The Mountain of Ice and Fire
#731 - National hatred, family feud, blood debt cannot be resolved
Listening to that hoarse, low voice and looking at the woman's figure, Qyburn couldn't believe that the woman in front of him could be Cersei Lannister.
"Connie, do you know how you were injured?" Qyburn reached out and took Connie's hand, which was very cold. Cersei's fingers were slender, while Connie's were noticeably shorter. This hand was indeed Connie's.
"Arya Stark stunned me with the hilt of a short knife."
"How could Arya be in the Red Keep? She's been missing for almost four years."
"Qyburn, Arya has become a sorceress; she knows dark magic. She's returned through the secret passages to take revenge."
Qyburn smiled, affable and approachable. He looked at Connie's hand, her figure, her eyes, savoring her voice. No matter how he looked at it, the woman could not possibly be Cersei Lannister.
Connie and the Grand Master of the Queen Mother's household, Oswell Kettleblack, were in cahoots. The Grand Master had already committed suicide out of guilt. Considering that Connie had served the Queen Mother for many years, the Queen Mother severely punished Connie but spared her life. Connie was deeply traumatized and had gone mad?!
"Connie, how does the injury on your face feel?"
"I don't feel anything."
"Is it itchy?"
Cersei shook her head, not concerned about the question. "Qyburn, necromancy."
The warm, friendly smile on Qyburn's face gradually disappeared!
Necromancy was a secret art that Qyburn was secretly researching, with the approval of Her Majesty Queen Cersei. This was a secret known only to Cersei and Qyburn. Qyburn's necromancy had been successfully researched with the Queen Mother's support, but Qyburn had not yet found anyone strong enough to be made into a death knight. He had tried many people, but they all died from the pain brought on by his secret art.
Necromancy required someone with an exceptionally strong body and fierce will to withstand the initial great pain of the secret art. Currently, Qyburn had his eye on one person: Ser Osmund Kettleblack of the Kingsguard, known as Little Mountain.
Hearing Connie whisper the word 'necromancy,' Qyburn's mind began to race. He carefully looked at Connie's eyes, which showed that she was not mad. Her eyes were not crazy or confused. Thinking about what she said, although shocking and unbelievable, it was clear and without self-contradictory chaos. The secret Connie spoke of was also a secret that only the Queen Mother and Qyburn knew.
"Tears of Lys," Qyburn said softly.
"Three hundred gold dragons," Cersei replied, her eyes gleaming.
Tears of Lys was a secret poison made by the wizards of Lys—colorless, odorless, and extremely poisonous, expensive and without an antidote. Only the royal nobles could afford it. Tears of Lys was more advanced than the strangler that poisoned Joffrey and the Queen of Thorns, causing people to die invisibly, as if from natural causes. The strangler caused people to grab their own throats and die, with terrible red veins exposed on their faces and necks after death, making it obvious that they had been poisoned.
Cersei gave Qyburn three hundred gold dragons, instructing him to purchase Tears of Lys from the relevant person on her behalf. The two conspired to poison Margaery Tyrell at Tommen's wedding, but the plot was foiled by Jaime Lannister. The poisoning failed, Jaime saved Margaery Tyrell's life, and successfully saved the alliance between the Lannister and Tyrell families, protecting the stability of the royal family, but hurting Cersei's loving heart. A rift appeared in their close relationship, which was one of the reasons why Jaime became a scruffy uncle, increasingly looking like a man weathered by life.
'Tears of Lys' was even more of a secret between Cersei and Qyburn. The maid Connie would definitely not know this secret.
Qyburn stared into Connie's eyes, reading their content and seeing Cersei. He had looked into those eyes too many times.
Qyburn looked around. Connie's carriage was at the very end, an old horse pulling the carriage behind the rest of the group, with no coachman. Qyburn took out a scalpel. The blade of the curved scalpel flashed with a sharp light. "I need to cut open the bandages on your face first," Qyburn said. Qyburn wanted to see what the face looked like, whether it was shattered or a completely different face.
If what this Connie was saying was true—as a Grand Maester 'obsessed' with medicine and the study of the arcane, Qyburn had a stronger urge to study Cersei's change in voice and Arya Stark's change in appearance, which he could not suppress.
The Queen Mother Cersei at the front of the procession, in voice, appearance, words, and actions, was no different from the real Cersei—if what this Connie here was saying was true, and she was the real Queen Mother Cersei—then how did Arya manage to turn herself into an identical Cersei? Through what power did she change her figure and appearance? If this Connie was a liar, how did she know the secrets that only the Queen Mother and Qyburn knew?
"Save me, Qyburn!" Cersei's voice was hoarse and low, with no trace of Cersei's usual voice.
Qyburn was silent. He lightly sliced the bandages wrapped around Cersei's face, and Qyburn was slightly stunned. It was Connie's face, smooth and round, with no scars. If there were no scars, why wrap it in bandages? No wonder when asked if Cersei's face was itchy, Cersei said she didn't feel anything. The face was fine, with no scars, so of course it wouldn't itch.
Cersei was frightened by Qyburn's expression. "Who have I become?" she asked, trembling. She looked at her hands, which were unfamiliar, the skin and bones not her own delicate white. She was living in a body that wasn't her own?! She had become someone else?! Cersei's eyes revealed a desperate collapse.
"Qyburn!" Mamei's voice came from the front, "Bring Connie over, the Queen Mother wants to see her."
"No, Qyburn, save me," Cersei said, terrified.
Qyburn looked at Connie, who was curled up in a ball. The woman was indeed very afraid; she was terrified. If it were the real Cersei, she wouldn't be so afraid, would she? Her pride and family honor wouldn't allow her to appear so fragile. Or was Arya Stark's method too terrible, scaring Cersei out of her wits?!
"Save me, Qyburn!"
Qyburn stared deeply at Connie, who claimed to be Cersei. He didn't say a word, and his face didn't show any tendency. He turned and left.
Qyburn didn't take Connie to see Queen Mother Cersei.
"Qyburn…" Connie's hoarse voice, filled with helplessness and despair, chased after the departing Qyburn. Her voice was small. If she spoke loudly, the throat wound would tear and hurt, and even if she spoke loudly, her voice would still be small and hoarse, as if imprisoned by some force.
At the end of the 300th year of Aegon's Conquest, Queen Mother Cersei led the Kingsguard and the City Watch of King's Landing to inspect the Crownlands, encouraging the nobles and people of the Crownlands to unite and prepare to fight Daenerys Targaryen from across the Narrow Sea. Daenerys Targaryen's father was a mortal enemy of the current dynasty's rulers. Jaime Lannister killed the Mad King Aerys Targaryen. Jaime and Cersei committed incest, and their son sat on the Iron Throne. Now the Mad King's daughter had come to reclaim the Iron Throne. This was all about family feuds and national hatred.
And the Stark family of the North had an even bloodier feud with the Targaryen family. Arya only had hatred for the Targaryen family.
*
In the 281st year of Aegon's Conquest, at the Tourney at Harrenhal, Prince Rhaegar, the champion of the joust, publicly placed the crown of love and beauty on Lyanna Stark's head, ignoring his own wife, Princess Elia Martell. At that time, Lyanna was already engaged to Robert Baratheon, who loved her wholeheartedly.
Soon after, Prince Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna Stark, who was out for a walk in the Riverlands. Upon hearing the news, Lyanna's brother, the wild wolf Brandon Stark, was furious. He immediately led his companions—all sons of great northern houses, including young men from the Vale and the Riverlands—all close friends of Brandon. These young men, united in their hatred, regarded Lyanna as their sister. The group of brothers, numbering in the dozens, rushed to King's Landing together.
Led by Brandon, they broke into the Red Keep. Brandon, with a fiery temper, roared in the Red Keep's courtyard, demanding that Rhaegar come out and die. But Rhaegar was not in the city at this time. He had taken Lyanna Stark to a stone tower in the Dornish marches, where they were in love, forgetting everything. This tower was later known as the Tower of Joy.
The Mad King Aerys immediately ordered the Kingsguard to arrest Brandon and all his companions and attendants on charges of treason and plotting to murder the Crown Prince, using them as hostages. The Mad King ordered ravens to be sent, summoning Brandon's father, Rickard Stark, to King's Landing, or he would execute Brandon and all his companions and attendants.
Rickard Stark, in order to save his eldest son, immediately led some of his vassals and guards to King's Landing. The Mad King had already arranged for soldiers to capture Rickard's party in the Red Keep, declaring that they had all committed treason and would be executed.
In a moment of life and death, Duke Rickard Stark requested a trial by combat from the King, which was granted. When he put on his armor, fully armed, expecting to face a member of the Kingsguard, he was taken to the throne room and suspended from the rafters. Two pyromancers under Aerys lit a furnace beneath him. The King told him: "Fire is the champion of House Targaryen. Duke Rickard must prove his innocence by not being burned."
Aerys had Brandon Stark watch Rickard's duel with fire—Brandon was tied to a specially made torture device, with a noose around his neck. If he could reach a rope, he could lower his father from the fire. Witnessing his father being roasted by the flames, Brandon struggled to reach the rope in front of him to save his father, but the distance of the noose around his neck had been calculated. No matter how hard he struggled, his hand was always just a little short of the rope that could save his father. The harder Brandon struggled, the tighter the rope around his neck became. Finally, in full view of everyone, Brandon strangled himself to death. Rickard, witnessing his eldest son being strangled to death to save him, was overcome with anger and bit off his tongue, committing suicide, and was eventually burned to ashes.
Aerys, not satisfied with killing the Starks, ordered all of Brandon and Rickard's companions and attendants to be beheaded and displayed as a warning, leaving only a young knight from the Vale to return to the Vale and deliver a message to Lord Jon Arryn. He demanded that the Lord of the Vale, Jon Arryn, hand over the heads of Rickard's second son, Eddard Stark, and Lyanna Stark's betrothed, Robert Baratheon, or he would slaughter House Arryn of the Vale.
Jon Arryn was the foster father of Eddard and Robert. At the time, Eddard and Robert were both in the Vale, learning politics, military affairs, and combat skills from their foster father. After the only surviving young knight from the Vale returned, Jon Arryn flatly refused the Mad King Aerys Targaryen's order, and he raised the banner of rebellion that very day. Soon, the Stark family of the North and the Baratheon family of the Stormlands also raised the banner of rebellion. To gain the support of House Tully of the Riverlands, Eddard Stark and his foster father, Jon Arryn, both married daughters of House Tully—the elder sister was Brandon Stark's betrothed—her name was Catelyn Tully—she married Eddard Stark, while the younger sister, Lysa Tully, married Jon Arryn.
After Eddard Stark and Catelyn Tully married, they had Robb Stark, Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, Bran Stark, and Rickon Stark.
The wolf of the North, the eagle of the Vale, the fish of the Riverlands, and the stag of the Stormlands all raised the banner of rebellion, and the famous War of the Usurper broke out in full force. In the 283rd year of Aegon's Conquest, the war ended, and the Targaryen dynasty was overthrown. Robert, who had killed Crown Prince Rhaegar with his hammer at the Battle of the Ruby Ford, sat on the Iron Throne.
This history of hatred, about the Stark family being bloodily slaughtered by the Mad King, was taught to every Stark child, who memorized it diligently. Now, Daenerys Targaryen, the Mad King's daughter, had returned. Arya Stark's family hatred, which she had learned since childhood, was ignited. As she decided to leave King's Landing and return to Winterfell, she decided to encourage the garrison and the people of the Crownlands in the guise of Queen Mother Cersei, so that they would muster the courage to severely damage the remnants of the Targaryen family.
Arya knew very well that once the remnants of the Targaryen family attacked King's Landing and won, Daenerys Targaryen would definitely launch a war to conquer the North. There was no doubt about it.
*
Qyburn arrived at the Queen Mother's carriage. He looked at the Queen Mother in front of him, unable to see any flaws, except that her eyes felt somewhat unfamiliar. But if he hadn't been prejudiced, reminded by Connie's words, Qyburn wouldn't have noticed the unfamiliarity in Her Majesty's eyes.
Was this Queen Mother Arya Stark? How did she become exactly like Queen Mother Cersei? Faces could be disguised, but how could height and body shape be changed?
"Your Majesty, Connie's mental state is very poor. She's talking nonsense and is mentally disturbed. I was afraid she would disturb Your Majesty, so I didn't bring her over. After she calms down, I'll bring her to see Your Majesty."
"Qyburn, what kind of nonsense has Connie been talking?"
"Crazy talk. Your Majesty shouldn't need to know, should she?"
"She and Grand Master Oswell were in cahoots, violating the royal laws. Oswell was ashamed and remorseful, committing suicide out of guilt, still having some reverence for the royal laws. Based on that alone, I will give him a generous burial. As for Connie, she dared to deny it. Considering her past service, I only cut her throat with a knife, not harming her face, but she wrapped her face and neck together herself. Qyburn, if Connie is indeed mad, I will leave her to you to deal with. If she's talking nonsense, then silence her."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"How will you silence her?"
"Your Majesty, let her drink a silencing draught, and she will never speak again."
"Very well, where is your silencing draught?"
"You're carrying it on you?"
Grand Scholar Qyburn wore his scholar's robe, which was sewn with many pockets. Each pocket contained secret things that only they knew about.
Scholars all wore robes sewn with many pockets, and Melisandre was no different.
"Take it out!" the Empress Dowager commanded.
Qyburn took out a bottle of black liquid.
The Empress Dowager took it, unscrewed the cap, and sniffed it. She was certain that it was genuine Dumbing Draught. Grand Scholar Qyburn had not deceived her.
The Empress Dowager said indifferently, "Mamei, you go with Grand Scholar Qyburn and watch Connie drink the Dumbing Draught."
"As you command, Your Majesty," Mamei said, appearing apprehensive, but unable to hide the faint smile in her eyes.
Thank you to [沧澜御宇] for the reward, thank you, and Happy New Year!
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