Secret

Dear Lady Margaery,

I am sorry to trouble you again, but I must confess that I am out of money once more...

This time, I truly had not been spending recklessly. There was a reason for it.

As I am sure you know, I was not a son my father favored, so he left me with only a longsword and a warhorse. Beyond that, I had nothing.

Now the Red Mountains lay before us, and I felt it necessary to improve my equipment for the coming battles. Besides, as a knight, how could I not even own a suit of armor? If word got out, people would think House Tyrell mistreated its vassals.

Fortunately, we encountered a House Hightower merchant caravan near Highgarden, and they happened to have what I needed. That was why I opened my purse so generously. Of course, I kept your previous instructions firmly in mind and deliberately passed over the expensive plate armor in favor of cheaper mail.

In addition, I purchased a set of leather armor for each recruit.

I know this may anger you. But these brave and fearless Reachmen had followed me thousands of miles to the Red Mountains to carve out new lands. I truly could not bear to send them into battle half-clothed.

I believe that beautiful and kind Lady Margaery would think the same.

"Hmph!" Beautiful and kind Lady Margaery crumpled the letter into a ball, gritting her teeth in anger.

But the next moment, she suddenly laughed, as though she had remembered something amusing.

"What is it?" Lady Olenna asked curiously, watching her granddaughter alternate between anger and laughter.

"Who else but Samwell? He actually wrote to ask me for money again!"

"Then give it to him."

Margaery's eyes widened at Lady Olenna's casual reply. "But Grandmother, this is already the second time he has written to ask for money! I think he is deliberately squandering it. If I give him more this time, he will probably spend it all again before long..."

"Are we short on money?" Lady Olenna interrupted with a smile.

Margaery shook her head, though she still sounded indignant. "Even if we are not short on money, we cannot let him keep demanding it like this. No, this is extortion!"

"Then do not give him any. Have Todd bring our soldiers back as well."

"Ah?" Margaery, who had been fuming just moments ago, now hesitated. "B-but Grandmother, if we do that, can Samwell still develop the lands successfully... And were you not planning to use him against Dorne? Are we giving up just like that?"

Lady Olenna chuckled.

"Now do you understand? That is why he dares to extort you so brazenly."

Margaery sighed, stepped forward, and wrapped her arms around Lady Olenna's arm as she pleaded sweetly.

"Grandmother, teach me. What should I do in this situation?"

Lady Olenna affectionately patted her granddaughter's little hand. Instead of answering, she asked, "What kind of person do you think Samwell Caesar is?"

"I think he is rather different from the rumors. Well—aside from the fact that he really is fat. They say he is timid and weak, but I think he is quite bold. He even dared to extort House Tyrell."

"He does not merely have the nerve to extort people. He also killed Carter, Todd Flowers's attendant."

"What?" Margaery was startled.

"You heard correctly." Lady Olenna explained, "I have just received a letter from Todd Flowers as well. He said Samwell killed Carter on the grounds that he had 'threatened a nobleman with a sword.'"

"H-how could he dare kill Carter? Todd did not stop him? And was he not worried the soldiers would resent him for it?"

Lady Olenna took a letter from her sleeve and handed it to Margaery.

"This is Todd's letter. Read it yourself."

Margaery accepted the letter and skimmed through it. Then she said in surprise, "That fat man is rather scheming, and so ruthless and decisive... It seems the rumors truly cannot be trusted."

Lady Olenna added with a profound gaze, "What surprises me most, however, is Samwell's ability to train soldiers."

"Right. In just over a month, he turned a group of dockworkers into well-trained soldiers. It is simply unbelievable."

"Randyll Tarly truly knew how to raise a son." Lady Olenna sighed, then a look of puzzlement appeared on her face. "Bold, decisive, cunning, resourceful, and possessed of outstanding military ability—Samwell already has every quality a lord's heir should possess. Yet why is Randyll still so dissatisfied with such an excellent son? Why would he strip him of his inheritance?"

"Perhaps he thinks Sam is too fat."

"Your father is also a potbellied 'Inflatable Fish.' Did that stop him from becoming Lord of Highgarden?"

"That is different." Though she was long accustomed to her grandmother's sharp tongue, Margaery still felt somewhat awkward hearing her mock her father. "House Tarly's words are 'First in Battle,' so perhaps Lord Randyll simply wanted an heir capable of charging into battle."

"Heh. Do you think Randyll Tarly is some brainless brute?"

"Of course not. Lord Randyll is one of the Reach's finest generals. How could he be brainless? I only think Lord Randyll prefers charging into battle himself rather than plotting schemes from behind the scenes."

"You still think Randyll is a brainless brute." Lady Olenna mercilessly exposed Margaery's attempt at glossing it over, then continued without waiting for her to defend herself. "Randyll cannot plot? Heh. During the War of the Usurper, Robert Baratheon rose in rebellion against House Targaryen. He won three victories in a single day at Summerhall and seemed unstoppable, only to meet Randyll Tarly at Ashford and suffer a crushing defeat, fleeing north. After that, the Reach army advanced into the Stormlands and besieged Storm's End. Do you remember how long that siege lasted?"

"I remember it being over a year."

"Yes. Over a year! Yet they still failed to take it." Lady Olenna looked into her granddaughter's brown eyes, the corner of her mouth curling upward slightly. "Then do you remember why that siege ultimately came to nothing?"

Margaery nodded. "Davos Seaworth successfully sailed his smuggling vessel, loaded with onions, into Storm's End's harbor. He relieved the city's food shortage and allowed Storm's End to hold out until Lord Eddard arrived with reinforcements. Because of that, Davos was knighted by Stannis."

A mocking smile appeared on Lady Olenna's face as she asked again, "Have you ever considered how, with more than two hundred warships of the Arbor Fleet sealing Storm's End's harbor so tightly that not even water could pass through, that 'Onion Knight' managed to sail his smuggling ship inside? Could he fly?"

Margaery frowned, seeming to realize something.

Lady Olenna's gaze deepened. "Let me tell you a secret. During the siege, Randyll Tarly once wrote me a letter, saying that Storm's End had exhausted its food supplies."

Margaery froze, then grew puzzled—

Her grandmother had not gone to the battlefield at the time, so why would Lord Randyll go out of his way to write to her in faraway Highgarden and report such a matter?

But when she thought of the "Onion Knight," understanding suddenly dawned on her.

Seeing her granddaughter's reaction, Lady Olenna smiled in satisfaction.

"That is right. After receiving Randyll's letter, I wrote one to Paxter as well."