"I've seen him. I saw the king in his youth. You look a great deal like him. Perhaps you're even braver and more fearless than he was, and just as green as fresh grass. King Robert led Eddard in raising the banner of rebellion, and Lord Jon persuaded me to support his cause." Great Lord Hoster studied Gendry's build and face, looking him over carefully.
Great Lord Hoster had originally thought the force coming to break the siege would be from House Arryn or House Stark. He had not expected these reinforcements instead.
The man before him was not a red haired Tully, but a towering warrior with House Baratheon's inherited black hair and blue eyes. That gleaming golden cloak and the huge double crested helm seemed to set a golden blaze alight before him, spreading like wildfire.
Gendry looked at Great Lord Hoster. From the old lord's attitude, he was still one of the wiser players in the Game of Thrones. The moment he realized the man relieving him was neither Stark nor Arryn, he weighed things up and lowered his head at once.
In truth, Great Lord Hoster's so called persuasion had been nothing but a pure exchange of interests. The moment Hoster saw the Mad King was finished, he had hurried to jump ship. Besides, for a woman like Lysa Tully, who had already slept with another man and miscarried, to marry a Great Lord like Jon had been almost unbelievable.
"The king is dead," Gendry said to Great Lord Hoster. "He died in a Lannister trap. He drank too much and was gored to death by a wild boar."
"The king. Perhaps you should call him Father, the Late King, or Prince," Great Lord Hoster said. "Perhaps you were never close, but for the sake of supreme power, you still have to put on a show."
"I'll repay the gift the late King gave me," Gendry said with a nod.
If he was putting on an act, there was only so much he could fake. Still, since nobody had ever spoken too deeply about it, keeping up appearances was enough. Revenge was the greatest repayment of all. It was hard to claim any profound feeling for someone he had never lived with for more than ten years, a father he had never truly had in his daily life.
"The banners. These banners of yours." Great Lord Hoster looked at the quartered sigil on the golden cloak: the stag, the dragon, the wolf, and the freed slave.
"You should recognize some of them."
"I do. I've always recognized them. Especially the stag and the dragon. I once knelt to them and fought for them. But now, I am going to kneel to you. Too much blood has been shed on this land. The wars of nobles bring pain only to the common people. I've heard what happened in the Riverlands. Those flames, those killings. The castles, the land, the people. All of them have been ravaged by the Lannisters. I have been an incompetent liege lord. If you can, please protect them. The people and the land are the foundation of the realm," Great Lord Hoster said sorrowfully.
"And also... harming infants is not the way of a knight. I am sorry for what Tywin did. If you happen to see that Targaryen girl, oh, her name is Daenerys, isn't it, then please apologize to her for me. But I had my own difficulties. I was too greedy, and I had no choice. I could not place my hopes on the Mad King's mercy. He had already killed my future son in law. Who's to say he would not burn me alive as well?" Great Lord Hoster pleaded.
"I will," Gendry said with a nod.
What happened back then really was a tangled mess. Suspicion lived in everyone's heart. More than anything, it was because the Mad King had brazenly killed Rickard and Brandon, directly executing a great lord and his heir in an act so outrageous that it had terrified Hoster and all the great lords. And House Tully had also been bound to House Stark by marriage arrangements.
Lord Arryn had also seen Hoster's greed and fear clearly. He feared the Mad King's wrath, yet also greedily wanted to find a fine marriage for his younger daughter and raise House Tully's standing.
"Back then, back then... I was too greedy. I wanted to raise my house's power," Great Lord Hoster sighed. "Sometimes I feel I should thank the gods. A great lord as renowned as Lord Jon was actually willing to marry a woman like Lysa, one who had already lost her maidenhood, though I knew perfectly well that what he wanted was only my army..."
After all, compared to royal houses like Stark and Arryn, House Tully had always been something of an upstart.
"The past flows away like water, Lord Hoster. King Robert and Lord Jon are both dead," Gendry said.
Hoster had his reasons. He feared the Mad King's cruelty, and he had also been persuaded by Jon. A marriage tie with a great noble house like House Arryn, while also disposing of his younger daughter Lysa, who had already been involved with another man, was simply too tempting a bargain, even if it meant wronging House Targaryen.
"So... unbelievable. In my mind, he is still that young king, tall and handsome, wearing the stag helm, warhammer in hand, mounted on horseback like a horned giant, the demon of the Trident. His laughter, his boasts, his fighting, those blue eyes so clear and bright they were like mountain lakes. No one could compare to him." Great Lord Hoster sank into memory. "That sense of life bursting forth, of everything thriving, still seems to stand before my eyes. I once believed the new dynasty would endure in peace for generations. But why, why are we at war again? And the king died beneath a wild boar's tusks."
"Marriage brought misfortune to the late King. Besides, he never liked being king in the first place. The Lannisters swallowed up all his power. Lord Jon meant well, but in the end he made a complete mess of things," Gendry said bluntly.
The two marriages Jon had arranged had both been disasters. He himself had been poisoned to death by that madwoman Lysa, and King Robert had, for all practical purposes, also been killed by Cersei.
"Marriage." A bleak look crossed Great Lord Hoster's face. "A marriage alliance can restore a house, and it can also ruin one. I once believed that through marriage I had hastened the Tullys' rise and climbed another step upward."
"You mean the two marriage alliances you arranged?" Gendry asked, looking at Hoster.
"Yes, though strictly speaking, it should be three. When I took my wife, House Whent was the richest bannerman under House Tully. As for my two daughters, needless to say..." Great Lord Hoster, with his snow white hair and beard, sank into recollection. "Who could have known that House Whent would decline so quickly afterward? It was as if the curse of Harrenhal had fallen upon them, and the Tully and Whent alliance no longer held."
"There are advantages, and there are drawbacks. The Riverlands is a land fought over on all sides. Even if you marry into other great houses, it will still become a battlefield," Gendry said.
That was simply the nature of the Riverlands' position. Whenever war broke out in Westeros, the Riverlands bled. No marriage alliance could change that.
In a way, Hoster truly was a rare figure in House Tully over the last several hundred years. He himself had married a woman from House Whent of Harrenhal, and his two daughters had each married into ancient royal houses, House Stark and House Arryn. Not only had those marriage alliances greatly increased his prestige, they had also allowed him to borrow the strength of the Vale and The North. Everything had originally looked quite good. Hoster had probably just never imagined how utterly suffocating his two daughters' intelligence would turn out to be.
"I am willing to pledge my loyalty to you with the Riverlands. You have not yet been crowned. Why not do it now?" said Great Lord Hoster.
"There's no rush. I'm not in any hurry to be crowned. I only need others to acknowledge my place in the succession," Gendry said, looking at Great Lord Hoster. "But before that, perhaps we can talk about a few other things."
There were two urgent matters Great Lord Hoster needed to know. They were cruel matters, but compared to the welfare of millions, they were insignificant. At most, they would only bring a little suffering to the old man before him.
"What matters?" Great Lord Hoster asked, confused.
"Two things. One is very bad, and the other is more or less good."
"The first concerns Jon Arryn's death, Lord Arryn's unnatural death. According to my intelligence, after Lord Jon discovered clues related to the Lannister scandal, he decided to send his heir, Robert, to Dragonstone. Littlefinger persuaded Lysa to put tears into Jon's wine."
"What?" Great Lord Hoster began trembling all over. The shocking news made his head spin. His whole body felt as though crab claws were tearing into his flesh, yet the pain itself brought him a trace of clarity and strength.
"Damn it, damn it! I urged Arryn long ago to send Petyr to a battlefield where he was sure to die, or at least to some suitable post. Plenty of people would have been willing to solve the Great Lord's problem. I could even have sent men myself. But he said that wasn't the knightly way, that it was As High as Honor..."
"You have to face the truth, Lord Hoster," Gendry said. "That's why I've given you this warning in advance."
Hoster looked at Gendry. The young man did not seem like someone who would lie just to deceive an old man like him. Besides, he had heard the rumors about Lysa and Littlefinger before. He knew some things about Lysa's instability, but he had never believed it had reached this point.
"No... no..." Hoster's face collapsed, and much of the light faded from his eyes. He began to speak incoherently. This was a catastrophic scandal. If the Vale learned of it, they would surely demand blood for blood, and House Tully's name would be dragged through the mud. After all, poisoning one's own husband to death was simply too...
"At this point, I already have most of the clues. What I still lack are two key witnesses, Littlefinger and Lady Lysa hiding in The Eyrie. Littlefinger will soon fall into my hands. Once he does, the truth of this matter will come out."
"So it really was them?" Lord Hoster's face looked dreadful.
"Then can you bring her to Riverrun and keep her imprisoned?"
Gendry said nothing.
"Then can you bring her back to Riverrun and execute her there?"
Gendry still did not speak.
"Lysa, she..."
"There is no way for her to live," Gendry said, looking at Great Lord Hoster. His words landed like a warhammer, cold and merciless.
"Surely..." Great Lord Hoster pleaded.
"The crime of murdering her husband, the crime of poisoning the Hand of the King, and Lady Lysa's treasonous seclusion. She has ignored messages from every side and refused to acknowledge the approaches of every claimant to the Iron Throne, including me."
"I understand." Great Lord Hoster seemed to shrink a little more. "I understand now. She's mad, blinded by her love for Littlefinger. But Littlefinger is nothing but a liar. The only thing he loves is power."
"And Little Robert?"
"He is Lord Jon's child, so naturally he still has the right of succession. But we will find a better place for the boy. As for Robert's health, you should know what it is."
"I know." Lord Hoth nodded. "He's so small and weak... Ah..."
"Tansy, tansy..." Lord Hoth murmured to himself. That had been one of the things that pained him most. But better for this to come out now than for House Arryn's supporters to march into the Riverlands.
Back then, when Lysa had been carrying Littlefinger's child, Great Lord Hoster had ordered men to end the pregnancy with moon tea. Moon tea made from tansy, mint, and wormwood, with a spoonful of honey and a drop of peppermint oil.
"I understand what you mean. Lysa is no longer my daughter." Hoster suddenly turned cold, and a trace of resolve appeared in his blue eyes.
One daughter or House Tully. Even at the edge of death, he still knew which mattered more.
"Call Edmure and Tytos in. I will write the letter in front of them. This is my decision," Great Lord Hoster said in a negotiating tone. "Edmure and Catelyn care too much about family. Unless I explain it myself, I'm afraid neither of them will dare believe this news."
Caring too much about family. To put it plainly, that was selfishness. Just as Lysa poisoned Arryn for herself and Littlefinger, and Catelyn wanted to seize the Imp for the sake of her own son.
"There's no rush. There's one more thing. This should be good news for you."
"What is it?" Lord Hoster asked hesitantly.
"House Frey—Lord Frey, the old Lord Frey. I do not trust them."
"Are you going to move against them?"
"I've thought about it. That's why I had all letters and envoys brought under control."
"They disobeyed their liege lord's command, but that is no excuse for slaughtering the Freys." Hoster said in alarm.
"We are not slaughtering the Freys. The Lannister sellswords have already surrendered. These routed men can naturally be given a better place to go."
"Then I... House Frey has already defied their liege lord's command. They are not loyal. I will give the order to attack." Hoster suddenly understood. This was a scheme within a scheme.