-14- The Rains of Castamere

Lyna's pupils dilated, staring at Gallen's calm eyes for a moment before shifting her gaze to Surlana.

Surlana seemed to understand Lyana's concern and nodded gently with a warm smile.

Hershel also spoke up, "Lady Lyna, don't worry too much. The injustice you've suffered, our lord will rectify it, and those who have harmed you will pay the price."

Only then did Lyna give a clear answer, "Gallen, thank you. I've never hated anyone so much. It's not wrong because I refused to divorce Wolfnir. I could feel he had murderous intent towards me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have fled in haste. If possible, please get rid of him!"

Lyna couldn't help but worry, "If he's killed, will it cause trouble for the family? After all, the nobles of the Vale have always been hostile towards us."

Gallen gently patted Lyna's hand and sat back in his chair, saying, "Even though they mock House Crabb for being weak. Everyone knows that as nobles, House Crabb will surely retaliate."

Gallen chuckled and continued, "Someone might think House Crabb will only lodge a complaint with the Red Keep? The insignificant House Crabb not favored by the King's Hand will only result in the Red Keep compensating Wolfnir with some gold dragons to appease certain sensitive sentiments of the nobles. This matter will pass."

"We are Half-Wild nobles, aren't we? It just proves they're not wrong. When a lady of the house is wronged, we get enraged, although we are far away, it doesn't stop us from wiping them out. It's indeed very wild."

Lyna couldn't help but exclaim, "Wouldn't the impact of what you're planning be too great? Except for the maids I brought with me, there's no one I like there. But... will that old hand cause us trouble?"

"Then it depends on the means of our esteemed Queen."

Summing up the incident on the surface, it's a noble lady who was married to a merchant who's beneath her, suffered humiliation after marriage, and the noble lady's family retaliated against the merchant family.

The retaliation was a bit excessive, but it's not unreasonable from a rational perspective.

After all, on the continent of Westeros, the honor of nobles is inviolable.

From Cersei's perspective, Gallen's retaliation was perhaps too gentle compared to her father Tywin Lannister's "Rains of Castamere."

Gallen was just going with the flow, occasionally stirring up a little trouble. Queen Cersei would be more reassured by House Crabb actively showing allegiance.

Gallen had silently planned in his heart that the ones sent to take action would not reveal the identity of House Crabb and would not leave obvious evidence.

Those who later understood the situation would clearly know that this was retaliation from House Crabb, but as long as no obvious evidence was left, Queen Cersei could easily suppress the pursuit of those who had malicious intentions in the Red Keep, and it would not affect her impartiality as Queen.

King Robert could be temporarily ignored because in his eyes, trivial matters disturbing the extravagance of the king were not as concerning as the wine in his hand being empty.

...

Thinking of this, Gallen, who had already returned to his study, tapped his fingers on the table, his brow slightly furrowed.

According to the customs of the continent of Westeros, such secretive retaliation, although the means were intense enough, might still be ridiculed, mocking House Crabb for not daring to reveal their banner, being too cowardly, and damaging their honor.

The rules of the game here sometimes gave Gallen headache.

After a while, Gallen's brow relaxed. He could learn from Tywin Lannister!

Gallen first personally selected a group of men from House Crabb's soldiers, and arranged for several people with beautiful voices from the estates to accompany them on their journey.

...

...

Just after having lunch with Lyna, Gallen was still very busy.

After discussing with Hershel, the steward, and Surlana, the chamberlain, arrangements were made for Surlana's eldest son, Leyton, to lead a group of people and depart for King's Landing ahead of time.

Leyton, as the reserve steward, was tasked with purchasing an estate outside King's Landing.

Hershel had previously inquired with traveling merchants about the prices of estates outside King's Landing, which ranged from 80 to 200 gold dragons.

Despite his own financial constraints, Gallen reluctantly allocated 300 gold dragons to Leyton.

The core of Gallen's instructions was to find an estate as close to King's Landing as possible, with a larger area being preferable. With a limited number of gold dragons, Leyton would face considerable pressure.

The future "Crabb Estate" outside King's Landing was being prepared for Gallen's garrison.

Having never left his domain in the original owner's memory, Gallen was unsure how many guards an estate outside King's Landing typically had without arousing suspicion from the Red Keep.

In Gallen's view, within the tolerance limit of the Red Keep, the more troops stationed in the estate, the better. This would greatly increase Gallen's sense of security in King's Landing.

...

Gallen, leading his guards, was inspecting the surroundings in the Mermaid Harbor.

With the addition of over 200 free laborers, "Phase One" of the construction in Mermaid Harbor was almost complete, providing the basic functions of a port.

"Phase One" construction was aimed at enabling Mermaid Harbor to start operating within a short period. The main building materials used were wood, making it a transitional period construction.

"Phase Two" would last for six months and focus on using stone as the primary material to replicate the various shops from "Phase One" on the other side. Once completed, Phase Two would directly replace the functions of Phase One's buildings.

Following Phase Two would be "Phase Three."

The main tasks of Phase Three were two-fold, with a yearly timeline planned.

The first task was to add new buildings to the port based on specific needs, continuing to expand and improve Mermaid Harbor.

The second task was to beautify the completed buildings from the outside to the inside, with a focus on delicate carvings.

Gallen attached great importance to the defense of Mermaid Harbor and did not want the hard-built port to be destroyed by a few waves of pirates.

A strong defense force would attract more people to Mermaid Harbor.

Currently, the temporary guard force for Mermaid Harbor consisted of over 100 people, mainly former villagers from the fishing village, with two old soldiers selected from House Crabb's soldiers responsible for training and command.

Gallen did not overlook sanitation management issues.

He did not want the charming Mermaid Harbor to be filled with foul odors everywhere, so someone was specifically appointed to oversee public hygiene management in Mermaid Harbor.

Standing by the sea, gazing at the endless blue, Gallen had no heart to appreciate it.

Crabb's long-range crossbows had not yet been produced, and Mermaid Harbor still lacked coastal defense weapons to guard against attacks from the sea.

The current guard on the sea was composed of several small fishing boats refurbished from the original fishing village.

Conducting naval warfare was definitely not feasible. With just a few small fishing boats, they could capsize in slightly larger waves, and they dared not venture out in bad weather.

Large warships capable of ocean voyages were beyond Gallen's territory's construction capabilities.

Buying them externally, with prices starting at 1000 gold dragons, directly deterred the impoverished Lord Gallen.

Gallen had to temporarily give up on his dream of becoming a ship king and decided to take the sea route steadily and properly by paying to board merchant ships.