-Chapter 35-

-298 AC-

-16th day of the 10th moon-

-POV Olenna Tyrell-

"Grandmother, have we received any news from the stupid dragon?" Loras said as he saw me frowning.

He found it hilarious to name Ned Stark's bastard "stupid dragon" after he had freed us, he wasn't wrong, freeing us had been an unprecedented strategic mistake.

But what I found most serious was that he dared to go on a crusade against the coalition of the Riverlands and the Vale with only 40,000 men and 30,000 soldiers from Tywin Lannister as if the latter could not betray him at any moment.

I was pulled from my thoughts by Margaery asking her elder brother what the message he had just received said.

"What's the news?"

"The Tully coalition has been defeated," Willas said.

"It was predictable, with Tywin Lannister's 60,000 soldiers, Ned Stark's bastard had no chance of losing, but even so, he could never have beaten the Coalition of the Vale and the Riverlands without shedding their armies' blood," Loras said.

I knew that Tywin's army would only number 30,000 soldiers, but I didn't bother to correct this ignorant because no one could change his mind about the young king sitting on the iron throne.

I frowned and took the note that Willas had just received, and I instantly understood the plan of this monster.

"He didn't use the entirety of the Lannister army."

"But without the Lannisters…" Loras tried to say, but I stopped the real fool by saying:

"SHUT UP."

"You don't understand, this isn't the work of Tywin Lannister, it's Aegon, he has...he has...he has..."

I stood up and felt a sort of oppression on my chest.

"What's happening, grandmother? Calm down and breathe," Margaery said, supporting me.

I took a deep breath while my mind was overheating as the immense design of this young king began to reveal itself little by little.

"We underestimated him," I said, regaining my composure.

"What do you mean, grandmother?" Margaery said, trying to soothe her angry grandmother.

"He released us with Renly because he knew, he knew that Renly would wage war against his brother, it's been his goal from the very beginning, he only wants to weaken us and buy time to eliminate his enemies one by one," I said, feeling the extent of the net he had cast over us all.

"We have an army of 90,000 men and a navy of more than 30,000 men, how could we be afraid of him in this paper it is marked that our spies could only reach the battlefield an hour after the cleaning of the corpses and that his army had suffered significant damage they only have 60,000 soldiers left," Loras said, trying to sweep my concerns aside.

"60,000 hahaha...hahaha...hahaha," I said, laughing almost hysterically at the dramatic situation we were facing.

"Are you okay, grandmother?" Willas said, looking at me as if he saw an old madwoman.

"He didn't lose 60,000 soldiers but barely 20,000," I said, I paused for a few seconds to organize my thoughts before continuing: "He brought Tywin Lannister so that everyone would think he was going to attack northward with all his forces but in fact he simply fooled everyone it wouldn't surprise me if Tywin's 30,000 soldiers are right now on the gold road."

"He wouldn't do that, everyone knows how it ended the last time a Targaryen let a Lannister enter with an army, he would lose all his hostages at once," Garlan, who had remained silent until now, said.

"You don't understand," I said, smiling at his mistake, a mistake I had made myself.

"You're trying to judge his actions as if he was an ordinary human but he's not, he's a Targaryen whatever you may say and he masters magic and sorcery that even his family had forgotten, I'm almost certain that if he had a dragon egg he could hatch it," I said.

"How judging him as such could change the fact that he would lose his hostages once Tywin's army is within his walls," Garlan said, frowning.

"Because the hostage would be Tywin and his son himself," Willas said, finally understanding where I was getting at.

"So he has 80,000 soldiers, so what..." Loras said, grumbling jealously.

"100,000 men, the Starks have still not come down to partake in the conflict from their frozen desert to fight," Margaery said, interrupting her brother.

"But…" before being interrupted once again by her elder brother Willas.

"Stannis and Renly have deployed their forces to the maximum, they will seek to deliver a decisive battle which will cause a lot of deaths on both sides, if this continues, no one will be the winner, we have 90,000 soldiers but Stannis has 40,000, if we lose the battle against Stannis then we will lose all chance of accessing the throne and finally we might even lose our own lives in the process," Olenna said.

"But what if we win? We will win what's left of his bannerets," Loras replied.

"And then what? We would have what? 110,000 soldiers 120,000 soldiers against 120,000 men on the other side which would place us at the same level or even at a numerical disadvantage, the only way to succeed is to unite Renly and Stannis," Olenna replied, irritated by her grandson's stupidity.

"You know that won't happen, since he returned from the capital he only thinks of one thing that is to be King and Stannis will never give up his place he won't even consider the contrary until he sees Renly at his feet," Margaery said.

"That's why you must have his child quickly in your belly..." Olenna Tyrell said but before she could say anything else, the camp suddenly stirred.

Soldiers began to run everywhere and shouted at the top of their lungs and she listened closely.

Everyone stood up thinking the camp was attacked but a guard entered the tent shouting: "Lady Olenna Lady Olenna we must break camp."

"Stop shouting at the top of your lungs and tell me what's happening," I said, not understanding what could be happening.

"It's the King...King Renly is dead."

Damn, this time we have completely lost