As though he had anticipated Liu Qian's doubts, Mezzo stepped forward, carefully took a slightly aged roll of parchment from his broad sleeve, and respectfully offered it with both hands.
"Your Majesty, this is precisely what I came to report. I found nothing after investigating House Tyrell's motives, but I did discover something strange. House Tyrell seems to have hired people to find an excellent painter in Oldtown to paint a portrait of Lord Mace's beloved daughter, Margaery Tyrell."
Liu Qian unrolled the parchment.
The edges were somewhat worn, evidently from passing through many hands.
The portrait depicted a young girl with delicate features, a lingering youthful innocence about her eyes and brows, and a quiet, shy smile on her lips. Her eyes were as clear as a fawn's in the woods, revealing an innocence and gentleness untouched by worldly affairs.
Mezzo added, "I obtained this from the Children in Oldtown. Lord Mace invited many excellent painters to paint his daughter, producing quite a number of discarded drafts. This is one of them."
"Children" was the name Mezzo had given his intelligence agents, modeled after Varys's "Little Birds."
Liu Qian lowered his head again, looking at the young, fawnlike girl in the portrait, and suddenly understood.
"So that was it..."
A cold smile appeared on Liu Qian's lips.
Although he knew the plot well, his arrival had been so early that some things had happened ahead of time.
In the original story, Renly and the Tyrells had conspired to offer Margaery to Robert, hoping to depose Cersei and install Margaery as queen.
On the journey when Robert brought Eddard Stark to King's Landing to serve as Hand of the King, Renly had shown Duke Eddard a portrait of Margaery while welcoming the king. Renly's intention had been to sound out