Chapter 114

TYWIN LANNISTER POV

Tywin read the letter sent to him by his daughter from Kings Landing and let out a displeased grunt before throwing it at the table where his brother caught it and started reading through it.

Once Kevan read through it, he waited for his brother to speak first.

"It was a shot in the dark. I'm not surprised that Cersei failed in this task. She never held much sway over the king." Kevan said "And even if she somehow did managed to convince the King to take action, it wasn't as if the Bolton boy would simply hand over the Glassmakers to him. The boy would have just refused. And then what. It's not like Robert Baratheon could go to war with one of his vassals for such a reason."

He grunted in response. In truth, he knew that this half baked plan was bound to go nowhere. But ever since the mines of the Casterly Rock became empty, he knew that there were in a fight against time.

It was not as if the emptying of the gold mines was a huge blow to them. The Lannisters had been mining the gold for centuries. They were going to run out sooner or later.

So the past Lannisters had started saving the gold and by now, their treasuries were filled with enough gold to mint out tens of millions of gold coins.

That doesn't change the fact, that they were still losing gold day by day, month by month. Year by year.

Creating a Fleet after the destruction of the last Fleet in the Greyjoy Rebellion. Paying for the thousands of Red Cloaks in his employ. Loaning gold to his son-in-law that he very much doubted that he'll ever see again.

Yes, the Lannisters were losing gold everyday. It was not a substantial amount. In fact, even if they continued spending gold like this, his sons and their sons would still live a life of luxury before they run out of gold.

But the fact remained that if they continued like this, then they will run out of gold one day.

And he was not going to let such a thing happen in his watch.

House Lannister was the greatest family in Westeros. And he was not going to let it fall to poverty in his watch.

Which meant that he needed to devise ways in which his house would be able to earn gold instead of merely spending it.

And one of the best ways of doing so was by Creating Glass.

Until a few years ago, the only people who knew how to do so were the Glassmakers of Myr who were kept under strict watch by the Magisters of Myr.

Then, everything changed as Lord Bolton supposedly stole some of those Glassmakers and put them to employ under him. Producing glass that was even better in quality than that produced in the City of Myr.

And that was just one of the methods the Bolton boy had devised to earn more gold for himself.

Weapons and armor made of Frost Steel. Great Food Production. Book Production. You name it and the boy has it.

Tywin would never admit to anyone but he was even willing to allow his granddaughter to be betrothed to the Bolton boy if he would share even half of his secrets with him.

Tywin opened the drawer in his desk and took out another letter he had received and showed it to his younger brother.

This time, he spoke before his brother could even read the thing.

"A letter from our spies from White Harbor." He explained. Went unsaid was the fact that all the spies he sent to either Dreadfort or White Harbor kept on disappearing so he had to make do with the spies in the nearby towns. "People are talking about a giant War Galley, dwarfing any other built in the 7 kingdoms. A ship that could hold more than a thousand men. A ship made entirely of Ironwood."

"Ironwood?" his brother asked in surprise with raised eyebrow.

He had the same reaction when he read it the first time. Iron wood was damn expensive. Even to a Lannister. The wood required for such a ship alone would cost hundreds of thousands of gold dragons.

"A loan from the Iron Bank perhaps." His brother said, looking like he himself didn't believe the words coming out of his mounth.

"No." He replied instantly "The boy took loans twice from the Iron Bank. And unlike my son-in-law, the Bolton boy pays his debts."

"So…"

"The boy has more gold than we had expected." He pointed out "Even if his ancestors had saved any gold for him to pay for the roads, the city around Dreadfort, the Porttown at the mouth of Weeping Water, the Bolton Fleet and all the other things he's spending his gold on. The boy is either earning more than we previously assumed. Or he has the luck of a devil and came across some great treasure horde in his travels." He said with a snort. Kevan knew that he had never believed in a thing as fickle as luck.

The boy was definitely wealthier than they had assumed.

The both of them sat in silence after he finished talking. He could see Kevan contemplating his words before his brother finally spoke.

"We need to know how rich the boy truly is. And if he is as rich as you're making him out to be… then we need to make an alliance with him. But… any spy we send out keep on disappearing. How do you… oh… you plan to send an envoy."

Well, let it not be said that his brother Kevan did not have a brilliant mind

"Tyrion" he said "The boy is doing nothing in Kings Landing aside from drinking and whoring. A trip up North will be good for him."

Left unsaid was the fact that if Tyrion did 'disappear' in his journey to Dreadfort like all the other spies, then he would serve the purpose of ridding him of the monster as well give him the chance to allow ramifications from the Bolton boy lord.

As if reading his mind, his brother looked slightly uneasy at the prospect of sending Tyrion to Dreadfort. After all, his dislike for his youngest son was no secret to anybody.

But to his credit, Kevan remained silent and simply bowed to him.

"I'll write a letter to Tyrion. Telling him about his purpose as an envoy." His brother said and started writing the letter.

"Tell Tyrion to see if the Bolton boy would be interested in a Union between Myrcella or any of the Lannister from one of the branch of House Lannister."

"Myrcella?��� his brother looked incredulously at him and he nodded.

"Yes. Princess Myrcella." He replied and Kevan nodded and went back to his letter.

Tywin turned around and looked at the portrait of his father that he had hung in his room as a reminder to never be weak again.

He then remembered one of the rumors he had heard from the North and hoped that the boy was not betrothed to Sansa Stark.