Chapter 159 A long night
Father, brother, sister...Eddard·Stark bid farewell to many close relatives. Those people have been gone for a long time. Every time he thinks of them, his heart is still filled with unspeakable bitterness.
Robert, his friend, his brother... another close relative was about to leave him. Eddard closed his eyes in pain, and his heart felt like a knife.
Winter is Coming...Lord Eddard opened his eyes. It was not yet time to allow him to immerse himself in sadness. His eyes gradually became sharper.
The maid was carefully wiping Robert's face. Lord Eddard took a deep look at her sleeping friend, as if she wanted to impress Robert's appearance deep in her heart.
When things here are settled, he will immediately leave King's Landing, which is full of painful memories, and he will mourn his old friend in Winterfell's Godswood.
Lord Eddard turned around and asked Pycelle: "How long can he live?"
Pycelle replied with a serious face, "Lord Hand, I will try my best to treat him, but the king's injury is too serious. I can only relieve his pain. The rest... can only be left to the Gods. May the Gods be kind."
Although he clearly knew the answer, Lord Eddard couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart when he heard the answer.
"Look after the king."
Lord Eddard confessed and strode towards the door. Before opening the door, he couldn't help but look back at his old friend on the bed.
The Gods Bless...Lord Eddard withdrew his gaze.
Outside King's Bedchamber's door, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard is loyally on duty.
Lord Eddard said, "Ser Barristan Selmy, Robert just drank Milk of the Poppy. No one is allowed to disturb his rest without my consent."
"Yes, Lord Hand."
The old and strong Ser Barristan Selmy seems to have aged a lot. "I have failed in my sacred duty."
Lord Eddard remembered the past time... When hunting wild boars, Robert, holding a spear in his hand, would always stand on the spot without flinching, and would often curse loudly when the wild boar charged. Only when the wild boar was about to pounce on him did he stab it to death with a precise shot.
Lord Eddard reached out and patted Ser Barristan Selmy's arm and said, "Ser Barristan Selmy, the king has told me the reason... No matter how loyal the knight is, he can't stop the drunk Robert."
Ser Barristan Selmy still can't forgive himself. "When we drove the wild boar out of the den, King Robert was so drunk that he couldn't stand still, but he still asked us to stand aside, but I foolishly followed the order."
Renly said with a sad look, "No one can disobey brother's order."
Lord Eddard silently patted Renly who looked exactly like Robert. He was right. No one could stop Robert at that time, not even if he was present.
Varys stepped forward from behind Lord Eddard. He nodded slightly before saying, "Ser Barristan Selmy, I'm a little curious... who brought this wine to the king?"
Barristan frowned and said, "Robert The king drank the wine he carried in his own wineskin."
Varys linked arms with a strange smile on his face, "Then I'm even more curious. Can a bag of wine make King Robert unsteady? His drinking capacity is well known to Seven Kingdoms."
After Varys finished speaking, everyone present could not help but frown. This was indeed a doubtful point.
Without waiting for everyone to think deeply, Barristan explained, "Varys, His Majesty must have drank more than one bag. As long as he opens his mouth, his attendants will bring him a new bag. I have not counted the specific amount, but I know a lot."
Varys nodded, and his smile became natural, ""What a good boy who is loyal to his duties. King Robert will never worry about running out of wine."
He added, "Ser Barristan Selmy, can you tell me which attendant was accompanying me that day?"
Before the old knight could speak, Lord Renly's eyes moved slightly and said, "Varys, the attendant that day is Lancel from the Lannister family."
Varys first nodded his thanks to Lord Renly, and then sighed, "It turns out to be him, Robert King's new attendant, the son of Sir Kevan·Lannister, Lord Tywin's nephew, Cersei Queen's cousin.
Lancel is a strong boy. I really hope this good boy won't blame himself too much. Children are always very fragile in their innocent teenage years. I know this very well."
Everyone definitely believes that Varys also had a boyhood, but they all doubt whether Spider was innocent.
Everyone stopped talking and left one after another.
The whole journey was speechless. When Lord Eddard was about to reach Tower of the Hand, the voice of Renly came over.
"Ned."
Lord Eddard paused and looked over, Renly was still covered in blood-stained clothes.
"Renly, you need to rest."
Renly shook his head with a bitter expression. "I'm not in that mood yet."
Lord Eddard patted Renly comfortingly and said, "What do you want from me?"
Renly glanced around and said, "Ned, I want to talk to you about something alone."
"Okay."
Lord Eddard believed in Lord Renly, agreed without hesitation, and waved the guards away.
Renly approached Lord Eddard and said, "Ned, the will letter sealed in Ni, could it be related to the regent? Will my brother appoint you as Protector of the Realm?"
He lowered his voice and continued, "Ned, I have thirty personal guards, as well as other knights and noble friends. Give me an hour, and I can give you a hundred people."
Lord Eddard stared at Lord Renly for a while and asked doubtfully, "Renly, what are you going to do with a hundred people?"
Lord Renly said eagerly, "Ned, of course it is a pre-emptive strike! Act immediately while everyone is still asleep."
Lord Eddard's face turned a little cold, he frowned and said, "Renly, what do you want to do?"
Lord Renly didn't notice anything strange about Lord Eddard, his eyes revealed a kind of excitement that Lord Eddard couldn't understand.
"We have to take Joffrey from his mother's hands as a bargaining chip. It doesn't matter whether he is a guardian or not. Whoever holds the king can order Seven Kingdoms.
We also need to hold Myrcella and Tommen in our hands. As long as we control Cersei's children, she will not dare to act rashly.
Ned, when the time comes, Small Council will recognize you as Lord Regent of Seven Kingdoms, and let you be the guardian of Joffrey..."
Lord Eddard interrupted coldly, "Renly, Robert has not yet expired, and the Gods may spare his life. If Robert passes away, I will immediately summon Small Council to make the will public and discuss the inheritance."
After a pause, he glanced at Renly, who had become unfamiliar, and then said, "I will not kill people and bleed in Robert's last moments, and commit the crime of forcibly pulling a panicked child from his sleep."
Lord Renly was stunned for a moment, and his face flushed with anxiety. "Ned, now is not the time to delay, Cersei will definitely not stay there. If you don't take action in advance, when Robert dies, it will be too late, and our situation will become very dangerous."
Lord Eddard doesn't want to continue arguing, "Then let's just pray that Robert doesn't die."
Lord Renly reluctantly persuaded again, "Ned, we cannot deceive ourselves at this time. We are very aware of Robert's situation. We must not sit and wait for death!"
Lord Eddard said coldly, "Renly, sometimes the Gods is also kind."
Lord Renly stared at Lord Eddard, gritted his teeth and said, "Ned, Lannister will not be kind to us."
After saying that, he tossed his cloak and Renly strode away.
"In Game of Thrones, if you don't win, you will die."
Returning to Hand's Study, Lord Eddard remembered what Cersei·Lannister said to him before leaving that day in Godswood.
Lord Eddard couldn't help but wonder, is it a wise move to reject Renly's proposal?
Lord Eddard has no interest in power struggles, and he despises using children as threats. If Cersei refuses to flee, but resists as Renly speculates, then he will need more than a hundred people from Renly, which is far from enough.
Lord Eddard brought more than 50 people from Winterfell, 20 of whom he had sent to the Reach to capture the robbers. He now only has about 30 people. In normal times, these people would be enough to serve as guards for him and his two daughters, but now they are completely insufficient.
There are at least more than 300 Lannister Red Cloaks in Red Keep... Lord Eddard thought of the children who lived with him in Tower of the Hand.
How would Cersei choose? No matter what choice she made, Lord Eddard decided to send the children back to the North first. He would not put House Stark's Little Wolfs in danger.
Dong Dong Dong Dong, after the rapid knock on the door, before Lord Eddard could respond, Jory, who had always been steady, pushed the door open in a panic.
"Sir, King Robert has passed away!"
Lord Eddard's tall body swayed, and Jory hurried forward to support his lord.
Damn it! Before he could pray at Godswood for Robert, who was more in love than his siblings, Robert left forever.
Renly is not wrong. In fact, everyone has known for a long time that Robert cannot survive tonight, and Lord Eddard also knows it.
After a moment of silence, Lord Eddard slowly said, "Jory..."
Direwolf cannot fall into sadness yet, he has the trust of his old friends.
"Jory, you ask Cayn to hire a sea ship, the sooner the better."
"Arrange someone to invite High Septon. Our king needs him. Lord Renly will be responsible for the matters there first."
"In my name, close all doors of Red Keep, and no one is allowed to leave or enter without my consent."
After Lord Eddard finished explaining, Jory left as hastily as when he came.
Lord Eddard sat quietly at the table for a while. He pulled out a blank piece of parchment and spread it out. He took a pen and dipped it in ink. He exhaled and waved the quill.
To King Stannis of House Baratheon:
When you received this letter, your brother, Robert I, had passed away. He was injured by a wild boar while hunting...
Lord Eddard stopped writing after writing the reason why Robert was seriously injured.
Stannis is Lawful Heir of Iron Throne. He must come to King's Landing as soon as possible and sit on Iron Throne to rule the kingdom.
Lord Eddard The quill started moving again.
After finishing the letter carefully, Lord Eddard signed at the end: Protector of the Realm, Hand of the King, Winterfell Duke, Eddard·Stark.
After writing the letter, Lord Eddard felt relieved. His regency would be very short, and the new king would appoint a new Hand of the King, at which time he could return to Winterfell.
The thought of returning to Winterfell made him temporarily forget the pain of losing his friend. He wanted to hear Bran's laughter again, go out to fly eagles with Robb, wanted to see Rickon play and frolic, and he wanted to hug his wife tightly with his arms and sleep without a dream.
His current task is to stabilize the situation before Stannis arrives at King's Landing.
Stabilize the situation... Thinking of this, Lord Eddard became wary. He must not ignore Cersei's resistance. Out of honor... he could not leave the trouble to Stannis.
Stannis will definitely come with Dragonstone's army, and Cersei and the three children will not have escaped by then... He knows Stannis's temperament, and Cersei and the three children will not escape death... Cersei cannot be given any more time, at least those three children are innocent.
He has 30 people in his hands, and 10 of them need to be assigned to protect his children before leaving first, leaving 20 people.
Including the 100 people from Renly, they have only 120 people in total, while Lannister Red Cloaks has more than 300 people.
Lord Eddard thought of Gryn, that child had more than 200 Blue Cloaks.
Lord Eddard quickly gave up the plan of contacting Gryn... No matter how good Gryn is, he is still a child. He originally worked for Cersei, and he should not have to bear such a difficult choice at a young age.
Gryn has been helping him out of inner honor, which is already very rare. What he should do now is to take out Gryn to prevent Cersei from being implicated after Stannis gets on Iron Throne.
Lord Eddard will keep Gryn and his Blue Cloaks away from the storm.
As for... whether Gryn will betray him, Lord Eddard has not considered that possibility at all.
Dong dong dong dong, the knock on the door interrupted Lord Eddard's thoughts.
"Sir, Janos·Slynt Earl is here to see you." The voice of the guard Cayn came from outside the door.
Outside Tower of the Hand, Gryn saw Janos·Slynt leaving, and walked towards Tower of the Hand.
Lord Eddard looked at Gryn who came late at night, showing a slightly surprised expression.
"What happened?"
Gryn was wearing armor, Left Hand was holding his helmet, walked to the table, and said, "Duke Ned, the atmosphere outside is very unusual. You have left too few the North guards. You need my guards."
Lord Eddard looked at Gryn, whose face was full of concern, and he felt happy in his heart.
"Something happened in Gryn, Red Keep. I hope you will leave King's Landing early tomorrow morning and go... you can go there on my behalf. Riverrun, um... my wife's father is not in good health. I treat you as my own child. You can visit on my behalf."
Gryn sighed secretly. He was silent for a while and then said, "Duke Ned, there are no secrets in Red Keep. This is something everyone knows."
"Damn it!"
Lord Eddard couldn't help but curse.