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The day after the battle for King's Landing ended, Robb sat in the throne room of the Red Keep.
"Your Grace, we lost nearly thirty-six thousand men in this battle. Most were new recruits raised by House Tyrell.
"We killed nearly twenty-eight thousand enemies and captured thirty-six thousand more. Almost half of the remaining enemy fled west or north.
"Kevan Lannister fled west with part of his army. Ser Garlan and Ser Loras are pursuing with the Tyrell cavalry. With Deep Den blocking the way, those men should not escape.
"The Brotherhood Without Banners fled north in great numbers. Lord Randyll is pursuing them with Martell and Tarly soldiers. I have also sent word to Harrenhal. Smalljon and Edd should lead the northern cavalry to intercept them.
"Any further news will come to King's Landing by raven."
Crey stood below the steps and gave his report with calm precision.
After a short pause, he continued.
"According to intelligence sent by King Theon, Andar Royce and Stannis Baratheon, who had allied with Tywin Lannister, broke through toward Dragonstone yesterday under the protection of a spellcaster while the fleets fought in chaos on the Blackwater Rush.
"King Theon is pursuing with the Iron Fleet. The Redwyne fleet remains in Blackwater Bay to clear the wreckage and reopen the route into King's Landing.
"Apart from that, the Gold Cloaks within the city have all been confined in the prisoner camps. City defense has been taken over by our northern enforcers.
"Perhaps because the army did not slaughter, rape, or burn its way through the city after entering, some commoners have already begun returning to ordinary life."
Robb listened from the Iron Throne with one hand beneath his chin.
"A thorough report," he said. "Crey, King's Landing has only just been taken from the Lannisters. The next days will be hard. Hold fast."
"Yes, Your Grace."
Robb turned toward Oberyn.
"Prince Oberyn, what of your search for the remaining Lannisters?"
Oberyn's face darkened.
"Your Grace, I searched King's Landing yesterday with my men. Most lesser members of House Lannister are now in the prisoner camps.
"As for the direct line, only Cersei Lannister has been confirmed dead. Her head, the only intact part of her body, is now on a spear atop the Red Keep wall.
"I found no trace of Jaime Lannister, Tyrion Lannister, Tommen Hill, or Myrcella Hill. I do not know whether they are hiding in the city or have already fled.
"If possible, I ask Your Grace to allow me to search King's Landing again from end to end."
"Jaime Lannister died by my hand yesterday," Robb said. "He should be somewhere among the heaps of dead outside the city.
"As for the other three, this is a delicate moment. There is no need to turn King's Landing upside down for three surviving Lannisters. Offer a high bounty in gold dragons."
Oberyn's expression showed clear reluctance, but he bowed.
"As you command."
"Prince Oberyn," Robb said, "your true aim should not be killing every Lannister. It should be winning justice for Princess Elia.
"Seven days from now, Tywin will confess his crimes before Baelor's Square."
Oberyn stood still for a moment.
Then he bowed again, this time with genuine respect.
"Yes. Your Grace is wise."
"Spread the decision," Robb said. "Let everyone come to Baelor's Square to witness it.
"This war that threw all Westeros into chaos began with House Lannister. Then let House Stark end it."
"As you command."
In King's Landing, on Rhaenys's Hill, the once-busy Street of Silk had only a few people walking through it.
The war had hurt business, but the women who worked there were grateful to the new ruler. When a city fell, women like them usually suffered first.
This time, because the northern enforcers had kept strict order, the Street of Silk had not been ravaged.
A plump, heavily painted woman with long hair walked down the street carrying a basket. She came to a shabby house that belonged to her, glanced around as if by habit, then slipped inside.
After barring the door, she went to the corner, moved a wooden cabinet aside, and lifted the planks beneath it.
A dark hole waited below.
"Lord Tyrion, Princess Myrcella, it is me. You may come out."
The woman did not climb down. She called softly into the hole.
After a rustling sound, Tyrion climbed out first, his face bruised and swollen.
Myrcella followed. Her golden curls were disordered, her pale face streaked with tears.
"Here is food," the woman said. "Eat first. You have been hiding since yesterday."
Tyrion took the bread, but he did not eat.
"Lord Varys, what is happening outside?"
The plump woman removed the wig and answered in Varys's familiar soft voice.
"King's Landing is well enough. Apart from losing some wealth, the city has not suffered greatly.
"Robb Stark is indeed a merciful ruler, and a capable one."
"I noticed something extraordinary about him when I returned from the Wall to Winterfell," Tyrion said. "Since you think so highly of this new king, perhaps the wisest choice would be to offer him your loyalty."
"Lord Tyrion, be at ease. If I meant you harm, I would not have brought Princess Myrcella out first, then saved you during the riot in the Red Keep.
"But no matter how highly I judge Robb Stark, I will not give him my loyalty. He does not possess lawful legitimacy to inherit the Iron Throne."
Tyrion understood at once.
"Robert took King's Landing by force, but his grandmother was Rhaelle Targaryen, daughter of Aegon V. House Stark has never married into House Targaryen. So Robb lacks that lawful claim."
He paused and glanced at Myrcella.
"But Eddard Stark accused Joffrey and his siblings of being bastards. He swore in his own name and King Robert's that whoever destroyed House Lannister would have the only lawful claim to the Iron Throne."
"Everyone in Westeros has heard that accusation," Varys said gently. "But as you said, it was an accusation without proof. Lord Tyrion, who can prove it true?"
Tyrion looked at Myrcella's unhappy face, then nodded.
"No one. It was only Eddard Stark's dying slander."
"For now, we cannot leave King's Landing," Varys said. "When the curfew ends, we will leave together."
"For the Vale?"
"No, Lord Tyrion. We may need to go farther. Essos, perhaps."
The victors of King's Landing spent the next seven days settling the wreckage of war.
At the River Gate, Crey and Lord Mace waited early in the morning with Gold Cloaks newly reorganized under northern command.
Before long, a long Reach carriage train appeared on the road, led by the rose banners of House Tyrell.
Lady Olenna's large, plain, elegant carriage rolled up to them.
Crey dismounted at once. Lord Mace did the same.
"Lady Olenna," Crey said.
"Mother," Mace said.
The carriage window opened. Olenna's tired face appeared beside Margaery's excited one.
"This hurried road has nearly shaken my old bones apart," Olenna said. "I will not climb down. We can talk as we go."
Crey and Mace mounted again and rode slowly beside the carriage as it entered King's Landing.
Olenna looked at Crey.
"Lord Crey seems younger even than His Grace. Fifteen? Sixteen?"
"I will soon be sixteen," Crey said with a polite smile.
"Young heroes gather around His Grace," Olenna said. "Good."
She then introduced Desmera Redwyne, Margaery's cousin and the daughter of Lord Paxter Redwyne and Mina Tyrell.
Crey understood the hint.
"Lady Olenna, such a matter must first be put before His Grace and my father. I would not dare decide it alone."
Olenna smiled.
"A careful answer. Good."
After Crey rode ahead to clear the road, Mace frowned.
"Mother, why introduce Desmera to him?"
Olenna looked at him as if he had asked why water was wet.
Margaery answered before her grandmother did.
"Father, His Grace has been using Lord Crey for the work of a Hand."
Mace looked displeased.
"I was Hand to King Renly. I led the Reach army. I have merit in this war as well."
"And I will be queen," Margaery said softly. "If you also become Hand, House Tyrell will hold too much power at once. His Grace would have to guard against us. When Robert married Cersei, did he make Lord Tywin his Hand?"
Mace opened his mouth, then closed it.
For Margaery, he could accept the reasoning.
Olenna sighed.
As the carriage passed through the city, commoners on both sides whispered and shouted Margaery's name.
"Queen Margaery!"
"A queen fit for the god Robb!"
Margaery's eyes brightened.
"The god Robb?"
Olenna, who had been resting with her eyes closed, opened them.
"Likely a nickname, like the Conqueror, the Greenhand, or the Puff Fish."
She hesitated.
"But a nickname like god is dangerous..."
"It will be fine, Grandmother," Margaery said quickly. "It is only the foolish smallfolk giving him a name. It will not harm His Grace."
Olenna gave a dry little laugh.
"Let us hope so."
At the Red Keep, they were told Robb had already gone to the square before Baelor's statue.
Olenna's party hurried into Maegor's Holdfast, settled briefly, changed into dark clothes suitable for the day, and went back out.
By the time they reached the square, noon was close.
Crowds had filled the roads. Crey ordered the Gold Cloaks to clear a path, and the carriage forced its way through.
On the platform, the Wolfguard stood scattered around the edges. Gendry held Ice with a solemn face.
On the left, Tully nobles and northern lords spoke quietly with Rickard Karstark. Near the center, Oberyn Martell chatted with Kevan Lydden, the new Warden of the West, while crownlands nobles stood around them. On the far right waited the Reach nobles under House Tyrell.
Margaery finally saw Robb.
He stood before the statue of Baelor the Blessed in the middle of the white marble square.
He wore a black velvet doublet, gray riding breeches, and a high-collared black cloak embroidered with a direwolf in gold thread. Bloodwind, reduced to the size of an ordinary ice direwolf, lay lazily beside the statue.
In the dense crowd below, Varys had disguised himself as a bald, broad-shouldered man. Tyrion had been made up to look like a child. Myrcella looked like an ordinary serving girl.
They planned to slip out with the commoners once the curfew ended.
At noon, two Wolfguard brought Tywin Lannister onto the platform.
He wore no chains. He had been washed and dressed neatly.
When Bloodwind saw Tywin, Robb turned from the statue and faced the platform.
"About a year ago," Robb said, "my father, Eddard Stark, was slandered as a traitor by House Lannister and died here."
The square fell silent.
"Today, before all of you, I will clear his name."
Robb lifted one hand.
White icy mist surged from the center of the square toward the platform. It condensed into a simple arching bridge of crystal beneath the noon sun, shining so brightly that many in the crowd raised their hands to shade their eyes.
Robb walked onto the bridge.
The people of King's Landing had heard the nickname given to him.
Seeing it with their own eyes was something else.
To many commoners, Robb looked like a god walking above men.
At the highest point of the bridge, he looked down at Tywin.
"Tywin Lannister, before these nobles and commoners, confess the crimes you committed."
Tywin bowed his head.
"Yes."
Then he turned toward Baelor's Square and spoke loudly.
"I am Tywin Lannister of House Lannister. Today, under the witness of the Seven, I confess my crimes.
"First, when King Robert took King's Landing, I used the chance to send Gregor Clegane to rape and murder Princess Elia Martell and kill her children.
"I did so in revenge because the Mad King, Aerys II, refused the marriage between Prince Rhaegar and my daughter Cersei, choosing Princess Elia Martell instead.
"Second, King Robert did not die because of a whore. He died because I ordered his cupbearer, Lancel Lannister, to poison his wine."
The square erupted.
"Beast!"
"Kingslayer, like his son!"
"Kill him!"
The shouting rolled over Tywin.
For a moment, he seemed to feel what Eddard Stark had felt in this same place.
More strangely, like Eddard, he remembered Robb Stark's words.
The Stark king had told him that Cersei and Jaime were dead, that the lesser Lannisters were prisoners, and that Tyrion, Tommen, and Myrcella would be caught if they tried to flee to Essos.
He had offered Tywin a choice.
Preserve the honor of House Lannister and let the house vanish.
Or stain that honor so the house might survive.
Tywin shook the memory away and looked up at Robb.
Then, with a hard face, he continued.
"Third, Joffrey Baratheon and his siblings were not of King Robert's blood. The former Hand of the King, Eddard Stark, discovered this.
"Therefore, I secretly instructed Joffrey to slander Eddard as a traitor and kill him here."
This confession struck the crowd like wildfire.
Insults and curses poured toward Tywin. Spit, rotten shoes, soiled rags, and filth flew onto the platform.
'Father, do you see?'
Robb spoke silently to the dead Eddard.
Then he walked slowly down from the bridge and shouted, "Silence!"
His voice seemed to carry its own magic.
The square quieted at once.
"You have all heard it," Robb said. "Tywin Lannister has committed unforgivable crimes.
"In the name of the former king and the former Hand of the King, I sentence Tywin Lannister to death.
"But Baelor the Blessed also taught mercy.
"Therefore, I declare that every member of House Lannister is stripped of noble status and reduced to commoner status."
Tywin lowered his head.
Gendry stepped forward with Ice.
He drew the greatsword and turned to Tywin.
"Tywin Lannister, do you have any last words?"
Tywin looked at him from the side.
"In the sight of the gods, I hope you keep your promise."
Robb did not speak. He only nodded.
Tywin lowered his head again and stretched out his neck.
Ice fell.
Blood sprayed, and Tywin's head rolled from the platform.
The square burst into cheers.
In the crowd, Tyrion held Myrcella as she sagged to the ground, his face full of grief.
Beside them, Varys stared at Tywin's fallen head in shock.
He had told Tyrion that no one could prove the truth because he had dismissed the possibility that Tywin himself would ever confirm it.
But today, before so many nobles and commoners, Tywin Lannister had admitted it with his own mouth.
From this moment on, few could openly question Robb Stark's claim to the Iron Throne.
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