to leave.
"Since that's the case, Lady Olenna, I'll leave the room to you. Ser Davos, you stay as a witness."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
" Your Majesty."
Everyone bowed to Stannis until he left the room.
" Duke Tyrell, Lady Olenna, Lady Alerie, Duke Jon, I think you may begin," Davos said politely to Dao.
Mace glanced quickly at his mother, Olena. Before they arrived, the two had agreed that one would play the good cop and the other the bad cop, trying their best to secure promises and guarantees for Margaery.
So Mace had been wearing a long face ever since he entered the room, and now that Stannis had left, he was even less likely to give Jon a friendly look.
" Lord Jon, you're truly remarkable. I don't think there's ever been a precedent in the Seven Kingdoms of someone insulting their father-in-law before the wedding. You must be the first." Mace looked Jon up and down and said with a sneer.
Margaery, standing to the side, couldn't help but chuckle as she listened to her father's resentful words.
Olenna was also secretly observing, wanting to see how Jon would react.
Jon looked at Mace with such sincerity that it gave Mace goosebumps.
"Your Grace, that day I used your love for your children to provoke you, causing you to attack the city in anger. When you ordered the attack, I did feel a sense of exhilaration at my successful scheme and a sense of relief at being able to survive. At the same time, I was very envious of Margaery and his sister. I wish I had a father who would treat me like that. You know Dao, I, a bastard, have never seen my mother since birth. I have only vaguely seen her figure in my dreams. I think she must have been a gentle and elegant woman, like Lady Alerie. But I never imagined that my mother would have silver hair." Jon teased Dao, and Alerie smiled shyly.
She was quite pleased with this subtle praise.
Then Jon looked at Mace and continued, " Dao: 'My father—I've always called him Lord Stark —when I came of age, although it was my own request to go to the Wall to become a Nights Watch, his unthinking agreement still made me feel a little wronged, and he just dumped me on the Wall and that was it—although I will naturally need the Highgarden's support in terms of manpower and resources to conquer the Westerlands in the future, what I want most is your love, even if it's just a little bit.'"
Mace and her son originally intended to coax and scare Jon into treating Margaery better in the future, but unexpectedly he ended up making himself the more pitiful one.
After all, no matter how pitiful someone is, can they be more pitiful than an orphan? Sure enough, Jon's approach had a significant effect.
"You—" Mace blushed when Jon said that. "Why are you saying all this, you brat? Don't think I'll soften up just because you said that!"
Despite saying that, Mace had already turned her head to the side, while Alerie beside her was also tugging at her handkerchief with heartache.
Margaery and Davos both smiled, not expecting Jon to defuse Mace's challenge so easily.
Seeing that her pieces had been defeated in just one round, Olenna shook her head. It was her turn next.
"Good boy," Olenna said to Jon, "I've heard about what happened to you. Lord Eddard Stark has raised you very well, and the people of the Seven Kingdoms all say you are a young hero. But I know it must have been very tiring for you to get to this point." Olenna spoke to Jon with concern, as if he were a true elder.
"Madam, it is for the sake of avenging Lord Eddard, and for the sake of King Your Majesty," Jon began.
"You must be very tired, but I have to add some more pressure to you." Olenna said to Dao with some helplessness, " Margaery is someone I watched grow up, and she is my only granddaughter. I know that many people like to use Renly and Joffrey's situation to attack Dao, but it's not her fault, just like being a bastard isn't your fault. I beg you not to blame her for this kind of thing."
Olenna is over sixty years old, while Jon is not yet sixteen.
For an elderly person to plead with a young person in this manner is undoubtedly another form of aggression.
Seeing her grandmother do this, Margaery shed tears. At this moment, any promises Jon made seemed powerless.
" Lady Olenna, I believe this must be the will of the gods. Margaery and I have both become unlucky in the eyes of the world because of fate, but fate is the arrangement of the gods. He made two incomplete people whole, and we are destined to be together." Jon said to Olenna sincerely with the courtesy due to a junior.
As he spoke, he made a point of looking at Davos beside him, who nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, madam, just as it is the arrangement of the gods that I, a person of Flea Bottom birth, can serve Your Majesty."
Seeing Jon say that, Olenna could only nod. She found Jon to be getting more and more interesting.
Then Jon looked at Margaery and said, " Margaery, I really want to marry you right now and give you the title of Lady Stark, but without a country there is no home, and without His Majesty Stannis there would be no me today. I must first quell the rebellion for the King, and then I will marry you. I will set off tomorrow!"
Compared to the hints and ambiguity during their last meeting, Jon is now quite straightforward and honest.
Margaery has never lacked people who have shown her affection, but most of them have been cautious. Now, when she faces such a frank confession, her heart still races.
Mace, who was standing to the side, seemed to want to say something, but after opening her mouth, she swallowed her words.
Davos also liked Jon's words: "Without a country, there is no home; without Stannis, there would be no Davos today. "
Isn't this statement also a reflection of himself?
"Okay, Jon, I'll be waiting for your triumphant return." Margaery also appropriately expressed the reserve a lady should have.
Finally, the two exchanged tokens of their love.
Jon gave Margaery his own gloves, and Margaery gave Jon his own embroidered handkerchief.
After meeting the parents, the matter was considered settled, but Jon still had to overcome many obstacles to marry his wife.
The first hurdle is to get Robb to put down his crown.
Of course, what he wanted was not just a wife, but to accumulate enough resources to withstand disaster before a real crisis arrived!