Chapter 279: News Reaches the Casterly Rock
Casterly Rock, Westerlands
POV of Tywin Lannister
Tywin looked at the letter, his hands shaking with anger. He controlled the urge to rip the letter into pieces and passed it on to his brother, Kevan.
"What did Cersei do now?" Genna asked from the other side of the table, "Or… was it Tyrion this time?"
"Jamie," Tywin said, trying to reason how his eldest son could have done something so monumentally stupid.
Genna frowned at that "Jamie… I didn't take him as a troublemaker. Actually, didn't take him for anything really."
He growled, but she continued, "The boy has no ambition of his own. The only thing he's good at is swords, and he uses that talent to be a glorified door guard for a whoremonger King."
He would have refuted her if he did not believe the same thing himself and if he was not so angry right about now.
"Enough." He said in a tone that left no room for argument.
Genna still looked like she wanted to say something, but then she thought better of it and just shrugged, as if arguing with him was not worth her while.
"This… this is a disaster." Kevan Lannister declared, with a resigned, tired expression, after reading the letter.
Emotions that Tywin himself was starting to feel whenever he thought about his legacies nowadays.
For he might have brought his house to the pinnacle of prosperity, but he had no successor to carry on the torch for him.
His eldest son wouldn't give up that blasted white cloak. His youngest son was thankfully gone from his life, but none of the Lannisters in the branch houses showed any promise.
His house might be wealthy, strong, and prosperous right now, but he worried about how it would fare once he was gone.
Genna took the letter from Kevan's hands and started going through it quickly.
Both Tywin and Kevan waited for her to finish, and once she did, she scoffed and shook her head in disappointment.
"Foolish boy." She murmured to herself, "I know you don't want me to say it, but I did warn you against giving the Valyrian sword to Jamie. He has always been far too irresponsible with just about everything in his life."
He wanted to refute her. But how could he do so when she was in the right once again? Something that was becoming a norm these days.
After so many years, so many decades and centuries, his family finally had a Valyrian sword of its own.
And now… now his irresponsible son lost it in a gamble.
"But still… Lord Bolton…" Genna said, "I don't think I ever heard about him participating in any tourneys. Only that sworn shield of his. People even thought that he didn't know how to hold a sword. Thinking that he would be skilled enough to defeat Jamie..." She paused and looked at him, "…makes me wonder what else he's hiding."
"The sword is lost to us. At least for now." Kevan said, "Cersei sent the Red Cloaks after Lord Bolton, something that almost caused an incident between the Crown and the Starks. But none of the men she sent ever returned."
Genna scoffed once again, "Expecting Cersei to be competent? Have we really become so desperate now?"
"Enough." He said, some of his rage leaking through in his voice, and Genna wisely shut up, though not without throwing an annoyed look toward him as if his rage was some child's tantrum.
Only Genna, his little sister, would ever dare to look at him like that. And he loved her for it, but that didn't mean that she didn't irritate both him and Kevan to high hell.
"What is done is done." He said, "Now we need to think about how to get the sword back from the Bolton boy."
"Are we contemplating exchanging the Swan Ships for the sword?" his brother asked.
"No." He replied without any hesitation, "The boy has crossed the line with this stunt. He'll pay for this."
"And how do you intend to make him pay?" Genna asked, "His castle is on the other side of the continent. And no Southern army has ever crossed Moat Cailin. So, you won't ever reach there by land. And his fleet is 10 times larger than our own. How do you plan to attack him, Tywin? With your non-existent dragons?"
He did not even bother replying to her. There was no point. She was correct in her assumptions. Again.
They cannot attack Dreadfort from land.
Marching an army across the land to the North would be like announcing their arrival to all the Northern Lords by raven. And even if they managed to cross Moat Cailin, they would face the combined armies of the North, an army led by Lord Stark.
And Lord Stark mustering an army meant the King would be aware of the situation.
The useless Robert could even muster an army from the South and come to his friend's aid when it came to Lord Eddard Stark. In that case, the Lannister army would be trapped between two vast armies.
And Lord Bolton's fleet gave him naval superiority against every other house in Westeros except for the Redwynes.
Moreover, Lord Bolton's ships were more unusual than ordinary ships. Aside from the ships he purchased, the ships built at Regalis Port were stronger, had more firepower, and were larger.
That wasn't even counting the Bolton boy's flagship, the massive Titanic.
Bolton's ships may not have had the maneuverability of Swan Ships during their sea travels. But it was a fact that they were more useful than Swan Ships in a defensive situation.
This would put Tywin at a disadvantage, as he was the one attacking Regalis Port. The Lannister fleet would be destroyed in a short time, considering the numbers of the two fleets.
No. Attacking by land was not an option, and they did not have enough ships to attack by sea.
If he wanted to attack from the sea, then he would need more ships and allies.
Allies who hated the Bolton boy just as much as he did.
And didn't he already know a few people like that?
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.280: Tywin Lannister's Plan
Ch.281: Arya's First Week in Dreadfort
Ch.282: You Are Not Horse-Faced