Margaery was a clever child indeed. She needed only the slightest hint to understand anything.
Only by drawing the young king and his dragon to the Reach could House Tyrell use his influence to secure the power they wanted. As for the provisions they had offered as bargaining chips, those were things they ought to have distributed anyway.
Sadly, Margaery was a woman. Otherwise, she would have been a strong contender for the family succession.
What was more, she was skilled at concealing her true self, making her better suited than Willas to the position of Lord of Highgarden. After all, affairs in the Reach were more complicated than in the other kingdoms.
Willas was clever too, but his injured leg made him somewhat reluctant to meet outsiders. Though he had said himself that it was no hindrance, his disability had not only weakened his body but also diminished the imposing authority he needed before the unruly nobles of the Reach.
Despite his exceptional intelligence, he inevitably faced more constraints when handling family affairs. Some ambitious men had even begun contacting Garlan in secret.
Though Garlan was exceptionally brave and skilled in battle, he fell short of Willas when it came to judging people and keeping them in check. Those ambitious men had seized upon precisely that weakness, hoping to put him forward as a legitimate figurehead through whom they could gain more power.
Fortunately, Garlan was also an honest, loyal man, and his relationship with Willas was good. With an old woman like her still supporting them from behind the scenes, there was little to worry about in the short term.
But she was already far too old, and Margaery could not remain in Highgarden forever for the family's sake. Once she was gone, even someone as loyal as