Even now, he could scarcely believe it.
How could that letter have been so detailed?
Who had unearthed these deeply buried secrets and revealed them to everyone at this moment?
His silence instantly fueled Robert's fury.
"Have you gone mute?! Ned! Answer me!"
Renly declared loudly, "Brother, sometimes silence is an answer in itself. I believe the lords here already have their answer."
A trace of pity showed on his face, but deep in his eyes lay smug satisfaction and delight in another's misfortune.
Eddard Stark, so even you have come to this!
Like a lion whose tail had been stepped on, Robert wheeled on Renly, his eyes fierce. "Shut your filthy mouth, Renly! Or I'll have you thrown back to Storm's End at once!"
Renly immediately fell silent, but the smile at the corner of his mouth deepened.
He discreetly glanced at Littlefinger, his gaze laden with meaning.
At the other end of the long table, Littlefinger was taken aback. That look-
Surely Renly doesn't think I did this?
Ever since receiving the news that morning, Littlefinger had been utterly bewildered.
This secret was nothing short of a thunderbolt, utterly transforming the kingdom's political situation.
In a sense, he was quite happy to see such a scene.
The problem was that he was not the source of the information.
All this time, Littlefinger had been turning over countless possibilities about the source of the news, trying to work out who possessed the extraordinary means to uncover such a secret.
Just then, Varys quietly cast an inquiring glance his way.
Littlefinger shifted his gaze and met Varys's eyes.
Their gazes briefly crossed, then parted again in tacit understanding.
In that instant, each seemed to read the meaning in the other's eyes.
Both believed they understood, each independently concluding that the