Chapter 40: Innocence
Meanwhile, deeper in the woods…
Arya was tied to a thick old tree, the rough bark biting into her wrists. She kept her head lowered, but her thoughts churned—replaying the words that strange man had murmured earlier, during Stour and Halsen's argument.
All men must die.
After dark, make trouble when you can. Stir chaos… and push that man Halsen to turn against them.
You're clever. Use "Lady Stark" well.
And remember—your brother is waiting at Riverrun.
Arya inhaled slowly.
Then she lifted her eyes.
A Northern soldier sat nearby, watching her with the kind of stare Arya had learned to recognize—long before she'd ever fully understood it.
He'd been looking at her that way since daylight.
Arya wasn't naïve. Not anymore.
She knew what he wanted.
She also knew what she could use.
Her chest rose and fell once. A plan snapped into place.
"Hey."
She looked up with wide, innocent eyes—clean as snow, meek as a lamb—and demanded in righteous indignation:
"I need to pee!"
The soldier blinked.
Then his mouth split into a grin, delighted—
But something made him hesitate.
"Captain Stour said no touching you, Stark."
His grin twisted uglier.
"If you can't hold it… then piss yourself. Hah!"
The filthy laugh made Arya's eyes flash with fire.
But she immediately bowed her head, swallowing it down. She forced herself to breathe—then borrowed Sansa's face: timid, obedient, trembling.
Her voice turned soft and shaken.
"That… that's wrong. Mother would punish me…"
She paused like she was gathering courage, then whispered, on the verge of tears:
"Please… could you untie my pants for me? Help me… and then tie them back? Please… I really can't hold it…"
The soldier froze.
The little girl didn't matter.
Lady Stark did.
He was nothing—just a filthy grunt. When had someone like him ever been this close to nobility?
A Stark, no less.
He swallowed, desire smothering caution.
"Heh. Begging for it, aren't you?"
He crouched in front of her, one hand already sliding up her inner thigh to fumble at the laces of her breeches.
Now.
Arya shut her eyes—
And slammed her forehead into his face with everything she had.
CRACK!
"AAAGH!!"
The snap of his nose mingled with a pig-like squeal. Blood burst across his lips and chin.
And Arya… smiled.
Not sweetly.
Wickedly.
Then she threw her head back and screamed like the world was ending.
"No! What are you doing?!"
"Let me go~~~ I'm just a child!"
"Help! Somebody—HELP!"
Her terrified, humiliated cries tore through the woods like knives.
Footsteps stirred nearby.
The soldier—half-blind with pain—lunged to clamp a hand over her mouth.
"Shut up, you little bitch! Scream again and I'll kill you!"
Arya's eyes turned feral.
She bit down hard.
"AAAAH!!"
Fresh agony ripped through the soldier's palm. He yanked his hand back, skin torn along the edge.
Rage swallowed what little sense he had left. He cocked his fist and smashed it into Arya's cheek.
Her vision flashed white—stars exploding behind her eyes.
But her cries didn't stop.
"Help~~~! Please don't hit me!"
"Damn slut! Still pretending—!"
He drew back again—
And an iron grip locked around his wrist.
The soldier froze.
Slowly, he turned.
His scalp prickled.
"Halsen!"
"N-no… it wasn't me," he stammered, voice cracking. "She started it—she—"
Halsen's face was thunder. Rage spiderwebbed through his eyes.
And Arya struck first.
"He tried to rape me!"
She tilted her head, presenting her swelling cheek and split lip. Tears poured freely—perfectly.
"He… he said disgusting things…" she sobbed. "Made me… made me wet myself so he could watch…"
Her voice broke like a child's.
"I said no, so he hit me—he tried to force me!"
She wailed like she was shattered.
The soldier's mind nearly snapped.
Only the guilty understood how convincing innocence could be.
"You lying bitch—!"
"It was YOU who—!"
"Shut it!"
Halsen didn't even let him finish.
His fist slammed into the soldier's already mangled face.
Once.
Twice.
Then a brutal kick.
"Disgusting filth!"
"You think a Stark lady would throw away her honor just to frame trash like you?!"
He gestured sharply toward Arya.
"Look at her—she's an innocent child!"
The soldier writhed, half-conscious, drowning in injustice.
He knew he'd been tricked. He knew it.
But it didn't matter.
He could only survive by groveling until Captain Stour arrived—
Arya wasn't finished.
"Waaah~~~"
Her scream collapsed into heartbroken sobbing. She murmured to herself, trembling:
"Bullied by Cersei and Joffrey in King's Landing… now bullied by Northerners too…"
She choked.
"Oh, Mother…"
Then the killing blow—soft as silk, sharp as steel:
"Sansa was right… Father's gone… and no one's left to protect us…"
The words stabbed straight into Halsen's weakest place.
His restraint burned away.
Shing!
Steel flashed out.
The soldier saw murder in Halsen's eyes and shrieked:
"Calm down, Captain Halsen! Please!"
"This bitch is lying—!"
THUD.
The blade drove through flesh.
The soldier stiffened, eyes wide and empty, staring at Halsen as life drained out of him.
Then he crumpled into the dirt.
Halsen yanked the sword free and flicked it, shaking off tainted blood like it disgusted him.
Only then did pounding footsteps burst from the treeline.
Captain Stour arrived with the others.
They saw Halsen's bloodied blade.
They saw the corpse.
Stour's face twisted—shock, fury, disbelief blending into something ugly.
"What the hell are you doing, Halsen?!"
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