Jaime disliked House Rose greatly because his father, Tywin Lannister, had once considered marrying his sister Cersei to Highgarden.
Although this idea was never implemented and eventually dropped, he still felt dissatisfied with House Tyrell.
Furthermore, he had been assigned to welcome House Tyrell's entourage this time.
When Garlan arrived at Kingswood, he had already received the news and, calculating the time, came to this abandoned military camp at the Kingswood entrance to await House Tyrell's arrival.
However, House Tyrell's group was several days late, making him suffer for days for nothing, so he immediately challenged Garlan upon meeting him, venting his resentment.
"I am only ten years old this year, I wonder what Lord Jaime was like when he was ten?"
The Kingslayer's provocation and mockery did not affect Garlan in the slightest; he smiled and asked Jaime Lannister.
Faced with Garlan's question, Jaime fell silent for a moment.
In fact, in Jaime's heart, Garlan was already quite impressive; at just ten years old, he could lead a team all the way from Highgarden to King's Landing.
This kind of leadership was uncommon, and he himself did not possess such ability when he was ten.
Although he acknowledged Garlan's ability, he did not show it, merely smiling without answering Garlan's question, and instead, somewhat stiffly changed the subject: "Why is the one leading the team to King's Landing not your elder brother Velas Tyrell, but you, a little fellow whose baby hair hasn't even fully shed yet?
Does House Tyrell disdain participating in the martial arts tournament that King Robert specially organized for the birth of his first son? Or are you dissatisfied with King Robert's heir?"
"Lord Jaime, you seem to have forgotten something.
My father, Duke Mace Tyrell, is currently in King's Landing.
Is my elder brother more important than my father?
If House Tyrell were truly dissatisfied with King Robert's heir, I imagine my father would already be in Highgarden by now, not remaining in King's Landing."
Garlan handled Jaime's attempt to pin blame with ease.
Seeing that his challenge had no effect, Jaime did not press further but returned to the main topic, saying, "I am here by King Robert's order to welcome House Tyrell's entourage.
Follow me now to your designated camping ground!"
Having said that, he pulled on his horse's reins and turned towards King's Landing.
As he passed the scout team, he couldn't help but look at Linde, the House Tyrell warrior who had shown no disdain or contempt towards him.
Initially, he hadn't found anything special about Linde, but when he saw Glory, the albino Shadow Lynx at Linde's feet, a hint of surprise and astonishment appeared on his face, and a touch of curiosity arose in his heart towards Linde.
However, he knew very well that this was not the place or time to satisfy his curiosity, so he quickly averted his gaze and, following the King's command, led House Tyrell to the camping ground.
Under the Kingslayer's leadership, two hundred-man teams marched one after another on King's Road.
Upon seeing the banners of the two teams, passing merchant caravans voluntarily moved to the sides of the road, waiting for the teams to pass before continuing their journey.
Although a year had passed since the war ended, its impact had not disappeared, especially the significant disruption to commerce, which continued to be felt.
Not all Targaryen armies were annihilated during the war; most of the surviving Targaryen armies surrendered after Prince Rhaegar's death, but a portion of the Targaryen armies, led by knights loyal to Targaryen, had no intention of surrendering.
However, these individuals also knew that with their strength, they could not turn the tide, so they could only escape to a safe place and then figure out a plan.
At that time, they had few escape routes, arguably only one: south.
Because the North, Riverlands, Vale, and Westron Protector were all enemy territories, only House Tyrell in the South and Dorne further south were still on the Targaryen side at that time, so these last loyalists of Targaryen led the remaining forces across Blackwater River, moving south.
However, before they could even leave Kingswood, House Tyrell and House Martell had already publicly declared their support for Robert Baratheon ascending the Iron Throne, completely abandoning the defeated Targaryen.
What made these remaining Targaryen forces even more despairing was that the new King Robert immediately issued a warrant for all remaining Targaryen factions, and confiscated all properties of the lords and propertied knights among them, completely cutting off their retreat.
At the same time, to show loyalty to the new King and alleviate the conflicts caused by the Usurper War, and to dispel the new King's suspicions, Duke Mace Tyrell immediately ordered all nobles in the South to encircle and suppress the remaining Targaryen factions, effectively trapping these remnants in the South and forcing them into becoming bandits and brigands.
Upon hearing this order, the Thorn Queen, who was in Highgarden, was so enraged that she smashed her most beloved exquisite porcelain vase from the far East, because she knew very well how much damage and negative impact this order from her son would cause to the South, and these damages and impacts might even directly shake House Rose's rule over the South.
However, it was already impossible for her to stop it, because Duke Mace Tyrell had issued this order publicly.
If she were to stop it, she would undoubtedly be seen by the new King as supporting Targaryen, and the Usurper army, which had not yet dispersed, would then march south and directly flatten House Tyrell.
Therefore, the only thing she could do was to order Duke Mace Tyrell to remain in King's Landing and not return to Highgarden, to avoid him making more foolish decisions and making things worse, and the excuse was simple: to ease relations with the Iron Throne.
For the entire year that followed, the South was exactly as the Thorn Queen had predicted: rampant bandits and brigands.
The Red Lake Forest bandits that Linde had participated in encircling were just one example; many other bandits, remnants of Targaryen, were entrenched in the vast plains, hills, and mountains between Highgarden and King's Landing.
The entire South also suffered greatly in commerce for this reason, as doing business in the South was too dangerous, with the constant possibility of being robbed.
Without merchant caravans, commerce in the various cities of the South naturally stagnated, and the various lords also suffered heavy losses, complaining bitterly about House Tyrell.
Those nobles in the South who were already dissatisfied with House Tyrell becoming Duke of Highgarden and Warden of the South once again became restless, beginning to challenge House Tyrell's authority, and the split of House Crane was just one small interlude.
Although the various lords in the South had tried every means to eliminate bandits and restore some commercial activities over the past year, the recovered portion was negligible compared to the commercial scale before the Usurper War.
Previously, the House Rose's entourage had encountered only a handful of merchant caravans along the way, and this was only because the Rose Road was frequently patrolled by cavalry teams from various lords, which encouraged those merchant caravans with their own guard teams to take a gamble, while those unable to recruit enough guards did not consider using the Rose Road at all.
When House Rose's entourage crossed Blackwater Bridge, this commercial disparity between north and south became even more apparent.
The roads south of Blackwater Bridge were overgrown with weeds, and the inns were almost abandoned, while north of Blackwater Bridge, merchant caravans gathered, and all warehouses were packed full, some even overflowing onto the grass in front of the warehouses.
These goods were all destined for northern regions such as Westron Protector, Riverlands, and Vale.
Looking at the prosperous scene before him, Garlan couldn't help but sigh, and he inevitably felt a headache over his father, who always seemed to make foolish decisions.
Actually, this trip to King's Landing was originally supposed to be led by his brother, Velas Tyrell, but his grandmother, the Thorn Queen, prevented it, instead having him, a ten-year-old, lead the journey north, while Velas remained in Highgarden to assist the Thorn Queen with various affairs.
Clearly, his sharp-tongued grandmother must have felt that since her son had gone astray, she should cultivate a grandson to replace her son.
After adjusting his mindset, the meticulous Garlan quickly noticed that the surrounding crowd was acting strangely.
This strangeness was not a danger like an assassination, but rather the way people around them looked at them.
Normally, ordinary people seeing a team of nearly three hundred would be frightened, lower their heads, and keep their distance, but now these commoners of King's Landing were all gathered by the roadside, staring at the team, and their eyes were filled with hatred and scorn.
However, Garlan soon realized that these eyes were not looking at them, but at the Gold Cloaks leading the way, or more accurately, at the Kingslayer, who was riding on his warhorse with his head held high.
At this moment, Garlan also recalled the information he had seen about the Usurper War and realized that the Kingslayer was hated and despised by the people of King's Landing not just because he killed the Mad King he served, but also because his surname was Lannister.
Towards the end of the war, Lord Tywin Lannister's army had plundered King's Landing, and countless people of King's Landing died at the hands of the Westron Protector army.
Ultimately, this hatred fell upon the Kingslayer, the most prominent Lannister.
At this moment, Garlan suddenly felt a little sympathy for Jaime Lannister and also admired the Kingslayer's will.
Putting himself in the Kingslayer's shoes, he would absolutely be unable to ignore the malicious gazes that were constantly present around him; being driven mad would only be a matter of time.
Just as Garlan was analyzing the current situation in King's Landing by observing his surroundings, using the method he learned from the Thorn Queen, Linde, like others in the group, looked around curiously, admiring the sights of King's Landing.
Most of the people in House Rose's entourage had never left Highgarden and had long heard of King's Landing, the most famous city in the Seven Kingdoms.
Before coming here, they had already planned to witness this famous city.
However, after crossing Blackwater Bridge and passing through the inn district to reach the outskirts of King's Landing, the glimpse of King's Landing presented to them left them somewhat disappointed.
The towering city walls should have given a strong sense of oppression, but the dilapidated marks covering the walls made it seem as if the wall could collapse at any moment, and what was more exasperating was that these dilapidated marks were not caused by siege damage, but rather entirely from natural deterioration due to age and lack of maintenance.
In addition to the disappointing city walls, the residents of King's Landing also disappointed them; dressed in rags, they looked like refugees fleeing from other places, completely lacking the demeanor of residents of the capital of the Seven Kingdoms.
However, they soon realized their judgment was not wrong; most of the people they saw on the road were indeed refugees who had fled due to the war.
Originally, these refugees who had escaped the war should have returned to their respective hometowns after the war ended, but their farmlands had been confiscated by local lords after they fled, making return a dead end, so they could only remain in King's Landing to make a living.
The influx of a large number of refugees had exceeded King's Landing's capacity.
Even though Duke Tywin's Westron Protector army had cleared King's Landing a year ago, the rapidly incoming refugees quickly filled the population vacuum left by the deceased commoners, and later refugees, unable to reside within the city, could only build wooden shacks and tents along the roads outside the city walls.
After a year, from Dung Gate to Iron Gate, almost half of the city wall's exterior was covered in refugee shacks and tents, and several new districts spontaneously formed around each city gate.
Such a massive influx of people naturally brought various problems; theft and robbery were almost ubiquitous, and gangs, large and small, sprang up like mushrooms in these areas.
However, for Linde, the only trouble these refugees brought him was the filthy environment.
Streets full of excrement and urine were torture for Linde.
Fortunately, when he crossed Blackwater Bridge, to avoid Glory attracting unnecessary attention, he had already placed it in a specially made pocket on his chest, otherwise, he would have to deal with Glory covered in excrement and urine rubbing against him.
Fortunately, this stretch of road was not particularly long; they turned a corner outside the King's Gate and headed towards Lion Hill on the west side, along the edge of the martial arts tournament grounds.
Lion Hill is located northwest of the martial arts tournament grounds, right next to Lion Gate.
This is the best vantage point around the entire martial arts tournament grounds; standing on Lion Hill, one can overlook the martial arts tournament grounds and take in all the activity there.
At this very moment, several banners were already flying on Lion Hill, such as the golden lion banner of Lannister, Westron Protector, the wolf banner of Stark Family from the North, the deer banner of Baratheon from Stormlands, the eagle banner of House Arryn from the Vale, and so on, all belonging to the largest families in the Seven Kingdoms.
House Tyrell's rose banner was also among them.
It seemed Duke Mace Tyrell had already prepared the camp in advance, but the location of this camp was not ideal, being on the west side of Lion Hill, completely out of sight of the martial arts tournament grounds.
It was even significantly worse than House Martell's camp in Dorne, clearly indicating that the Duke of Highgarden's efforts to ease relations over the past year had not been very effective.
After escorting Garlan and the others to the camp entrance, the Kingslayer turned and left without any delay.
Garlan entered the camp and conversed with the people guarding inside, likely asking about his father's whereabouts.
Afterward, he led Fotimo and a group of nobles and knights to temporarily leave the camp and head into King's Landing, while the remaining people were assigned to various tents according to the camp's arrangements, and also given their respective tasks for patrols, guards, and so on during this period.