Beginning

"Ramsay, you've earned the most merit during this period. This shipment is your spoils of war and should be rewarded to you first."

Lord Roose shook his head, his eyes fixed on Ramsay, and praised him sincerely.

Upon hearing this, Ramsay immediately replied with some trepidation, "For father, for House Bolton, I don't mind the hardship."

"Well, drink up!"

Lord Roose nodded, tilting his chin slightly towards the wine cup in Ramsay's hand, signaling him.

Ramsay's face showed a look of emotion as he brought the wine cup to his lips and took a large gulp.

"Mmm, this is indeed good wine. Father, let me pour you another cup."

After swallowing the wine, Ramsay closed his eyes slightly, his expression contemplative, and praised it.

Then, he immediately took another cup and poured a glass of wine for Lord Roose from the same barrel.

Lord Roose, who had been watching Ramsay closely and saw that he showed no ill effects, slowly took the cup he offered.

Ramsay, smiling broadly, raised his own unfinished cup and said to Lord Roose, "For Bolton!"

"For Bolton!"

Lord Roose also raised his cup in return and took a shallow sip of the fine wine.

"Huh?"

As the wine went down, Lord Roose suddenly let out a soft sound of surprise and then said to Ramsay, "The wine from Greenstone Isle is indeed delicious!"

"It is their honor that you enjoy it!"

"By the way, what about those four Winterfell Cavalry?

I want all the nobles of the North to know that it was their liege lord who plundered them. Even if I was careless and suffered a loss this time, I won't let that wolf cub off the hook."

Lord Roose, who was savoring the wine, suddenly remembered something and asked Ramsay.

Ramsay smiled without speaking, turned his head, pouted, and let out a whistle. A disarmed soldier who had entered the castle nodded in understanding.

A few minutes later, Sam, bruised and swollen, and bound tightly, along with three Wolf Guards, were brought before Lord Roose by soldiers.

"Very good! Ramsay, I'll leave this matter to you. I hope to hear good news tomorrow."

Lord Roose knew his illegitimate son had a talent for interrogation and spoke directly.

"Also, besides you, all returning Cavalry are to be confined first and released after their identities are verified. Any objections?"

"As you command, Father! I have no objections."

Ramsay nodded obediently, looking like a well-behaved son.

Seeing Ramsay's demeanor, Lord Roose nodded expressionlessly and walked towards his room with his attendants.

Everything here was arranged, and Ramsay could not make the castle officers work for him without his father's explicit order.

It took quite some time for Ramsay's more than four hundred men to be inspected, disarmed, and enter Dreadfort one by one.

Three transport wagons and nearly four hundred warhorses were stabled to the right and rear of the main gate.

Normally, this stable could accommodate nearly a thousand warhorses, but due to the heavy losses of House Bolton's Cavalry, the stable was now sparsely populated, making it suitable for their horses.

"You can leave the wagons in the stable; you don't need to worry about them. I'll arrange for someone to unload them tomorrow.

This is liquid gold dragons; if you handle them roughly and spill them, I'll skin you alive, and it won't be enough compensation!"

Ramsay frowned and stopped the guards who were preparing to unload the wine barrels from the wagons.

Hearing his voice, the guards reluctantly stopped their actions, not daring to provoke the cruel bastard.

"Take those four to the interrogation room."

Seeing that the guards were no longer unloading his wine, Ramsay pointed at Sam and the other three and gave an order before turning to leave.

The guard officer frowned at Ramsay's blunt tone but still selected four guards.

He whispered a few words to them, and the guards then escorted Sam and the other three to the interrogation room.

Of Ramsay's four hundred Cavalry, nearly a hundred had been with him all along, while the other three hundred were left by Lord Roose at the time.

When confining them, the guard officer took one of the Cavalry aside and had a waiting attendant escort him away.

The attendant and the Cavalry walked through the winding, damp corridors of Dreadfort, neither speaking, only the sound of their footsteps echoing.

After winding around for a while, the attendant brought the Cavalry to Lord Roose's room.

"Lord Roose!"

After closing the door, the Cavalry immediately bowed in greeting.

"Mm, what has Ramsay been doing during this period? Has he shown any unusual behavior?"

Lord Roose, already waiting in his seat, nodded and asked directly.

"Lord Ramsay has only plundered a merchant caravan during this period and obtained that shipment of wine. Perhaps because the wine was quite valuable, he was in a good mood and let all the members of the caravan go."

The Cavalry thought back and then replied to the question.

"He doesn't usually act strangely, but he often chats with four of Winterfell's cavalry, and they seem to have a good time."

"Hmm, where did you recently raid this merchant caravan?"

Lord Roose savored the cavalryman's words, finding nothing amiss, and continued to question him.

"Lord Roose, it wasn't recently. It was before the raven arrived from Dreadfort telling us that House Stark had declared war!"

"What? You mean Ramsay was carrying all this wine on his way back for reinforcements?"

"Yes! Lord Ramsay would rather travel slower than give up this expensive wine!"

"Idiot! Why didn't you mention something so unusual sooner?"

Lord Roose, who was always calm, seemed to smell a conspiracy. He slammed his hand on the table, stood up, and shouted, "Ramsay is a problem, and that wine is a problem. Let's go!"

In the interrogation room at Dreadfort, Sam and the other three were tied to an 'X' shaped flaying rack, with four guards standing beside Ramsay.

"Alright, now it's time for me to have some fun. You can all leave!"

Ramsay idly fiddled with the various blood-stained torture instruments on the interrogation table with his left hand, while gesturing for the guards to leave with his right.

"Lord Ramsay, Lord Roose asked us to report the situation to him at any time, so..."

The four guards exchanged glances upon hearing Ramsay's words. One of them spoke with some difficulty.

"Fine, you stay and report the situation. Everyone else out. I hate being watched when I'm having fun."

Ramsay raised an eyebrow and said impatiently.

"Yes..."

The four guards exchanged glances again. The one who had spoken seemed to be the leader. He nodded to the others, and the remaining three guards filed out.

"Do you know? Weapons like this are the best for killing people."

Ramsay rummaged through the table for a moment, finding a sharp iron skewer about the length of a dagger and as thick as chopsticks. He played with it in his hand as he spoke to the guard beside him.

"I don't know... Mmph, mmph!"

The guard had just begun to answer.

Ramsay suddenly lunged forward with his left hand, clamping the guard's mouth into an '8' shape, while plunging the sharp iron skewer into the guard's neck with his right hand.

"Mmph, mmph!!!"

The guard instinctively grabbed Ramsay's left hand, trying to break free and shout.

But as the sharp iron skewer poked bloody holes in his neck, his pupils gradually dilated in his terrified eyes, his hands slowly drooped powerlessly, and his cries grew weaker.

"See? I told you to leave, and you should have just listened!"

Clearly feeling the guard's life ebbing away, Ramsay plunged the sharp iron skewer into his neck, which was already like a honeycomb full of horrific blood holes, one last time and did not pull it out.

He grabbed the guard's linen undershirt with both hands, wiped the blood from his hands with the fabric, and spoke with a smiling, persuasive tone.

Although Sam and the others were bound and gagged, it didn't prevent them from watching Ramsay's killing performance. At this moment, a chill ran down their spines.

Bang!

Having roughly wiped the blood from his hands, Ramsay released the guard's corpse, letting it fall to the ground.

He spread his arms towards Sam and the other three, grinning and saying, "Everyone, Lord Robb's fireworks plan officially begins!"

Thanks to the monthly votes from the great author "Mei Hao Shu", starting today we are on the APP recommendation list. I hope all you great readers will continue to vote and follow along so we can keep climbing together! Thank you very much!