The Mountain of Ice and Fire

"Nonsense!" The Mountain roared, "I am here, how can I allow you to tarnish the honor of the Prince and Queen!" The dagger in his hand stabbed fiercely towards Bernie's chest.

Clang!

A loud noise!

Sparks flew!

The Captain of the Kingsguard, Ser Barristan Selmy, the 'Barristan the Bold' who dared to challenge the Prince at the tournament at the age of ten with his face covered, drew his longsword. Gripping the sword with both hands to enhance his strength, he barely managed to block the Mountain's dagger.

The Mountain was furious. He abandoned Bernie and pointed his dagger at Barristan Selmy: "Ser, I am disciplining my servant, it's none of your business! Apologize to me, and I won't kill you."

Clang clang clang!

A chorus of swords being drawn rang out. Three Kingsguard members drew their longswords together: Ser Mandon Moore, Ser Meryn Trant, and Ser Jaime Lannister. The three swords pointed at the Mountain.

The Kingsguard's rule of seven comrades: Advance and retreat together, live and die together!

With Captain Barristan Selmy openly threatened by the Mountain, three comrades immediately drew their swords. The three longswords gleamed coldly, pointing at the Mountain, united in hatred!

The Mountain chuckled, sheathed his dagger, spread his giant hands, and gestured towards the nobles, saying: "Very well, Kingsguard, knights among knights, are the four of you going to fight me together? Heh, fine, I'm not afraid! So, will your four swords face my empty hands, or will you wait for my sword to be brought in? Black Stone, bring my sword!"

"Yes, Lord!" The Mountain's cavalry outside the door immediately shouted in response.

"Alright!" King Robert roared, "Everyone stop!"

The King was angry!

The four Kingsguard members immediately turned their longswords to face the King, knelt on one knee, rested their swords on the ground, and looked down, not daring to move again!

The Mountain, however, remained standing. Even with the King's anger, he did not kneel.

"Bernie, come with me!" The Mountain said.

Bernie, who had been thrown to the ground, felt his spine almost broken. He was terrified and struggled to get up for a moment, his face contorted in pain!

"Mountain, kill him!" Joffrey shouted, "The dwarf is lying, kill your dwarf!"

The Mountain glared at Joffrey, scaring Joffrey so much that his breath caught in his throat, and he couldn't shout the rest of his words.

The Mountain strode towards the painful Bernie on the ground. A figure stood out and blocked his way, it was Duke Eddard Stark. The Mountain stopped and glared at Eddard Stark, his eyes full of murderous intent and threat.

The North's captain of the guards, Jory Cassel, rushed forward to help Bernie up. The North's elite warriors, Harwin—the son of the stable master Hullen—Alyn, Hayhead, Harris Moran, and others swarmed up to protect Bernie.

"Ser Gregor Clegane, I think His Majesty the King should have some questions to ask your servant Bernie!" Eddard Stark said in a deep voice.

Eddard Stark's martial skill was below that of a top-tier swordsman but above that of an average knight, but his stubbornness was renowned as the best in the Seven Kingdoms. 'Cannot be subdued by might' was a compliment to this kind of blockhead!

The Mountain glanced at Eddard Stark's back. The North's warriors were all glaring at him, none of them showing the slightest fear!

The North was a freezing cold place, and following a lord with the toughest temper like Eddard, the servants were undoubtedly influenced by Eddard's character, and everyone's temper was as hard as the frozen soil of the North.

The Mountain felt that the time was right, his performance was a natural success, and continuing to act would really be a disaster!

He laughed loudly, took a step back, and said with stern warning: "Bernie, be careful what you say, you know the consequences if you dare to talk nonsense!"

Bernie said tremblingly: "Lord Mountain!"—This was very impolite. 'The Mountain' was a derogatory nickname given to Ser Gregor Clegane by others. In such a situation, it was inappropriate for a subordinate to call his lord by the derogatory name 'The Mountain'—"Lord Mountain, I will tell the truth, the Seven Gods allow it!"

"Good, as long as you tell the truth, I won't hold it against you, in the name of the Seven Gods!" The Mountain said sternly. The Mountain did not care that his subordinates were used to calling him by his derogatory name and had never taken it to heart!

As if with a click, the Mountain's 'cunning scheme' locked into place with this conversation with Bernie. After openly 'selling out' Queen Cersei and Prince Joffrey, he could justifiably take Bernie back to his side—in the name of the Seven Gods, as long as Bernie was 'telling the truth'.

As long as you tell the truth, I won't hold it against you, in the name of the Seven Gods!—The Mountain shouted this sentence with confidence. After ensuring that Bernie firmly understood his intentions through tone and eye contact, the Mountain looked at Queen Cersei and Prince Joffrey, the meaning in his eyes was obvious—the Mountain had no doubt that the Prince and Queen's words were not the truth!

King Robert said in a deep voice: "Mountain, don't threaten Bernie. Duke Eddard, bring Bernie before me!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Duke Eddard replied respectfully. His martial skill was not the best, but his temper was definitely the toughest!

"Hmph!" The Mountain snorted angrily, as a response to the King's reprimand.

He strode back to the ranks of the courtiers, his face full of anger. A large space immediately opened up around him: nobles, noble ladies, ladies-in-waiting, courtiers, and knights all retreated.

*

"Bernie, tell the truth, in the name of the King, I protect your safety; but if you have half a word of lie, I will punish you severely!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

After receiving the 'as long as you tell the truth' hint from his idol, the Mountain, Bernie finally knew that if he ever had any mature or immature ideas in the future, he would never dare to encourage Lord Mountain to come forward again, because this was actually digging a hole for himself!

His original intention was just to test whether Lord Mountain could come out and say a word. Lord Mountain could ignore it, could say a word, everything was up to Lord Mountain's intentions, it was that simple, who knew that Lord Mountain would push him out and put everything on him, removing any connection to himself.

This kind of harming others to benefit oneself is worth learning, but it must be used on others, not let oneself be caught! If Bernie knew that Lord Mountain liked to play this trick, he would never underestimate himself. In the future, if it doesn't concern him, he must stay out of it and pretend to be ignorant!

"Your Majesty, I saw the whole thing." Bernie said.

"You're lying!" Joffrey said angrily, his handsome face twisted, "He wasn't at Ruby Ford at all."

"I was letting the horses graze behind the bushes at the time!" Bernie said. His ventriloquism was unparalleled in the world, and his eloquence was naturally also sharp-tongued. Once he calmed down, his little mouth chattered crisply and brightly, enough for everyone present to hear clearly, but his voice still carried a slight tremor after the excitement!

"Dwarf, who can prove that you were grazing horses behind the bushes!" Queen Cersei said coldly, "Your lord, Ser Gregor, knows nothing about it, how would you know?"

Queen Cersei's ability to give psychological hints in this area was still super strong. She mentioned the Mountain's name to imply that Bernie should be careful what he said, otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable!

The Mountain would tear him apart!

Eddard Stark was upright, strong, and didn't know how to beat around the bush or play tricks, but that didn't mean he didn't understand Queen Cersei's 'words within words'. He said lightly: "Bernie, in the name of the King's honor and the Seven Gods, tell the truth!"

King Robert glared at Bernie, as if he wanted to barbecue him for wine.

"In the honor of the Seven Gods, in the name of the new and old gods, I swear to tell the truth. The situation at the time was that I was lying on the grass behind the bushes, grazing Lord Mountain's three warhorses. I saw Miss Arya Stark and a barefoot red-haired boy playing fencing on the beach, and then the Prince and this..." Bernie pointed to Sansa, "Then the Prince and this Miss Stark came on horseback. The Prince thought it was disrespectful for a servant to attack Miss Stark, so he got off his horse and drew his sword to teach the butcher boy a lesson. The butcher boy was frightened and dropped the wooden stick in his hand. The Prince decided to punish the butcher boy and used his sword to carve words on the butcher boy's face."

Bernie didn't feel any lingering fear when he first started speaking, but the chill in his back deepened with each sentence he spoke. When he said that the Prince carved words on the butcher's face, he found that he could hardly continue speaking.

The King, Duke Eddard, the Queen, the Prince, the Mountain, the Kingsguard, the Master of Laws, the Justiciar... these dogs' faces have become so scary... I'm in big trouble, Bernie heard his voice warning himself in fear.

"And then?" The King said softly, his tone chilling.

Bernie couldn't figure out whether the King was angry with him or angry with the Queen and the Prince. He couldn't figure it out, he was afraid...

"Later..."

Queen Cersei suddenly became furious: "Dwarf, lying dwarf, dwarves are untrustworthy demons."

The Queen picked up the golden goblet on the table and smashed it at Bernie's face!

Pa!

The goblet smashed on Bernie's face, golden wine splattering everywhere. Bernie staggered, and the regret in his heart instantly soared as high as the Wall.

Eddard pulled Bernie and used his body to separate Queen Cersei and Bernie.

King Robert glared at Queen Cersei: "If you make any more trouble, get out!"

Queen Cersei sneered: "Robert, your son was bullied and injured, but you're siding with outsiders and believing a dwarf's lies, what kind of father are you?"

Robert raised his hand, Cersei's face went up to meet it, fearless.

Robert slowly lowered his hand and said: "I'm not going to argue with you now. Bernie, what happened next?"

Bernie didn't dare to speak, the taste of being hit in the face with a golden cup was not pleasant.

"Where's your evidence?" Master of Laws Renly Baratheon smiled, his expression relaxed and happy, as if he was watching a high-level farce, "Your name is Bernie, right? Don't say too much nonsense. Since you're standing on Arya's side, then that means your statement is the same as Arya's, tsk tsk." Renly looked at Bernie's red cloak meaningfully, anyway, he already thought Bernie was dead, either at the hands of the Queen or at the hands of the Mountain, "Then let me see your evidence, evidence that can prove you witnessed everything in the bushes, show it!"

"Show it! You damned dwarf! You lying bastard! Show the evidence!" Joffrey shouted, gnashing his teeth, his handsome face twisted.

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