Inside Winterfell's great hall.
As Garon and the others carried Theon's corpse away, only Robert and Ned remained in the hall.
Each lost in his own thoughts, they stared at the bloodstains Theon had left on the floor. Neither was willing to speak first.
For a while—
An odd silence settled over the hall.
At length.
Robert could no longer bear it and was the first to break the silence.
"Ned..."
"Did you see how she treated me?" Robert looked at his good friend and said with a self-deprecating laugh, "That's my dear wife!"
He picked up a bottle of wine and poured two cups, handing one to Ned and keeping the other for himself.
"I shouldn't have hit her." Seeing Ned accept the cup, Robert took a sip and continued, "It's not something a king should do!"
But Ned was clearly still furious.
He abruptly drained a gulp of wine, then his angry question rang through the hall.
"Why did you let Jaime leave?"
"Theon is dead, killed by a dishonorable sword!"
"What will his father, Balon, do? You know Theon is his only surviving son!"
"If we do nothing, war will break out!"
Robert shrugged it off and raised his cup for another sip. "Now he has no sons left!"
Then he walked over to Ned and repeated in a low voice, "Theon is dead. That's a fact we can't change."
"Whether Balon rebels depends entirely on how he feels about this son."
"But if you have Garon arrest Jaime, I can guarantee the Lannisters will retaliate!"
Robert paused briefly, then warned him, "Tywin cares more about Jaime than Balon ever did about Theon!"
But Ned disagreed with him.
"So we're just going to let Jaime go?"
Angrily, Ned slammed his cup down on the table, splashing wine across it.
He paid it no heed and demanded coldly, "Even if Jaime is suspected of conspiring with Theon, are we just supposed to let them go?"
"Theon is dead," Robert said, still trying to smooth things over. "His dying words don't prove that Jaime conspired with him!"
"How can they not? Theon clearly said Jaime had promised him something!"
Ned argued his case, trying to persuade the king to let him arrest Jaime and question him.
But the king refused.
"Promised him what? Promised to conspire with Theon against the North?"
Robert spread his hands, hoping Garon's evidence would put an end to Ned's idea.
"Ned, you heard it yourself just now. Theon was sleeping with a woman, and Bran caught them!"
"Do you think Jaime is a woman?" Robert joked. "Or do you think Jaime was the one sleeping with Theon?"
"Come on, Jaime doesn't like men!"
Ned ignored Robert's joke and refused to back down. "Even so, we should take Jaime into custody first."
"If we find out he had nothing to do with it, we can release him afterward!"
Robert's patience was wearing thin. He gloomily drained the rest of his wine.
Then, in one last attempt to persuade Ned, he said, "That would be like dragging the Lannisters' pride through the dirt!"
"Tywin won't let it go!"
Ned retorted angrily, "I don't care about Tywin. If he dares to start a war, I'll help you fight him!"
Robert's voice rose too. "You can hold back the Westerlands, but can you hold back the Wildlings beyond the Wall?"
"Don't forget Benjen's report. The Wildlings beyond the Wall are gathering their forces, and there are Giants among them!"
At that, Robert decided to lay it all out plainly.
"The Iron Throne owes the Lannisters a mountain of debt," he said, spelling out the stakes. "If the North and the Westerlands go to war, I truly don't know how I'm supposed to govern this country!"
Disappointment filled Ned's eyes.
Looking at the brother who had once fought by his side, he hardly knew when Robert had become such a stranger.
The king before him was paunchy, nothing like the man who had once been so full of spirit during the War of the Usurper.
"Is this what the Iron Throne does? Turn a storm giant into a king who cares only about power?"
In that moment, Ned felt a deep aversion to going south to King's Landing.
"Your Grace, if this is your command," Ned said despondently, "I will obey. It's just..."
"Forgive me, but I can no longer accept the appointment as Hand of the King!"
Robert stared at him in disbelief, then snapped, "Ned, are you threatening me?"
Ned shook his head. "Your Grace, it's not a threat. I'm simply not capable enough to do the job!"
He paused, then spoke again before Robert could reply. "It's late. You should get some rest. I still need to check on Bran."
"Please excuse me!"
Without waiting for the king to answer, Ned turned and walked straight out of the hall.
He had taken only a few steps when he heard the heavy crash of a cup hitting the floor, followed by the king's curses.
But Ned didn't look back. He simply walked sorrowfully toward Bran's bedroom.
Ten minutes later.
Ned appeared at the door to Bran's bedroom. He stopped for a moment, then pushed it open and went inside.
Only Maester Luwin, Catelyn, and the unconscious Bran were in the room.
"My lord!"
Maester Luwin hurried to his feet, but Catelyn, seated by the bed, remained as motionless as a statue, her hand clasped tightly around Bran's little one.
Ned gently closed the bedroom door, nodded to Maester Luwin, and sat down on the other side of the bed.
He gently stroked Bran's cold forehead. His murmured words startled Catelyn and Maester Luwin.
"Bran, the one who tried to kill you has..."
"Someone tried to kill Bran?"
Maester Luwin was still trying to make sense of it when Catelyn, who had been sitting like a statue, abruptly looked up at Ned.
"Who?" Catelyn's voice was hoarse, her eyes filled with bitter hatred. "Ned, tell me, who tried to kill Bran!"
Ned tucked the thick furs over Bran, then met Catelyn's gaze and answered in anguish.
"It was Theon!"
"What?!"
Maester Luwin cried out in shock.
He had thought Bran had fallen by accident. He never imagined someone had tried to kill him—least of all Theon, who had grown up alongside Bran.
"My lord, is there some mistake?"
"Theon... Theon... How could he try to kill Bran?"
Maester Luwin couldn't understand it. In his eyes, Theon was proud and difficult to get along with, but not a bad person at heart.
How could someone like that try to kill Bran?
Ned was silent for a moment. "Theon confessed it himself!"
At those words, Maester Luwin was so stunned that he didn't know what to say.
Catelyn, however, abruptly sprang to her feet, her eyes like a tiger's as it pounced on its prey. "What are you waiting for? Send men to arrest Theon!"
"He's dead!"
"Dead?"
For Maester Luwin and Catelyn, that was yet another unexpected revelation.
But Catelyn quickly recovered and gritted her teeth. "How did he die?"
Seeing his wife like this, Ned feared she might do something reckless, so he hurried to explain.
"Jaime Lannister killed him with his own hands!"
"Bran's death has been avenged!"
Catelyn trembled all over, then finally burst into tears.
Seeing this, Ned went to her and gently gathered her into his arms.
Just then, Bran seemed to sense something. The fingers of one hand beneath the furs moved slightly.
Outside the window, the Direwolf's howling continued!
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