"Anyone who wears a crown loses his wits," Tyrion agreed. "But beheading someone in the Great Sept of Baelor-didn't you tell Joffrey what was really going on? ...Was it truly Joffrey's idea?"
What a perfect lie, yet now it was a complete mess. Revealing the truth would disgrace the king: they had used a fake Hand of the King to apologize. Keeping it secret meant thoroughly alienating the northerners.
The Queen Mother frowned. "I gave him very clear instructions, over and over. Joffrey is still a child, after all, so he knew nothing about the substitution. That hardly mattered. According to our plan, we would show mercy and announce that, after Eddard repented, we had agreed to send him to the Wall. Then we would kill that unlucky impostor. When the real one actually left would be up to us. That way, Joffrey would have a legitimate claim, and the Stark wolf pup would behave himself. Instead, Joffrey decided he had a duty to give the audience a good show. What could I do? He announced before the entire city that he would have Lord Eddard beheaded, and Lord Janos and Ser Ilyn could hardly wait. They were delighted to obey, without asking me a word!"
Tyrion looked at the Queen Mother. "And you offended the High Septon as well, didn't you? That was already dreadful enough. Had Stark not stubbornly refused to admit wrongdoing, he probably really would have lost his head."
The Queen Mother clenched her fists. "Now the High Septon is berating us for first keeping him in the dark, then defiling the Great Sept of Baelor with blood."
"So that toad had a hand in this too," Tyrion said, before moving on to something more important. "Tell me, whose brilliant idea was it to grant him