18 Chapter Eighteen

Margaery was running through the corridors of Highgarden because she was informed that several men from the North arrived, in a much larger quantity than usual, so she thought that maybe Harry Stark finally came to meet her.

But when she arrived, she saw her grandmother looking very, very badly at her father, who was very nervous, too much, something happened, slowly she approached where they were, and saw that the men who came to give her some gift or anything sent by her fiancé did not have very good faces, they looked angry, too much.

And when she was closer to them, she saw a man on his knees, she could tell he was trembling with fear, so Margaery analyzed the situation, how her grandmother was looking at her father without hiding her anger at all, and seeing the man who was on his knees, she had the idea that it was a spy sent by her father and was captured, but it was something that did not fit because the spies of her grandmother, only his head returned and nothing else, with a note, that was why she stopped sending spies to the North.

From what she could see, it was something far worse, that only made her know what her grandmother was feeling, her father had always disagreed with her forced betrothal to Harry Stark, but now that betrothal was the only thing that put the Tyrells as the force to be feared.

The North was no longer what it was when the dragons were there, now a stag ruled, and the strongest houses were returning to what they were before, the southerners no longer had a house of dragons to control the Northerners, or rather House Stark, and now without them, the Starks wanted to be free of the southerners, and the entire North was going to support the Starks. House Stark ruled the North, the largest kingdom of all, and currently the most mysterious of all.

That is why it was ranked as a power among the four most powerful houses in all of Westeros, and for her father to try anything about one of the strongest men, politically and armed speaking, only registered enormous idiocy in her father, something that even made her angry, and without hesitation, she went over to where they were so she could talk.

- "So you, you say you didn't send this man to kill our Lord" - David Jones wanted so much to hit the guy in front of him, in his eyes he was a coward, you could tell he was behind all this, even the man that Harry himself caught admitted it that he was sent by this guy, that made him want to hit him, that's why Barbossa and Jack were in this place - "Then you won't mind if we kill him."

- "No please" - Margaery interrupted everything, and made all eyes on her, as it only made her father more nervous, Margaery was like her grandmother, she was his greatest precious, but very strict, in what she did, and her interest was exclusively in the North at present, no matter every suitor she brought never served to take the lord of house Stark off her mind - "As Lord Stark's betrothed, can you tell me what happened."

- "I hate that he is right" - Jack growled, Barbossa only laughed at the young captain's comment and Jones only kept his serious countenance as expected, Jack's comment caught Margaery's attention - "But unfortunately Lady Tyrell, we obey Lord Stark, we can't answer your question unless he authorizes us."

Margaery stared at the black-haired man, like everyone else, who only encouraged the rumor that in the North, only Harry Stark was in charge, he had no competitor, and they only followed the orders he gave without complaining. It was a rumor that spread throughout Westeros, but as time went by the rumor was much stronger, not even the Boltons had enough power to take against Lord Stark. That was very scary because Harry Stark was only 17, it was almost his 18th birthday. And he had a gigantic control, over the other lords of his realm who were twice his age, or triple in some cases, it was frightening, because perhaps in another realm, more experienced lords would not let a child control them. Now they realized that these rumors were true.

So without thinking twice, won by curiosity, she stood in front of the subject who was kneeling and squatted, she needed to know how Harry Stark was in person, those present said nothing, seeing that Margaery squatted in front of the subject they captured, and looked at him to know if he had any single sign of being tortured.

- "Can I ask you a question" - Margaery wanted so much to know how her fiancé was, she needed to know, to try to understand him, and to have an advantage against him, not only in a political game, because although she was going to be his fiancé, she wanted to control him, seeing that the subject nodded, trembling - "How is Harry Stark."

- "T... t... t... terrifying" - The subject raised his head, to look at Margaery, She could see that the only thing that his face reflected, was fear, a very big one from any point of view, but the subject quickly lowered his head again, maybe he was tortured, but he had no sign of having gone through any torture.

- "We did not torture him"- Artemisia spoke, being Harry's sister, her anger was very great, and she wanted to kill the man for such an act, and although the man in front of her was the father of her brother's fiancée, she wanted to kill him, for his betrayal, and he needed to pay for it. - "Not physically, but there are many forms of torture... such as, for example, fear."

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Winterfell (One month earlier).

A great feast was being held in the North, as it was the wedding anniversary of his mother and his late father, so in commemoration of his father, he did not leave that day, most of the Lords were invited, including Oberyn Martell who stayed at Winterfell to celebrate a little with what he considered another sister.

Everyone was enjoying this little party, although Harry was talking to his sister Mya, about a battle strategy, as she wished to be the commander of numerous Persians, but on land, so talk of strategy was very common for her. She had to be better than Artemisia who was to be captain of Silent Mary, she did not know, she thought she was only to take Barbossa's place, so it was only said that Silent Mary was to be used only when Harry left the North, she had to pass the test to be captain of the most armed ship in the whole North.

In that pleasant chat, a cup bearer came to serve Harry his drink as it was time for a toast, which as a good Lord, he appreciated but before drinking it he noticed a small detail.

- "So this was his intention" - Harry looked at the cup, and poured it, it was a green liquid, Mya seeing this, did not take long to rise abruptly from her chair grab the cup bearer by the neck, and place him against the table, with a dagger in his neck. The other lords, seeing this, became alarmed and withdrew all their swords - "Look at your goblets" - The northerners since Harry ascended the throne, did not drink wine, but their drinks, which were much stronger than wine, they had to be much less consumed. - "My future father-in-law, wants me dead."

Harry himself saw that at any moment someone was going to try to poison him, that's why all his drinks that were created were transparent like water, or of a golden color, which had a secret ingredient, when they changed color, any color was poison. The green color was from the Tyrell's poisons, the red from Dorne, and many more colors, it took time to do that, for that reason, they did not spread their drinks in Westeros, so they would not be blamed for poisoning a person. Therefore, they used Braavos to send their drinks, without the substance that discovers poisons, now it was finished. They were going to wait for the war against the Greyjoys to launch their drinks, which were going to compete against Tyrell's wine. But it was good publicity for them when their drinks went out to the market of the West, it would come out as the drink that cannot be poisoned by its change of color, which would force the Lords to buy then drink the wine of the Tyrell that will only have the option to sell them to them, so that they resell it to more expensive prices and with more security, anyway the North was winning.

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Highgarden (Present Day)

Margaery stared at the subject, she could tell he was very afraid, and from the signs the northern soldiers were sending, they were still outraged over the assassination attempt their Lord received, she slyly glanced at her father, and it was not a good look from any point of view. It was like that of a snake, watching your steps and when it looked like she was not going to strike, she already had her teeth in any area that might be visible to her, it was not good to anger Margaery, and more so when she looked more like her grandmother than anyone else in this realm.

Mace Tyrell was in big trouble, he was indeed the Head of House Tyrell, although he only serves to be the visible head of an ancient house that is ruled by his more cunning relatives, his mother considers him a lout and a person who acts before thinking of any consequences, he is considered a great warrior and strategist only because supposedly he was the only victory in the rebellion against Robert Baratheon, which was out of the question because that battle was won before he came to that fight and the great actor of that feat was Randyll Tarly.

Olenna looked at her son with fury, indeed, she always cataloged him as an imbecile, and it is not that it was out of spite, she loved her son as a mother, but he was an imbecile who did not think.

The Tyrells did not have a military force as big as the Lannisters, Dominion was not an unstoppable force like the West, they were rich because they generated money and of course, their intelligence, which is why the Tyrells took the position of rulers in Dominion because they used their intelligence when the Targaryen conquered West.

His stupidity caused this, she told him countless times not to mess with the North, the Targaryens were not there to control the wolves, it was an extremely important point, Robert Baratheon was going to give more liberties to the Starks than anyone in the world because he had a great affection for that house. Any house that messes with the Starks will mess with the person who right now rules all of Westeros, and worst of all, the Starks were not the idiots that many were going to think they would never take advantage of this great freedom. No, he did the complete opposite of what any man would expect, he took advantage of the war that lasted a year, to rebuild Moat Cailin.

From that very moment, the smartest Lords realized that something was not right in the North, and it didn't help that when Olenna sent some spies, their heads returned, from that moment she made it clear that they were not to mess with the North. And much now that Margaery was more interested in the North than anything else, meeting Harry Stark was being her goal, when she read a letter or sent one, you could tell Margaery's eagerness to meet said person. Because of all the people, all the Lords that arrived, the only one that did not pay much interest to her, was Harry Stark, the one that had to be her fiancé, an extremely important point was to generate interest, Margaery fell in that game. Because she knew she was beautiful, all the princes or young heirs wished to marry her, but the one who by royal order had to be her fiancé had no interest in knowing her, but he heard the rumors of her intelligence and beauty, knew her tastes, knew practically everything without knowing her. And now her father makes an act of stupidity so great, that it can send to shit all the plans that Margaery could have had with the people of the North.

- "Let's not get so serious" - Jack spoke and approached the prisoner who trembled, since with a razor he brushed his cheek, that was not good from Olenna's point of view if Harry wanted this guy would already be dead in the North, but for some reason they brought him here - "Ah... I can't take it anymore" - Removing his sword, Jack cut the guy's head off, leaving everyone surprised, Margaery who was the closest person was stained with the blood of the man they just killed, and the head of the man was on her feet - "This is the message Lord Stark sends... winter is coming."

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West

Tywin was happy, his daughter was finally pregnant, and the throne had an heir with House Lannister, now it only remained for her to have one more child who would be the heir of House Lannister. Everything was going well from any point of view. The Lannisters strengthened their power in all of Westeros as the most powerful house of all, although they had competitors it was not something that worried him since he controlled the kingdom, Jon Arryn was not as big a rival as anyone thought, at any moment he could destroy his dreams of controlling a kingdom, but he was going to leave it since he was only getting into trouble.

His problem was his biggest ally, the North, true they were allies, but it wasn't going to bother him if Jon hurt the North a little, even if they were allies, this was the game of who controls who, and he preferred to control the North. That's why he did nothing about the Greyjoys's constant siege on the northern coast, although apparently, the North had no problem at all against the Greyjoys's they were very well controlled, which was good and worrying because although he wanted a powerful ally, he did not want one as powerful as house Lannister and all the west.

When an ally surpasses or equals in military power to which was his most powerful ally always wants to make it clear that they were the ones who ruled, that happened with the Starks and the Martells, currently the most powerful house of the entire alliance was House Lannister, but to what extent it would be, Tywin had that very much in mind.

That's why he agreed to have his heir marry the second daughter of Eddard GreyStark, currently the house that rules Moat Cailin. They were going to have a hold on that stronghold and put some of their strength in the North, be able to control them, and thus over time, eliminate the Starks, and thus, the bloodline of their heir would reign in the North.

It was a simple plan, his heir marries Eddard's daughter, then gradually the people close to the Starks die, so that their great-grandchildren occupy the mantle of the Stark House as their only close relatives, with this not only the Lannisters control the West, but also to control the North and all that it possessed. It was a magnificent plan that no one else but him alone was going to be able to plan, and of course, there were no flaws because who would have thought that he was behind this plan?

Instead, Tyrion looked at his father from another less analytical point of view, he was a powerful person, with an extremely high level of intelligence, but he was going to be able to fall, the only thing that had to happen was that he believed that everything was going according to his plan, it was the only thing he had to do. As he didn't realize that Cersei and Jaime were shagging until Cersei got pregnant, no doubt it was going to be fun to see the reaction of a man like Tywin knowing that his legacy was going to be a farce, no doubt he would pay all the gold in the world to see, how he sinks in misery to see everything he built his favorite children sent to the trash. But for now, he was only going to watch and be a supposed puppet in his father's plans so that he would not attempt against the life of his beloved, although Tysha also had great expectations from his father because of her intelligence, his same aunt said it, Tysha is very intelligent, even if she occupies the position as a servant of the Lannister house currently to keep her close to Tyrion, and Tywin himself to make his son afraid that his father something against the life of his beloved, no doubt Tywin was someone extremely fearsome. But even the greatest lion, can die at any time and the hands of the least expected person.

- "Your miners are working hard it seems, I saw the amount of gold they were able to remove." - Tywin looked at his son, who was reading some things, about the mines that were given to him by his father as a reward for his intelligence in not wanting to be Heir to House Lannister.

- "I hired less experienced miners, who are paid less, but work harder because they earn more than they did at their old jobs" - It wasn't easy for Tyrion, in the West there were many unemployed miners, and he sought them out, paying them more than they earned at their old jobs, though it wasn't as much as the more experienced miners so in his mind it was no doubt a good way to keep his money intact - "That's why they work like this, for fear of losing a job they sought so hard."

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Winterfell

Harry was quietly looking over some letters that his Lords had sent to detail how their respective businesses were going, although Harry now wished to enter into a very complicated business that was going to make lots and lots of money.

Glass, something extremely difficult to create at the moment, was going to be complicated from every point of view because he was not going to be able to produce a large quantity of glass, and he had to create furnaces, why was he interested in this beloved material? Exclusively for their drinks, it was going to be very striking to see a container of a most peculiar drink, worth a lot.

In Essos his drinks were increasingly supplanting wine, people with more money could buy what they wanted, but always at a premium. This was their business, one where they could only earn and nothing more.

Although while he was observing the notes of each Lord of the North, his sister entered his office.

Mya finished her training she was tired but even so, she needed to chat with her brother, both Artemisia and her, they didn't understand how the fuck Harry kept calm after someone tried to kill him, luckily it was not wine that they drank that night, it was something that in the North was forbidden, with wine anyone could put a poison that could be fatal. That is, until they create their wine, and declare a trade war on the Tyrells.

- "I know what you're thinking Mya" - Harry looked at his sister who went to sit on one of the armchairs, taking advantage of the fact that her mother wasn't there to scold her since she had to go and take a shower after training, but she was so tired to walk to that place, that she came to rest for a while - "You don't have to worry."

- "What do you mean I don't have to worry? You are the Lord of the North, the king of this kingdom, everyone loves you, for all that you brought to this place, how can you not want us to worry knowing that your life is in danger" - Mya when she knew that Harry gave the order for this guy to enter the north, it was a point that she did not understand, why let someone in who was going to make an attempt on his life, the Lords also saw it that way, even though Harry explained his plan, in their minds it was still ridiculous - "Don't you think you could have done it another way, capture him and take information from him, you can read his mind, you could have done that from the beginning."

- "If I use magic every chance I get, things would be over in the blink of an eye, and it's no fun, when you have a power, and you know they can't beat you, life gets boring" - Harry looked at his adopted sister, who only thought about what Harry said, the more powerful you are, the more people are going to follow you, and some people will even try to knock you down from that desired place, but if no one can, eventually no one will be much of a rival, it brings boredom - "I know everything I can do, I was blessed, it doesn't matter if I'm sitting here, it's like I'm training like you are... How would you feel, knowing that you can do it all and no one can stop you?"

An extremely strange point of view because anyone wanted power, whether physically, politically, militarily, or in the mountains, it was the human way of life, when you have something, and you know you can get more, and more, you go after it. Then you get into a state of total greed, always wanting more, even if it destroys the life of the other.

Harry had the power to eliminate everyone with a snap, but what does he do instead, he concentrates on making his whole kingdom powerful, because what will happen to the North when he is not there, no one will be able to know, maybe someone with the same capabilities could be born in another kingdom and face the North, it was something that Mya was analyzing in her head.

Currently, the North was very strong, but it was still very dependent on Harry's contribution, it was a point he wanted to cut, and at some point, you didn't have to be dependent on one person. Eventually, new rulers would come in, and they could bring new things or go backward, the other Lords depended on the next Lord of House Stark to move forward, and for that, he had to eliminate the rats that were in this place, and then move on to conquest.

- "I can end three hundred years of northern slavery on my own, but I want every northerner to feel I'm contributing something to this, I want every House in the South to feel what the North felt, slowly but surely," - Harry stood up and walked over to the map of Westeros that was taped to the wall, where the strongest points in Westeros were marked, the most troubled houses, the most important places where the most money was being raised, - "For that you have to strike fear.... so I wait quietly for the Greyjoys to make their attack, I know exactly which ports they will hit and which they will leave... and when the time comes, they will all feel the winter."

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Highgarden

Margaery was pondering what happened, her father tried to kill her betrothed, and he couldn't and what did the North do, he came to execute the man at the residence of House Tyrell, the question she was asking herself at the moment was why do it. Why not just send his head like he did with the other spies of her grandmother this time, or maybe Harry was aware of his father's intentions, and that there were spies in Highgarden.

Or maybe she was looking for something else, Margaery closed her eyes and thought about all that she saw, what signs the men who came to execute the fellow were giving her, it was a show of power that's why she sent so many men, or maybe, for her to try to find out something. Every time Harry sent something, there was his sister, always watching her, and there was the other guy, the man called Barbossa, every time she did something or said something, he made a gesture, and that happened when he asked what Harry Stark looked like, it wasn't just a show of power.

- "He's a bloody manipulator," - Margaery clenched the symbol of House Stark in her hand tightly, but her face showed a smile, beyond being angry with her father, she had to thank him, with Harry Stark not only send a warning to her father that knowing him he would not go against the North for the coward he was but also made her more curious to meet him, to know what the Lord of House Stark was like in person - "This time you win.... my dear betrothed, but I think you should know that roses have many thorns."

Margaery looked at the symbol of House Stark, accepting her future husband's challenge, not only was he the only manipulator in this world, but she was too, and if Harry wished to play his game from a distance, she was going to play along until she finally had him in her sights, and she began to direct the reins of the game and could manipulate Harry as she pleased.

Margaery didn't even care at all about the death of the guy they executed in her presence, she got several details that would undoubtedly benefit her in the future, not only did he have the complete loyalty of all his men, but he was also terrifying to his prisoner who didn't need to torture him to get what he wanted, and then he was a complete manipulator, he had been doing it for a long time, but he hid his true intentions, saying that he could not meet her because of the work he had in the North, and it was understandable, a growing power brought a lot of work, but the main reason he never came to meet her until this moment, was not only to know how she acted but to see what her father or relatives would do before such an expected meeting, he thought everything clearly, the marriage had to happen, no matter what, that's why he did not hurry to meet her.

Olenna looked at her granddaughter, apparently, she didn't have to talk to her about what happened a few moments ago, it was good to know that she wasn't affected at all, witnessing the death of a person in such a barbaric way as they did, is never good.

It was noticeable from the beginning that they wanted to kill the guy, but they held off until the last moment, luckily she had a not-so-friendly talk with her son, so he wouldn't do something foolish again, it was lucky that the northerners didn't go and complain to Robert about this attempt, they were not cowards like other houses, the Starks preferred to go head on and face the problem before going crying to someone knowing that they can destroy them from that place. That is why the northerners were feared, they were not afraid, very different from some southern lords, she had a lot of experience seeing lords and future lords, most of them were chickens who hid under their title of Lord, and did not dare to see the problems head-on, that was different to the northerners, she did not know many who were like that, they always went straight to the problem and if it was not solved by good they were going to do it the hard way.

- "So this is what you meant" - Olenna kept looking at her granddaughter, remembering the first letter that arrived from the North, with the heads of all her spies, from that precise moment she realized that nothing was going to be the same, that's why she left in peace the Stark House and all the North, she didn't mess with the Boltons either, she had the feeling that they were not going to last long - "Winter is coming, I have never seen a young man so promising and terrifying... I hope to meet you soon... Lord Stark."