Chapter 55 - Chapter 55 The Attention of the Iron Throne

Meanwhile, deep in the Red Fort of King's Landing, another heavy and oppressive atmosphere was permeated in the Imperial Chamber. This council room, which symbolized the highest authority of the Seven Kingdoms, was very different from the glitz of Telosi, it was more majestic and heavy, settling the dust of history and the coldness of power. At his feet was a huge carpet of intricately patterned and colorful mills, soft and silent when stepped on, absorbing all the noise. In the corner, there stood a huge wooden screen from the Midsummer Islands, carved with rare birds and beasts, and their feathers and scales glowing with a warm luster in the candlelight. The walls were covered with valuable tapestry, from Norfos, Kohor and Lys, depicting wars of conquest, legends of the gods or complex geometric patterns, like silent witnesses in the darkness. The most breathtaking were a pair of Valyrian stone sculptures and sphinxes standing on either side of the heavy oak doors. They were carved from dark marble, with smooth and powerful lines, except for the round and bloody eyes, inlaid with two large rhodiolites, shimmering with a cold and merciless glow in the flickering candlelight in the hall. The main seat of the long table, symbolizing the position of the owner of the Iron Throne, was empty at the moment. In his place was the old king's hand, Jon Arryn, Duke of Eagle's Nest. The years had carved deep ravines in his face, and fatigue was almost oozing from his slightly hunched back. He fought hard, flipping through the mountains of files on the table, each about the heavy debts of the kingdom. Sitting around the long table were the core members of the Imperial Council, a total of five people. Duke Arryn raised his bloodshot eyes and looked across the long table. There sat a man of short stature, ordinary appearance but with extraordinary eyes. He had gray-green eyes, always with a faint smile, a small handful of carefully trimmed beard on his chin, and dark hair mixed with gray, but strangely complemented the handsome face with a bit of mature charm. "Petyr," Duke Arryn's voice was deeply tired, and his brows furrowed, "The messenger of the Iron Vault has been sent away?" " Petyr Belisi reacted very quickly, and immediately nodded, with his usual, elusive smile on his face: "Yes, my lord, their ship sailed away from Blackwater Bay when it was dark. " "The gods are above..." Before he finished speaking, a clear, slightly playful voice sounded, from an extremely handsome young man on the left hand of Duke Arryn. He had black hair and wore a perfectly tailored dark green velvet bodysuit embroidered with twelve lifelike Baratheon bucks embroidered with gold thread. It was the Duke of Wind's Breath, the Minister of Justice, Langley Baratheon. He leaned lazily on the back of his chair and said, "We are the high-ranking ministers of the kingdom at the Imperial Council, but we have to greet the group of Braavos with a smile on their faces that smell of copper... Sometimes I really feel like we have become a bunch of beggars begging on the corner of King's Landing, running around all day worrying about tomorrow's bread and the expenses of the king's banquet..." His tone was half joking, half sharp sarcasm. Sitting next to Lan Li, a man with a dark face and a cold expression as iron heard this, and his dark face was instantly frosted: "Lan Li... Maybe you should save these one-liners for when His Majesty the King comes to preside over the royal meeting." " This person is Lan Li's brother, the Duke of Dragonstone, the Minister of the Sea, Stannis Baratheon. Lan Li was not angry, but smiled brighter and showed his white teeth: "My good brother, you and His Majesty the King are both my brothers, and they are about the same age, I think you have already exchanged countless opinions on these troubles in private?" " Stannis' pale lips twitched, as if he wanted to retort sharply. But he felt Jon Arryn's pleading and impatient gaze, and the focused gaze of others, and swallowed back the words that came to his throat, only to snort heavily from his nose, his gaze cutting through Lanley's gorgeous velvet like a knife. Duke Arryn watched the king's two brothers with very different temperaments fall into a silent wrestling again, and sighed secretly in his heart. He cleared his throat and drew everyone's attention back to the core topic of the meeting: "My lords..." His voice was particularly heavy in the empty and gorgeous hall: "Our King may not have time to pay attention to the financial affairs of the royal family, but as members of the Imperial Council, we must face the reality, as of today's ...." He paused, his eyes swept over every face present, "The total debt of the royal family has reached five million golden dragons." " This astronomical figure was like a boulder thrown into stagnant water, and the chamber fell into suffocating silence. Everyone has a mirror in their hearts, who holds luxurious competitions again and again? Who spent money like land to feast and enjoy the treasury to such an appalling extent that the treasury was completely empty and the debt was piled up to such a terrifying point? Duke Arryn felt the tacit prevarication and powerlessness in the silence, and a deep sense of exhaustion almost overwhelmed him. He held on to his spirits, trying to find a glimmer of hope: "My lords, I think that in the coming days, some unnecessary and overly extravagant expenses must be drastically reduced. As for His Majesty the King..." His voice was harsh, "I will try to speak..." "Your Excellency," a voice as sweet as honey interjected. It was a bald man sitting next to Duke Arryn. He had a pale, round face, a plump figure, and wore an unusually brightly colored silk robe, which exuded a strong smell of powder in his gestures. Waris, the chief of intelligence, put a soft, damp hand on Duke Erin's arm: "My Majesty is probably not accustomed to the objections of his subjects, and if anyone dares to speak and advise him 'not to do this,' 'not to do that,' and 'never do this,' ... Oh, the effect is often no different from urging him to 'do it quickly.' You have seen with your own eyes that every grand jousting is like a spoon made of gold, digging out a large piece of our empty treasury ...." Duke Arryn felt a wave of discomfort and quietly withdrew his arm from Varys's overly intimate touch. "Varys," he said, looking at the bald man and changing the subject, "do you have any information that is worth paying attention to?" " Varys was unhurried, as if he had been prepared. He smiled sweetly and pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment from his sleeve robe that smelled of powder. "Hmm... There is some interesting news from the Three Sisters Islands," he said slowly, his voice particularly clear in the silent hall, "some fishermen have witnessed the traces of sea monsters in the waters near Biting Bay..." "Pfft!" Duke Lanley laughed unceremoniously, breaking the solemn atmosphere. "Lord Varys," said his handsome face, "did you mean that the Greyjoys of the Iron Isles suddenly broke through the swamps of Neck Marsh and sailed their longships into the narrow sea under our noses?" " Varys' eyes, which seemed to be able to see through people's hearts, turned faintly to Lan Li, and still had that sweet smile on his face: "The Duke misunderstood, I don't mean those iron people wielding axes, they are real guys, and it is said that the huge waves it set off swallowed up a whaling ship from the Eastern Continent. " Lan Li shrugged his shoulders disapprovingly: "Sea monster? The gods are above, Varys, rather than believing this, I would rather believe that the Targaryen dragons have come back to life, at least there are still many fossilized bones of those big guys buried in the castle under our feet. " Varys smiled unchanged in the face of doubts, looked down at the parchment, and continued to say in his disturbing tone: "There is also news from the Stone Steps Islands, which may be more worthy of your attention, a wizard from the Far East, in just three or four months, swept away several long-entrenched pirate forces and occupied many islands, and now, his battle with the pirate leader Salado Thorn is already on the string, and it is imminent." " Duke Arryn's brows instantly tightened, the shadow of the debt had not yet dissipated, and a new threat seemed to appear on the doorstep. "Wizard of the East?" He asked in a deep voice, "Where are you from?" " Varys spat out two syllables sweetly: "Yidi." " "Ceremony?!" This word seemed to have some kind of magic, and the atmosphere in the council hall instantly froze. Everyone's faces changed slightly, and even Stannis, who had been watching coldly, raised their heads. Ceremony, it was an ancient eastern country that was farther away and more mysterious than Quairs, and was said to be full of gold. The Grand Scholar Pasil, who had been silent, as if he was taking a nap, spoke slowly at this time: "According to... As far as I know, between Yidi and Westeros, there are thousands of miles apart... What is the purpose of this Oriental man who has traveled thousands of miles to come to the disputed land of the Narrow Sea? " Varys did not answer Pasil's question directly, he looked down at the parchment again, as if confirming the details: "My lords, I also brought back some more disturbing details, it is said that this Oriental wizard has an army of about a thousand people, and the soldiers of this army, all well-equipped, wearing full-body armor suspected of being made of Valyrian steel, holding swords of the same material, fighting extremely fiercely and bravely, and the most terrifying thing..." Varys's voice was lowered: "My informant has repeatedly assured me that the soldiers of this army are not living people, they are the Eastern sorcerers who used some ancient and evil Oriental witchcraft to awaken and manipulate corpses from graves. " "The gods are above, Varys." Duke Langley's sneer sounded again: "You lovely little birds, this time you lost your way, crashed headfirst into the doomsday ruins of Valyria, and sucked too much volcanic ash to send you back this absurd dream?" " Petyr Berisi, who was sitting diagonally opposite Lan Li, had a playful smile on his lips, and interjected at the right time, his voice with a narrow tone: "Maybe I was lost outside the Great Wall of desperate situations, frightened by the eccentricities in those forests?" " Varys twisted his hands covered in incense powder and made a slightly aggrieved gesture: "Oh, my lords, you are really wrong about me, when will I use false news to deceive the Imperial Council?" " The expression on his face became serious, "The source of these messages is an exiled knight in trouble, who claimed that his beloved wife was forcibly detained by the Oriental wizard, and in order to save his wife's life, he had to endure humiliation and submit to the wizard and serve her." But deep down, he was always concerned about the safety of the Seven Kingdoms, and it was he who, on the way out on a mission for the wizard, took a huge risk and managed to deliver this news about the survival of the kingdom. " "Tsk tsk, 'heart is in the Seven Kingdoms'..." Lan Li shook his head, his handsome face full of distrust, "What a glorious and touching excuse, let's guess who this poor 'exile knight' who was forced to serve for the wizard was?" Aha! " He seemed to have a flash of inspiration, and his clear eyes shot sharply at Varys, "Could it be the guy who was sentenced to death by the upright Duke Eddard Stark in Winterfell for his courage in selling slaves in the North last year, and then fled in a hurry?" " The sweet smile on Varys' face did not change at all, but seemed to have been waiting for this question for a long time: "The Duke is worthy of being the Minister of Justice in charge of the laws of the kingdom, you guessed it right." " He admitted frankly: "My source is the former Count of Bear Island, Sir Jorah Mormont. " Duke Jon Arryn felt a headache, and he interrupted the argument that might escalate again, asking the most crucial question, which was also the core question raised by Grand Scholar Pasil before: "Varys, Sir Jorah, did you mention what the true intentions of that Oriental man were?" " This is the core of the Imperial Meeting's vigilance. The worry on Varys' face instantly deepened, and he nodded heavily, his voice heavy: "This is the core information that Sir Jorah is desperately trying to convey, Your Excellency." " He looked around at everyone and said word by word: "That Oriental wizard is trying to emulate the 'Nine Copper Plate King', and his ambition is to use the Stone Steps Islands as a springboard to gather forces to invade and conquer the continent of Westeros beneath our feet. " Duke Erin's face instantly turned blue. The debt of the five million golden dragon is like a mountain topping out, and a powerful Eastern force with unknown intentions has emerged in the narrow sea at the doorstep, and now it is even more told that the other party's goal is to conquer the Seven Kingdoms? This is simply worse, and the misfortune is not alone. Grand Sergeant Pasil spoke tremblingly again, trying to grasp a glimmer of hope: "My lord, maybe... Maybe your source got it wrong? Or was it coerced to deliver false information?" " Varys immediately regained his convinced expression: "Grand Scholar, I don't think Sir Jorah would dare to deceive the Council of the Imperial Council with such a major matter, after all, he is a knight who has been canonized and anointed by His Majesty King Robert himself." " Stannis, who had been watching coldly, let out a sneer at this time, breaking the brief silence: "Hmph, knight? A traitor who sold slaves for money and blatantly trampled on the laws of the Seven Kingdoms, such a person is also worthy of honor? " Duke Arryn listened to the tongue-in-cheek arguments, doubts, ridicule, and the palpitating warnings of "invasion", and only felt exhausted and his thoughts were in a mess. He pressed his swollen temples and made a decision. "Okay!" The Prime Minister's voice was unquestionably majestic, and all voices were temporarily suppressed. "This matter is of great importance, and I will report to His Majesty the King at the right time." He looked at Varys and gave clear instructions: "Varys, use all your channels to closely monitor every move of the Stone Steps Islands, especially the battle between the Oriental Wizard and Salado Thorn, I want to know the outcome as soon as possible, before that..." He scanned the crowd tiredly: "The in-depth discussion on this matter will be put on hold for the time being, and the meeting will be adjourned." " Varys bowed slightly, and the sweet smile on his face reappeared: "I will follow your orders, Your Excellency." "