Chapter 189

Chapter 189 Gift

  "What do you mean missing?"

  Duke Mace shouted angrily, but then he realized that his voice was too loud, and quickly lowered the volume, "Have you searched in and out of the city?"

  We looked for everywhere." Garlan Tyrell lowered his head, as if he didn't dare to look into his father's eyes, "I couldn't find any trace of my sister."

  "Where else can she go!"

  Garlan was silent for a moment, hesitating: " Father, maybe, sister didn't want to marry the king, so she hid on purpose..."

  "But I have already agreed to this marriage!" Duke Mace was sweating anxiously, "Why is she like this! She was not like this before! She has always been well-behaved and sensible! Has someone bewitched her? Is it some damn bard? Huh?"

  "But who did you ask her to marry?" Garlan felt wronged for his sister.

  "I asked her to marry the king!" Duke Mace yelled angrily, "Hasn't it always been her dream to be a queen!"

  "And not any king is worthy of Margaery."

  "Only this one king ..Ah!" Duke Mace pushed his son, "Quick! Go and find..."

  "Lord Mace." Queen Cersei walked over, "What's the matter?"

  "It's okay, it's okay..."

  " Where's Margaery? Why hasn't she arrived yet?"

  "She..."

  Cersei seemed to understand something, and softly snorted,

  "Why? She doesn't want to marry my son?"

  "No, of course not!" Duke Mace Quickly explained, "She just got lost..."

  "Okay, Mace!" Cersei flicked her long sleeves, "Do you think I'm a fool? Since your daughter doesn't want to marry then the engagement is off. You think my son can't find a queen !"

  After speaking, she walked away in a huff.

  On the other side, Samwell came to the seating area of the reach nobles.

  He was seated next to his uncle, Ser Alekyne Florent.

  After sitting down, the servants stepped forward to fill the glass in front of him with the golden wine of Arbor Island.

  "How is your injury, Sam?" Sir Alekyne asked.

  "It's all right, uncle." Samwell smiled slightly.

  Sir Alekyne sighed: "About Dickon...I'm really sorry."

  "I know, uncle, it's not your fault." Samwell glanced at the king on the high platform, his eyes flickering.

  "Ah—" Sir Alekyne sighed again, "I'm afraid your father will be devastated heart this time. Sam, have you ever thought of changing back to Tarly's surname? I'm sure Randyll will agree. This way you can inherit Hornhill in the future."

  Samwell shook his head: "It's not like my father has no heirs."

  Earl Randyll Tarly did have three daughters.

  "Based on what I know about Randyll, he would never agree to let your sister inherit Horn Hill."

  Indeed, Randyll couldn't even tolerate a fat and weak son back then, so how could he accept a woman inheriting Horn Hill?

  The women's battlefield is on the delivery bed. This is Lord Randyll's attitude towards women.

  "Father and mother are still young, maybe they can have children." Samwell really has no interest in going back to Horn Hill to be Earl Randall's heir.

  He finally built a foundation outside, why would he go back and be someone else's son?

  Aleken frowned slightly. He didn't expect Samwell to be unwilling to return to Horn Hill. Originally, he planned to let Sam marry his daughter instead of his younger brother.

  It may be that the young guy is in a bad mood and can't turn the corner for a while. Alekyne thought.

Later he will understand.

  The two fell silent.

  Samwell picked up the wine glass and took a sip while observing the situation of the venue.

  At this banquet, the nobles of the northern border also came. However, the king must have deliberately punished them for not obeying orders and arranged their positions at the outermost edge. Even Eddard Stark, the majestic Duke of the northern border was Sitting so far away, it is estimated that even the king's voice could not be heard clearly.

  Of course, the northern nobles might quite like this arrangement, anyway, they don't bother to look at the king's face. If it wasn't for Duke Eddard's request this time, most of the northern nobles would probably not plan to attend the banquet.

  Duke Eddard sat quietly in his seat without saying a word but secretly exchanged a tacit look with Samwell midway.

  When the time was almost up, a septon accompanying the soldiers came to the stage and led everyone to pray.

  After praying, King Joffrey couldn't wait to announce the start of the banquet:

  "Everyone, in order to celebrate this great conquest, let us toast together! "

  Everyone accepted the toast reluctantly and silently.

  Except for Joffrey.

  The king was having fun.

  Thousands of cups slammed at the same time, announcing the official start of the banquet.

  However, Joffrey did not sit down, but continued with his wine glass,

  "Today, I have to announce one more thing. In order to punish the Dornish people for their dishonesty, I have decided to massacre the city starting tomorrow! "

  As soon as the words came out, there was an uproar in the venue.

  Sir Barristan immediately stood up to stop him: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid this is not a good idea. The Dornish people have always been rebellious. If you slaughter Skyreach City, every city that follows will fight desperately..."

"Then kill them all until they don't dare to resist anymore.!" Joffrey said arrogantly.

  Barristan would not give an inch:

  "Sorry, Your Majesty, you don't have the right to issue such an order. Sir Eddard is the commander of this army."

  The king became angry, pulled out his sword suddenly, waved it and shouted:

  "I said, massacre the city! This is Order! The king's order!"

  "Then you have to kill me first," Barristan said in a flat and decisive tone.

  "Okay." Queen Cersei quickly grabbed her son who seemed to do something stupid again.

She still knew the severity. If Joffrey killed the captain of the Kingsguard, it is estimated that tomorrow the Seven Kingdoms will call her son the second mad king.

The Queen said,

  "This is the king's name day banquet, not a military meeting. We can discuss this matter later."

  "Yes! Let the food be served, Your Majesty, everyone is hungry." Jaime tried helping smooth things over.

  Joffrey then reluctantly sat down.

  The banquet finally officially started.

  The maids began to deliver a series of feasts.

  A bard stepped forward, brushed his fingers over the strings of a harp, and began to chant.

  The song was called "The Conquest of King Joffrey".

  From this point of view, he is a guy who can flatter, no wonder he was arranged to perform first.

  Samwell listened with great interest while observing the expressions of the nobles.

  Although everyone smiled and listened politely on the surface, if you observe carefully, you can easily find sarcasm, disdain, and even anger in their eyes.

  Joffrey's almighty decisions in the war have obviously angered these nobles. After all, it's their soldiers died and their blood was shed, so it's okay for Joffrey to sit there and laugh, but he still shamelessly took all the credit for himself.

  Do you really think that the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms are the dogs of the Baratheon family?

  When this song was over, the bard changed to "The Rains of Castamere", which was composed by Duke Tywin Lannister after he slaughtered the vassals of the Western Territory who did not obey his orders.

  After that, the bard changed to "Golden Rose", which was a tribute to the Tyrell family.

  But as soon as the song started, Cersei stopped the bard and asked him to change it.

  Samwell immediately understood that the marriage between the two families had completely failed.

  The bard replaced it with "The Maiden, the Mother and the Crone" to please the sept.

  After the song ended, a clown in a colourful costume came up and performed various juggling.

  Breathing fire, throwing knives, juggling balls ...

  At first, everyone watched happily, but then when the clown performed the show of duelling with the puppet, the laughter on the field suddenly faded away.

  Because the puppet used by the clown as the target of the "duel" is exactly the appearance of the "Red Viper" Prince Oberyn, and more importantly, the puppet is supported by a skeleton!

  Needless to say, this is probably the remains of Oberyn Martell!

  Although the Red Snake was an enemy and deserves to die, it is one thing to kill on the battlefield, but another to humiliate the opponent's remains after the battle.

  This matter was done too disrespectfully.

  Besides, it's the king's name-day feast.

  Even the nobles of the Vale, who wanted to skin the red snake frowned when they saw this scene.

  The venue gradually quieted down, and Joffrey's smirk became abrupt and harsh.

  "Hahahahahaha...why don't you laugh anymore? Hahahahahaha! Red Viper, dead bastard! …..Damn it!"

  Joffrey laughed for a while but found that no one responded, so he gradually furrowed his brows and restrained his smile.

  He took a sip of wine, seemed to think of something, and asked:

  "The one who killed the Red Viper was Baron Caesar of Eagle Island, right?"

  Samwell put down his wine glass when he heard the call, got up and left the table to bow,

  "Yes, Your Majesty."

  "Very good!" Joffrey laughed and then said, "Baron Caesar, I want to reward you for your achievements. Tell me, what do you want? "

  "Your Majesty, it is my honour and even more my responsibility to fight for you. So I dare not expect any rewards. However, With your permission, I would like to make a small request."

  "Say."

  Samwell said with an incomparably bright smile on his face, "I would like to ask you to allow Duke Eddard Stark to come to the stage, he has a gift I want to dedicate to you."

  "Eddard Stark." Joffrey snorted softly, a little unhappy, "Didn't he say he would no longer obey my orders? What? Now he wants to ask for my forgiveness?"

  Samwell said very sincerely: "Yes, Your Majesty. Lord Eddard has brought the most sincere apology, and I hope you can give him a chance."

  Joffrey immediately showed a smug smile, but deliberately put on a reserved look :

  "Okay, let him come up. I'll see what the gift is, and then decide whether to forgive him."

  "Thank you, Your Majesty!" Samwell turned his head and winked at Duke Eddard.

  Duke Eddard slowly stood up from his seat and walked towards the front desk of the venue.

  In his hand, he was holding a heavy tome book.

  All the nobles looked at the guardian of the northern border with curious and puzzled eyes.

  "Your Majesty."

  Duke Eddard stood under the stage and saluted the king respectfully.

  Joffrey squinted at Duke Eddard, snorted, and said coldly:

  "Eddard Stark, what gift did you prepare for me? Could it be this book? I hate books the most. I can't forgive you."

  "No, Your Majesty, my gift is not this book, but an interesting piece of history, and I want to share it with you and all the nobles here."

  "History is also interesting?" Joffrey changed his sitting position impatiently, waved his hand, and said, "Okay, tell me about it, if it's not as interesting as you said, I'll punish you to be my servant today!"

After speaking, he burst out laughing.

  Duke Eddard did not smile. He waited patiently for the king to calm down before he lifted up the book in his hand and showed it to everyone:

  "Everyone, this book 'Genealogy and History of the Major Nobles of the Seven Kingdoms' was written by Grand Maester Malleon. There are some interesting contents in it, and I would like to share them with you here."

  As he spoke, Duke Eddard opened the book and soon found a marked page, which read:

  "Conquering Calendar 207 In 1999, Lady Tya of the Lannister family married Sir Gowen of the Baratheon family. The next year, they gave birth to their only boy, who was big, good eater, and full of black hair. Unfortunately, he died three months later. "

  Joffrey yelled: "What's so interesting about this? Eddard Stark, you pour some wine for me, now!."

  Then he slammed the golden cup in front of him on the table, making a bang.

  Duke Eddard ignored him and continued to flip through the book:

  "In the 179th year of the Conquest, Lady Rhianna of the Baratheon family married Sir Irion of the Lannister family. Within seven years, Lady Rhianna gave birth to three daughters and one son with black hair ."

  Joffrey became more impatient and raised his voice: "What the hell is this? Eddard Stark..."

  But before he could finish, Queen Cersei suddenly stood up, her face became visibly pale to the naked eye.

  At last, she realized that something was wrong, and screamed:

  "Enough! Eddard Stark! I order you to shut up!"

  This movement startled everyone present, and no one expected the Queen to be so gaffe.

  But also because of this, everyone immediately realized that Duke Eddard's seemingly inexplicable behaviour might be hiding something deep!

  Duke Eddard glanced at Cersei, the light in his eyes was as cold as the ice and snow in the north.

  Of course, he wouldn't shut up, and continued flipping through the book decisively:

  "146 Years of Conquest, of the Lannister family..."

  "Shut up!" Cersei yelled like crazy, "Jaime! Shut him up! Shut him up!"

  [END]