'The most beautiful woman in the Seven Kingdoms'

Seeing Ghost suddenly lower her head and shed tears, Rhaegar was somewhat taken aback. At a loss, he stopped and took out a handkerchief to offer her.

"I'm sorry... did what I said upset you?"

The prince's handkerchief carried a faint fragrance, a woody scent that brought to mind laden fruit trees and brilliant mountain flowers...

Ghost hurriedly took it and wiped her face haphazardly, masking her feelings with a smile. "It's nothing. Hearing that just made me so happy."

"After all, those words carry as much weight as a vow..."

The breeze gently stirred the girl's long platinum hair, and crystalline tears still clung to her long lashes. Yet she stood there with such a lovely smile that even the sea of flowers beside her paled.

Liar, the prince thought in a daze... Could Rhaenys be shedding tears out of sorrow for me? Can she sense my thoughts and feelings?

"Your Highness, Your Highness, where are you?..." A servant came jogging over, calling for Rhaegar.

Rhaegar suddenly came back to himself and shouted, "I'm here."

He broke a pinkish-purple thistle flower from a branch and handed it to Ghost. "If you need anything, you can send someone to find me anytime. Well... I should go."

Her sadness was forgotten in an instant, and Ghost grew happy again-Rhaegar had given her a flower! She curtsied and watched the prince walk away.

Thistles. I remember they're Britain's national flower. What do they mean in the language of flowers? Oh, right, caution, steadiness, and... silent love.

The prince couldn't possibly know that, so could this be a good omen? Perhaps he won't fall in love with Lyanna in the future, and won't cause the innocent Lyanna to die a terrible death. Then surely he won't die young either!

As she thought, she carefully folded the prince's handkerchief and tucked it away.

Her emotions swung between hope and fear. Ever since her first glimpse of Rhaegar, she seemed to have been drawn to him more and more.

No, she reassured herself. I can't like Rhaegar. It's only because he looks like Goumi from my previous life... yes, this must be an illusion caused by being a sucker for good looks.

Besides, she was here to save Lyanna and Ned, as well as the Mother of Dragons, Jon Snow, and the others from their tragic futures... although she did not know how much she could accomplish, she had to try.

There were still more than three years until the "False Spring." She could not truly marry Rhaegar... Elia Martell was Prince Rhaegar's true wife.

Then all she needed to do was prevent Rhaegar and Lyanna from meeting. That way, Jon Snow would never be born, and Robert Baratheon would not rise in rebellion in a fit of rage.

Ghost slapped her cheeks hard, putting away her useless melancholy. She had to find Varys and talk to him, and Master Weilisi, who was still outside the Red Keep. Confined deep within the palace, she could only rely on Master Weilisi to pass messages to Rickard Stark.

Meanwhile, at Casterly Rock a thousand miles away, the daughter of the lion, Tywin Lannister, was flying into a rage.

She had smashed every ornament in her room and was pointing a shortsword at her uncle Kevan Lannister, shrieking and howling like a young beast.

This is far too ungraceful, without any of the poise of the foremost lady in the Seven Kingdoms, Kevan thought. But he truly felt for his niece, and let his wife earnestly try to reason with her.

Kevan's wife said, "Cersei, calm down. Your father won't stand by and watch some wild woman become Rhaegar's wife."

Cersei had cried herself hoarse. Her wish since childhood had been to marry Rhaegar. Even after the king rejected her, she could still comfort herself that Prince Rhaegar had no wife, and her father would find a way...

But now, a raven from King's Landing had brought news so terrible that her heart ached unbearably. King Aerys had found some wild woman from who knew where and so casually betrothed her to Crown Prince Rhaegar?

Cersei broke down... before, even when Rhaegar rejected her, she could console herself that he had no one he loved, that at least she had a chance. But now...

"That bitch who crawled out of that savage continent-I want her dead. Send someone to kill her! Kill her!!!!"

Kevan's wife gathered her niece, who was crying and screaming madly, into a pained embrace and pressed her head against her chest.

They seemed not at all surprised that thirteen-year-old Cersei could say something so terrible. Instead, her frenzy made their hearts ache, and the king's two rejections of House Lannister filled them with anger.

"King Aerys has gone mad. He humiliates House Lannister again and again. He has no regard for the lion at all!"

"Cersei, the family will send you to King's Landing to see your father at once. We cannot let that mad king have his way," Cersei's maternal aunt said viciously.

Kevan's wife also said darkly, "They must learn that the house of the lion is not something a savage of unknown origins can afford to offend."

Though their words referred to Ghost, they all understood that the one who truly needed to be taught a lesson was that deranged king...

Perhaps Tywin Lannister would not tolerate it much longer either.

Cersei gritted her teeth and swallowed the bloody spittle in her mouth. "I'll go. I'll kill that woman myself."

Seeing Cersei rally, Kevan and his wife both looked gratified. The members of the cadet branches also smiled venomously. "That's right, Cersei. With House Lannister's power, Prince Rhaegar will never cast you aside. Remove every obstacle, and the position of queen... of crown princess will surely be yours."

Cersei gradually calmed down, becoming the elegant, charming Lady Lannister once more.

She dried her tears and slowly combed her long golden hair smooth. Holding the shattered mirror, she looked at the radiant, beautiful girl in its shards, and her confidence returned little by little.

That's right. As long as all those women die, Prince Rhaegar will have no choice but to choose me, won't he?

Cersei was absent from dinner. She was in her room, writing furiously.

Besides the letter to her father Tywin, there was also one to her younger twin brother, Jaime Lannister.

After finishing, Cersei put on a black cloak and went out with a maid. Avoiding the servants in the castle, she went to the stables and threatened a servant into driving a carriage for her, heading straight for the forest.

Outside Casterly Rock lay a deep, secluded forest, where a witch was said to live in exile. People said this witch could breathe fire, that she caught little children to work evil magic... and that she could turn humans into insects.

This was Cersei's second visit to her. The first time, she had received three prophecies. This time, she intended to get something truly "useful."

Originally, she had not believed a word from this mumbling old witch, but after Rhaegar rejected her several times, she had begun to believe a little.

The witch's shack was just as it had been before, filled with a strange stench, with all kinds of dried animal carcasses and strange bone objects hanging to dry. Cersei left her maid waiting outside and got straight to the point:

"Give me poison. Preferably something colorless and odorless, completely undetectable."

The witch was grinding something in her hands, and the strange liquid gave off a pungent smell. She neither raised her head nor acknowledged Cersei.

Cersei rushed over, drew a small dagger, and held it against the witch's neck. "Did you hear me, you damned heretic? I said, give me poison."

Only then did the witch raise her head to glance at her and point at a small bottle on the low table.

"Allow me to remind you, noble lady, that your wish will not come true. Prince Rhaegar will never be yours."

Did she already know I was coming? Cersei picked up the little bottle suspiciously and shook it, peering inside by the dim candlelight.

The pitch-black liquid flowed, and something alive seemed to be moving within it...

Cersei said, "Shut your mouth! I don't need reminders from a heretic."

After Cersei left, the witch sighed, turned, and began gathering up the odds and ends in her shack. After burning her shack to the ground, the witch disappeared into the forest.