Inside the Great Hall of the Red Keep, King Robert sat upright upon his iron throne.
Below the steps, all members of the Small Council were lined up, except for his two brothers... oh, and the Master of Coin was missing.
That fellow Tyrion, after leaving Winterfell, had run off to see the Wall with one of Eddard's bastards without even saying a word.
But Robert didn't care; the fewer Lannisters in King's Landing, the happier he was.
"Please state your grievances, Ron."
Eddard Stark looked solemn; having not slept for two days, his eyes were filled with exhaustion.
Since arriving in King's Landing, the lord of winterfell had been caught completely off guard.
The riots in King's Landing, Jon Arryn's mysterious cause of death, the Iron Bank coming to collect debts—all the sins Robert had committed over the years seemed to explode at the same time over these past two days.
Eddard felt mentally and physically exhausted; he hadn't even been this tired when he led the War of the Usurper with Robert back then... "Please save your people, respected Your Majesty..."
The elderly Ron tremblingly knelt toward Eddard, old tears streaming down his wrinkled face.
"Standing before you is the current hand of the king, lord of winterfell, and warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark."
"The one sitting upon the iron throne is your king, His Majesty Robert Baratheon I!"
Seeing the man call Eddard 'Your Majesty,' the bald-headed Varys nearby quickly spoke up to remind him.
This was already the fourteenth commoner from King's Landing to come "petitioning" today. These people, who had almost never seen the king, whether intentionally or not, all mistook Eddard for the king as soon as they entered.
Although Eddard's appearance and temperament indeed looked more like a king than Robert's... "Oh, please forgive my old eyes, Your Majesty."
He quickly turned and knelt toward Robert; this white-haired old man seemed to even have a bit of a stutter.
"It's alright, Ron. State your request directly before the king."
Robert magnanimously didn't lower himself to Ron's level; he had experienced this scene too many times today.
He could even recite what Ron was about to say in his mind beforehand.
"Please restore Lord Arthas's position as commander of the city watch and suppress the riots in King's Landing."
Ron was calculating in his heart to finish what he had to say quickly so he could go back and collect his reward money.
"Over these past few days, this humble one's pottery shop has been continuously smashed by rioters, making an already difficult life even harder to sustain."
"That shop was bought with the savings of my entire life!"
"If this continues, forget about doing business; even survival will become an issue!"
As he spoke, he very professionally wiped away the tears gushing from the corners of his eyes.
Seeing him finish, Robert had a "just as expected" look on his face, and everyone present wore the same expression.
"Down."
Really not wanting to deal with these commoners any longer, Robert spoke to Eddard with practiced ease:
"Give him fifty silver stags. I believe that should resolve this potter's urgent crisis."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Rubbing his aching brow, Eddard pulled a coin purse from his bosom and handed it to Ron.
Ron had only come to play a part; he hadn't expected an extra windfall. He immediately left with the coin purse, overflowing with gratitude.
His legs were incredibly nimble as he left, showing none of the senile appearance he had when he entered.
"Your Majesty, there are at least a hundred more people behind him. Will you see them?"
"See them? Like hell I will!"
Robert stood up from the throne in anger, took the flagon from the wine steward's hand, tilted his head back, and downed it all. The crimson wine soaked his chest, looking as if he were covered in blood.
"That damned Lannister!"
"To think he'd use this method to force me to compromise. No way!"
As he cursed, he didn't avoid Jaime, who stood beside him in white armor, at all.
"But Your Majesty, this really isn't a sustainable way forward."
Grand Maester Pycelle shakily stepped forward; this fellow's textbook-level acting was much better than Ron's.
"Forgive my bluntness, but setting aside the fact that King's Landing is indeed in a state of riot and all normal activities of the populace are being heavily impacted..."
"Consider that after you restored Janos to his position yesterday, it caused public outrage among the Gold Cloaks, leading to a collective strike. Now, even the security forces of the Red Keep are stretched thin."
"Don't forget, Janos's head is still hanging at the Gold Cloaks Headquarters!"
This old man, who cherished his life above all else, had been quite frightened over the past two days.
As the Grand Maester, he usually had two Gold Cloaks as personal bodyguards.
But since Robert ordered Arthas's dismissal, the Gold Cloaks specifically responsible for protecting him had never shown up again. Even offering golden dragons at the Gold Cloaks Headquarters couldn't get them to come.
Furthermore, with the riots in King's Landing making it incredibly dangerous outside, Pycelle's daily essential activities of visiting prostitutes could only be temporarily put on hold.
"Janos, that idiot!"
Robert's eyelid twitched. Before Janos left prison, he had thumped his chest and guaranteed that he would have the Gold Cloaks in order within two days.
But before the night was even over, the man had been skinned by his angry subordinates, and his head was impaled on a spear point, hanging from the highest point of the Gold Cloaks Headquarters.
"Not only that, Your Majesty."
At this moment, Varys, the Master of Whispers, could no longer sit still.
Although his hands remained tucked in his sleeves with a calm expression, the flicker in his eyes did not escape Robert's notice.
"Your royal finances are already stretched thin, and the Master of Coin has yet to return."
"Yesterday, Lord Eddard and I received envoys from the Iron Bank. They witnessed the chaos here as soon as they arrived in King's Landing."
"The envoys unanimously believe that your credit is no longer sufficient to borrow from the Iron Bank again, and they demand that the iron throne immediately repay the three million golden dragons owed."
Misfortunes never come singly. Hearing this news, Robert felt like his head was about to explode. Who knew these vampire-like fellows would arrive at such a coincidental time.
In the past, the former Master of Coin, Baelish, could have used his silver tongue to maneuver with them for a while. Relying on the peaceful and stable environment of Westeros, he could even continue to borrow from them incessantly.
But now... ask yourself, if you can't even govern your own capital, how can others believe you have the ability to repay?
Although the Iron Bank is as far away as Braavos, these wealthy fellows could easily cause trouble for Robert in Westeros just by throwing money around, or even directly instigate someone to seize his throne!
"fuck, where is my Master of Coin? At such a critical moment, he's actually not in King's Landing!"
A single penny can stump a hero, let alone a massive debt of three million golden dragons. Even as the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, Robert couldn't help but feel a bit at a loss.
Previously, with Baelish handling financial affairs and the "selfless dedication" of his father-in-law Tywin, Robert could naturally live a life of profligate spending.
But now that he had dismissed Tywin's heir, it was likely already giving him a lot of Face by not immediately sending someone to demand repayment.
"Your Majesty, you've forgotten."
Glancing cautiously at Jaime standing by the iron throne, Pycelle added more fuel to the fire:
"Your Master of Coin... is also a Lannister."
The implication was that even if Tyrion were in King's Landing, at this critical juncture, he would likely only be a hindrance.
"Ned..."
Things having come to this, Robert knew to turn his pleading gaze toward his longtime friend.
"Can you lend me the guards you brought from the North, and then lend me some golden dragons?"
"You may use my guards as you wish, Your Majesty."
Having traveled all the way to King's Landing specifically to solve problems for Robert, and faced with his old friend's plea for help, Eddard had never chosen to refuse:
"But my twenty or so men won't have any impact on the situation in King's Landing at all."
"And..."
Mentioning the matter of money, the lord of winterfell couldn't help but blush for a moment:
"You know, the North is inherently poor, filled with vast stretches of wasteland, forests, and snow-capped mountains."
"And any extra money is almost entirely used to buy food in preparation for the next winter."
"Over all these years, there aren't even a hundred thousand golden dragons in the treasury."
"However, if you need it, I can write a letter to have them send all the golden dragons over, but as for the time required..."
To state the financial plight of his own territory in front of so many people—truly, only an honest man like Eddard could do such a thing.
Having heard this, knowing that Eddard had always lived frugally in the North, Robert didn't feel right asking him further.
Closing his eyes, he slumped back onto the iron throne, thinking frantically about where to get money.
Renly?
No, this fellow was the first to side with Arthas; it's almost impossible to get money from him now.
Highgarden?
No, that old woman Olenna is even shrewder than Tywin; she wouldn't lend me so much money for no reason.
Dorne doesn't have a good relationship with me and is far from King's Landing.
Stannis... don't even mention him.
After much thought, in the vast Seven Kingdoms, the only place Robert could borrow money from was the Lannisters, whom he hated the most!
Fuck!
He slammed the wine flagon onto the floor. As the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms and protector of the realm, he still had to bow his head to the Lannisters.
"Varys, go find that Lannister brat."
Although he was full of reluctance, there was no better way at the moment.
"As long as he can produce three million golden dragons to resolve the debt crisis with the Iron Bank, I will restore him to his position!"
"But, Your Majesty."
Varys sighed and stepped forward:
"This morning, Arthas already set out on the road back to the Westerlands."
"Before leaving, he also said that unless you personally go to invite him, he will never return to King's Landing in this lifetime!"
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