67. The Voice of the South of Westeros

This idea had haunted Lysa all her life, making her feel as if she were possessed. The more she thought about it, the more she believed Baelish was right. If Jon Arryn died, she would finally be free—free to be with Baelish.

If she brought the entire Eastern Territories as her dowry and married Baelish, they could live happily ever after.

As this thought crossed her mind, a spark seemed to light up in her eyes. Maybe, if she was careful, no one would find out. After all, everyone knew her husband was old and weak, and it wouldn't be surprising if he died from an illness, right?

In the garden, Renly was busy showing off soap to the gathered nobles, completely unaware that a plot to kill the former Hand of the King was brewing at his banquet.

On the high platform, King Robert was washing his hands and face with the soap. Afterward, he noticed that his hands weren't greasy at all and nodded in approval. "As you said, it works well. Finally, something useful!" he said with satisfaction.

Queen Cersei also took a piece of the soap and tried it herself. She was especially pleased with the rich tulip scent that lingered on her hands after washing, making her like it even more.

The other lords, ladies, and young nobles tried it as well. Just as Renly had promised, it was far superior to saponin. As a result, everyone asked where they could buy this wonderful new soap.

"Unfortunately," Renly said with a hint of regret but a proud look on his face, "I only have 90 bars here in King's Landing, and that's all for now!"

Despite his words of regret, Renly couldn't hide the joy on his face as he soaked in the envious looks from the nobles.

"However," he added, "as a token of my appreciation for attending tonight's banquet, I'll give each of you a piece of this luxury item from the Far East—soap!"

Renly's generosity was met with cheers and applause.

Soon after, the banquet ended.

Each family was given a bar of soap, and the nobles left feeling satisfied.

The king, without asking, took the remaining bars—over a dozen—with him, along with the Kingsguard and gold cloaks, as he boarded his carriage back to the Red Keep.

Though Renly was left with fewer soaps thanks to his brother, he was still very pleased. The banquet had been a great success, and he knew that tomorrow, all of King's Landing would be buzzing with talk of Lord Renly.

He could already imagine the cheers and admiration he would receive!

Renly hoped that the merchant named Anthony would return with more soap soon.

He was certain that the nobles of King's Landing would be clamoring for it the next day.

Meanwhile, Anthony, who Renly counted on, had just arrived in White Harbor after a journey of over ten days by ship. As soon as he set foot on shore, he rushed to hire carriages to take him and his goods to Winterfell.

At the same time, in the southern part of Westeros, merchants from the Reach disembarked at the Oldtown docks after traveling from White Harbor.

Oldtown was the most prosperous port in the Reach and home to the Citadel—the center of knowledge in all of Westeros. There, scholars studied subjects such as medicine, smithing, and the arcane arts. The Citadel was where all the maesters in the realm were trained, and it held a monopoly on knowledge across Westeros, rivaling even the Faith of the Seven in influence.

The merchants who had bought gel pens, refills, and white paper from the markets near Winterfell knew these items would be popular among the learned men of the Citadel.

And they were right. As soon as the gel pens and paper appeared, they were snapped up by the scholars of the Citadel. In no time, nearly 100 gel pens, 500 refills, and 800 sheets of paper were sold out, bringing the merchants enormous profits.

This commotion reached the upper ranks of the Citadel, and the Archmaesters, the most learned men of the Citadel, summoned the merchants who had brought the pens and paper.

The scholars told the merchants that the Citadel wanted to buy more of these useful tools and hoped the merchants could help them acquire them.

The merchants, eager for more profit, readily agreed and, with a deposit from the wealthy Citadel, rented two ships and sailed north to White Harbor once more.

Following in their footsteps, merchants from Dorne brought gel pens and white paper to Sunspear, the capital of Dorne. The nobles of Dorne, intrigued by these convenient writing tools, quickly bought them up as well.

Seeing the potential for profit, even more Dornish merchants boarded ships bound for the North to purchase these goods.

Suddenly, the ports were flooded with merchant ships heading north to White Harbor.

Meanwhile, Jon Snow was training a group of ten guards when Jason Liu returned to his shop.

Though there hadn't been many customers for paper, pens, and soap that day, Lina and the others had managed just fine.

So, Jon had taken McCann and the others for more training. The number of trainees had doubled from five to ten, which made Jon feel a bit overwhelmed.

At only 15 years old, Jon had been learning swordsmanship from Ser Rodrik Cassel, the master-at-arms of Winterfell, for seven years. However, teaching ten people at once was a new challenge, and it made him a little anxious.

But Jason Liu encouraged him and praised the progress of the previous group of five trainees, telling Jon that he would do just fine with the new additions.

With Jason's support, Jon grew more confident and serious about his teaching.

Lately, Winterfell had become less and less welcoming to Jon, so he spent most of his days with Jason Liu, only returning to the castle to sleep at night.

Even Arya, who was usually carefree, had noticed the tension and asked Jon about it during one of their chats.

However, Jon didn't tell Arya about the complicated matters involving inheritance and politics. He didn't want to burden his favorite sister with those ugly truths.

As a result, he spent his days training with Jason Liu and his nights resting at Winterfell, which meant he saw much less of Robb these days.

Rumors about inheritance and succession had been spreading throughout Winterfell recently...

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