Voice of the Victor-Fickle

A large army once again gathered around Riverrun, including not only the Riverlands troops but also the Northern Army that had just returned from the Westerlands. Banners fluttered, men shouted, and horses neighed, but an invisible sense of oppression enveloped the castle on the Trident River.

In the study left by Edmure's father, the Duke of Tully, Robb sat in the center, flanked by Catelyn, Brynden, Rickard, Edmure, and other key members of the royal family.

At this moment, everyone was at a loss. No one could have imagined that the bastard would be so bold as to launch a coup, seize military power, and attack King's Landing!

"He's probably going to wipe out all ten thousand of those troops. Add the Lannister and Tyrell, and that's a hundred thousand troops!" Edmure said, stroking his sword hilt. "If Jon had been placed directly under Lord Bolton's command, perhaps this wouldn't have happened."

Edmure spoke up quietly, glancing furtively at Robb out of the corner of his eye, and found that Robb was indeed looking at him with a gloomy expression.

Robb had previously accused him of not letting Tywin's army cross the river and fall into the ambush he had set.

Edmure's orders were clearly to intercept Tywin at the Red Fork, yet he was unhappy even after defeating Robb.

Edmure was only in his early twenties, and his pride had been boosted by defeating Tywin. He was somewhat unwilling to obey his nephew, who had only recently come of age.

At least I need to vent my frustrations a little.

In his view, he and Roose Bolton were practically in the same boat.

Seeing her brother and son have a falling out during this dangerous time, Catelyn was extremely anxious.

Sansa is still in King's Landing, still in the hands of the Lannister, and the internal divisions are causing her great distress.

"We've indeed trusted this bastard too much; after all, he's not a real Stark," Rickard said, because according to the information he'd received, his son had also been kidnapped by Jon. "We'll send him to the Wall when he returns."

At this moment, her great-uncle Brynden noticed his niece Catelyn's mood and the tense atmosphere, and spoke up to stop her, saying, "Now is not the time to complain! We should think about what to do."

Jon's attack on King's King's Landing isn't all bad. Stannis possesses the largest fleet in the Seven Kingdoms, and perhaps he can join Jon in conquering King's Landing. In that case, we would indirectly gain a powerful ally.

Jon timed it perfectly. From launching the coup to King's Landing south, then to conquering King's Landing and holding King's Landing, the whole process took no more than a month.

Robb and his party, who had just returned from their expedition Westerlands the Westerlands, were not in a good position to have a delayed response.

Brynden's words eased the tension somewhat, but one question remained: should troops be sent to King's Landing?

"Sending troops now is probably too late. The war in King's Landing should be over by now. We should strengthen our defenses and wait and see, since we don't have many men."

"Edmure."

Faced with Edmure's insistence on bringing up a sore subject, Brynden whispered for him to shut up.

Robb broke the covenant by marrying a noblewoman from the Crag in the Westerlands, prompting Black Walder of House Frey to angrily lead his army away.

After plundering the Westerlands with them, the Iron Islands ' army returned to the Iron Islands, and even Theon had left.

Now, with the North and the Riverlands combined, Robb's entire force of just over 20,000 men is barely enough to defend the Riverlands, let alone the North, Riverlands is ten times larger.

However, Edmure was right; it was indeed too late to get there now, and they could only leave it to fate.

At that moment, the scholar from Riverrun rushed into the study, and everyone knew at a glance that it must be news from King's King's Landing!

All eyes were fixed on the thin piece of paper in the scholar's hand. It was no ordinary piece of paper; it was a verdict on the fate of Riverlands and the Westerlands!

The scholar presented the letter to Robb, addressing him as "Your Majesty."

Robb looked at the letter in front of him and suddenly felt a heaviness in his arm, as if he dared not look at its contents.

He could even hear the increasingly rapid breathing of the people around him, especially Catelyn, who was almost in Tears as she looked at the note.

It's clear that this letter came from the Red Keep of King's Landing's Red Keep; the thin letter must have carried the voice of the victor, as well as the fate of her daughter.

"Read!"

Robb finally uttered the first word. The maester's eyes darted around before he opened the letter. He quickly skimmed through its contents, his expression quite varied.

He should have immediately begun reading aloud to the esteemed officials, but he read it three times without uttering a sound, leaving everyone eagerly awaiting his reply.

Edmure and Rickard, in particular, craned their necks, wishing they could stand up and plunge their heads into the tiny piece of paper.

"Read it quickly!" Rickard urged, blowing his beard and glaring at him.

"Yes, yes, as you command."

The scholar, somewhat flustered, cleared his throat and said:

"The late Jon Snow, Hand of the King, Lord of Winterfell, son of the Warden of the North, has reclaimed King's Landing, having slain the Usurper King Joffrey and repelled the Lannister rebels a day ago—"

Before the scholar from Riverrun could finish speaking, everyone present erupted in an uproar, their faces filled with astonishment.

Robb suddenly stood up and snatched the letter from the maester's hand.

As everyone watched Robb's expression shift from astonishment to even greater astonishment, he, like the scholar, stared wide-eyed at him again and again.

Jon deliberately omitted Tyrell, who was also a "rebel," suggesting that he was making the decision on behalf of Stannis.

But that doesn't matter; he could simply say he was only trying to reduce the number of deaths, and if Tyrell remained obstinate, he could take action later.

"Robb? Robb!" Brynden finally couldn't hold back any longer and asked, "What did the letter say? Did Jon really take King's Landing?"

Everyone was puzzled. Jon only had a little over ten thousand men, Stannis had a massive fleet and Tyrell had a huge army. Either one of them could easily wipe him out like a pea. So why was Jon the one who issued the announcement in the end?

In Brynden's view, Jon would be at best able to serve as Stannis's support in taking King's Landing.

"Sansa, Robb, did the letter say how Sansa is doing?" Catelyn urged, her voice trembling and on the verge of tears.

Robb then realized what was happening and handed the letter back to the maester, saying, "Continue reading."

The maester took the thin sheet of paper and continued reading, "It is hereby declared that His Majesty Stannis Baratheon I is the rightful monarch of the Seven Kingdoms, and rightfully inherits the Iron Throne."

All the lords of the Seven Kingdoms have a duty to be loyal to their king and serve him faithfully. They must unite as one to intercept the traitor Tywin Lannister and his followers, so as to quell the national crisis and restore order to the kingdoms.

The Grand Maester told everyone the contents of the letter, but they were still not satisfied. Brynden snatched the letter back and read it over and over again, and Edmure also came over.

"Jon — Jon conquered King's Landing?" Edmure said incredulously. He had thought that defeating Tywin was enough to make him proud, but Jon had made him admit defeat.

Brynden and the others exchanged glances; the situation wasn't hard to guess.

It's highly likely that Jon captured King's Landing after Stannis had already been defeated, and swiftly killed Joffrey. If that's the case, Jon's contribution would be unimaginable.

First, he avenged Winterfell, so all the previous mutinies and chaos were no longer a problem. At least no one in the North or the Riverlands dared to cause him trouble.

Secondly, there's Stannis. If Jon had taken King's Landing's Landing after Stannis had already failed...

Then he could simply not return to the North, and Stannis would see Jon as a savior.

Such an achievement is probably unparalleled even in historical records.

It took almost fifteen minutes for everyone to finish reading the letter. After that, there was a long silence, silence, silence...

The letter was still in Catelyn's hand. As she looked at it, she grew increasingly anxious.

Sansa is trapped in the Red Keep, and Jon and Sansa's relationship is strained. Catelyn dares not think about it and can only pray that Jon is not that kind of person.

Of course, Catelyn didn't believe Jon would kill Sansa; that possibility didn't exist. She remembered that when Jon left Winterfell for the Wall, he made a special trip to visit Bran, even though she was trying to drive him away.

She was just worried that Jon hadn't considered Sansa's life when he attacked the Red Keep.

"Since Tywin only has three or four thousand men, I'll finish him off," Rickard said first.

His two sons died at Jaime's hands, and he considered it a reasonable price to pay if he could kill Jaime's father.

"Wait!" Brynden suddenly spoke up, "Can a Westerlands led by Tywin stand in our way and distract Stannis?"

A strange atmosphere was brewing: if their goal was to maintain independence, should Tywin be killed?

But no one said such things at this time, after all, for Riverlands, this brutal Lord of Casterly Rock was the source of all suffering.

Just as everyone was speaking in riddles, a Raven flew directly into the study and perched on the windowsill.

Ah!! Ah!!

The Raven's call attracted the attention of the others, who turned around and saw a communication tube tied to its leg.

"It's Jon's Raven!" Robb recognized it immediately, which made everyone perk up again. The raven that had just sent out from King's Landing was like a public chat, and this Raven was like a private chat, so there must be more information.

The maester of Riverrun was once again ordered to remove the letter from the raven's foot and then present it to Robb.

This time, unlike last time, he didn't hesitate about whether to read it or whether he dared to read it. After all, it was his bastard brother who conquered King's Landing, and there was nothing he couldn't accept based on that.

Robb turned on the communication tube, and everyone's attention was once again focused.

After a moment, Robb spoke up, "Sansa is alive. Jon says she's fine."

Upon hearing the news, Catelyn relaxed completely, then covered her face and cried uncontrollably, her shoulders shaking violently, and even her breathing becoming labored.

Seeing this, Edmure quickly went to comfort his sister, and the tense atmosphere in the study quickly dissipated.

As her son, Robb also stepped forward to comfort Catelyn. During this time, he and Edmure exchanged a glance, temporarily putting aside their previous unpleasantness.

"Robb, what else did Jon say?" Edmure asked.

Robb handed the letter to Edmure, then looked at the others and said, "Jon says he's now King's Landing charge of King's Landing. Stannis has retreated to Dragonstone, and he wants to make Stannis king. Also, he says Tywin is likely fleeing towards Stony Sept, mainly with cavalry. We should prepare early so we might have leverage to negotiate with Stannis in the future."

Listening to Robb's account, Rickard felt a pang of shame, for Jon was still keeping his promise to fight for Winterfell and the North.

Fortunately, Greatjon wasn't here.

If he were here, he'd probably be yelling about why Jon didn't just make Robb King.

After a series of fierce battles, everyone realized their own limitations. The North and the Riverlands simply did not have the ability or prestige to rule the Seven Kingdoms.

Jon's support of Stannis was also the best way to prevent the Seven Kingdoms from falling into war.

"Your Majesty, let us raise an army now! Let us intercept Tywin and use his blood to atone for my son and the people of the Riverlands!" Rickard pleaded again.

The atmosphere was somewhat awkward when Brynden suddenly spoke up, "Of course we should kill Tywin, but—if what we want is independence, is a dead Tywin more useful, or a living Tywin more beneficial to us?"

"Brynden?" Catelyn, recovering from the shock of surviving a close call, looked at her second uncle with some astonishment.

What does that mean? Aren't you going to seek revenge?

She quickly realized that Sansa was safe, and Catelyn's intelligence returned.

A living Tywin could lead the Westerlands against Stannis; at the very least, Stannis would have to deal with Tywin before he could take action against the North.

As the situation in the study deteriorated to his displeasure, Jon, controlling the Raven in King's Landing, frowned deeply.

He knew that the current situation would inevitably cause some people to have ulterior motives, which was why he sent his Raven to deliver the message.

As it turned out, what I feared still happened.

Brynden's remarks, in particular, took him by surprise.

"That's right. He and Hoster Tully are brothers. Hoster is considering things from the family's perspective when he rebelled against the Targaryen, so Jon would naturally consider things from the family's perspective as well," Jon thought to himself.

Family, honor, duty—these are the mottos of the House Tully, with family coming first!

The people in Riverrun quickly realized what was going on, and the atmosphere began to become somewhat ambiguous.

Robb turned to look for the Raven that had delivered the message, only to find that Raven had vanished.

By this time, Jon had already manipulated the Raven to a hidden treetop, where another bronze letter was also hidden.

This was precisely the contingency plan he left behind.

He picked up the hidden bronze crown with his mouth, attached it to the sheath on his foot, and flew towards the Twins.

Since Robb has broken the alliance, he should go find Old Walder himself, the Twins will block the Northern Army's return route.

House Frey has already lost a crown, so they certainly don't want to be enemies of the Iron Throne!