Game of Thrones: Holy Flame King

North, Winterfell.

After Duchess Caitlin Tully heard the news brought by the maid, she immediately ran up the tower in three steps and two steps, regardless of the broken bottle, and came to the room of her son Bran Stark.

Then, she saw her son, who had been in a coma for half a month, miraculously woke up!

"Bran..." Catelyn said the word, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Mother." Bran looked weakly toward the door, where his little wolf was huddled on the bed, licking his cheek passionately with its hot tongue.

This warm feeling moved Bran's heart, and he said, "I've thought of the little wolf's name, I want to call it Summer."

Caitlin finally threw herself on her son and burst into tears.

It took a long time for her to regain her composure. At the same time, her eldest son, Robb Stark, rushed over to see her waking brother.

"How did you fall, Bran?" Robb asked.

"I don't know... I don't remember anything..."

"Bran, think again." Caitlin helped her son wipe her face. "You know, you've never missed a shot before."

"I..." Bran's brows were tightly twisted together, as if he was trying his best to remember. After a long while, he uttered a word, "Golden."

"Gold?" Robb leaned forward. "Brother, what gold?"

"I don't know, I just remember... I seem to see gold."

Caitlin looked at her weak son and said distressedly: "Okay, Bran, don't think about it if you can't remember it, you have a good rest."

"Um."

After covering Bran with the quilt, Caitlin took the eldest son and left the bedroom.

After going out, Robb said, "Mother, do you suspect that Bran didn't accidentally fall?"

"Bran has never missed a shot." Caitlin emphasized again.

"Did someone push Bran? But what does gold... mean?"

Caitlin's eyes flickered: "I checked carefully later. On the day Bran fell from the tower, your father accompanied the king to hunt in the wolf forest, but the queen did not go."

Robb was taken aback, and blurted out, "The queen is blonde! Is that what Bran meant by golden?"

Caitlin probably also thought of this, and her body trembled slightly.

Robb said again: "But mother, why did the queen push Bran off the tower? He was just a child, and he didn't offend her."

"I'm afraid Bran accidentally heard something he shouldn't have heard, so she's going to kill him!" Caitlin almost gritted her teeth.

After a while, she calmed down and said:

"No, I'm going to King's Landing and tell your father about this!"

"Mother, you don't have to go in person, I'll send someone..."

"No." Caitlin interrupted her son, "This matter is very important, I don't trust others, and as the acting castellan of Winterfell, you can't leave at will, so I'm the only one going."

Robb hesitated, then said, "Okay, I'll send a team of guards to follow you."

"No, too many people will attract unnecessary attention. I will go quietly this time, and I will only take Sir Rodrik with me."

"Okay, then you should be careful all the way."

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The king's caravan finally arrived at King's Landing.

However, the weather was not good, and it was pouring rain, so there was no welcoming ceremony, and the nobles went straight to the Red Castle in a bit of embarrassment.

Duke Ed finally calmed down his two crying daughters, and he just wanted to take a quiet hot bath alone, but he didn't expect the head of the imperial court to come to his door:

"Lord Ed, today's imperial meeting is being held. After the cabinet ministers learned that you have arrived, they specially sent me to invite you to attend."

Duke Ed really wanted to tell the visitor that he was not in the mood to attend any imperial meeting, but his words turned into:

"Okay, please give me a few minutes to change."

"Yes, my lord."

When Duke Ed finished packing up and dragged his tired body to the chamber, he saw Varys, the chief intelligence officer he hated most among the cabinet ministers, greeted him with a smile:

"Lord Ed, welcome to King's Landing!"

Smelling the strong scent of perfume on Varys, Duke Eddard sniffled unnaturally:

"Lord Varys."

Turning a screen, Lord Eddard saw Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Grand Maester Pycelle.

After greeting them one by one, Duke Eddard came to the long table and saw the crowned stag of the Baratheon family embroidered with gold thread on the back of the first seat. This is the exclusive seat of the king, but obviously, His Majesty Robert I'm afraid the number of times I've sat here can be counted on my fingers.

Duke Ed sat down on the right-hand side of the king's seat: "Sorry for keeping everyone waiting."

He looked around for a week, only to realize that there were only four people including himself.

But in a normal imperial meeting, counting the king, there should be eight people.

He knew Lord Lord Renly had gone to Eyrie Castle to pick up Lysa's mother and son, so he definitely couldn't come, but the other three...

"Should we wait until Your Grace and Ser Barristan join us?" Lord Eddard suggested.

"Then you don't know when you'll have to wait." Petyr showed a faint mocking smile.

"Our honorable Majesty the King has too many things to worry about, so leave these trivial matters to us to deal with." Varys explained.

Duke Eddard shook his head secretly, and asked again: "What about Lord Stannis, Lord of the Sea?"

Varys chuckled: "Lord Stannis left King's Landing and returned to Dragonstone after learning that you were about to be the Hand of the King."

Duke Ed frowned, thinking that he hadn't offended the king's eldest brother.

Seeing this, Varys added: "Don't get me wrong, Lord Stannis is not targeting you. Anyone, as long as it is not him, will not be satisfied with this seat."

Only then did Duke Eddard understand that Duke Stannis wanted to be Hand of the King himself.

Unexpectedly, he had just arrived in King's Landing, and without doing anything, he had already offended an important official of the kingdom.

Oh, more than one.

And the queen...

"In this case, let's start." Duke Ed announced, cheering up.

"As you wish." Varys smiled sweetly, and at the same time took out a piece of parchment from his wide sleeve and handed it to Duke Ed, "Master Ed, this is His Majesty sent a messenger back on the way home the day before yesterday, and ordered The urgent errands given to us must be completed as soon as possible."

Duke Ed took the parchment and confirmed the king's seal and Robert's signature on it before reading the contents.

As a result, the more he read, the tighter his frown became.

It turned out that the king wanted to hold a tourney to celebrate the new prime minister.

Duke Ed knew that the time when this order was issued should be right after he had a conflict with the queen. Obviously, Robert felt that he had done something wrong to his good brother in that matter, so he wanted to use this method to make up for it.

But Duke Ed didn't want such a compensation at all.

Looking at the bonuses for the winners of the tournament written on it, he felt a burst of disbelief——

40,000 gold dragons for the champion of the long spear competition, 20,000 gold dragons for the runner-up, 20,000 gold dragons for the group close-to-hand combat champion, 10,000 gold dragons for the archery champion...

In addition to other expenses, this is definitely an extremely large number.

"How much money is left in the treasury?" Duke Ed asked.

"Where did the treasury come from?" Petyr, the Minister of Finance, spread his hands, "Lord Ed, the treasury has been empty for many years."

"The daily expenses of the royal family..."

"Borrow." Petyr shrugged, "This is the only way to spend this tournament. Anyway, we already owe Lord Tywin more than three million gold dragons, so borrowing another few hundred thousand is nothing."

"Three million?" Duke Ed was extremely shocked. "You mean, the royal family owes the Lannister family three million golden dragons?"

"The three million golden dragons are only debts owed to the Lannister family, as well as those owed to the Tyrell family, the Church of the Seven Gods, the Iron Bank of Braavos, and the Tyrosh Trading Company... In total, it’s about six million.”

Duke Ed opened his mouth wide, not knowing what to say anymore.

After a long while, he said shyly, "How could this be?"

"We have a generous His Majesty." Petyr chuckled.

"Aren't you going to persuade me?" Duke Ed asked.

Pycelle shook his head: "Even Lord Jon can't persuade His Majesty."

"That's right." Varys also echoed, "Our Majesty loves martial arts, hunting, food, wine... and what he hates the most is 'counting copper coins'."

"I see. I will tell His Majesty." Duke Ed said in a deep voice, his heart getting heavier.

"It would be best if you could persuade His Majesty to be frugal, but for this tournament, let's make a plan first." Petyr suggested.

"I'll talk about it after I talk to His Majesty." Duke Ed ended the topic.

Petyr saw that Duke Eddard was planning to persuade His Majesty not to hold a tournament, and secretly couldn't help laughing at his naivety.

Next, several people discussed several other matters.

After the meeting ended, Petyr walked out of the meeting room, only to see Varys follow him again.

"Lord Varys, what's the matter with you?"

"Lord Petyr, my little birds have heard some rumors about you in the city recently."

Seeing the schadenfreude smile on the other party's face, Petyr couldn't help being annoyed, but still asked patiently:

"What rumor?"

"Rumours about you and Jon Arryn's widow Lady Lysa." Varys looked at Petyr with a smile, as if looking forward to his next expression.

Petyr froze, but still tried to keep calm: "Why would someone bring me together with Lady Lysa?"

"It's a bit strange. However, rumors say that you have always admired Lady Lysa secretly, but because she married Duke Jon, you have always restrained your feelings. Now that Duke Jon has passed away, you are going to ask Lady Lysa Proposal……"

"Ridiculous!" Petyr tried his best to control his emotions, but failed. "This is an intolerable slander!"

"Maybe." Varys shrugged, "However, fortunately, this rumor only appeared in the last two weeks, and it hasn't been completely spread yet. If you don't want it to damage the reputation of you and Lady Lysa, I suggest that you can Come forward and clarify."

"Can you find out the source of the rumors?" Petyr asked shakily.

"I'm afraid this can't be helped." Varys looked embarrassed, "There are too many people in King's Landing, and even my little birds can't find out who spread such a humble rumor. However, I think this rumor is also It's no big deal, which aristocratic lord doesn't have some scandals. Those common people like to discuss these things."

After speaking, Varys left with a strange smile.

Petyr was left alone standing there, not moving for a while.