Chapter 145

  Chapter 145 The King's Bastard

Duke Ned hesitated for a while in front of the Women's Branch, and finally walked in.

  The rich aroma slammed his nostrils, and the kitsch laughter went straight into his ears. Duke Ned lowered his head, imagining the news that the "the king's hand entered the women's branch" that would spread in King's Land City tomorrow.

He can't help but curse the damn "Spider" in his heart again.

  "My lord, is this your first time here?" A tall woman came over to greet.

  Duke Ned ignored her and searched the hall until he saw a fat man waving to him before walking over.

  But soon, he frowned again.

  Because after getting closer, it was discovered that the man was not Varys.

  "Master Ned. I didn't expect you to come here without any disguise." The fat man smiled sweetly.

  Hearing this familiar voice, Duke Ned realized that the man in front of him was really Varys the "Spider".

  But clearly disguised.

  The chief intelligence master of the Iron Throne looked completely different, with messy black hair, a small beard under his mouth, and a rough leather armor.

He looked like a rude mercenary who was playing tile guessing with a plump girl.

  "I have nothing to be afraid of" Duke Ned said stiffly.

  Varys shrugged his shoulders, sent the girl away with a forced kiss, and then led Duke Eddard inside:

  "I know, you are a decent person, of course you don't like our little tricks." Varys glanced at the King's Hand next to him, as if hinting at something, "Especially at this moment."

  Duke Ned frowned again: "What did you hear?"

  Varys lowered his voice: "My little bird told me that Lord Renly received the nobles of the Reach in the Red Keep."

  Renly?

  Duke Ned felt a headache. He actually had a good impression of the king's younger brother, but he didn't expect that when the king is dying, even this man became restless.

  "watch him closely ."

  "Yes, my lord, happy to help."

Duke Ned walked slowly , and suddenly asked, "Has the queen done anything lately?"

  " I...haven't heard about it. "

  Duke Eddard at the fat man next to him with a scrutinizing gaze, and couldn't help but think of what Robert said to himself in the cellar of Winterfell—"My side is either a liar or a fool ..."

  Duke Ned was thinking, is the intelligence master in front of me a liar or a fool?

  And "Littlefinger" Petyr Baelish, these two don't look like fools, so they are all liars?

  But Catelyn swears that Petyr can be trusted, and Varys, who else can provide him with information except him?

  Duke Ned felt headache intensify.

 He misses Winterfell very much now, misses that cold but simple place, where everyone's likes and dislikes are clearly written on their faces, unlike here, where everyone wears masks.

  "My lord, it's here." Varys, pointed forward.

  Duke Ned returned his thoughts, and saw a young girl with light red hair standing in front of him, holding a baby in her arms.

  "My lord." She looked nervous, "Did he entrust you to see the child?"

  Duke Ned didn't know how to answer, so he nodded vaguely, and then stepped forward to stroke the baby's soft black hair.

  "My lord, can you tell him, tell him how beautiful this child is, tell him that I have been waiting for him, and since that day, I have not picked any guests, and I have been waiting for him to come back."

'He will not come back.'

 Duke Ned answered silently in his heart.

  Even if Robert hadn't been murdered, he wouldn't be coming back.

  A bastard like that probably Robert himself had forgotten about.

  Duke Eddard glanced at Varys, wondering why the other party brought him to see the king's illegitimate son.

  In order to find evidence of the queen's derailment, he tentatively asked the chief Spider, and this person brought him here.

  Is this illegitimate child evidence?

  Duke Ned was confused.

  Saying goodbye to the reluctant girl, the two left the gate of the Women's Branch.

  Varys said: "Lord Ned, Follow me , There is an illegitimate child, who is almost an adult, and now he is a strong and powerful blacksmith apprentice..."

"Varys."

Duke Ned could not help asking , "What exactly do you want to show me, please tell me."

  "Lord Ned,do you know how many illegitimate children the king has?" Varys asked back.

  "I only know that there are many." Duke Ned was also very helpless about his brother's passion.

  "A lot indeed." Varys suddenly lowered his voice, "Three years ago, when His Majesty went to the Western Territory to participate in Lord Tywin's tournament, he got twins with a girl from Casterly Rock City.

Both children killed."

  Duke Ned was stunned for a moment, wondering why Varys specifically mentioned the illegitimate children in Casterly Rock.

  "Didn't the Queen come to trouble the bastards in King's Landing?"

  "No."

  The spider was reminding him to pay attention to the bastards in Casterly Rock. Duke Ned understood.

  But then he had even greater doubts, why did the queen only kill the illegitimate children in Casterly Rock City, and let go of the illegitimate children in King's Landing City and other places?

  Could it be that the queen was particularly angry because it happened in her own backyard?

  Duke Ned was tired of this kind of guessing game from the bottom of his heart, so he stopped and said coldly:

  "Master Varys, what do you know!"

  Varys shrank his neck in aggrieved way, and said, "Master Ned, What I know, I already showed you."

  Duke Ned suppressed his anger, and already labeled Varys a liar in his heart, no, this guy is not only a liar, he also likes to pretend to be a fool!

  At this moment, the attendant rushed over and reported in a hasty tone:

  "My lord, it's bad, Lord Petyr was stabbed by Prince Oberyn in the street!"

  "What!"

  Why is everyone making trouble! Duke Ned felt irritated , and then extremely tired.

  He cursed the damn Red Viper in his heart, and then hurried away with his attendants, ignoring Varys.

  Therefore, he couldn't see Varys at this time, but there was no surprise on his face, but a meaningful smile.

  ——————————

  "Meow?"

  Arya Stark jumped up a tall, narrow window, but lost track of the one-eared black cat.

  "Balerion?" Arya climbed over the window and jumped onto the roof, finally seeing the cat.

  The black cat also found the girl, and ran away with a whoosh.

  Arya chased after her with teeth and claws, and following the agile kitten, she jumped into the courtyard, around the corner, over the wall, squeezed into a low hole, and finally came to a dark cellar where you couldn't see your fingers.

  "Meow?" Arya hesitated, but got in anyway.

  She must catch that cat!

  The smell in the cellar was a bit unpleasant, but it was still tolerable, but the dark environment without a ray of light made Arya panic.

  She groped forward, her eyes gradually adapting to the darkness, and the cellar seemed to gradually light up as things around her slowly appeared.

  In the dim corridor, countless huge and empty eyes stared at her fixedly, making her almost unable to breathe.

  monster?

  Arya closed her eyes in horror.

  She silently recited her father's name, mother's name, and fencing teacher's name... Finally, she opened her eyes again.

  The giant monsters were still there, but Arya realised they were only bones.

  She walked over cautiously and touched one of them curiously. It was cold and hard. It looked like a tooth in shape, but just one tooth was already bigger than her whole body.

  Arya thought of the black cat she had been chasing, and left the bones and went on.

  She found a wooden door and pulled it hard. The door resisted for a while before it opened slowly.

  Behind the door was a darker place.

  Arya groped her way across the rough wall, moving on.

  She thought her eyes would gradually adapt to the darkness, but unfortunately, she still couldn't see anything after waiting for a long time.

  Arya finally decided to give up. She couldn't catch the black cat in this kind of place.

  But just when she was about to go back the same way, the voice of a man talking was faintly heard.

  Arya was slightly startled, and saw the flickering flames appearing from a distance. By the light of the fire, she could make out that it was two people, their shadows were cast on the wall, and their voices echoed in the space.

  "...how did Littlefinger fall into the hands of the Red Viper?" said one.

  Arya recognized the accent of the Free Cities across the Narrow Sea, the way her fencing master Syrio spoke.

  "Because a little person who we didn't notice messed with Littlefinger behind the scenes." Another person said.

  Arya felt that this soft and greasy voice was somewhat familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before, but she couldn't remember it for a while.

  "Who?"

  "A little baron."

  "Caesar?" The man with a foreign accent seemed to understand immediately, "How could he know Littlefinger's plan?"

  "Only the gods know this. I can see that this person is playing tricks in the dark, but i didn't exposed him, and instead helped him hide some flaws."

  "Why did you help him?"

  "Hey, it's that Littlefinger is too dangerous, I'm always worried that he will play off. And once the situation is completely broken, he will go to the Vale, marry that stupid woman Lysa Tully, and send elite soldiers to guard the bloody gate. The storm outside will be nothing to do with him. But we will be in trouble... ..."

  "That's right. The Seven Kingdoms can't be thrown into chaos so quickly, it's too early, and we're not ready yet."

  "So, letting Littlefinger out is the best choice for us."

  "It's just a pity. We originally hoped that when the time was right in the future, Littlefinger could mess up the situation in the Seven Kingdoms..."

  " Littlefinger is no one's pawn, we can't control him." "

  "What about now? Now he is almost cornered "

  "Well——" the soft and greasy accent hesitated, "Let me try." "

  "Okay." The man with the foreign accent asked again, "What about Eddard Stark? You showed him Robert's illegitimate childrens?"

  "Yes, I revealed some. But you don't have to worry, with his elm head, he can't find out the truth based on the information I gave, but he will get deeper and deeper on the wrong path... When the time is right, I will give the key clue, hah! then he will become our chess piece."

  "Hehe, don't play it off."

  "Don't worry, I'm a magician..."

  "Haha...then please change your tricks for a while..."

  The voice gradually faded away, and Arya pressed herself against the wall, not daring to move.

  [END]