The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 154: Between Life and Death

King's Landing, Casterly Rock.

Lord Tywin's study.

Tywin looked at Littlefinger, Petyr Baelish.

Only the two of them were in the room, with the Mountain, who had escorted Littlefinger, standing guard outside the study door.

“Lord Baelish, your clothes are very noble, silk and gold thread, how many gold dragons for one piece?”

“Twelve gold dragons, my lord.” Petyr Baelish was extremely respectful.

“The salary of an ordinary soldier for three years, without eating or drinking, can buy you such a piece of clothing!” Although the words carried a tone of exclamation, there was no sense of emotion in Lord Tywin's tone. His voice was calm and stern, just like his expressionless face.

“Lord, Petyr was born humble, buying good clothes to wear is to prevent the nobles from looking down on him.”

“Lord, you are already an important minister in the Small Council, who would dare to look down on you?”

Petyr Baelish looked embarrassed: “Lord, my territory is on the Littlefinger peninsula in the Fingers of the Vale, my people are just a few fishermen, and my territory has nothing but rocks and moss, barely enough to feed a few goats. I have been despised, ridiculed, and laughed at by the nobles since I was a child, and it continues to this day. Although I am used to it, I still hope to have the opportunity to change.”

“Well, you are a very honest person. So, do you know why you were caught and brought to the Westerlands?”

“I know!” In front of Lord Tywin, saying the wrong word and arousing his suspicion could lead to execution.

“Oh!”

“I hoped to provoke civil strife in the Seven Kingdoms, so as to seize the opportunity to gain real land and become the first generation of noble founders of the Baelish family. Lord, if the kingdom is not in chaos, people like me will never be able to obtain new fiefdoms in their lifetime. The lowly Baelish cannot even dream of marrying a noble woman. Lady Tanda Stokeworth of the Crownlands has always wanted to marry her daughter Lollys Stokeworth to me. Alas, although I, Petyr, have no family strength, I will not be willing to marry a fat, mentally challenged woman. Moreover, Lollys is thirty-two years old this year, two years older than me.”

Every word of Littlefinger's statement was true.

Facing Lord Tywin, his chosen strategy was: tell the truth whenever possible. The truthfulness of the details, in particular, was more likely to gain Lord Tywin's trust.

Lord Tywin's fearsomeness lay in the fact that whether he wanted to kill you or use you, his expression was the same. You could not discern any clues from his expression and obtain the opportunity to correct your mistakes in time.

Demons like the Mountain were not difficult to deal with, his expressions betrayed his true inner thoughts; but with Lord Tywin, you could not discern any clues from his expressions, words, or body language.

In the entire kingdom, Littlefinger, Petyr Baelish, only feared one person, and that was Tywin Lannister; the person ranked second, he was only slightly afraid of, was Varys the Spider, who was also an important minister in the royal court.

Lord Tywin's conversation with Littlefinger had no flashing swords or shadows, no loud reprimands, and no sharp gazes. He was just casually chatting, but it made Littlefinger pay twelve points of attention, carefully responding to every word and every sentence.

In front of Lord Tywin, any attempts to read his expressions, speculate, kneel and beg, or self-harm and swear oaths were completely useless. Whatever the Lord wanted to know, he had to tell the truth as much as possible.

Telling the complete truth was the most brilliant and skillful means of dealing with Lord Tywin.

Lord Tywin said, “Lady Tanda also once wanted to marry her mentally challenged daughter to Tyrion Lannister, and I was willing to consider the marriage. However, Lollys is indeed too old for Tyrion, a seven-year age gap. Tyrion said that if I agreed to the marriage, he swore he would hang himself on the wedding bed.”

“Oh, I haven’t heard of this matter. Although Lady Tanda’s entanglement makes me want to hide when I hear her voice, I still very much want to obtain Stokeworth and her family’s fertile lands.”

“Well, I can help you with this.” Lord Tywin said lightly.

“Thank you, Lord!” Littlefinger took a deep breath. He naturally knew that he was not here to chat about marriage with the Lord. The more he spoke with the Lord, the more precarious his life became. This understated conversation was actually ten times, a hundred times more dangerous than a conversation with swords drawn. He did not want to make a mistake that would cause him to be beheaded without knowing why.

“Lord, through Lysa Tully, I hinted to Catelyn Tully that Jon Arryn’s death was a Lannister plot. I framed the Lannisters, Lord, I have committed a capital crime!”

Lord Tywin looked at Littlefinger, silent, his eyes and expression unchanged.

He sat on the stool, looking at Littlefinger very calmly, until Littlefinger knelt down, cold sweat dripping from his forehead.

“Petyr Baelish, persuade me not to kill you.” Lord Tywin said lightly.

Littlefinger could only place his hopes on the pre-arranged plan with the Mountain. He had no way out, whether he advanced or retreated, it was a knife's edge. So he would proceed according to the pre-arranged plan.

“Lord, if war breaks out, I can ensure that the Vale will not participate in a declaration of war against the Westerlands. Lysa Tully has been infatuated with me since she was a girl, and she dedicated her virginity to me. When she married Lord Jon Arryn, she was never happy. Lord Jon's age was even greater than that of her father, Lord Hoster.”

“Lord Jon was originally the foster father of Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark. When the War of the Usurper broke out, Jon married Lysa Tully for political reasons in order to resist the royalist forces; and his foster son, Eddard Stark, married Lysa's sister, Catelyn. After Lysa married Jon, her heart never lingered on an old man with bad breath. She has always been my mistress, she loves me passionately, even to this day.”

Lord Tywin looked at Littlefinger, who was kneeling with cold sweat on his face, still not saying a word, his expression blank.

Littlefinger knew that every word he said now was saving his life.

“If the Westerlands are at a disadvantage against the North and the Riverlands, I am willing to atone for my sins by going as an envoy to the Reach in the south, the Tyrell family, to persuade the Tyrell family to join forces with the Westerlands Lannisters. At the same time, I can also make Lord Balon of the Iron Islands an ally of the Westerlands.”

“If the King believes your framing, and issues a call to arms, it would be justified for the King to send troops to conquer the Westerlands, and the Westerlands will surely be defeated!” Lord Tywin said lightly.

Tywin knew about the incestuous secret of his daughter Cersei and son Jaime, which was a time bomb. Once the King found out and launched an attack, it would be the end of the Westerlands and the Lannister family. - King Robert only needed to issue a call to arms, with justification, to gather heavy troops from the whole country to conquer the Westerlands, and the Westerlands would surely be defeated, and the Lannisters would inevitably be exterminated by the furious King.

Tywin did not want to be exterminated. His son and daughter had already done stupid things, and he could only strike first.

How clever and astute was Littlefinger, Petyr Baelish, he immediately sensed another layer of meaning in the Lord's words: only by killing the King first could the Westerlands have a chance of winning.

A flash of lightning went through Littlefinger Petyr's mind. The Mountain said he hoped Lord Tywin would sit on the Iron Throne. Could it be that the Mountain's words were not the Mountain's words, but Lord Tywin's words?!

Did the Lord want him to kill the King?

Littlefinger felt like he was about to collapse.

It was very easy for the Lannisters to kill the King, because everyone around the King was a Lannister. However, having someone who was not a Lannister kill the King would allow the Lannisters to advance or retreat, and shift the blame at will. He, Littlefinger, would then become a fish on the chopping board, and the Lannisters could cut him however they wanted.

Littlefinger thought of this, and suddenly felt a sense of urgency. He could think of this, and Lord Tywin would naturally be able to think of it as well.

The two looked at each other, one flustered and humble, the other calm and composed.

Littlefinger made a decisive decision, he placed his hopes on the pre-arranged analysis and planning with the Mountain, and would get through the current crisis first.

“Lord, the upright character of Eddard Stark, a Northerner, would require evidence for everything he does, and searching for evidence that does not exist would take an infinitely long time.”

Lord Tywin knew, however, that as long as Eddard Stark looked for evidence, he would definitely find the evidence of Cersei and Jaime, and the three children born out of incest were the most obvious evidence.

Eddard Stark would not be able to find evidence that the Lannisters killed Lord Jon, but he would be able to find evidence of Cersei and Jaime's betrayal of the King. However, it was indeed as Littlefinger said, this would take time.

From the current perspective, it was no longer important whether Littlefinger and others knew about Cersei and Jaime's affair. Everyone around the King, from sleeping, eating, drinking, to guarding the door, were Lannisters. It was indeed difficult for them to bypass the Lannisters' gaze and connect with the King to bring down the Lannisters. Now that he had the advantage thanks to the witch's reminder, and the arrow was on the string, he would inevitably launch an attack, and would naturally never give anyone any opportunity to contact the King alone.

If Littlefinger knew about Cersei and Jaime's affair but kept it hidden, then it could be judged that Littlefinger had never been on the King's side.

He belonged to no faction, only to his own.

If that was the case, Littlefinger could be lured.

Giving a wolf what it likes to eat most can control it; giving a dog what it likes to eat most can subdue it; giving an ant what it likes to eat most can easily lead it away.

Giving Littlefinger what he wants most can allow him to be used for a while.

Lord Tywin decided to take a risk. If Littlefinger was even slightly untrustworthy, he would kill him. On this point, Lord Tywin hoped to seek help from the witch. The Mountain said that the witch could use a person's blood to curse the owner of the blood. If the owner of the blood broke the oath, the curse would occur, either driving the person insane or killing them.

Although the witch refused to be Lord Tywin's High Septon, and also refused to lead the entire Westerlands' septon, the life-and-death matter of changing dynasties that Tywin wanted to do had to be done by the witch.

“Petyr Baelish, have you heard any rumors about Cersei and Jaime in King’s Landing?”

Tywin did not only want to understand Littlefinger alone, he would use Littlefinger to understand more people's views on 'rumors'. If many of the important ministers in King's Landing had heard rumors about Cersei and Jaime, but the King did not know, then the important ministers were not on the King's side. They were just muddling along, seeking wealth and glory by the King's side.

Petyr Baelish knew that the question that would determine his life and death had come. How to answer this scandal was a very difficult choice. The truth did not matter at all, what mattered was what kind of answer Lord Tywin wanted to hear.

Thank you to the book friend Antiseptic Ji for the reward, thank you, handshake!