Parting on Bad Terms

Inside the Great Hall of Winterfell.

As Garon and the others carried Theon's corpse away, only Robert and Ned remained in the hall.

Each lost in their own thoughts, they stared at the bloodstains Theon had left on the floor, neither willing to speak first.

For a moment—

An eerie silence descended upon the hall.

A long while passed.

Robert, unable to endure it any longer, was the first to break the silence.

"Ned..."

"Did you see how she treated me?" Robert looked at his dear friend, mocking himself. "That is my beloved wife!"

He picked up a wine bottle and poured two cups, handing one to Ned and keeping the other for himself.

"I shouldn't have struck her," Robert said after taking a drink, watching Ned accept the cup. "That is not what a king should do!"

But Ned, standing to the side, clearly had not yet shed his anger.

He downed a gulp of wine, his voice echoing through the hall with a sharp, angry reminder.

"Why did you let Jaime go?"

"Theon is dead, killed by a dishonorable blade!"

"What will his father Balon do? You must know that Theon was his only surviving son!"

"If we do nothing, war will break out!"

Robert remained unconcerned, raising his cup for another drink. "He has no son now!"

After saying this, he walked to Ned's side and repeated it in a low voice.

"Theon is dead; that is an irreversible fact."

"Whether Balon rebels or not depends entirely on his attitude toward this son."

"But if you let Garon arrest Jaime, I guarantee you, the Lannisters will retaliate!"

Robert paused briefly, warning him: "Tywin values Jaime far more than Balon values Theon!"

But Ned did not agree with Robert's words.

"Are we just going to let Jaime go like this?"

Ned slammed his cup onto the table in anger, splashing wine across the surface.

Ignoring the mess, he questioned coldly: "Even if Jaime is suspected of conspiring with Theon, are we just going to let them be?"

"Theon is dead," Robert maintained his conciliatory attitude. "His dying words cannot prove whether Jaime conspired with him or not!"

"How can they not? Theon clearly said that Jaime had promised him something!"

Ned argued his case, attempting to persuade the King to allow him to arrest Jaime for interrogation.

But he was refused by the King.

"Promised what? Promised to conspire with Theon against The North?"

Robert spread his hands, attempting to use Garon's evidence to dispel Ned's notions.

"Ned, you heard it yourself just now. It was Theon having an affair with a woman, and Bran discovered them!"

"Do you think Jaime is a woman?" Robert said with a dry wit. "Or do you think it was Jaime who was sleeping with Theon?"

"Come on, Jaime doesn't like men!"

Ned turned a blind eye to Robert's humor, refusing to back down. "Even so, Jaime should be taken into custody first."

"If it is determined that he was not involved, it won't be too late to release him then!"

Robert's patience was gradually wearing thin; he gloomily drained the rest of the wine in his cup.

Then, he made one final attempt to convince Ned.

"Doing that would be the same as trampling the Lannister family's honor into the mud!"

"Tywin will not let this go!"

Ned shouted angrily: "I don't care about Tywin at all! If he dares to start a war, I will help you deal with him!"

Robert couldn't help but raise his voice as well. "You can hold back The Westerlands, but can you also hold back the wildlings Beyond the Wall?"

"Don't forget Benjen's intelligence; the wildlings Beyond the Wall are organizing their forces, and there are even Giants among them!"

Having said this, Robert laid it all out plainly.

"The Iron Throne owes the Lannisters a mountain of debt," he stated the stakes directly. "If The North and The Westerlands go to war, I truly don't know how I am supposed to govern this country!"

A look of disappointment instantly appeared in Ned's eyes.

He looked at the brother-in-arms he had fought alongside, wondering when he had become so like a stranger.

The King before him was pot-bellied, bearing none of the high-spirited vigor he had possessed during the War of the Usurper.

"Is this how the Iron Throne turns a storm-born Giant into a king who knows nothing but power?"

In an instant, Ned felt an unprecedented repulsion toward heading south to King's Landing.

"Your Grace, if this is your command," Ned said dejectedly, "I am willing to obey, but..."

"Please forgive me, I cannot accept the appointment as Hand of the King!"

Robert was stunned, then said angrily, "Ned, are you threatening me?"

Ned shook his head. "Your Grace, it is not a threat. It is simply that my abilities are limited, and I am not up to the task!"

He paused, and without waiting for Robert to reply, he added, "It is getting late. You should rest early; I still need to go check on Bran."

"Please excuse me."

Ned did not wait for the King's response and turned to leave the hall.

He had not taken many steps before he heard the sound of a goblet smashing heavily against the floor inside the hall, followed by the King's curses.

But Ned did not look back, walking instead with a desolate gait toward Bran's bedroom.

Ten minutes later.

Ned's figure appeared before the door of Bran's bedroom. He paused for a moment before pushing the door open and stepping inside.

Inside the room were only Maester Luwin, Catelyn, and the unconscious Bran.

"My lord!"

Maester Luwin hurriedly stood up, while Catelyn, sitting at the head of the bed, remained as motionless as a statue, her hand tightly gripping Bran's small hand.

Ned gently closed the bedroom door, nodded to Maester Luwin, and walked over to sit at the other side of the bed.

He gently stroked Bran's cold forehead, and the words he murmured made Catelyn and Maester Luwin startle.

"Bran, the culprit who harmed you has already..."

"Someone harmed Bran?"

Maester Luwin was still confused, but Catelyn, who had been like a statue at the bedside, suddenly looked at Ned.

"Who is it!" Catelyn's voice was hoarse, her eyes filled with bone-deep hatred. "Ned, tell me, who harmed Bran!"

Ned tucked the thick furs around Bran before looking at Catelyn and replying painfully.

"It was Theon!"

"What?!"

Maester Luwin cried out in shock.

He had originally thought Bran had fallen by accident; he never imagined Bran had been harmed, especially not by Theon, who had grown up alongside him.

"My lord, could there be some misunderstanding?"

"Theon... Theon... how could he harm Bran?"

Maester Luwin could not fathom it no matter how he thought about it. In his eyes, although Theon was arrogant and difficult to get along with, he was not inherently evil.

How could such a person harm Bran?

Ned was silent for a moment. "It was Theon who confessed it himself!"

Once these words were spoken, Maester Luwin was too shocked to say anything.

Catelyn, however, stood up abruptly, her eyes like a tiger ready to devour someone. "Then what are you waiting for? Send men to capture Theon at once!"

"He is already dead!"

"Dead?"

For Maester Luwin and Catelyn, this was yet another piece of unexpected news.

But Catelyn quickly reacted, gritting her teeth as she said, "How did he die?"

Seeing his wife in this state, Ned feared she might do something irrational, so he spoke quickly.

"He was killed by the hand of Jaime Lannister!"

"Bran's vengeance has been served!"

Catelyn trembled all over, finally breaking down into loud sobs.

Seeing this, Ned walked over to Catelyn and gently pulled her into his embrace.

At this moment, as if sensing something, the fingers hidden beneath the furs on Bran's hand twitched ever so slightly.

Outside the window, the howling of the Direwolf continued!