Chapter 148

  Chapter 148 Early Release

  When "Littlefinger" Petyr Baelish woke up, his vision was dark.

  The air smelled of urine and blood, and instead of a soft feather bed, there was a cold floor covered with straw.

  "Hey..." Petyr opened his mouth, only to realize that his voice was very hoarse, "Give me water..."

  There was no response.

  The empty left arm and the excruciating pain finally reminded him of what happened before.

  "Red Viper!"

  Petyr said the name gritting teeth, as if trying to chew him up.

  "Anybody !" Petyr called again, but only heard his own echo.

  In the boundless darkness, he was no different from a blind man, or in other words, no different from a dead man.

  how so?

  Petyr forced himself to calm down, thinking about the current situation.

  The sudden madness of the "Red Viper" was actually not too unexpected. After all, when he heard the rumor, Petyr guessed that he had been exposed, so he tried his best to create confusion to spread attention, but unexpectedly, "Red Viper" still aimed him.

  It's a pity that he was just a little bit away from being able to control the situation in King's Landing through that stupid woman Cersei, and then he can slowly deal with the "Red Viper" and the Martell family behind him.

  Just a little bit...

  The darkness prevented him from feeling the passage of time, and Petyr hadn't felt this hopeless feeling for many years.

  The last time he was so desperate was when he had a duel with the northern wolf . At that time, he was still underage, thin and small, only half the height of his opponent, but for the woman he loved, he rushed again and again , knocked down again and again, charged again and again...

  In the end, he still failed, almost lost his life, and lost the love of his life forever.

  Since then, he has understood a truth -

  Never try to defeat those great nobles head-on, his only chance of winning is in the dark, in the midst of conspiracy and trickery, he will smash them from behind!

  Unexpectedly, one day, he was also shot by a poisonous arrow from the darkness.

  Are the gods mocking him in this way?

  At this time, faint footsteps came from the darkness.

  Petyr hurriedly shouted again, trying to get attention.

  After a while, there was the sound of iron chains clashing outside, and then the door was opened.

  The strong light of the torch made Petyr squint his eyes, but he still tried his best to move his body towards the light, hissed:

  "Water..."

  "I only have wine." The wine bag was passed over.

  Petyr quickly took it and drank it in big gulps.

  "Lord Petyr, are you okay?" The man spoke again, but his tone slowly changed.

  Become soft and greasy, become very familiar!

  Varys the Spider!

  "Varys!" Petyr called, lowering wineskin.

  By the light of the fire, he saw that the man's fat face was covered with a stubby black beard, which was not the appearance of Varys in his memory at all, and he was wearing the clothes of a jailer, reeking of sweat and bad wine.

  But Petyr knew it was Varys!

  "I guess false identity as jailer!"

  Varys did not deny it. Since he recovered his original voice, he obviously did not want to hide his identity: "Lord Petyr, I really I didn't expect you to have such courage to cut off your own arm... Hiss~ Doesn't it hurt?" "Nonsense!"

  Petyr scolded angrily, "If i hesitated my life, I..."

  Having said this, Petyr was suddenly stunned.

  He suddenly realized that he had been fooled!

  "Red Viper" would never dare to kill him!

  Otherwise, he would be directly hanged under the suspicion of poisoning Jon Arryn, and will also be charged with killing the Master of coins!

  Therefore, the poison on the spear will definitely not be fatal!

  I was tricked!

  Petyr was shaking with anger.

  Seeing that Petyr understood, Varys comforted him and said,

  "Lord Petyr, you don't need to blame yourself too much. After all, it is difficult to keep calm in such a life-and-death situation, not to mention the 'Red Viper' reputation."

"Who knows, maybe he was really desperate and might poison you. So, it's better to cut it off."

  Petyr could hear the teasing in the other party's tone, and he would have retorted it normally, but now he is not in the mood at all :

  "Where am I now?"

  "You're in the dungeon of the Red Keep."

  "The dungeon?"

  "Ah, Lord Petyr, the King's Hand is outraged by your street fight with Prince Oberyn, so he ordered to have you thrown both in a dark cell, and because of Prince Oberyn's accusation, he also suspects that you have murdered Lord Jon Arryn, so tomorrow, you two will stand trial together."

"I did not murder Jon Arryn!" cried Petyr.

  "You should save this for tomorrow." Varys shrugged, pretending to be indifferent.

  Petyr lowered his head, his face gloomy.

  He knew that tomorrow's trial would be very unfavorable to him.

  Although everyone thought it was the "Red Viper" before, there was no real evidence after all, and no one saw the "Red Viper" poisoning with their own eyes.

  Of course, the accusations against Petyr are also unsubstantiated.

  In this case, the "Red Viper" is likely to request a trial by combat.

  Trial by combat is a method of adjudicating disputes generally recognized in Westeros. It is to let the two parties in the dispute engage in a life-and-death duel, and the surviving party wins the trial.

  Simply put, whoever has the biggest fist is right.

  It may seem absurd, but it actually makes sense in this world.

  Because the people of Westeros believe that the gods will help the righteous side win the trial by combat.

  Of course, it doesn't mean that he has to fight in person, if so, then Petyr should just present his neck or kill himself.

  In the trial by combat, it is possible to hire a proxy knight, that is, to find someone to fight on his behalf.

  What? You said you couldn't invite anyone ?

  If you can't find a righteous knight willing to fight for you, then you must deserve what you deserve...

  In short, Petyr knows that he will most likely face a trial by combat tomorrow, and his opponent will be the "Red Viper"!

  Although it is possible to hire a knight as an agent, who dares to say that he will be better than the famous "Red Viper"?

  Which knight is willing to risk his life for him against "Red Viper"?

  The more Petyr thought about it, the worse he felt.

  "Lord Petyr, if you need proxy knight, I suggest you go to the queen for help. Lannister has many knights with extraordinary bravery. Maybe they can help you defeat the 'Red Viper'."

Varys laughed as he gave advice, he seemed to know the secret of Petyr's hookup with the Lannister family.

  But Petyr didn't speak.

  He didn't think that ruthless woman Cersei would help him in this situation.

  Although they conspired to kill the king, if he dared to use this to blackmail Cersei to help, based on Petyr's understanding of that mad woman, Cersei would most likely send someone directly to give him a glass of poisoned wine.

  Even if Cersei agreed to help, Petyr didn't want to hand over his life to a shitty proxy knight.

  Go fuck trial by combat, go fuck Judgment of the Gods!

  The gods are not qualified to decide my life and death!

  Petyr pondered for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth and said,

  "Varys, let me out! I know you can do it!"

  Varys suddenly put on a look of helplessness: "Lord Petyr, you really making things difficult for me. ..."

  "I know you can do it!" Petyr said, "otherwise why did you come to see me? Tell me what conditions you have, as long as you get me out of this damn place! We can talk!"

Varys took a few steps forward, he came to Petyr and squatted down:

  "Oh, Master Petyr, who made us best friends. I really can't see you suffer... Well, let's do it this way, since you don't want to accept Trial by combat, you can't stay in the Seven Kingdoms anymore, why not go to the other side of the narrow sea. Go to Governor Illyrio Mopatis, he will introduce you to a new master. Maybe someday you will have a chance to return to Westeros."

  "Good!" Petyr nodded without hesitation.

  He had known for a long time that Varys was secretly planning to restore the Targaryen Dynasty on the other side of the Narrow Sea. If he hadn't come to the end of the mountain, he didn't want to participate in such an extremely dangerous thing, but now, he had no choice.

  Even if the gods were willing to let him win the trial by combat, he couldn't stay in King's Landing any longer.

  Because he has been exposed.

  Winning a trial by combat would save him from being hanged, but it would not save him from suspicion.

  And this is exactly the nightmare of a schemer like Petyr who has no strength to support him.

  Only by hiding behind the scenes can he engage in various conspiracies and calculations, and once he is suspected and guarded against, he will not have any chance.

  Hearing this answer, Varys finally showed a satisfied smile, stretched out his hand to support Petyr and said, "Come on, Lord Petyr, I'll escort you out right now."

  With the help of Varys, Petyr struggled to get up. His body was very weak, and the pain from his broken arm was unbearable.

He felt weak like on fever , but no matter how difficult it was, Petyr held on and walked out.

  He must escape from here!

  Out of the cell, Petyr breathed as lightly as possible, for fear of alarming the guards.

  But Varys on the side strode forward, seemingly not worried at all.

  The dungeon was dark and damp, and there was no one there.

  Every cell here was separated by stone walls, so you can't see the scene in other cells.

  Varys went straight to a bare stone wall, and knocked here and there. Before Petyr could see clearly, he lifted a stone slab, revealing a dark hole, leading to somewhere.

  "Be careful, it's a little slippery." Varys turned around, warned, and then got in first.

  Petyr also climbed in with difficulty.

  After passing through a narrow tunnel, the two came to a relatively spacious passage.

  Varys swaggered ahead, torch in hand.

  Petyr noticed that Varys's gait and posture were different from usual, impatient and mighty, as if he really became another person.

  How many identities does this 'best friend' eunuch have?

  Petyr pressed his thoughts, followed closely behind Varys, turned around in the passage, and soon lost his sense of direction.

  He couldn't help but think of certain rumors about the "cruel" Maegor Targaryen. It was during the reign of that king that the Red keep was completed, and this person dug densely packed secret passages extending in all directions in the Red Keep. All craftsmen were be brutally killed after completion, so that these secret passages will not be leaked.

  After the Robert's rebellion , House Targaryen fell, and the secrets of these secret passages were buried.

  But now, Petyr discovered, there seemed to be another spider holding these secret in the Red Keep.

[END]