"I assure you, whether what I intend to do succeeds or not, I will place this matter above all else!"
"I know very well who the true enemy is."
Tywin looked at the several Night's Watch brothers present, his tone firm.
This was a plan he had devised after a night of thought. He intended to obtain the support and assistance of the Night's Watch, even if it were only an insignificant nominal backing.
However, as his words fell, before Benjen Stark could say anything, a mocking voice sounded from a corner to the side.
"Yet Tywin Lannister, your oaths are worth nothing!"
"Betrayal and the blood of the Night's Watch have already stained that golden mane of yours, mottled and pitch-black!"
"Lannisters always pay their debts? Heh—there's no gold you can shit out of your arse, and your mouth can spit none out either!"
Hearing this, Tywin's expression immediately turned cold, and he twisted his head to look over.
The one speaking was Othell Yarwyck, a member of House Yarwyck and the Night's Watch's chief builder.
At this moment, upon hearing Tywin Lannister's shameless grandstanding, he snorted coldly, tearing apart this promise that held neither sincerity nor credibility.
Facing Tywin Lannister, his face was filled with mockery.
Hearing these words, Tywin snorted coldly as well and said bluntly, "But aside from me, who do you think would be willing to believe in this?"
This time, however, before Othell Yarwyck could speak, the blind old Maester Aemon spoke from the side in a hoarse voice: "There is no need for your concern, Tywin Lannister. The true Night's Watch does not involve itself in the affairs within the Seven Kingdoms. Since you are willing to abandon your oaths, then go and do what you intend to do."
Those pale, empty eyes of his 'looked' in Tywin Lannister's direction.
"The true Night's Watch knows that their courage is meant to guard the realm and resist the dark forces from the north. If you choose to walk such a path, then the honor of the Night's Watch has nothing to do with you, and we do not wish to receive your honorless promises either."
"We guard the realm, keep our oaths, and will never take part in any of its wars."
"When Aegon killed Harren the Blackhearted and seized his kingdom, Harren's brother was the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. He had ten thousand elite men under his command, yet he did not march."
"The Seven Kingdoms were still an age of seven separate realms. In any era, at least three or four kingdoms were at war with one another, and the Night's Watch did not take part either."
"When the Andals crossed the sea and swept aside the realms of the First Men, the descendants of those dead kings still held to their vows without wavering, kept to their posts, and for hundreds and thousands of years, remained the same."
"This is the honor of the Night's Watch—you are still not worthy!"
This old man's rebuke completely tore away Tywin Lannister's fig leaf, and Tywin's expression could no longer hold.
Seeing Tywin Lannister's ugly expression, Benjen Stark stepped forward to stand in front of Maester Aemon, and also spoke: "Maester Aemon's words are our words, Tywin Lannister. The Night's Watch will give you no help. Give it up."
After Lord Commander Jeor Mormont died, among the Night's Watch who had not yet betrayed their vows, the few who remained vaguely took Benjen Stark as their leader.
Hearing this refusal from the Lord of Winterfell's brother, Tywin Lannister also knew that his plan to win over this last group of Night's Watchmen to help him was, for all intents and purposes, shattered.
But fortunately, such a refusal was also within his expectations.
If he gained these men's help, he only wanted a nominal endorsement and an ally.
After all, with only the last few dozen men, it was simply impossible for them to bring him any real help.
So after Benjen Stark's clear refusal, Tywin reined in the anger in his heart and became calm again.
He said evenly, "When I become king, you will naturally come to beg me."
"Benjen Stark, I will still say the same: I will not forget what happened here."
Tywin Lannister looked at Benjen Stark standing before him, his voice icy.
However, in response to these words, Benjen Stark merely sneered and shook his head.
Looking at the once-mighty lion before him, he said bluntly: "You will never become king. You will fail, Tywin. Once, you had the chance to become a hero, but you chose instead to carve your name into a monument of shame and betrayal."
"When you failed in your rebellion against the king and chose to surrender to preserve the lives of those who followed you, I thought you were a hero, even though you failed."
"But now, the moment you do these things—using schemes, betrayal, lies, and deception to achieve your ambition—you are no longer worthy of trust."
"The old gods and the new will punish you. I look forward to the day you regret it."
Benjen Stark spoke his view of Tywin Lannister, his tone and expression full of disappointment.
He gave Tywin one last look, then turned around and sat down on the bed that belonged to him.
The Lord Commander Mormont's raven had long since finished eating the corn. It flew to the head of his bed, cocked its head, and looked toward Tywin Lannister.
"Punish! Punish! Punish!"
Its hoarse, ugly cry stabbed out like an icy needle.
"Lies will only get lies, and deceit will only get deceit—," Aemon's voice followed close behind.
This could be considered his final warning to Tywin Lannister.
He no longer expected this once-mighty lion to repent and turn back to face life anew.
Facing everyone's humiliation, Tywin had already narrowed his eyes, killing intent boiling in his heart.
But his last shred of reason still told him he could not kill these men, or else he would truly have no way back and would lose all credibility.
That would be unfavorable for what he needed to do next.
In addition, after those enemies he encountered last night, Tywin knew very well that although he could not obtain these men's support, he did indeed still need to make use of them.
So he could only force himself to swallow his fury, snort coldly, and turn around, likewise preparing to leave this fruitless room.
"Then we'll see."
Watching his stubborn, unrepentant back, the few men in the room all fell silent.
Although they rebuked Tywin and rejected him so decisively, regarding the Night's Watch's future next, those present were even more worried.
And at this moment, Tywin Lannister, who had walked to the doorway, stopped his steps, then turned his face slightly to look back at them.
"Since you are unwilling to follow me, then I suppose telling me some news would not be a problem, right?"
Tywin Lannister's voice was no longer as stiff as before; instead, it had softened considerably.
Hearing this, Benjen Stark and the others, not understanding what he was really up to, exchanged glances.
"Go on, then. We'll listen for now. So long as it does not violate our vows, we do not mind giving you an answer."
Benjen Stark also did not remain unyielding to the very end.
After all, it was only that their paths were different and they could not work together. But when facing the great problem of humanity's common enemy, perhaps in the end they truly might need Tywin Lannister's help.
Although he did not know whether, by that time, Tywin would still be alive.
"I want to know why it suddenly became warm here?"
"On the road over just now, I even saw solid ice melting."
Hearing this, everyone present changed expression.
"Ghost Summer!" the Night's Watch's steward Bowen Marsh blurted out instinctively.
"What is Ghost Summer?"
What happened last night had made Tywin Lannister hypersensitive to such eerie things and names, and it made him instinctively uneasy.
"What you are seeing now is Ghost Summer. The weather becomes unusually warm, and the temperature rises to the point that it can melt ice and snow."
"Legend says this means that the ghost of summer has finally escaped its bonds and is drifting everywhere."
"But we regard it as a warning, because after this, bitter cold will descend."
"For the Wall, winter will not be as gentle as it is in the south—"
It was still Maester Aemon's voice. Those pale, empty blind eyes no longer 'looked' toward Tywin, but turned instead toward the window. His tone was meaningful, and strained—
"And after a long summer always comes a long winter."
"This summer has already lasted ten years."
Qhorin Halfhand, who had remained quiet the whole time, murmured.
"Winter is coming," as Maester Aemon's long, drawn-out voice echoed in the room, Benjen Stark said instinctively—House Stark's words.
As those words left his mouth, the people present could not help but shiver.
Paired with the Ghost Summer that had just happened, it was not hard for them to imagine the catastrophe they had been preparing for over eight thousand years was about to arrive.
And after they told Tywin Lannister what Ghost Summer was, Tywin could not help but feel that faint, bone-deep chill.
It made his mood grow even heavier.
Saying no more, he turned and truly prepared to leave.
But this time, a voice instead called out to stop him.
"Tywin, I do not ask you to do anything for the Night's Watch, but I want to send one man, carrying some of the remains left behind from the wights you killed last night, to King's Landing."
"We must warn them. The Long Night is coming—"
Benjen Stark, who originally did not want to say more to Tywin Lannister, now had no choice but to set aside a trace of pride in his heart. The honor of the Night's Watch required him to make such a choice.
Hearing Benjen Stark's request, Tywin thought for a moment, then nodded.
"We will leave within these two days. After I leave, I will leave you some supplies besides ravens. As for what you want to do, that is your business."
However, after saying this, Tywin suddenly paused again.
Then his eyes grew brighter and brighter. Next he took off his gloves, reached out and drew "Longclaw" from his waist, his gaze turning distant.
As if he had thought of something, inspiration struck him. He said slowly, almost unconsciously, "This rare warmth this time may not be any disaster for me at all, but the gods' enlightenment for me."
"You think I am a traitor, but I think—could this not be the gods' prophecy and warning to us?"
"Moreover, this sword even saved me last night. Like that raven, I used it to kill two enemies with my own hands."
"The original bitter cold should have been a harsh disaster for what I am going to do next, but this sudden warmth has given me help."
As he spoke, Tywin's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
His originally gloomy, dejected mood could not help but rise, becoming spirited.
"The gods are all giving me help. Watch—perhaps I am the hero who can save humanity."
"Bring a true long summer to this world!"
After he finished speaking to himself, the corner of Tywin's mouth, long cold and rigid, unexpectedly curled into a faint smile.
But he quickly drew it back. After giving the few people in the room another meaningful look, Tywin sheathed the sword again, turned around, and left.
Leaving only Benjen Stark and the others in the room staring at one another.
Tywin Lannister, whose mood had been heavy ever since what happened last night, now walked with light steps.
As a great lord who, on the surface, believed in the Seven, Tywin naturally did not regard so-called faith the way commoners did.
For nobles, such a thing was, more often than not, merely a useful tool of rule.
But what happened last night had shattered his original worldview and values, making him deeply understand that there truly was some kind of power in this world.
Tywin Lannister, who had originally still been choked up by what happened last night, wavering and uncertain, and also questioning in his heart whether what he had done was truly right, suddenly came to his senses after this exchange with Benjen Stark and the others.
The feeling that had originally been like a huge stone pressing on his heart now felt as though the clouds had parted and he had seen the sun.
After all, everything happening now was far too coincidental: whether it was the timing of Robert Baratheon's death, the timing of his choice to betray and rebel, or the timing of his gathering all his pieces again and sitting back down at the chessboard.
Now it seemed that everything carried a hint of coincidence within it.
And there was the Valyrian steel greatsword in his hand, the inexplicable and eerie "Ghost Summer," and those blue-eyed wights discovered yesterday.
And so on, and all of it, to Tywin, seemed like a reminder.
Rather than a threat.
Whether it was when he faced wights that wanted to kill him, and he happened to obtain a Valyrian steel greatsword that could kill these things, Tywin would wager that even those learned archmaesters of the Citadel did not know this secret.
Yet he, by sheer accident, had done it. Everything had been a near miss but without danger, and ordinary weapons—even if they could chop those ghostly things into pieces—could not kill them. He had still had to rely on that raven's so-called reminder to know he should use flames.
And in addition, when he decided he was going to set out to face House Umber's investigation, he had originally still been somewhat worried due to the excessively cold environment and supplies and other reasons.
Yet it had also been resolved with the help of this "Ghost Summer" that could melt solid ice.
With not much in the way of supplies, paired with this temperature and climate that, to him, no longer posed a threat, Tywin already had a ninety-percent certainty that he could accomplish everything he wanted to do.
He only needed to use this period of time to take the last Hearth Castle of House Umber, and then all the difficulties before him would be solved with ease.
At that time, he would not care at all about the Night's Watch tipping them off.
No—if anything, it was precisely the opposite: he happened to need the Night's Watch's "tipping them off."
Only that way could he more easily deal with House Karstark at Karhold, and completely secure all his advantages.
Thinking back now, it was as if everything had fallen into place, and everyone's timing, terrain, and human factors were helping him.
What he intended to do now seemed, as if in the dark, to have divine help.
"I will succeed and establish a thousand-year dynasty that belongs to House Lannister!"
Walking out of the Spear Tower, Tywin Lannister's face no longer held any of its earlier gloom.
At this moment, his features were full of confidence, and the light in his eyes was sharp as a blade.
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