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As for Jon Snow, he was still far too easy to sway. After taking the Night's Watch vows, he had truly taken them to heart.
"The Night's Watch does not take part in the wars of the realm. If Sansa can persuade them, then I…"
"No, Sansa won't be able to convince them, They might even detain her. Only if you and Sansa appear together will they listen."
They argued back and forth, but Jon Snow refused to budge.
It wasn't that he didn't want to send aid. He had simply been too deeply influenced by Maester Aemon's teachings.
"Then at least let the Free Folk go to support them."
"The Free Folk will not fight for any kingdom, They fight only to protect their own."
Davos Seaworth said nothing for a moment.
So in the end, there would be no support at all.
Everything Jon said was technically true, yet each truth sounded as though it had been carefully filtered through politics. Davos understood the logic, but the way it was said grated on him.
As for the Free Folk, whether they were willing or not hardly mattered. Even if they agreed, they would only be sent to die.
There were barely two hundred of them, not even enough armor to equip a single proper unit, and their weapons were incomplete. Sending them into battle would be nothing more than a death sentence.
Davos knew that. In fact, part of him had considered exactly that.
But the Free Folk were poor, not foolish. Why would they willingly march to their deaths? And even now, though the Night's Watch had allowed them south of the Wall, the tension between them remained palpable.
From atop Castle Black, the Watch still raised their bows at the slightest movement below.
If the warriors left, what would happen to the women, children, and elderly? The hatred between the crows and the Free Folk had been forged over thousands of years. It ran too deep to ignore.
Of course, if the Lord Commander who had once saved them, Jon Snow, personally asked, they would send men.
Even if it meant death, the Free Folk would repay that debt.
But Jon Snow, ever honorable, had no intention of sacrificing them.
Davos exhaled sharply, anger flashing in his eyes. "Lord Commander Jon Snow, you will regret this."
In Davos's view, this was a disaster waiting to happen.
The conflict between the Night's Watch and the Free Folk was far from resolved. And it was clear that the Free Folk now outnumbered and outmatched the Watch.
Their tension was only natural.
Once the Free Folk's patience wore thin, or if someone stirred conflict within the Watch, Jon Snow would find himself overwhelmed. It could easily cost him his life.
There were only two real options.
Send the Free Folk's main force away to die, leaving behind only the weak. Without a threat, the Night's Watch would naturally relax.
Or silence the dissent within the Watch, ensuring the Free Folk would never rebel.
Relying on trust alone was far riskier than simply sending them off to die.
Davos hadn't expected Jon Snow to stand so firm.
In the end, all he could leave behind was a final warning before turning away.
"You'll regret this."
As he reached the doorway, Davos paused and looked Jimmy over.
"You must be Lord Jimmy. I've heard you can cure greyscale. If that's true, I ask that you treat the princess… Her Grace…"
"That won't be a problem. Let's go now. I don't have anything pressing at the moment."
"You have my thanks, my lord."
"No need."
…
Before long, Jimmy arrived at the study.
Eirene was seated at the desk. This time, the sharp-tongued woman was nowhere to be seen, and Jimmy found himself in a noticeably better mood.
"Princess Shireen, we meet again."
"Hello, Ser Jimmy. I apologize for my mother's behavior this morning."
"No need for that. It had nothing to do with you. Come, Your Grace, sit here. I need to take a small sample of your skin… and a bit of blood for examination."
"Blood?" Davos stiffened in alarm.
At the mention of blood, the Onion Knight couldn't help but feel uneasy. The red priestess was always meddling with blood rituals and burning people alive. It was hard not to associate the word with something ominous.
"Forgive me, Ser Jimmy, but… is your method some kind of magic?"
"Of course not. It's science. Not so different from the studies at the Citadel. If you're concerned, we can skip the blood."
With that, Jimmy took a small needle from his pocket and gently scraped a few flakes of skin from Shireen's cheek, sealing them between two glass slides.
"All done."
"That's it?" Shireen touched her face in surprise.
"Not quite. I still need to prepare the medicine. You'll have to wait a bit. Go on, you two can talk. I'll get to work."
Jimmy returned to his room, shut the door, and began working with his equipment.
The only thing giving him confidence now was the Blood Orchid extract, something that enhanced cellular activity and neutralized a wide range of mineral-based toxins.
Under closer examination, the so-called greyscale wasn't exactly a poison. It behaved more like a parasitic microorganism.
If he had to describe it, it was similar to barnacles clinging to a whale. It fed on the oils secreted by human skin, forming a hardened, stone-like shell.
Over time, it burrowed deeper into the flesh, eroding tissue while preserving the blood vessels, effectively turning the human body into a living nest and reshaping it into a suitable habitat.
The "contagion" of greyscale was simply the spread and reproduction of these parasites. Some people's skin rejected them, while others were ideal hosts.
As for Shireen, the parasites on her body were already in a weakened, near-dying state. They seemed uniquely adapted to her skin, which was why the disease had never spread to others.
There were only two ways to deal with it.
First, alter the environment of the skin and bloodline. That was nearly impossible.
Second, kill the parasites outright. If they were placed on Jimmy's body, they wouldn't last a moment.
A bath at fourteen hundred degrees would do the trick.
Aside from those two methods, there was no other solution.
But as everyone knew, where there were two methods, there was always a third.
Jimmy rubbed his hands together, then carefully placed a drop of diluted Blood Orchid extract onto the sample.
Almost instantly, the parasite receded, dissolving like frost under sunlight.
"Got it."
…
So this was it. His miracle cure.
Jimmy returned with a prepared syringe and a reinforced silk treatment mask.
"Princess Shireen, time for your treatment."
Shireen looked up, surprised. "That fast?"
"Of course."
Davos, however, was far less convinced. Watching Jimmy come up with a solution in a single afternoon left him uneasy.
"Ser Jimmy, shouldn't you study it a bit longer? It's not that I doubt you, but this is greyscale. Solving it so quickly…"
"Yes, I know it's greyscale. It's not exactly rare."
Shireen sat down as instructed. Jimmy first injected the Blood Orchid extract into her vein, then carefully applied the treatment mask over her face and neck.
As he worked, he secured it in place with medical bandages.
"That's it. Come back tomorrow morning to have the bandages removed. You might feel some itching tonight. Don't worry, that's normal. Just get some rest, and you'll be fine by morning."
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