Chapter 60 Chapter 59: Sansa

What a sweet dream, she thought feebly, as she returned to Winterfell, running with the lady in the godswood.There are her father and brothers in the forest, everyone is safe and lively.If dreams can come true—— She throws back the blanket.I must be brave.The torture will come to an end one day.If the lady was still there, I wouldn't be afraid.But lady... Robb, Bran, Rickon, Arya, father, mother, even Septa Mordane... they are all dead, and I am alone, all alone in this world. Her husband is not around, but she has long been used to it.Tyrion was a light sleeper, usually up before dawn, and sat in his study, curled up by candlelight, ecstatically reading old scrolls or leather books.Sometimes the smell of toast for breakfast lured him to the kitchen, and other times he ran to the roof garden or took a walk on Renegade Walk.

Sansa pushed open the narrow window, and the sudden chill gave goosebumps to her hands.The eastern sky was overcast with only a few rays of sunlight.The morning mist is hazy, as if there is a big castle floating in the air.Flowing clouds make walls, fortresses and watchtowers, and strands of light silk are the banners on the city, connecting with the vanished stars.The sun rose higher and higher, and the castle turned from black to gray, and finally turned into thousands of rose, gold or crimson ribbons, stretching endlessly, and finally being blown away by the breeze.The castle in the fog gradually disappeared, leaving only the real Red Castle on the ground.

The door opened, and two maids came in bringing hot water to bathe her.They are new, and Tyrion says that the previous servants were all Cersei's spies - just confirming her suspicions - so they are all replaced. "Come, come and see," she greeted them, "there is a castle in the sky." They leaned over. "Golden castle," said Shae, who had short black hair and big eyes, and was usually dutiful, but often looked at Sansa rudely. "Yeah, the whole thing is made of gold, and it shines." "That's... the golden castle?" Berena narrowed her eyes. "Look, the towers are all down, um, as far as I can see, it's a ruin."

Sansa was not in the mood to say anything about the ruins of the ruined tower, so she closed the windows to cut off the cold. "It's getting late, I have to prepare for the Queen Mother's breakfast meeting. Is my husband reading a book?" "No, ma'am," said Berena, "I haven't seen him." "He should go to see his father," Xue Yi guessed, "The prime minister relies heavily on the master." Berena snorted, "Mrs. Sansa, wash quickly, the water is getting cold." Shae undressed her and helped her into the big tub.She was very nervous and wanted a glass of wine.The grand wedding will take place at noon in the Great Sept of Baelor opposite the Red Keep, and at dusk move to the Throne Hall for a banquet: a thousand guests, seventy-seven courses of feast, and performances by singers, mummers, and jugglers.But first, an early morning breakfast in the queen's ballroom, attended by all the Lannisters (except Lancel, who can't move) and the men of the Tyrells - the women of whose family are responsible for accompanying Miss Margaery - And hundreds of lords and knights under the command of both sides.They count me among the Lannisters, Sansa thought bitterly.

Berena rubbed Sansa's back while telling Shae to fetch water. "You are trembling, ma'am." "Oh, the water is a bit cold." She lied. She had just finished washing when Tyrion showed up with Podrick Payne. "You are so lovely today, Sansa," the husband turned to the squire, "Pod, get me a drink." "There will be wine at the breakfast meeting, my lord." Sansa said. "But our family has them too. You don't want me to just go see my old lady, ma'am? Today is a big day, not only representing a new century, but also the 300th anniversary of Aegon's landing in the Seven Kingdoms." The dwarf said from Pod Rick took the glass in his hand and drank it down. "To Aegon Targaryen! What a lucky man! Two sisters, two wives, three dragons, the happiest man ever!" He wiped his mouth dry with the back of his hand.

The little devil's clothes were in a mess, as if they had been put together overnight. "My lord, would you like to change your clothes? That new coat is very beautiful." "Yes, the coat is beautiful," Tyrion said, putting down his glass. "Come on, Pod, let's go and change, so that the husband doesn't look so strange, and my good lady is not ashamed." After a long time, the little devil came back.He finally looked a little better, and even looked a little taller after dressing up.Podrick Payne also put on a gorgeous purple, platinum and gold tricolor costume. If it weren't for the big red rash next to his nose, he would look like a decent squire.The boy was shy, and at first Sansa was on guard because it was a man of the Payne family, and it was Ser Ilyn Payne who had beheaded his father; Just as afraid of her.Whenever he asked questions, he always blushed.

"Purple, white, and gold, are those the Pyne colors, Podrick?" she asked kindly. "No... I mean, yes," the squire blushed, "the color... our family's coat of arms is purple and white squares, ma'am, with gold coins embroidered on it, in the middle of the lattice, in purple and white squares Both." He looked at her feet. "These coins have a story," said Tyrion, "and no doubt Pod will tell your toes someday. Now, time to go, madam, will you?" Sansa really didn't want to go, really wanted to say no.How would I avoid it? Stomach upset? Period? All she wanted to do was crawl back into bed, draw the curtains, and be alone in the dark.I must be brave, like Robb, she told herself, shaking her husband's hand stiffly.

In the queen's ballroom they dined on a honey cake baked with blackberries and nuts, gammon shank, bacon, breaded starfish, autumn pears, and a Dornish dish of onion and cheese with a lot of pepper and eggs. "A good savory breakfast before the seventy-seven courses," Tyrion remarked.Jugs of milk, mead and light sweet blond wine are also served.Musicians roamed the hall, playing flutes and harps.Ser Dontos trotted about on his broom horse, while Moon Boy imitated the sound of farting with his fat cheeks and sang vulgar songs to his guests. Sansa noticed that her husband hardly ate, only drinking one glass after another.She herself asked for Donne's eggs, which were a pity that the pepper was too strong, and a bit of fruit, fish, and cake.Whenever Joffrey's eyes turned, her stomach began to roll, as if a bat were flying inside.

When the food was cleared, the queen tied Joffrey's bridegroom's cloak solemnly, which the king would later tie around Margaery's shoulders. "This is the cloak that Robert wore when he married me, and my mother, Lady Joanna, when she married my lord father." No wonder Sansa thought it looked worn. Then it's gift time.According to tradition in the Reach, gifts are given to the bride and groom the morning before their wedding – and of course, the day after the wedding, but they are given to the couple together. Jalabhar Thor offered a great bow of gilt, with long arrows feathered in green and crimson; Lady Tan, a pair of soft riding boots; Prince Oberyn presents a red and gold brooch in the shape of a scorpion.Also, Ser Adam Marbrand brought silver spurs, Lord Matus Rowan a red silk jousting tent, and Lord Paxter Redwyne a beautiful model wooden ship , a full two hundred oars, he claimed that the ship is currently under construction on the Arbor Island, "If His Majesty allows, I will name her 'King Joffrey's Courage'."

Little Joe happily agreed, "I'm going to use it as my flagship, go straight to Dragonstone Island, and kill the traitor Uncle Stannis." It appears that the King intends to play the hero today.Sansa knew that little Joe could behave decently if he put his mind to it, but as he got older, he became more and more self-willed.Joffrey's politeness suddenly vanishes when Tyrion presents a gift on behalf of the couple.It was an old tome called "Records of the Four Kings", and it was obvious that the king had no interest in it. "What is this, uncle?" this is a book.Sansa guessed that Joffrey never read with those thick lips.

"Here is the history written by Grand Maester Cass, of the four kings of Daeron the Young Dragon, Baelor the Blessed, Aegon the Worthy, and Daeron the Worthful," answered her dwarf husband. "This is the book every king should read, Your Grace," said Ser Kevan. "My father never read." Joffrey brushed the tome aside. "If you had taken less time to read, Uncle Demon, perhaps Lady Sansa's belly would have been distended." He laughed... and so did the courtiers. Laugh along. "Don't be sentimental, Sansa. When I get Margaery pregnant, I'll visit your bedroom and teach my dwarf uncle how to do his duty." Sansa blushed up to her neck, and she glanced nervously at Tyrion, fearful of her husband having a seizure like the day of the wedding feast.But this time, the dwarf continued drinking without saying anything. Next it was Lord Mace Tyrell's turn, and his gift was a gold cup three feet high, with seven sides cast with countless precious stones, and two richly decorated ears. "The seven faces represent the seven kingdoms subject to His Majesty," explained the father-in-law.He also showed them the arms of the seven great houses of the kingdom engraved on the seven faces: the ruby ​​lion, the emerald rose, the onyx stag, the silver trout, the sapphire falcon, the opal sun, and the pearl direwolf. "Good cup!" Joffrey praised. "The only flaw is that the direwolf should be scooped up and replaced by a squid." Sansa pretended not to hear anything. "Then, Margaery and I will drink this cup together at the wedding banquet, my lord father-in-law." The king held up the golden cup for all to see. "Damn it, it's as tall as I am," Tyrion cursed under his breath. "Hmph, half a glass and the boy is knocked out." Great, Sansa thought, better pass out and break her neck. Lord Tywin played last, and his gift was a long sword.The scabbard is of gilt cherry wood, covered in oiled red leather, and decorated with a lion's head in solid gold.Lions have ruby ​​eyes.The whole ballroom held its breath as Joffrey drew his sword and held it above his head.There are red and black ripples on the blade, shining slightly in the morning light. "It's really an unworldly soldier." Matus Rowan sighed. "It deserves a song, my lord," Lord Redwyne announced. "A sword worthy of kings," said Ser Kevan Lannister. The look on King Joffrey's face was as if he was about to kill a man right away to sacrifice the knife.He was so excited, he kept waving and laughing, "A good sword! A good sword has a good name, my lords! What should I call it?" Sansa remembered Lion's Tooth, the sword that Arya threw into the Trident, and Hearteater, the sword he forced her to kiss before the battle.I don't know if he will ask Margaery to kiss the sword next time. The guests came up with all kinds of names in a rush.Xiao Qiao refused one by one until she finally heard something she was satisfied with. "Widow's Howl!" he cried. "Okay! Call it this! I'll make countless widows out of it!" He swung his sword again. "I'll take it to a duel with Uncle Stannis. Cleave in two." Ser Balon Swann staggered back as Young Jo tried to register the cut.Seeing Sir Balon's expression, the people roared with laughter. "Be careful, Your Grace," Ser Adam Marbrand reminded the king, "Valyrian steel is sharp." "Oh, try it, I know Valyrian weapons very well," Joffrey said, holding the sword in both hands, and slashed at the ancient book Tyrion sent.The thick leather cover snapped off. "Okay! It's really sharp! You see, I know what to do," the boy said with another six or seven strikes before he split the thick book in half, making himself out of breath.Ser Osmund Kettleblack exclaimed, "This is heartbreaking, Your Grace!" and Sansa found her husband on the verge of a fit of rage. "Mr. Sir, since you know the magic is powerful, you must never disobey me in the future." Joffrey triumphantly picked up "Four Kings" with the tip of his sword, threw it out, and then gracefully put the Widow's Howl into the scabbard . "Your Majesty," Ser Garlan Tyrell said, "maybe you don't know that in the land of Westeros, there are only four copies of Master Cass's book written by him." "There are only three left now," said Joffrey, untiing his old sword and putting on a new one. "You, Uncle Little Demon, you and Lady Sansa still owe me a gift. This thing is complete rubbish, only worthy of a sword test." Tyrion stared at his nephew with eyes of varying sizes. "How about a dagger, Your Grace? A Valyrian steel dagger with a Valyrian steel sword...a dagger with a keel hilt, what do you say?" Xiao Qiao glanced at him warily. "You...well, a dagger with a sword, very good," he nodded, "but, no...but it's better to use a gold hilt with a ruby ​​inlaid. The dragon bone is too ordinary." "Yes, Your Grace." Tyrion downed another glass of wine.He didn't care about Sansa at all, as if lost in thought, he took her hand suddenly after the breakfast meeting was over. Prince Oberyn of Dorne followed with his dark-haired mistress on his arm as they crossed the courtyard.Sansa looked at the woman curiously, she was just an illegitimate daughter, never married, but gave birth to two daughters for the prince, and she had no fear even in front of the queen mother.Shae told her that it was all because Ellaria believed in a certain Lysian goddess of love. "When His Royal Highness fell in love with her, she was just a whore," the maid confided, "and now she is about to become a princess." Sansa had no chance to meet the girl of Dorne before, but now she looked closer and found that she was not very beautiful. An indescribably attractive quality. "I was honored to have read the manuscript of the Chronicle of the Four Kings in the Citadel," Prince Oberyn said to Tyrion. "Kath is very learned and tactful, and he omitted King Viserys' account." Tyrion glanced back sharply at the other party. "Decent? In my opinion, there is prejudice against Viserys. This book should have been called "The Five Kings." The prince laughed. "Viserys has only ruled for a few days, and the omission is natural." "No, he's been on the throne for more than half a year, and historians have ignored it," Tyrion said. Oberyn shrugged. "Six months or a few days, what difference does it make? Anyway, he is a guy who poisoned his relatives to seize the throne, and he was mediocre during his reign." "Baelor starved himself to death," said Tyrion. "Viserys was as loyal to him as he was to the Young Lord before him. He may have been king for half a year, but he was Hand for fifteen years." With him in charge of the kingdom, Daeron can specialize in fighting, and Baelor is dedicated to praying." He sighed, "Even if Baelor's death was really caused by him, what is there to blame? Someone has to stop Baelor's foolishness to save the country." Sansa was shocked, "But... but Baelor, blessed by God, is a great king. He crossed the Bone Road on foot, reached a peace agreement with Dorne, and rescued Prince Tuemon, the dragon rider, from the snake pit. Because he His holiness, even the poisonous snake would not harm him." Prince Oberyn laughed loudly, "If you were a snake, my lady, would you appetize with a cold-blooded creature like Baelor? I'd rather bite something that tastes good..." "Your Highness is joking, Lady Sansa," interjected Ellaria Sand. "The monks and singers say that the snake didn't bite Baelor, which is not true. In fact, he has forty or fifty bites on his body. deserved to die here." "It didn't, or Viserys would have been king for ten more years," said Tyrion, "and the Seven Kingdoms would have been happier. Some people think that Baelor's venom was the reason why he did so many foolish things." "It must be so," Prince Oberyn said leisurely, but I didn't see any poisonous snakes in the Red Keep. How can His Majesty Joffrey's behavior be explained?" "I don't know." Tyrion nodded stiffly, "Thank you, Your Highness, our sedan chair is waiting." After saying that, the dwarf helped Sansa into the sedan chair, and climbed in awkwardly himself. "Madam, please close the curtain." "Is that okay, my lord?" Sansa didn't want to close herself up. "The sun is very nice today." "If the good men and women of King's Landing find out that this is my sedan chair, there will be dirty things thrown over. For our own sake, madam, close the curtain." She obediently complied.Then the couple sat quietly for a while, and the air became more and more stuffy and hot. "Your book... I'm sorry, my lord." She forced herself to speak. "It's not my book. It was given to Joffrey. He would have learned something if he had read it," said the husband troubledly. "I should have thought of it, I should have thought of it... a lot..." "Never mind, my lord, I think a dagger suits him better." The dwarf grimaced, his scar wrinkled. "The boy wants a dagger, doesn't he?" Tyrion didn't wait for her to answer. "Remember he quarreled with your big brother Robb at Winterfell, tell me he and Boo Is there a dispute between Lan as well?" "Bran?" she was confused. "Before he fell?" She tried to remember how long it had been. "Bran was a sweet boy, everybody liked it, and I remember . . . he and Tommen fought with wooden swords, and that was all." After hearing this, Tyrion fell into a gloomy silence again.Sansa faintly heard the sound of chains outside, and the gate was being raised.Not long after, someone gave an order, and the sedan chair shook and began to move.She couldn't see what was going on outside, so she could only stare at her folded hands, feeling uneasily that her husband was looking at her with eyes of different sizes.Why is he looking at me like that? "You love your brother like I love James." Another Lannister ruse to get me to speak disloyal words? "My brothers are traitors, and they deserve it, and he who loves a traitor is a traitor himself." Her young husband snorted. "Robb raised an army against the king, only he, according to the law, is enough to be a traitor, I'm afraid your other brothers are so young that they don't even understand what a traitor means," he rubbed his nose, "Sansa, you know Do you know what happened to Bran at Winterfell?" "Before I left, he fell... Bran was always good at climbing, and for some reason he fell that time - just as we've always feared. And then... Then Theon Greyjoy killed him. " "Theon Greyjoy," sighed Tyrion, "your lord mother has accused me of... never mind, not going into the sordid details. She was mistaken anyway, and I never hurt your brother Bran, it won't hurt you either." What does he want me to say? "Thank you, my lord." He wants me to say something, but I don't know the answer.He is like a hungry child and I have no food for him.Why can't you let me be quiet for a while? Tyrion rubbed his broken nose again and again, a bad habit that only made him look uglier. "You never asked me how Robb, or your mother, died?" "I... I'd rather not ask. It's going to be a nightmare." "Fine, I'll never say that." "You...you are so kind." "Oh, yes," said Tyrion, "I do have a good heart to keep my nightmares to myself."