The Rains of Castamere

Lyanna's pupils dilated, and after staring at Gryn's calm eyes for a moment, she shifted her gaze to Surana.

Surana seemed to understand Lyanna's worries, offering a gentle smile and a nod.

Herschel also stepped forward, "Miss Lyanna, please don't worry too much. The injustices you've suffered will be avenged by our master, and those who harmed you will pay the price."

Lyanna then gave a definitive answer, "Gryn, thank you. I've never hated anyone so much. There's no mistake, because I refuse to divorce Usur, and I can feel he intends to kill me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have fled in such a hurry. If possible, please eliminate him!"

As she spoke, Lyanna still voiced her concern, "If he's killed, will it cause trouble for the family? After all, the nobles of the Vale have always been hostile towards us."

Gryn gently patted Lyanna's hand, sat back in his chair, and said, "If we do nothing, they'll only mock House Crabb for being cowardly. Everyone understands that House Crabb, as nobles, will surely retaliate."

Gryn let out a scoff and continued, "Someone might think House Crabb would at most lodge a complaint with the Red Keep? A weak House Crabb, not favored by the Hand of the King, would result in the Red Keep merely compensating Usur with some Gold Dragons to appease certain sensitive emotions among the nobles, and the matter would be considered settled."

"Aren't we half-savage nobles? It would just prove they're right. The family's young lady suffered injustice outside, and in our anger, despite the distance, we'd go and wipe out their entire family. That would indeed be savage."

Lyanna couldn't help but exclaim, "Won't the impact you intend to create be too great? Besides the maids I brought, there's no one there I like, but... will Old Jon cause trouble for us?"

"At that time, it will depend on the methods of our esteemed Queen."

On the surface, the incident could be summarized as a noble lady married to a merchant, who suffered humiliation after marriage. In anger, her noble family retaliated against the merchant's family.

The method of retaliation was a bit excessive, but rationally understandable.

After all, on the continent of Westeros, the honor of nobles was inviolable.

From Cersei's perspective, Gryn's revenge might be considered too gentle compared to her father Tywin Lannister's "The Rains of Castamere."

Gryn was merely going with the flow, occasionally stirring up minor trouble. This would make Queen Cersei more trusting of House Crabb, which had actively sought her allegiance.

Gryn had already secretly planned that the people sent to carry out the act would not reveal their identity as belonging to House Crabb, nor would they leave any obvious evidence.

Those who understood the inside story afterward would know it was retaliation from House Crabb, but as long as no clear evidence was left, Queen Cersei could easily suppress any inquiries from those in the Red Keep who were looking into it, without affecting her impartiality as Queen.

King Robert could be temporarily ignored. To him, it was a trivial matter that would disturb his indulgence in pleasures, and his first concern would be to avoid having his head smashed by a wine jug.

Thinking of this, Gryn, now back in his study, tapped his fingers on the desk, his brow furrowed slightly.

According to the customs of Westeros, such covert revenge, though fierce, might still be met with ridicule, mocking House Crabb for being too cowardly to reveal their banner, thus damaging their honor.

The rules of the game here sometimes gave Gryn a headache.

After a while, Gryn's brow relaxed. He could learn from Tywin Lannister!

Gryn first personally selected a group of men from the Crabb Clan Soldiers, and then arranged for several people with beautiful singing voices from his territory to accompany them.

Gryn, who had just finished lunch with Lyanna, was still very busy.

After consulting with Steward Herschel and Steward Surana, he arranged for Surana's eldest son, Leyton, to lead a group of people and depart for King's Landing in advance.

Steward-in-training Leyton's task was to purchase a manor outside the city of King's Landing.

Steward Herschel had inquired from traveling merchants about the price of manors outside King's Landing, which generally ranged from 80 to 200 Gold Dragons.

The impoverished Lord Gryn, enduring the heartache, allocated 300 Gold Dragons to Leyton.

Gryn's core command was that the manor's location should be as close to King's Landing as possible, and the larger the area, the better. With limited Gold Dragons, Leyton would be under considerable pressure.

The future "Crabb Manor" outside King's Landing was intended for Gryn to station troops.

Gryn had no memory of ever leaving his territory from the original body's memories, so he was unsure how many guards a manor outside King's Landing could typically house without triggering the Red Keep's sensitive nerves.

In Gryn's opinion, the more troops stationed in the manor within the Red Keep's tolerance limit, the better. This would greatly enhance Gryn's sense of security in King's Landing.

Mermaid Harbor, under a clear and sunny sky.

Gryn, leading his guards on horseback, was inspecting the area.

With the addition of over 200 free POW laborers, "Phase One" of Mermaid Harbor was basically complete, and it had acquired the basic functions of a port.

"Phase One" construction was aimed at enabling Mermaid Harbor to operate in a short period. The main building materials used were wood, making them transitional structures.

"Phase Two" would last for half a year, using stone as the primary material. Various shops from "Phase One" would be replicated on the other side, and upon completion, they would directly replace the functions of the "Phase One" buildings.

Following that would be "Phase Three."

Phase Three had two main tasks, with a planned duration of one year.

The first task was to add new port buildings according to specific needs, continuing to expand and improve Mermaid Harbor.

The second task was to beautify the already completed buildings, from the exterior to the interior, with an emphasis on exquisite carvings.

Gryn attached great importance to the defensive capabilities of Mermaid Harbor, not wanting it to be destroyed by a few pirate raids after all the hard work.

Strong defensive forces would attract more visitors to Mermaid Harbor.

Currently, the defense of Mermaid Harbor was temporarily managed by over 100 guards, primarily composed of former fishing village residents, with two veterans selected from the Crabb Clan Soldiers responsible for their training and command.

Gryn would not neglect sanitation management.

Gryn didn't want Mermaid Harbor to stink everywhere, so he already had dedicated personnel to supervise Mermaid Harbor's public health management.

Standing by the sea, gazing at the boundless blue, Gryn had no heart to appreciate it.

Crabb's long-range ballistae weren't ready yet, and Mermaid Harbor lacked shore-based long-range defensive weapons to guard against attacks from the sea.

Mermaid Harbor's current sea defense consisted of a few modified small fishing boats from Fishing Village.

Oceanic combat was out of the question; a slightly larger wave could capsize those small fishing boats, and they dared not go out in even slightly bad weather.

Gryn's territory lacked the technology to build large ocean-going warships.

Buying them from outside, facing prices starting at 1,000 gold dragons, directly repelled the impoverished Lord Gryn.

Gryn had to temporarily abandon his dream of becoming a shipping magnate and decided to go out to sea and honestly, obediently pay to board merchant ships.