Eagle of the Valley of Ice and Fire

272. The Many-faceted King

Queen Margaery brought not only various decorative flowers, noble ladies and knights from Highgarden, but also a vitality that injected a different vitality into the Red Castle full of conspiracy and calculation.

Endless life, a very interesting family motto. Jaime straightened his mask and walked in the corridor of the garden.

Joffrey lay in a cool corner, Margaery and a group of maids surrounded him, and all kinds of fruit pulp and wine were handed to him.

The harpist from the riverland sang a melodious song, and the jester followed the beat and performed acrobatics in front of the king.

Seeing this scene, Jaime was relieved.

Joffrey is too weird, too weird recently.

No longer teasing his ministers and servants, no longer hysterical, no longer easily showing temper, his grandfather was poisoned and Joffrey did not have any expression or condolences from the king, and even did not react. Even the disdain and ridicule seemed reasonable to Jaime, but strangely, there was nothing.

If he was just greedy for pleasure and beauty, he would be relieved. Jaime took a look at the maids around the king. They were basically noble ladies brought by Queen Margaery from the River Bay. They had their own beauty.

He knew why the lady of the Tyrell family did this, but if this could make Joffrey look more normal, it would be the same no matter who did it?

Jaime walked up to Joffrey and nodded gently, "Your Majesty, Queen."

Joffrey took a sip of wine and looked at himself with two eyes.

"Ser Jaime." Margaery whispered beside him, looking at him with a smile.

Joffrey poured the wine until there was no more left, "Sir, you're blocking my view of the show."

Jaime frowned and turned his head to look behind him. The jester bowed to him gracefully, but it looked so clumsy and ridiculous in Jaime's eyes.

He turned sideways and said to the king: "Your Majesty, Lord Tywin is dead, and we need to start over."

Joffrey held out his hand and stared at him, "I need advice, Ser Jaime."

Jaime was a little stunned and nodded, "Tell me everything you know, Your Majesty."

"Handicapped Hand," Joffrey said, "What is the most important quality?"

Jaime's frown deepened a little. In the past, Joffrey would never discuss this issue with him.

Jaime took a deep breath. He remembered that his father had discussed this issue with him when he was very young.

But at that time, there was a knight's jousting exercise under Casterly Rock. He only heard the sound of arrows flying and swords and shields colliding, and he didn't remember a word of his father's words.

"Perhaps it's responsibility and ability." Jaime gave an answer that he was not sure of.

Joffrey propped up his upper body, "The Sea King of Braavos chooses his lieutenants based on wealth and credit. Wealth gives the Sea King practical support, and credit allows each other to trust each other."

"Does Westeros not value these?" Joffrey said.

"Kevan Lannister," Jaime said the name, "Lannister's gold mine is wealth, and he is the queen mother and your mother's family, so he has enough credit."

Joffrey bent down and rubbed his swollen thighs. These behaviors made Jaime feel unfamiliar.

"I heard," Margaery, who had been silent on the side, suddenly spoke up, "The Braavos people were founded by a group of escaped slaves. I really don't know how they survived the pursuit of Valyria's dragons at that time, and how they built a great city on the northern islands."

The queen's words were euphemistic and pleasant, and she exaggeratedly raised her tone when talking about the dragons. The women around her all followed her to applaud.

But the listener is attentive. Jaime felt his ears swell and uncomfortable. He heard Margaery's hidden meaning, "Lord Tywin told me."

"Responsibility and ability are just excuses. The responsibility and ability of the Prime Minister depend on the king he serves." The father in the memory narrowed his eyes, as if thinking of the embarrassing past events and the past work with the Mad King.

"If you meet Aegon the Conqueror, the strong Duke will never be able to serve as Prime Minister unless he is a confidant; if it is a centenarian king, the standard for choosing a Prime Minister is different. I think as long as the sense of smell is sensitive enough and the work is effective enough, relying on the friendship with the king in the past."

Tywin choked his voice and knocked on the table, over and over again.

"Act according to the situation, act according to the situation! Everyone will change. One moment they were close to each other, and the next moment they might be fighting each other. What kind of king you are, what kind of prime minister you will have! No matter who is going to be the prime minister!"

Jaime repeated calmly, and the pictures in his memory slowly appeared in his mind.

"Clap! Clap! Clap"

Margaery clapped her hands and took the lead in praising Jaime, and the women around her followed behind and praised him generously.

Joffrey twisted his mouth, and his face was pale as if he had been soaked in water for a long time, without any rosy color.

"Westeros needs a strong prime minister to rectify the war-torn kingdom." Joffrey said.

Jaime took a deep breath, "I think of Kevan."

"Lord Artis Arryn," Joffrey said, with no hesitation in his eyes, as if the choice of prime minister had nothing to do with him as a king, with a strange sense of understatement, "I think there is no one in the Seven Kingdoms who is more suitable to be prime minister than him."

Just as Jaime was about to speak, Margaery laughed and said, "Artis Arryn, the Eagle of the Vale, the Warden of the East and the Governor of the Trident, has the most powerful army in the Seven Kingdoms. Only Arryn can help solve the troubles encountered by the royal family."

With the king's determination and the queen's support, James only felt that the familiar palace of the Red Keep was a bit unfamiliar. The Lannister's golden and red lion flag was obviously still flying, but the distant eagle's roar could make the lion tremble.

"If so," James glanced at Margaery, wondering if the queen's words had been specially taught by the Queen of Thorns. When did the rose climb its twig onto the eagle? He said softly to the king, "I'm afraid the Red Keep will be Aelin's hall of fame in the future."

Joffrey raised his head to face Jaime and suddenly laughed, "Sir Jaime really reminded me, hahaha, I thought this Red Keep was not someone else's!"

Lannister's golden lion flag flutters in the wind, occupying almost every tower and battlement of the Red Keep. Lannister's red robes are everywhere, at every intersection of corridors, and on the iron doors of every hall. With Lannister spies and guards.

James swallowed, as if he wanted to make a final struggle, "Your Majesty."

"Rigoletto!" Joffrey pointed behind him, "Keep dancing!"

The harp music started playing again, and the Fool once again told crude but entertaining jokes.

James took a long breath, nodded slightly to the king, and turned to leave.

Margaery held the king's arm tightly and trembled slightly, looking at the back of James leaving, lying on the recliner as if she was relieved of her strength.

"The queen is tired," Joffrey said to the people around him, "go back to your room."

Margery sat on the edge of the bed in the bedroom, holding the bed quilt tightly with both hands, her pupils trembling slightly, like an elk encountering a natural enemy.

"Joffrey's" face was like an inflated fish skin, swelling and turning from purple to white. The wind outside the window changed slightly.

Faces appeared on the king's face, changing.

"When your mission is accomplished, will you kill me?" Margery's words were completely out of fear.

The faceless man took on the appearance of an ordinary person, and his hooked nose made his face three-dimensional and cold. "A person does not kill people he knows."

He turned over and jumped out of the window, hiding in the night.