Chapter 20: Ned's Trust

Theon, who had just fallen asleep, was woken up by crows again. A soldier walked outside and felt helpless as he looked at the flock of crows circling overhead.

They drove them away for a while, but it was still no use. Twenty minutes later, the crows dispersed again.

This went on until the second half of the night. Everyone's eyes were bloodshot. Even Theon felt angry and picked up a stone on the ground and threw it at them.

Theon forced himself to calm down. Perhaps there was something here that interested these crows. If that was the case, they could just leave and set up camp somewhere else.

Theon ordered, "Everyone follow me and set up camp on the riverbank ahead!"

A group of soldiers were packing up their tents with their eardrums bombed. Jon, who was far away, saw them preparing to move and couldn't help but smile. This way, the soldiers would be more exhausted and he could leave earlier!

Theon led the soldiers on duty to a dry river beach. As it was almost dawn, they did not plan to set up tents. In addition, they were very tired, so many people lay down in the tent and fell asleep.

As for Theon, he did the same. He found a slightly flat stone, spread his stall on it, then covered himself with his cloak and prepared to take a nap.

Many people looked around nervously as soon as they lay down. In their opinion, these crows were indeed a little weird.

Seeing that there were no crows cawing around, a group of soldiers fell asleep as soon as they lowered their heavy eyelids, snoring loudly for a while. However, just as they fell asleep, the crows' cry rang out again, and because there was no shelter from the tent this time, the fierce cry was even more unbearable.

Theon couldn't bear it any longer, so he drew his bow, aimed and shot, but unfortunately his archery skills were mediocre and he didn't even hit the crows.

This is a soldier who stepped forward and said, "Sir, could it be Jon who did this?"

Of course Theon also thought about Jon, but he was already nine years old when he came to Winterfell, and Jon at that time could not even walk steadily. In a sense, Jon grew up with him, and he did not think that this illegitimate son, whom he had always looked down upon, had learned anything remarkable by walking on the Wall.

So he glared at the soldier and said, "What nonsense! I watched Jon grow up, and I will see through him once he opens his mouth!"

Theon thought that maybe something on them attracted the crows, but even if they had something on them, with dozens of people like them, most wild beasts would avoid them, let alone little crows.

What's more, crows are scavengers and will hardly attack on their own initiative.

So they decided to move to another place farther away to camp, but Theon had to be more careful today. These soldiers did not sleep well, and many of them would definitely be lazy and fall asleep. If Jon took the opportunity to escape, where would his face be?

King's Landing, Red Keep, Tower of the Hand.

Littlefinger was sitting at the table face to face with Ned, reading a letter from Winterfell.

This is a letter written by Robb to Ned. It talks about Jon's situation. Ned called Littlefinger and hoped that he could give him some advice.

Of course, there were also reasons for his own mobility problems, because Jaime knew that Catelyn had captured Tyrion the Devil, so he took advantage of the conflict between Ned and Robert and the brief time when he stepped down as Hand of the King to attack him and stabbed Ned's leg with a sword.

Even his personal bodyguard Jory was killed.

Littlefinger's gray-green eyes glanced back and forth between the letter and Ned's face, then he smiled and said, "It can be seen that Lord Ned loves this illegitimate child very much. You are so worried about him. If it were another family, they would just give him two pieces of land to send him away."

Ned didn't say much, and still answered with an expressionless look: "Why do you think he wants to come to King's Landing?"

According to Littlefinger's guess, Jon might have done all this because he was dissatisfied with his background, just like himself, and for a moment he felt a sense of sympathy.

Perhaps it is human instinct to put oneself in other people's shoes. In his opinion, Jon is a child of fourteen or fifteen years old, and it is just the right time for him to be manic. As he grows older, he will find that Robb, who grew up with him, can become the Duke of Winterfell in the future, while he can only be lost in the crowd as a bastard. He will inevitably feel unbalanced.

And in Little Finger's opinion, it is at this time that a dividing line appears between everyone. Some people choose to accept it, while others will have the urge to change it all!

So he shook his head and said with a helpless smile: "My Lord Ned, it seems that people of noble birth like you will never be able to empathize with people like us."

Seeing that Ned didn't seem to understand what he meant, Littlefinger said, "In my opinion, whether Jon joined the Night's Watch or decided to quit halfway, it was because he wanted to change his identity. Maybe he found that this place on the Wall was too different from what he believed, so he came to King's Landing to try his luck in a different place."

Seeing Ned's thoughtful look, Littlefinger added, "I remember that Maester Aemon at Castle Black is a Targaryen, right? Maybe Jon learned something about King's Landing from him, and that's why he decided to leave?"

Hearing him say this, Ned suddenly trembled, and Littlefinger quickly pretended to be concerned and asked, "What's wrong, sir?"

Ned quickly covered it up and said, "It's okay, it's just a leg injury."

The two chatted for a while, and then Ned watched him leave.

After leaving the Tower of the Prime Minister, Littlefinger's mouth curled up into a smile. He didn't care whether Jon would come to King's Landing or not. At present, it seems that Ned trusts him very much. He even asks for his opinion on such family matters. Then his plan will go more smoothly.

And if Jon came to King's Landing, it would be easy for him to induce a boy of fourteen or fifteen years old to do something.

However, what he didn't know was that if he appeared in front of Jon, Jon would immediately kill him with the sword without hesitation.

Ned in the room was in deep worry at this moment. Jon grew up in front of him since he was a child, and he thought he knew his "nephew" better.

When he left Winterfell, he told him that he would tell Jon the truth about his life experience when he returned. That was because he felt that Jon might be mature after some time and be able to digest the shock of his life experience.

But Littlefinger's words just now reminded him that there was another Targaryen on the Wall, and what if Jon learned something from him.

On second thought, Ned felt that his speculation was not reasonable. No one else knew about Jon's affairs except himself. Maester Aemon had been in Castle Black for nearly decades, and it was impossible for him to provide Jon with any useful information.

Finally, Ned decided that Jon must not be allowed to come to King's Landing. Robert would be out hunting again soon. What if he heard that Jon had come to King's Landing and asked Jon to accompany him on a whim?

So Ned wrote to Robb, asking him to keep an eye on Jon after he found him and to make his own arrangements when he returned.