The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 273: The Culprit

(Bonus chapter for Grandmaster [Jin Xiao Yanei]'s donation to this book, thank you for the donation!)

*

Night. Maegor's Holdfast. Cersei's small hall.

Grand Maester Pycelle was waiting in the small hall to meet with Queen Cersei.

Queen Cersei came out quickly, wearing a silk dress with red and gold stripes, her golden hair curled and draped over her shoulders in waves. The Queen Mother stood, and Pycelle quickly bowed and stood up.

"No need to rise, Grand Maester, what is it?"

"Your Grace, what do you think of today's trial of Janos?"

"Varys has investigated the case very clearly. Janos was coerced and heavily bribed by a masked man from the North, who bought off the jailer and rescued Eddard Stark from the underground tunnel. Janos's head has been chopped off by the Mountain and stuck on the spear tip on the walls of the Red Keep, and this case is over."

"Your Grace, Janos was the number one courtier who betrayed Eddard Stark back then."

"Yes, that's why it never occurred to us that the people from the North would target him. Janos is greedy for money, so the Northerners gave him money; Janos is afraid of death, so the Northerners threatened to kill his whole family. If they had only threatened to kill his family, this guy might not have succumbed so easily, but with the addition of five thousand gold dragons, his betrayal was inevitable."

Cersei bribed Janos to betray Eddard Stark, spending three thousand gold dragons on Janos personally. And this time, the Northerners paid five thousand gold dragons to bribe Janos, and the stolen money has been dug out by Varys from the basement of Janos's house.

"Your Grace, according to my understanding of Janos, he would definitely not be able to take Eddard Stark out of the secret passage without someone's help, given how complex the underground secret passage is."

"Are you saying he has accomplices in the Red Keep?"

"Yes, Your Grace."

"Who?"

"The person I suspect the most is Lord Varys, the Master of Whisperers."

"Varys?" Cersei's eyes widened.

"Yes, Your Grace. As far as I know, no one knows the underground secret passages of the Red Keep in King's Landing better than the Spider. If Janos was really bought off by a masked man from the North and took Eddard away through the secret passage, Varys must have played the most crucial role in it. He is very likely the masked man."

Cersei was speechless, unable to say a word. Varys's fat face with its noncommittal smile swayed in front of her, and the smile in his eyes was false.

"Are you sure?"

"I... deduce from common sense... Your Grace. Janos is uneducated and greedy. Half of the officer positions in the barracks were sold by him, and the other half of the officers had to deduct a sum of money from their military pay every month to pay him tribute. He is a genius in terms of corruption and bribery, but I can guarantee that he knows as little about the complex underground passages in the Red Keep as I do."

Cersei's mind raced. She thought of Littlefinger. If Pycelle could think of this problem, what about Littlefinger? This guy often likes to show off his cleverness, wouldn't he think of this?

"What does Littlefinger think about the underground secret passage? Do you know?"

"I asked Littlefinger indirectly after the trial in the afternoon. Littlefinger also expressed his confusion about this. He said to me that he believed Janos would take risks because of greed, but Littlefinger didn't believe that Janos would know the complex underground secret passage and successfully take Eddard Stark away."

"Littlefinger told you that himself?"

"Yes, we went back together after the meeting. Under my probing, Littlefinger told me his confusion on the way. His confusion was also my confusion. He woke me up with a word, and I immediately understood who was behind Janos, and that was Varys."

"Then why didn't you report to me immediately at that time?"

"Your Grace, the Red Keep is full of Varys's eyes and ears. The sweeping, the patrolling, the lawn care, maybe someone is Varys's little bird. As soon as I come to see Your Grace in the afternoon, just as I get on the bridge of Maegor's Holdfast, Varys will know. He is an extremely sensitive person, and once he is alert, he will be prepared. It is safest for me to come to see Your Grace at night under the cover of darkness."

The Queen Mother nodded, expressing her appreciation for Pycelle's prudence.

"If it's really Varys? What should we do now?"

"Your Grace, send the Kingsguard to invite Varys here. Varys will not dare not come. Then Your Grace will send other guards to invite the Mountain and his executioner Polliver together. Their cruel methods will torture Varys. Varys will definitely not be able to bear it, and he will not dare not tell the truth. I estimate that Eddard Stark is still in King's Landing and has not left."

"Okay. Later, the Mountain will interrogate Varys. Do you dare to confront Varys in person?"

"No, no, no, Your Grace, I can observe Varys's words and deeds in secret, but it is best not to show up. I hope that even the Mountain does not know that I am here is the best. Please let this old minister serve you secretly for a few more years. Once I am exposed, it will be difficult for me to do secret things for Your Grace in the future!"

"Okay, then I'll do as you say!"

"Thank you, Your Grace!"

*

Knock knock knock!

Barristan Selmy knocked on the door of Varys's stone room.

There were candles lit inside the door, and the light shone out from the small window. The window of Varys's stone room was very high, close to the roof, and the window was also very small, like two square holes.

No one answered inside the door.

Barristan Selmy increased his strength, and knock knock knock became bang bang bang, but still no one responded.

The room is empty?!

But Queen Cersei ordered Barristan to bring Varys over no matter what, she had very important things to ask him. So, Barristan took two steps back, rushed forward suddenly, and slammed his shoulder hard, breaking the wooden door with a crack.

The room was bolted from the inside, which can only explain one thing, there must be someone in the room.

Clang!

Barristan drew his long sword. Varys had been doing intelligence work for more than twenty years, so it was better to be careful.

Several rooms were checked one by one, and there was no one in the room.

The door was bolted from the inside, but the room was empty.

Varys had disappeared into thin air.

Barristan carefully checked all the places in the room, and inspected the furniture and bed. He found nothing unusual.

This is the strange thing.

The door was bolted from the inside, but there was no one in the room. All the suspicious places were checked, and no clues were found.

*

Barristan had no choice but to return to the Queen Mother's room in Maegor's Holdfast to report.

As soon as he entered, there were three more people in the room: the Mountain and Polliver Clegane, who didn't look normal no matter how you looked at him. Barristan felt very uncomfortable as soon as he saw Polliver's bald head and twitching right face. There was also another brother of the Kingsguard in the room—the handsome Arys Oakheart. He was ordered by the Queen Mother to invite the Mountain and Polliver here.

"Where's Varys?" Cersei's voice was strange, and her eyes were wary.

"Your Grace, Varys's door was bolted from the inside. I broke the door open, but Varys was not in the room."

Cersei looked at Barristan with disgust: "Ser Barristan, are you really old, Hound!"

The Hound, who was standing at the door on guard, immediately pushed the door open and came in: "Your subject is here, Your Grace."

"Take your men and search every part of the Red Keep in King's Landing and find Varys. He is very likely the main accomplice in Eddard Stark's disappearance. I don't know how he heard the news, but he is fleeing in fear of the crime, but he definitely hasn't run far."

"Yes, Your Grace!"

The Hound left quickly with the red-robed guards.

The Mountain was furious and said, "Your Grace, please immediately order the Master of Ships to block the Blackwater Bay. All departing ships must be boarded and inspected to prevent Varys from escaping."

"Mountain, there is no Master of Ships in King's Landing's Royal Fleet at the moment."

"Please grant me the military talisman and give me the power to mobilize the Royal Fleet to block the Blackwater Bay and inspect any suspicious ships leaving."

"Okay, the Royal Fleet of King's Landing is temporarily under your command."

"Yes, Your Grace!"

Barristan said, "Your Grace, please give your subject a garrison so that your subject can search for Varys in King's Landing overnight."

"You can forget it. Ser Arys Oakheart, the garrison of King's Landing is under your command. You immediately order the garrison soldiers of the seven gates to close the city gates and search the entire city for Varys overnight."

"Yes, Your Grace!"

*

After the Hound, the Mountain, Polliver, Arys Oakheart, Barristan and others had all left, Grand Maester Pycelle came out of the small room.

Cersei soon received a report—the gold cloaks who guarded the Red Keep's city gates day and night had not seen Varys leave through the Red Keep's gate, but he had disappeared into thin air in the Red Keep.

"Your Grace, Varys must have entered the underground secret passage," said Grand Maester Pycelle.

Cersei thought so too, otherwise how could a living person disappear into thin air.

Cersei became furious: "Tomorrow, tear down Varys's stone room inch by inch. I want to see how he escaped from the room out of thin air."

*

Grand Maester Pycelle returned to his maester's tower, pushed open the door of his house, turned around, closed the door, lit a candle, and slowly walked into the bedroom in the inner room. A tall man, who was hiding his whole body in a black robe, was standing in the bedroom, holding a short crossbow.

Pycelle was so frightened that his soul flew away, and he turned around to escape. Unfortunately, he found that his legs were weak and he couldn't move.

"Grand Master, good evening, I am Varys!" Varys lifted his hood, revealing a face full of beard, but that voice, Pycelle was all too familiar with.

"Lord Varys, what are you... going to do?"

"When you were saying bad things about me in front of Your Grace, I was standing behind Your Grace's wine cabinet. Why did you want to harm me?"

"I... I... I..."

"To tell you the truth, I will be leaving King's Landing tonight. The person who will send me away is someone you and Cersei would never have thought of even if you racked your brains, and that is the Lannister family's loyal Mountain."

In Grand Maester Pycelle's horror, Varys pulled the trigger of the short crossbow.