The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 42: A Mad Dog Blocks the Way

(First bonus chapter for book friend Ai Lu Fort, 2 more chapters will be updated in the afternoon, please collect and help!)

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“Father, I would like to go back, may I?” Jenny, a noble lady who had been carefully cultivated, would not use a definite phrase like ‘I want to go back’ when speaking to her father, but rather the gentle ‘I would like to go back.’ Her true intention was to go back, not just wanting to go back.

To revitalize the family, Earl Gavin had painstakingly cultivated Jenny for more than ten years, and now it was time for his daughter to repay him. Hearing his daughter say ‘I would like to go back,’ the smile on Gavin's face gradually stiffened, and finally, his expression became very unpleasant.

His daughter Jenny was Gavin's hope for reviving the family's glory.

“Why?”

Jenny was not only beautiful and well-mannered, but also naturally intelligent. She could see things that her father couldn't see, or chose to ignore, and she could see them more clearly.

After thinking it over, she believed that Duke Tywin's sudden adoption of her would definitely not be a good thing!

“If Duke Tywin sincerely wanted to adopt me, why didn't he invite my mother to the adoption ceremony?” Jenny said softly, lowering her head slightly, not daring to look her father in the eyes.

Earl Gavin was so angry that he felt a tightness in his chest and a pain in his heart.

Earl Gavin's wife was named Sybelle Spicer. Sybelle's grandfather was a merchant, and her grandmother was the "Toad Witch" of Lannisport. In the TV series, young Cersei and two noble girls went to consult the "Toad Witch" about their future. One girl was so scared that she ran away, and the other trembled, but Cersei was not afraid. She threatened the witch that if she didn't tell her the prophecy, she would deal with her. That witch was Sybelle's grandmother, Jenny's maternal grandmother.

Back then, Earl Gavin was in decline and faced many difficulties. In order to maintain the so-called honor of a great noble family, he was unwilling to reduce the number of servants and expenses. Because he coveted the rich dowry of Sybelle's merchant father, he married Sybelle, who was not a noble, which became a joke among the Westerlands nobles at that time.

Tywin's younger brother Kevan refused Earl Gavin's marriage proposal, not entirely because of Gavin's poverty. Part of the reason came from Sybelle, because Sybelle's bloodline was not noble.

This was a marriage that Earl Gavin later regretted very much, but because of his poverty, he was unable to cancel the engagement. He could not afford to pay back the dowry of the Sybelle family. If he didn't divorce, the noble honor of the family would already be stained. If he divorced, he would not only be unable to return the dowry, but also damage the ancient honor of the Westerling family.

According to the rules, even if a commoner's daughter was adopted, the daughter's parents had the right to enter the sacred hall for the ceremony, kneel in front of the statues of the Seven Gods, anoint themselves with holy oil, pray to the Seven Gods, and receive blessings from relatives and friends. However, Duke Tywin explicitly stated in his letter that he did not want to see Lady Sybelle in the Sept of the Rock.

Earl Gavin turned a blind eye to Duke Tywin's unreasonable request. He happily had his daughter Jenny dressed up and went with him to Casterly Rock.

In order to be as worthy as possible of the family's noble status, he used a four-horse carriage, eight guards, and two coachmen. As for the family's relatives, most of them no longer had any contact.

Jenny didn't care about the blessings of other relatives and friends, but she hoped that her mother could be respected by Tywin. However, Tywin did not respect Sybelle, which made Jenny feel a sense of humiliation that was difficult to erase. Not long after leaving the house, she finally mustered the courage to suggest to her father that Duke Tywin did not respect the Westerling family, so she ‘wanted to go back.’

This made Earl Gavin's face turn pale and his heart ache.

Earl Gavin spent a long time calming the 'various feelings' in his heart. He said softly, “Alright, let's go back.”

Jenny was overjoyed. The gloomy expression on her face was swept away. Overjoyed, she wanted to put her arms around her father's neck and kiss him on the face, just like when she was a child. However, she sat upright and didn't move. She knew that her father wouldn't like her 'presumptuousness.' She was a noble lady and couldn't be unrestrained, and needed to maintain her noble elegance.

Earl Gavin reached out and lifted the curtain, and said to the family's coachman, “Ayu, hurry up.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Clap!

Clap!

Clap clap!

The coachman's whip cracked in the air, and the four good horses immediately accelerated, and the carriage ran like the wind.

For good horses, don't actually whip them. Just cracking the whip in the air will make them understand the master's intention and run. Do not whip the horses. This is also one of the family etiquette taught to the Westerling family's coachmen.

“…Father…” Jenny's voice was full of grievance.

“Jenny, if we get to Casterly Rock faster, we can complete the adoption ceremony faster, and then we can go home faster.”

*

The next day, at dusk, on the official road north of Casterly Rock, a huge knight on a tall horse blocked the road, surrounded by more than twenty cavalrymen. Apart from a guy with a constant smile on his face and a petite female cavalryman, the rest of the cavalrymen were either fierce-looking or had lewd and evil auras on their faces.

Earl Gavin's carriage was forced to stop. The eight guards protecting the carriage on both sides changed their expressions. Blocking their way was Ser Gregor Clegane, known as the Mountain, a notorious figure in the Westerlands.

“My lord, the Mountain is blocking the way.” A guard whispered to Earl Gavin through the curtain.

Inside the curtain, Earl Gavin and Jenny both shook.

The Mountain was Duke Tywin's mad dog, crude and despicable, with a low character. Those who followed him were all vicious people, and the Mountain had a reputation for defiling noble women.

Earl Gavin lifted the curtain, got out of the carriage, stood on the carriage, and raised his voice: “Lord Gregor, Gavin Westerling greets you.”

Gregor's voice was as loud as a bell, like thunder: “Oh! Earl Gavin, is your daughter, Miss Jenny, in the carriage?”

Gavin's face changed. On both sides of the carriage, the eight cavalry guards immediately stepped forward and stood in front of the carriage.

“Ser Gregor, Duke Tywin wrote a letter respectfully inviting us to Casterly Rock. He will adopt my daughter Jenny as his adopted daughter.”

“Hmm!” Gregor grunted.

The twenty or so cavalrymen around him suddenly charged, with their spears attacking. They were too close, and it happened so suddenly that Earl Gavin's guards didn't even have time to draw their swords before they were pinned in the chest, throat, face, and abdomen by the spears.

Earl Gavin and the eight guards were subdued in an instant, not daring to move rashly.

Gregor and his men were known for their tyranny, but it was rare for them to be so arrogant towards nobles with the status of earls.

Earl Gavin was dumbfounded and couldn't believe it.

“Earl Gavin, tell your guards and coachmen to get out of here!” Gregor shouted, his voice as loud as a bell, making Earl Gavin's eardrums ache faintly.

Earl Gavin's face turned pale and then white. He raised his hand to signal, and the eight guards retreated with miserable expressions, all the way to the back of the carriage. The two coachmen hurriedly jumped out of the carriage and stood tremblingly on the side of the road.

Gregor's cavalrymen, like wolves and tigers, immediately guarded the carriage from all sides.

The smiling knight beside Gregor was none other than Rafford Clegane, known as Sweetmouth. He chuckled, took a large package from the horse's back, and jumped down, striding to the side of the carriage. He opened the package and took out a shiny copper basin and two bulging leather bags.

The young female cavalryman beside Gregor was his adopted daughter, Julie Clegane. She jumped off her horse, nimbly came to Rafford, squatted down, reached out and opened one of the leather bags, and poured the clear spring water from the leather bag into the copper basin.

Earl Gavin stared blankly at the smiling Rafford and the agile Julie, wondering what these lawless dogs were going to do?