The Mountain of Ice and Fire

“In the name of the gods,” Mountain said, “Lord Eddard, only your reputation and fame are suitable for judging Willas Tyrell.”

The gods are faith and also the best scapegoats.

Eddard came to King's Landing this time with the Northmen to submit.

The North was once independent, and Robb Stark of the North once declared himself King of the North.

Of course, on the Iron Throne at that time sat Joffrey Baratheon I, the Emperor of the Ages.

Joffrey and Cersei had to put the Stark family to death in order to secure the throne and seize power. Cersei killed all the soldiers, servants, and livestock that Eddard Stark had brought to King's Landing, held Sansa under house arrest, imprisoned Eddard Stark, and charged him with treason, while sending the gold cloaks to hunt down Arya Stark.

The North was forced to raise troops and declare war!

Then, during the war, Robb was supported by his vassals as King of the North, no longer loyal to Joffrey I on the Iron Throne.

Now, Joffrey I has turned to ashes, and the new king on the Iron Throne is Duke Gregor Clegane, known as the Mountain.

Mountain rescued Eddard Stark from the dungeons of the Red Keep, instructed Littlefinger to rescue Sansa from Maidenvault in the Red Keep, and became friends with Arya when he was at Harrenhal. He disobeyed orders in private and let Arya go, and encouraged her to cross the Narrow Sea to Braavos and become a Faceless Man in the House of Black and White.

At the Twins, thanks to Mountain's advance warning, Robb and Eddard joined forces to defeat the Red Wedding laid out by the Frey and Bolton families; at Winterfell, Mountain rode a dragon, held Ice, and with the help of Anguy's magic arrows, killed the Night King and ended the army of the dead.

This Mountain King is not Joffrey I.

Before Sansa and Raynald's wedding, Eddard Stark and the Northern vassals decided to swear allegiance to the new king and return to the rule of the Iron Throne. This was a true return in a political sense. At the same time, the North faced the threat of winter, lacked clothing and food, and needed more assistance from Mountain.

Mountain saved the entire North after killing the Night King, but in winter, if there is a lack of clothing and food, most of the Northern people will still die.

The war consumed a lot of supplies in the North.

And however long the summer is, the winter will be as long.

If the summer is eleven years long, the winter will be eleven years long.

In the eleven years of winter, the North is freezing cold, agriculture is stagnant, and the lives of the people depend entirely on the food stored in the summer.

And only the Reach is the true granary of the Seven Kingdoms.

The Riverlands of the Tully family are also plains and granaries, but they have suffered the most severe internal wars. The outbreak point and battlefield of the internal wars for many years are mainly concentrated on the land of the Riverlands.

The lack of materials in the Riverlands caused by the killing, plundering, burning, and looting of the war is obvious.

In contrast, only Dorne in the far south and the Reach within the Red Mountains are basically free from the ravages of war.

If the North is independent, it will not be able to obtain food support from the Reach.

The army of the dead threatens the safety of the entire continent of Westeros. Mountain sent troops not only to save the Northerners, but also to save himself. After the end of the war against the dead, it is absolutely impossible for the North to reach out to the south for food and supplies again. It is not justified, and no one will take out their stored food to support the independent North in winter.

Submitting to Mountain is actually the best choice for the people of the North.

Most of the nobles in the North can survive the winter, but most of the people in the North cannot survive the winter on their own.

Eddard Stark is a duke who loves his people like his own children. He cannot sit idly by and watch the Northern people freeze and starve to death in winter.

So, after Sansa and Raynald Westerling's wedding, Eddard returned to the North, spent more than a month leading his vassals from the North to King's Landing, knelt down to Mountain, and swore allegiance and submission.

The North returned to the rule of the Iron Throne.

Mountain did not shed a drop of blood, and did not need to use the many soft and hard words he had carefully prepared, and reaped the allegiance and submission of Duke Eddard Stark.

When Mountain asked Eddard to serve as the judge of Willas Tyrell, Eddard hesitated because he felt that it would be inappropriate, disrespectful, disloyal, and disobedient to refuse the king's request upon his return.

Eddard is an upright man!

Mountain saw this hesitation in Eddard.

“Then it’s settled, Lord Eddard,” Mountain said decisively, making the decision.

When dealing with people with chivalry like Eddard, you have to be quick and decisive.

Mountain had already prepared the evidence and witnesses to frame Willas Tyrell. Intelligence Minister Burney had also prepared accusers from across the Narrow Sea.

One of Willas Tyrell's crimes was colluding with people from the Free Trade Cities across the Narrow Sea to conspire to subvert the Iron Throne, and attempting to attack King's Landing with the legions of the Free Trade Cities after assassinating the king.

As long as Eddard Stark sits on the high platform of the chief judge, he will receive seamless evidence and witness testimony.

Of course, this plan is not seamless. The only gap is Willas Tyrell himself.

As long as Willas Tyrell himself does not admit the accusations and provide strong evidence to the contrary, he cannot be convicted.

Breaking through from Willas Tyrell is the way to overthrow the numerous evidences and materials prepared by Mountain and Burney.

So the only thing Mountain still has to do is to force Willas Tyrell to confess first, so that he will take the initiative to admit all the accusations and evidence.

In this way, the case of Willas Tyrell's treason will be a natural conclusion.

Mountain will perfectly control the granary of the Seven Kingdoms.

His brother Raynald Westerling will be able to sit on the throne of the Lord of the Reach and rebuild Highgarden. Sansa Stark will also be the mistress of Highgarden.

From then on, Mountain will complete the unification of the continent of Westeros.

Then, the army will point to the other side of the Narrow Sea. He will bring the flames of war to the continent of Essos in the winter, and unify the continent of Essos, which is several times larger than the continent of Westeros.

Now the only thing Mountain has to do is to ensure that Willas Tyrell will not recant during the trial, and make this treason case a dead end!

To this end, Mountain decided to talk to Willas Tyrell beforehand.

Ideological work needs to be done in advance!

*

Willas Tyrell sat on the cold ground, surrounded by darkness.

He, who had been pampered and well-fed, had never suffered such pain.

Willas decided to commit suicide.

He could not resist Mountain's desire for his death.

Rather than suffer humiliation, it is better to end his life first.

Willas groped on the ground, but there was nothing sharp on the ground except for the cold like ice.

He is a cripple and has difficulty moving.

When his hands were so cold that they were numb, Willas decided to hit the wall.

He bumped his head against the stone wall and felt the hardness and coldness of the stone wall.

If this collision does not kill him, he will endure greater pain.

Willas Tyrell hesitated.

He tried to touch it, and the severe pain immediately made him groan.

He touched his forehead with his numb hand, and there were no scars on his forehead.

But it was obviously tearing pain!

I don’t know how long it took, Willas realized that he was sitting on the ground like an ice cube.

In the increasing coldness, before losing consciousness, Willas finally realized that he lacked the courage to commit suicide.

“Hi!”

A very gentle voice awakened Willas Tyrell.

The cold disappeared, and warmth and softness surrounded him.

He opened his eyes and saw Mountain, Littlefinger Petyr Baelish, and a nobleman in an upscale dress who was not much taller than a dwarf. After calming down, Willas remembered that this little dwarf was Intelligence Minister Burney Clegane.

The three of them were looking down at Willas with smiles on their faces.

But Willas saw three wolves baring their fangs, ready to tear him apart.

Mountain stretched out his hand and helped Willas Tyrell up.

Willas Tyrell found himself in a luxurious bedroom. The room was very warm, and the charcoal fire in the fireplace was raging.

“Your Majesty.” Willas Tyrell is a nobleman, and he has his own customary etiquette to follow. He struggled to kneel down.

“No need to salute, your legs and feet are inconvenient,” Mountain said. One of his hands gently patted Willas’s shoulder, stopping Willas’s movements.

Littlefinger showed a narrow smile: “My lord, would you like a glass of wine?”

“Thank you, my lord.”

A glass of Arbor Gold wine was handed to Willas Tyrell. The long-lost aroma of wine—you must know that Willas's treatment as a prisoner was not good on the way from Highgarden to King's Landing.

After a glass of wine, Willas Tyrell's pale face regained some color.

“My lord, I have a story to tell you,” Littlefinger Petyr Baelish said with a smile.

“Please tell me, my lord.”

Burney stretched out his hand and took the empty wine glass from Willas's hand: “Lord Willas, please allow me to pour you another glass of wine.”

Willas let go of his hand, and Burney took the wine glass.

Littlefinger smiled and said: “Lord Willas, Joffrey was poisoned and killed at the wedding back then. I arranged for the person who poisoned him.”

Willas looked at Mountain, Littlefinger, and Burney with suspicious eyes, but did not say a word.

What does it mean that Littlefinger told him these words before he was sentenced to death?

Burney handed Willas the wine glass filled with wine.

“Thank you!” Willas took it and took a big sip.

“The poison at the wedding of Joffrey and Margaery Tyrell was all arranged by me.” Littlefinger said with a showy smile.

“Oh!” Willas responded weakly.

“My lord, guess who instructed me to poison him?”

Willas looked at Mountain.

Mountain is now sitting on the Iron Throne. If Littlefinger said the secret of poisoning back then in such an occasion, who else could have instructed him other than Mountain?

“No!” Littlefinger smiled and said, “The person who instructed me to poison him is the person you respect and are most familiar with.”

“...I can’t guess, my lord...”

“Try it, try to say a few names.”

“...I only know that the person who poisoned him was later found out by His Majesty to be Oberyn Martell and Tyrion Lannister.”

“Not them, it’s Lady Olenna Redwyne, the Queen of Thorns.”

The wine glass in Willas's hand shook, and some wine splashed from the glass.

“............” Willas Tyrell's face returned to a morbid pallor, “Lord Petyr, I am about to be beheaded, and my grandmother herself has already been poisoned at the wedding banquet. There is no point in you humiliating her like this.”

“Your grandmother has been poisoned to death. What’s the point of me lying to someone who is about to be sentenced to death? It’s meaningless!” A narrow smile hung on the corner of Littlefinger's mouth.

“What Duke Petyr Baelish said is true.” Mountain said in a deep voice.

“............” Willas Tyrell stared at Mountain, unable to speak.

“Joffrey is a monster, a beast, and an incestuous bastard.” Littlefinger smiled and said, “Incest and bastards are not important. What’s important is that he is a monster. With Lady Olenna Redwyne’s shrewdness, she would never marry her beloved Margaery Tyrell to a monster who would torture her, humiliate her, and most importantly, could never control him. But she couldn’t refuse this marriage. The Tyrell family tried everything possible to enter the palace and gain a place. So Lady Olenna decided to poison Joffrey, right at the wedding. No one would suspect her. She personally took Margaery’s hand and handed her over to Joffrey, and then personally poisoned Joffrey.”

“...She would never poison herself...” Willas Tyrell's neck gradually became thick and red, and his breathing became rapid. He felt humiliated.

“You are absolutely right. When I was poisoning him, I also asked the person who poisoned him to put a little bit in Lady Olenna’s food. In this way, no one will ever suspect that Lady Olenna Redwyne ordered the poisoning of Joffrey, because she herself would never poison herself at the same time.” Littlefinger said with a smile, not concealing his pride at all.

Willas Tyrell took his eyes back from Littlefinger's face and looked at the wine glass in his hand.

He drank the wine in the glass in one gulp, and then coughed violently.

The coughing gradually subsided.

Mountain stared at Willas Tyrell.

Willas's expression gradually returned to calm, and the red tide receded from his face, slowly returning to pale.

“I don’t want to kill you,” Mountain said, “You are the most innocent in the kingdom’s civil wars and various political struggles. You are a good person, Willas.”

Willas stared at Mountain and slowly showed a smile.

“I sent someone to bring you your favorite things.” Mountain shouted outside the door.

The door opened, and the Kingsguard Gyles and Boros brought in an eagle and a sheepdog.

Willas's eyes suddenly lit up.

These are his two old friends who have been with him for many years, and his favorites.

Training dogs and raising eagles has always been Willas's favorite thing to do. When he was not a duke, in the years after he broke his leg, raising eagles and training dogs became his whole life.

He did not see General Raynald bring back his two favorite pets for him.

Willas stretched out his hand, and the eagle fluttered its wings and flew onto his shoulder.

The tall and fierce sheepdog had already reached its master's side, stood up, and licked its tongue towards its master's face.

“In addition to bringing you two good friends, I also plan to spare your life and let you live comfortably until you die of old age,” Mountain said.

Of course, the Mountain had conditions for sparing Vylarr's life! The Mountain had already decided where to place Vylarr—far north of the North: the Wall!