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King's Landing, the square before Baelor's statue.
Gradually, the smallfolk began to leave the square, carrying the shock of that day's revelations with them and leaving behind a trail of garbage.
On the platform, the nobles and dignitaries had already departed. Two Gold Cloaks were carrying Eddard's body, one at the front and one at the back.
In the middle of the crowd, Arya, with Jaqen's hand clamped firmly over her mouth, was still struggling without pause. Growing somewhat irritated by her resistance, Jaqen lightly pressed a spot on her neck, and she passed out at once.
After that, he picked her up in his arms like a father carrying his daughter, resting her head against his shoulder, and followed the crowd out of the square.
Yoren watched the two Gold Cloaks carry the body away. His right hand tightened around the hilt of the sword at his waist, and he began following them from a distance.
The two Gold Cloaks walked along the main street for a while before entering an alley. At the end of that alley was a slaughterhouse.
Seeing the two of them enter, Yoren drew the sword from his waist and prepared to rush forward.
That was when a wrinkled, aged hand landed on his left shoulder.
"Brother of the Night's Watch, leave this to me."
Startled by the sudden touch, Yoren turned his head and quickly recognized the man.
It was the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Barristan the Bold.
Yoren had seen him before in the Red Keep, when he had gone to the Tower of the Hand to meet Lord Eddard.
"But Ser Barristan, you are still a knight of the Kingsguard. You can't disobey a king's order, can you?"
"Heh, not anymore. Last night, Cersei and Joffrey called me in privately. They said they would grant me a seaside estate and wanted me to resign from the post of Lord Commander on my own.
Besides... that cruel and violent Joffrey Hill is not even a true king."
Hearing the question, Barristan shook his head and spoke at length, as if finally pouring out the dissatisfaction he had been keeping inside.
"Then you believe Lord Eddard's words?"
"Of course. Lord Eddard's honor cannot be doubted by anyone in the Seven Kingdoms!"
Barristan nodded and answered firmly. Then he passed by Yoren and said without looking back.
"I will recover his body.
After that, I ask that you take him back to Winterfell.
A man like him should not suffer this kind of humiliation even after death."
Under Yoren's watchful gaze, Barristan quickly approached the two Gold Cloaks carrying the body.
After they exchanged a few words, the conversation clearly soured. In an instant, with a speed that did not match a man of more than sixty years, Barristan knocked both men to the ground.
Seeing Barristan gesture to him, Yoren hurried over to help carry Eddard's body.
While the two were busy moving the body, they did not notice that, in the place where they had been moments earlier, a hooded man was watching them in silence.
After observing for a short while, the hooded man turned to leave. But when he reached the end of the alley, he suddenly stopped.
Standing there was a tall, fat red priest dressed in loose crimson robes, the front of his head already bald, leaning against the dirty alley wall and drinking from a wineskin.
"What? Because I knocked you off your horse in a tourney, you really think you can drag me in now for a reward?
Thoros of Myr."
"Lord Beric, I did not come to arrest you. I came because I received a revelation from my lord, the Lord of Light, and I came to preach his faith.
After all, the night is dark and full of terrors."
The red priest, Thoros, took a long drink of wine. His face flushed, and with a faintly drunken tone, he answered the hooded man.
Beric lowered his hood and began walking, smiling as he replied:
"Heh, the red god of Essos? Sorry, but I follow the Seven."
Seeing Beric pass by him, Thoros drank another long mouthful, then laughed loudly with the smell of alcohol thick on his breath.
"Hahaha, faith can change! My lord accepts anyone who follows him with a sincere heart!"
Without even turning his head, Beric continued walking and answered firmly.
"Change my faith? Then wait until I die first."
Hearing Beric's resolute reply, Thoros merely shook his head with a smile and followed him, swaying slightly.
Yoren and Barristan rented a cart on the main street. Thanks to the fact that Barristan had not yet been officially dismissed from the Kingsguard, the two of them managed to leave through the Gate of the Gods with great ease.
A few miles beyond the city, they caught up with a makeshift group escorting the few criminals from the Red Keep toward the Wall in the North.
"Haa... Ser Barristan, what now? Where do you intend to go?"
After settling Eddard's body on a transport cart, Yoren let out a long sigh and asked the question.
Hearing that, Barristan turned his face east and answered in a low voice:
"Where?
Perhaps... I will go look for the true king.
And die for him."
"Very well. I hope we meet again someday."
"Until then."
After bidding farewell to Barristan, Yoren led his group of Night's Watch recruits and hurried north.
This time, without Gendry in that convoy, the situation from the original timeline, in which the Lannister knight Amory Lorch and a group of Gold Cloaks rode out in pursuit, did not occur.
The two Gold Cloaks who had lost Eddard's body returned to the Red Keep to report the matter to Joffrey, but they were intercepted by Jaime on the way.
Although Eddard had surprised him shortly before his death, Jaime still held respect for him. In secret, he instructed the two Gold Cloaks to use one of the criminals' bodies already piling up in the Red Keep as a substitute for the order to "feed him to the dogs," and thus answer to Joffrey.
Knowing full well what kind of cruel temper Joffrey had, the two Gold Cloaks gladly accepted Jaime's solution and escaped punishment. And so, the matter was quietly buried.
While Yoren headed north with Eddard's body, Robb still knew nothing. He remained on the Narrow Sea aboard the Wind Witch, advancing as the ship cut through the waves.
...
The Westerlands, Casterly Rock.
Tywin and Kevan sat facing each other in a study, both wearing extremely serious expressions as they read the messages brought by ravens.
"What were Jaime and Cersei doing in King's Landing? How could they let Joffrey kill Eddard Stark?"
Kevan, his face visibly grim, was the first to speak.
"What has happened has happened. There is no point continuing to argue about it.
Our focus now should be the North and the Riverlands."
Tywin, his expression heavy, shook his head. Instead of directly answering Kevan's complaint, he steered the conversation toward what truly mattered.
"After this, the Tullys and the Starks will act as they always have, as one. As soon as they are ready, they will attack together."
Kevan nodded and continued along the same line of thought.
"We cannot sit here waiting for their attack. Kevan, tomorrow you will leave with fifteen thousand men for the Golden Tooth.
Hold the fortress until I give you new orders. From there, we can both launch offensives against the Riverlands and prevent a surprise attack on our own lands.
If war is inevitable, then we will fight it on their lands, not ours."
After thinking for a moment, Tywin gave the order directly.
"Understood. And what about King's Landing?"
Kevan accepted the order and then raised the other issue.
"Write to Cersei and Jaime. Tell them to keep King's Landing under control, to handle the nobles willing to bend the knee carefully, and, at least for a time, to hold the Iron Throne for me.
And have Clegane called back to the Westerlands as soon as possible. We will need him when the war begins."
Tywin answered first, then continued with an even graver expression.
"Kevan, this time, House Lannister will either build a dynasty that lasts a thousand years... or be reduced to ashes, like the Targaryens before us.
When you march with the army, be extremely careful."
"I will. But... these rumors about Cersei and Jaime... could they cost us the people's support?"
Kevan first nodded, but soon brought up the most sensitive subject with some caution.
Hearing that, Tywin shook his head without hesitation.
"Eddard Stark slandered Cersei and Jaime. It is perfectly normal for a man at death's door to pour out desperate lies."
"But with Eddard Stark's prestige, even a lie like that will be believed by many."
"Yes. And that is exactly what concerns me as well. Some more ambitious noble houses may use that lie as an excuse to covet the Iron Throne.
But in the end, in Westeros, military strength is always worth more than anything else.
If the wolf pup and the old fish of the Riverlands dare to start a war, then we will mount their heads on spears and let the other houses see very clearly what happens to those who defy the Lannisters.
After all, wasn't that how Robert took the Iron Throne?"
The words Eddard had left in King's Landing before his death, as the days passed, began spreading through the great and lesser houses of Westeros.
The continent entered a brief period of calm.
But anyone with even the slightest sense for politics could already tell.
A storm capable of sweeping across the entire continent was gathering.
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