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As large numbers of ravens flew from Casterly Rock, news of the castle's fall spread to noble houses throughout Westeros.
King's Landing, the throne room.
"Impossible! Lies! Liars! Casterly Rock has stood in the Westerlands for thousands of years and has never fallen."
Hearing Varys read the raven letter, Joffrey immediately rose from the throne and roared.
"Your Grace, the raven letter came from Casterly Rock. I believe no one would risk his life on such a jest."
Varys shook his head at Joffrey's words, rather certain of the letter's truth.
"What is my grandfather doing? Useless!
"All this time, and Riverrun still has not been taken. Instead, he let Robb Stark raid Casterly Rock.
"Hmph. If it were my father, he would have killed all these traitors long ago."
Ever since he had personally killed Eddard Stark, nothing had gone smoothly for Joffrey. Seeing that Casterly Rock's fall had become fact, he loudly blamed Tywin for doing nothing.
"Ahem. Joffrey, your grandfather is waging war for you. You should speak of him with more respect."
Hearing Joffrey blame Tywin, Cersei frowned and coughed lightly to remind him.
"Respect? I am the king. They are my subjects. They are the ones who should show me respect."
The longer Joffrey had been king, the more he had grown tired of Cersei, the Queen Regent, trying to control him.
Cersei likewise felt that her son had become more and more difficult to restrain.
She did not continue arguing with Joffrey. Instead, she turned toward Varys and asked, "Lord Varys, is there any word from Baelish and Tyrion? And where is Jaime now?"
"Lord Baelish has sent no message since his last letter, in which he reported that Lord Tyrion had been successfully rescued and that they would remain in the Vale to persuade Lady Lysa to enter the war."
Hearing Cersei ask him, Varys, who had been slightly dazed, immediately answered with the intelligence he knew.
"As for the Hand, he is inspecting the crownlands and gathering the crownlands nobles to send troops to help defend King's Landing. At present, he should be at Duskendale, summoning House Rykker."
"Duskendale..." Cersei thought briefly, then ordered Varys, "Lord Varys, please send word of Casterly Rock to Jaime.
"Then, on behalf of King Joffrey, I want you to visit Renly Baratheon. I hear he has gathered one hundred thousand troops and is marching toward King's Landing."
"Your Grace, according to my information, Renly's actual forces do not number one hundred thousand. Moreover, his march has been slow, and he is camped at Bitterbridge now."
Varys first shared what he knew, then asked, "Your Grace, what is the purpose of my visit to Renly?"
"The open purpose is for you to persuade him to surrender on King Joffrey's behalf.
"So long as he submits to the one true king of Westeros, his treason can be overlooked, and there will be a place for him on the small council."
"And the hidden purpose?"
Hearing Varys's question, a smile appeared on Cersei's fine face. In a tone that seemed to speak highly of him, she said, "In secret, first learn the true state of Renly's forces.
"Then, his army is made up of men from the Stormlands and the Reach. With Lord Varys's abilities, I believe you can discover which powers might be drawn to our side."
"I understand, Your Grace."
In the far south of Westeros, in Dorne, at Yronwood.
Yronwood stood at the entrance to the Boneway within Dorne. It was a defensive stronghold that controlled passage into and out of Dorne, and its position was extremely important.
Yronwood was the castle of House Yronwood, the strongest great house in Dorne after House Martell.
House Yronwood was ancient. For thousands of years, its rulers had once styled themselves High King of Dorne and King of the Dornish.
That lasted until the Rhoynar warrior queen Nymeria married Mors Martell, greatly increasing House Martell's power.
This couple, who called themselves prince and princess, fought for eleven years and finally forced House Yronwood to submit, unifying Dorne.
In truth, House Yronwood was much like House Bolton in the North. As the strongest vassal beneath the ruling house, they had always carried the ambition to replace their liege.
House Yronwood had also joined the Blackfyre cause three times during the Blackfyre Rebellions. In those rebellions, they fought directly against House Martell, which supported the Targaryens.
Yet they ultimately lost the wars, and House Martell continued ruling Dorne.
Only in the last twenty or thirty years had the relationship between House Yronwood and House Martell changed in a rather remarkable way.
When the Red Viper, Oberyn Martell, was sixteen, he was discovered sleeping with Lord Edgar Yronwood's paramour. Lord Edgar challenged him to a duel.
Because of the Red Viper's birth and age, however, the duel was agreed to be fought only to first blood.
Both sides were wounded, but the Red Viper's wound soon recovered, while Lord Edgar died after his wound festered.
Most members of House Yronwood believed the Red Viper had smeared poison on his weapon and deliberately poisoned Lord Edgar.
Under those circumstances, Doran Martell, ruler of Dorne, tried to repair relations between the two houses. He exiled his younger brother Oberyn and sent his own son Quentyn to Yronwood to be fostered.
Lord Anders Yronwood became one of Prince Doran's trusted men because of this. He also became Quentyn's foster father, raising Quentyn together with his own son, Cletus Yronwood.
Although many Yronwoods were still dissatisfied by this, under the pressure of Lord Anders and Prince Doran, they could only remain silent.
Clang, clang!
Two boys in their teens held blunted training swords atop an abandoned tower in Yronwood Castle, sparring with swordsmanship that was still somewhat green.
One noble boy, handsome, blond, and blue-eyed, was the better swordsman.
With a side-step and upward cut, he knocked the sword from the hand of the other boy, a sturdy, thick-bodied youth with plain features and black hair.
"I yield. I yield! Cletus, your swordsmanship has improved again. I last a shorter and shorter time against you now."
The black-haired boy raised both hands in surrender and smiled at the blond boy.
"Heh. Quentyn, perhaps it is because you are still a maiden's dream untouched. A man's strength has not yet been released in you."
Cletus wore an extremely licentious smile and sat cross-legged on the tower roof, waggling his brows at Quentyn.
"Hey, do not mock me. Lord Anders taught us that we must take responsibility for a woman's honor.
"I still hope that with my future wife..."
The upright Quentyn solemnly began speaking of honor and responsibility, just as his foster father Lord Anders had taught him.
Before he could finish, Cletus impatiently waved a hand and cut him off. "Enough. Father already lectured me once before, and now you have started too.
"Tch. If I had your title as prince, the girls would be rushing to my door."
"You have said that since we were children. I do not think my title as prince is anything special.
"Mm. I suddenly need to piss. I will go to the side."
As Quentyn spoke, he suddenly felt the need. He told Cletus, then ran to the other side of the tower and began pissing into a corner.
"The situation in Westeros... Casterly Rock has fallen... the false king Joffrey has only Gold Cloaks..."
While Quentyn was relieving himself quite comfortably, broken voices came from below the tower.
This tower had long been abandoned, and almost no one came here. Quentyn thought he might have heard wrong, so he tilted his head and listened carefully.
"...we are the kings of Dorne... kill Anders and Quentyn..."
This time, Quentyn was certain he had heard voices, and that they were secrets about killing him and his foster father, Lord Anders.
He did not even bother with the water still clinging to his member. He immediately pulled up his trousers and ran to the tower's edge to look down.
Below the tower, no one was there. Whoever had spoken had already gone.
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