26

289 AC

I stared at the newly made mirror, a present from the Dorne, a very well-made and crafter frame, my nine name-days were after me, and now I was nine years old, not much change from my previous eight years old, well, not on my body...

I could hear some whispering that my supposed aura became more gloomy after that particular event...

An event that seemingly changed dynamics in the castle, it wasn't so obvious, but those who watched carefully could see people taking sides after my little show, how I punish those who go against me, or rather, as I said it before, people who watched my men impaling ten guard's on the blunt poles through their asses, what I do to those who do not use their head, and simple logic...

These ten men, and Reek, I finally remembered from where I knew him, was in there too, screaming in pain as his body was lifted into the air and so very agonizingly slowly was being impaled on the pole...

Like that, they were there to be seen by people for an entire week, well, some, I did order to give them water, just to prolong their suffering, but otherwise, I promised them that I would let them free with a bag of gold coins if they survive ten day's, each day for one of them, making those more dimwitted hope for survival, I didn't tell them that even if they survived, their bodies would be deformed to even live a long after it, or that if they could even move after being impaled on the pole thought their asses for ten days supporting all their body weight with their viscera, the human body was a miraculous thing, but even human body couldn't adapt to such torture...

Like that, for the entire week, those men were tortured for all to see, their crimes each day recited to the people who came to witness it, surprisingly, my father didn't object or even stop it, no...

I could hear from Fiera and Estrid, who came to witness these men's torture every day, that they caught my father smiling, smiling at the ten impaled men...

Still, that was another change, I had a choice, either I become more distant from those I care about, or I take them even closer...

I picked the second, I rejected the notion of becoming like my father, always having everyone at arm's length...

Thus I had my wing of the castle little reconstructed, as the maids that were closest to me moved in there, from now clearly instructed to obey just my orders, with knowledge if someone other commanded them, they should go to me or send for me...

Speaking of maids...

Fortunately, this was the real world, and not some anime or ntr story, where women are so easily broken, yes, even now, Fiera flinches when she sees other men, even me, something that always makes me almost frown, but I hide it behind the smile, glad she didn't forget my smile didn't mean anything bad, same for Estrid who had more experiences with men, where Fiera was virgin, Estrid was more strong, maybe thanks to supporting of her daughter's, one-night Estrid even admitted to me that Frida was a child of rape from some tavern drunkard, it didn't change the fact that Estrid loved her daughter's both, but it did explain why she could move on so more easily, accepting the fate and just move on...

Or maybe it was the fact that they could watch for a week how those men who hurt them were being tortured, not earning the promised freedom if they reached the tenth day, even if it just made it all sweater as the men tried to survive the longest, seeing the riches that awaited them...

Surprisingly, it was Reek who survived the longest, almost making me worried that he could do it, but the next day he died...

I nor any other didn't mention the holes from the daggers, very similar daggers my maids carried...

With such sad and overly bad events after me, all I could do was observe how the castle seemingly changed in the atmosphere, as the more younger guards and staff members seemed to flock to me, with the older ones being on the side of my father...

There weren't any clashes or rebellion, but already there were a few drunken fights in the taverns, nothing too serious, but something I knew that sooner or later my father or I would need to put a stop to this, even if my father's previous actions made me hate him, I still didn't wish to see Bolton's population or resources lost in some stupid civil war, not when I knew that soon these men would be needed in other war, as such, I couldn't permit any rumors of my wishing to usurp father...

Fortunately, and completely blindsiding me, my father gave me another hundred recruits, something that made me a little too surprised, as he gave me even bigger power, something I didn't know what to think about, on the one hand, I was happy to train more men into my men, loyal to me, on the other, I completely didn't know what did go through my father's head, did he wish to mend his previous action with this?

Did he want to buy my love back?

Did he want to lessen my hatred?

Or did he want something other?

I was completely unsure what to think about this, I needed to assure Fiera that didn't change anything, but I do not think my word's worked, at least Estrid seemed understanding in my need to have more men meant I had more strength, even if those men were a gift from my father who hurt them so much...

In the end, I just accepted them and had my thirty, well, now twenty-nine men train them, with Derrick taking charge as an instructor from the trainer, still, I showed my loyalty to my men by not throwing Derrick away once he became cripple, as I had him constructed wheelchair, albeit primitive one, and made him into more advisor, and instructor type of soldier where he didn't need to move much, other than using his head...

Still, that move made castle people unsure, nobody knew what to think about my father giving me even more power when I hated him, or they thought I hated him, I myself wasn't sure, I think I do hate him, but...

It was just too little complicated for me...

He was still my father, even if I wished to kill him, and not because of hate, but because of how much I'm limited in being just an heir and not lord...

That said, Derrick's situation made me realize that if I wanted to have more administration, then I needed more people who could help me in it, in short, I needed white collars...

Thankfully, thanks to my previous year's changes about castle staff, and the Nurses division, I had quite a number of literate people, even now children of the servants, like Myranda, Violet, and others, were taking classes from the Nurses, and in rare cases, from Wolkan himself as I asked him for a favor, so I had people who knew how to read, write, and simple math, or how this world calls it, copper counting...

If I wanted to move to a more organized way, then I needed a logistic wing, for now, I needed to make sure more people gained literacy, making me think of opening a simple school that would serve as a Soup kitchen and Red Cross building, a free establishment where those in free time could come in and learn a standard reading, writing, and math...

The problem was...

That smallfolk saw little need of these skills, thinking of having them better learn it, more looking how to teach their kids to farm or their family skills, in short, I needed to make it seem more desirable for the people to send their children into the school...

One idea was to promise everyone who joined a free meal, something I scratched out as Soup kitchen was a thing, and I couldn't close it, that would hit my reputation...

Another idea is to give them a reward for learning, just what reward, I didn't know yet...

"They did a good job, didn't they milord?" I looked into the mirror, saw Liv behind me, and nodded my head.

"Yes... Martell's move quite quickly..." Liv and I have... An interesting relationship, I made it clear that I knew of Inga's father being my own father, at first Liv was scared, but then I assured her that as long as they didn't get an idea of going against me inheriting lordship, I was alright in having Inga and Liv close, as long as they didn't betray me...

From that day, Liv became more open to me, showing me her more bubble and energetic side, something I didn't know about her even having, it seemed that Liv was good at hiding her true side from most people...

"And you say they would soon sell these to all?" Liv interestedly asked.

"Yes, but not those... See these symbols? They are Northern runes, just like this Bolton sing of Flayed man... Martell's truly put themselves into this, I can see how these things become next hit and symbol of Noble statuses..." I said, looking at all the inscriptions on the frames, truly, Martell's surely contracted some good Maester with wast knowledge of North and Old Gods or Northenman himself, for some of these symbols were even ones I didn't know about...

This mirror was one of Martell's first creations, once they finally found a way how to make glass without much blemishes or impurities, it wasn't 21-century glass, but for this age, it was a masterful work...

I could see how, once this arrived in the Kingslanding noble circles, how this would become the next hit...

Already I was promised the first batch of the glass panels for my glass houses, Martell's seemed to honor the deal to the letter, and even more, I didn't know why, but I guess the profits they see in the future are worth it, just like the vision of having Bolton's as friends in the North...

I could almost see how they imagine for the Bolton's rebel against Stark's, something if not for me being in there would happen, well, maybe it would still happen, I'm not a fortune teller, I know that if the chance comes, I would like to become Warden of the North, but until the Long Night isn't dealt with, I do not see any reason of supporting a coup against Stark's, as they serve as a good shield against the Ice zombies...

And well, most of the South, really, that place is one of the shit piles I would gladly not meddle into, Stark's being there makes me an important person, but not as important as Stark's, who is the one who would take all blame if something will go to shits...

For now, I'm very happy in very slowly changing Bolton lands to the center of the North, through the trade with food that becomes even more plentiful, as thanks to three-way-rotation we have enough food to increase our cattle farms, with chickens already being in almost all households...

One step at a time...

That's all I need...

One step- There was knocking at the doors.

"Yes? Come in." The person who opened the doors was Maester Wolkan, who had a severe expression...

Hm?

"What it is?" I asked, seeing the serious expression on the normally kindly looking man was strange...

"It finally came milord, I already alerted your father, the Ironborn rebelled." Ah, I see, so finally, another major plot in cannon happened...

"This is a message from Wyman Manderly." I took the message and read it out...

"Hm... He is thanking me for the forward warning that made his fleet possible to secure his lands from... Hundreds of small ships? What?" Bullshit, from where would Ironborn take so many ships or people to operate them on this side of the ocean...

"Wait... No flags? Black flags..." The fuckers paid or called others to attack this side of the continent as they ravage their side?

That still didn't sit right, even if the books or tv were short on details about how exactly the rebellion looked, this either meant something changed or...

Wait...

Wyman is saying that these ships don't look like one for long voyages...

Just what the fuck is going on?