The Mountain of Ice and Fire

“Your Majesty, I have a word to say to you in private,” Qyburn said with a look in his eyes.

Cersei glanced at Jaime and nodded almost imperceptibly. She and her confidants had many tacit understandings; a look, a gesture, a casual movement, and both sides would understand each other.

What secrets did Qyburn have that he was unwilling to say in front of Jaime? Jaime was the person she trusted and loved the most, and the Grand Maester naturally knew this.

But even so, the Grand Maester still wanted to keep secrets from Jaime. Could the secret be related to Tyrion Lannister?

Qyburn got up to take his leave, and Cersei got up to see him off. Jaime nodded, watching the two of them lift the curtain and walk out.

At the door, Qyburn stopped, his expression low and secretive: "Your Majesty, please do not tell Jaime about this news, nor tell anyone else. The Mountain has secretly arrived in King's Landing. If Your Majesty has any need for him, you can summon him at any time. He wishes to be loyal to Your Majesty and King Joffrey, and not to Tyrion, the Tyrells, or anyone else."

The Mountain had arrived in King's Landing?

Cersei was shocked in her heart, but remained calm on the surface: "I trust Jaime the most with Joffrey's safety."

“Yes, Your Majesty. The Mountain hopes that King Joffrey can safely complete the wedding. As long as the King is safe, he will quietly return, as if he had never been to King's Landing. He said that the blood witch's predictions are very accurate. Lord Tywin once used a witch as a military priest and received several very accurate predictions.”

Qyburn's words evoked Cersei's memory. Fragments of memories flashed in her mind, and she remembered an unforgettable 'interaction' she had with a witch when she was a child. That interaction was in the year 276 of Aegon's Conquest, 24 years ago.

In the year 276 of Aegon's Conquest, Lord Tywin welcomed King Aerys to tour the Westerlands, and held a grand tournament in Lannisport.

At that time, Cersei was ten years old, and she and Jeyne Farman of Fair Isle, who was eight years old, and Melara Hetherspoon, the eleven-year-old daughter of Ser Tybolt Hetherspoon, came to Lannisport. When the three children heard that the witch could predict the future, the three children secretly found the witch behind the adults' backs.

The witch predicted that Cersei would marry the King at the age of seventeen and become Queen. This prediction had come true, although it was not Prince Rhaegar, whom Cersei truly admired.

The witch's second prediction was that Cersei would have nineteen children, sixteen of whom belonged to the King, and the remaining three belonged to Cersei. Cersei didn't understand it at the time, but she understands it now.

The third prediction was that Cersei's children would have golden shrouds, and when Cersei cried for the loss of her children, she would be strangled to death by her brother. - Who is the brother who will strangle her in the future? Apart from Tyrion Lannister, of course, there could be no one else. This is also a major reason why she intentionally or unintentionally always tries to kill Tyrion.

Predictions of life and death, although it is not known whether they are true or false, can bring a lifetime of shadow, lingering!

Golden shrouds for the children?!

Is that prediction about Joffrey's wedding? Someone is carrying a sharp knife to kill him?

Joffrey has indeed punished many royal courtiers and maids and male workers, but he is the King, and he has the power to do so.

That time, the witch also predicted the future of the eleven-year-old girl Melara. The witch told Melara that her desire to marry Jaime could not be realized, and that the night would be her death.

Cersei clearly remembered every word the witch said to Melara, unforgettable for life - 'Little sister, your Grim Reaper will arrive tonight. Haven't you smelled her scent yet? She's right next to you.' The witch hinted to Melara that the murderer who killed Melara was Cersei beside her.

Melara did not believe the witch's prediction.

But Melara fell into a well and drowned that night. The reason is very simple: Melara wanted to marry Jaime, and Jaime could only belong to one person: Cersei.

*

Qyburn's repeated exhortations caused the light of memory to flash in Cersei's mind, and she suddenly felt a chill!

The blood witch's prophecy is coming again? How should I prevent it?

If the Mountain stands by Joffrey's side, indeed anyone who wants to assassinate him will not be able to get close, nor will they have a chance to take action.

The Mountain's wife, Jeyne, slaughtered more than a thousand Dornishmen, and in addition to the hundreds of servants left in the Red Keep, there are also several direct descendants of nobles. The second son of Count Manwoody was spared because he was injured and stayed in the Red Keep. These people are the Mountain's mortal enemies. As long as the Mountain dares to appear, the Dornishmen will definitely jump out and fight him to the death, thus staining the wedding with blood.

“Thank the Mountain for me. I will summon him after the wedding is over. Jaime is competent enough to ensure the King's safety.”

“As you wish, Your Majesty.”

*

After the High Septon of the Great Sept of Baelor was murdered, the Hand's Justice, Ilyn Payne, and the Commander of the City Watch, Bronn, had been unable to solve the case, and the murderer was still at large.

A new High Septon was elected, a thin bishop who was the opposite of the fat bishop in terms of body shape.

The wedding of King Joffrey and Miss Margaery Tyrell was held in the Great Sept of Baelor. The thin, child-like High Septon wore a tall, specially-made new crown. The new crown was made of gold thread and crystal, twice as high as the one that was smashed by the rioters in the King's Landing riots, and shone with colorful rainbow light with a slight movement.

The King and his fiancée stood in front of the gilded statues of the Father and Mother, both handsome and charming, a perfect match.

Margaery, the bride, wore an ivory silk dress and a Myr lace skirt, with countless small pearls forming various flowers. As Renly's widow, she should have used the gold and black of the Baratheon family, but she chose the colors of the Tyrell family to show purity. The bride's cloak was made of green velvet and embroidered with a hundred golden roses.

The King looked handsome and compelling, wearing a dark rose-colored coat, draped in a deep crimson velvet cloak emblazoned with stags and lions. The crown was worn jauntily on his curly hair, and the two golds blended together.

Among the hundreds of people watching the ceremony, the Imp Tyrion kept shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Last night in the dragon bone tunnel under the Red Keep, his intimacy with Shae had severely depleted his physical strength.

Jaime, Ser Loras Tyrell, Ser Balon Swann, and Ser Osmund Kettleblack, four members of the Kingsguard, were deployed not far from the bride and groom, which puzzled the Imp. He felt that the four members of the Kingsguard were a little too close to His Majesty the King.

The Imp was in low spirits. He had exhausted his strength on Shae last night. Although Shae seemed to enjoy it very much, the Imp actually felt very guilty.

That was because he was venting!

*

Yesterday, the gift he gave to the King, a rare copy of 'The Lives of Four Kings', a thick book as wide as a small desk, of which there were only four copies in the country, a treasure of immeasurable value in the eyes of the scholars, was chopped into pieces by Joffrey in front of many civil and military officials with a sword given by the Tyrell family.

'The Lives of Four Kings' was Tyrion's most beloved treasure. It was a good book to teach the King the secrets of the rise and fall of the country, the skills of training and managing the army, the power of controlling the parliament and civil and military courtiers, and how to establish diplomacy and how to treat the people well - Tyrion's carefully selected gift to congratulate the King on his new marriage was chopped into pieces by His Majesty the King with a sword, and then swept into the trash can.

This incident greatly stimulated the Imp. In front of everyone, Joffrey greatly ridiculed the Prime Minister's gift as being too cheap and useless, not even worth a copper plate.

As a result, the Imp no longer had any hope for his nephew Joffrey. He knew that in three years, when Joffrey came of age, he would personally take charge of the country, and at that time, the King would definitely be the first to cut off the Imp's head.

The King wanted his dwarf uncle to give him a gift worthy of his position as Prime Minister, and the Imp said he would give him a Valyrian sword inlaid with a dragon bone handle.

This sentence had a profound meaning, and the Imp said it deliberately.

Because he had seen the sword he was talking about in the hands of Catelyn Tully. That sword was the Valyrian dagger with the dragon bone handle that assassinated Bran Stark in the North. The Imp knew the origin of the dagger. It was the Valyrian dagger that Littlefinger framed him for, almost killing him. The Imp found out the origin of the dagger when he was Prime Minister for the first time: there was a record of this sword in King Robert's armory.

And on the way to Winterfell, the King Robert had an accompanying armory, which contained graphic records of this sword.

King Robert would not order the assassination of Bran, who had already broken his legs, so who had the opportunity to take out this Valyrian dagger?

The Imp locked his suspicious eyes on Joffrey. He didn't want to intensify the conflict between him and Cersei because of this, so he buried this suspicion in his heart.

But when Joffrey smashed his gift with a sword and ruthlessly humiliated him, it aroused the Imp's wrath, so the Imp said his suspicion in a double meaning.

And the smug King Joffrey's expression changed, because the scabbard, blade, and handle of the sword described by the Imp were exactly the short sword he spent money to hire someone to assassinate Bran.

The King was not stupid enough to anger the Prime Minister again. He chose to accept Tyrion's suggestion to give him a Valyrian dagger again, but asked the dwarf uncle to replace the dragon bone handle of the dagger with a gold carving, because the dragon bone handle was too ordinary.

Tyrion, who had verified the suspicion in his heart, regretted his recklessness when he returned to the Prime Minister's Tower. He should have kept that suspicion hidden in his heart until death, because in this way, Joffrey would know that 'the Imp uncle knew the secret that he sent someone to assassinate Bran Stark'. Once Joffrey came of age and took power, the Imp would understand that his death was near.

This made the Imp feel very bad, so last night in the tunnel of the Red Keep, in the big mouth of the dragon's bones, he tossed and turned with Shae all night, severely overdrawing his physical strength and energy, and only wanted the wedding ceremony in the Great Sept to end as soon as possible so that he could return to the Prime Minister's Tower to catch up on some sleep.

*

Because they believed in the Seven Gods, the King and Queen made seven wedding vows, accepted seven blessings, exchanged seven promises, and then the hymns sounded, and it was time for the newlyweds to exchange cloaks.

Tyrion shifted his weight from one short leg to the other, feeling no joy in his heart! All he wanted was the urge to escape. There were two things he wanted to do most now: first, go to the toilet. His bladder was so swollen because he had drunk too much wine before coming here; second, sleep. He desperately needed to take a nap to restore his physical strength and energy so that he could survive the longer wedding banquet time.

Mace Tyrell gently removed the bride's cloak for his daughter, and Joffrey took the groom's cloak from his brother Tommen and shook it open in an exaggerated manner. Although the King was only thirteen years old, he was a little taller than the bride, who was already sixteen years old.

Joffrey wrapped Margaery in red-gold velvet, leaned forward, and tied it tightly at her throat, indicating that from now on, he would replace his father-in-law and protect Margaery forever.

Tyrion glanced at the Knight of Flowers standing in the ranks of the Kingsguard. The poor Knight of Flowers would have to sharpen his sword at all times to protect his sister in the future, otherwise, this sister as beautiful as a rose would be cruelly tortured by Joffrey for the rest of her life. There was no doubt about that.

Tyrion looked at his brother Jaime, who had a stern expression. Jaime was wearing a white robe and a golden armor, and even his sword was made of gold, making him heroic and extraordinary. But his marksmanship was off, and he gave birth to a pervert like Joffrey with one shot.

“With this kiss, I offer my love!” Joffrey declared crisply, and Margaery responded. The King pulled her closer and kissed her deeply for a long time.

The tall Seven Gods crown radiated a brilliant seven-colored rainbow light, and the thin new High Septon solemnly announced that Joffrey of the Baratheon and Lannister families and Margaery of the Tyrell family would be one body, one mind, and one soul.

Tyrion suddenly wanted to laugh. He looked at all the guests with joyful faces. Among these people, there were many true warriors and wise men, but they were all pitiful and pathetic to serve a 'little mad king' who was cruel by nature. Anyone who dared to disagree would be disloyal, unmartial, unkind, and unjust, and the glorious fate of the entire family would be sentenced to be hanged.

Okay, the cloak ceremony is finally over, and I can finally go back to the castle to go to the toilet.

Ser Loras, wearing full white scale armor and a snow-white cloak, and Ser Jaime Lannister took the lead, leading the gold-robed guard team out of the Great Sept.

The King and Queen followed closely behind, and the King's brother Prince Tommen carried a basket and scattered rose petals to the bride and groom.

Next in the third row were Queen Mother Cersei and Duke Tyrell.

The Prime Minister and the Queen of Thorns, Ser Kevan Lannister, and Prince Oberyn Martell of Dorne were ranked fourth.

The Queen of Thorns grasped her cane with one hand, walking unsteadily, with two twin guards protecting her on her left and right.

“Prime Minister, I will be returning to Highgarden the day after tomorrow. When will you bring Miss Sansa to Highgarden as a guest?” The Queen of Thorns looked at 'Fake Sansa' and showed a very kind and benevolent smile. “Lady Sansa, Prime Minister, I sincerely hope that you can come to Highgarden as guests.”

Tyrion only wanted the Queen of Thorns to leave King's Landing as soon as possible. The Tyrell family kept inserting vassals under the banner of the Reach into the palace to be courtiers, and Tyrion knew that the mastermind behind the scenes was the Queen of Thorns.

“Lady Olenna, I sincerely invite you to play in King's Landing for a longer period of time, and then I want to use the most sincere invitation from the Lannister family to hope that you can come to Casterly Rock as a guest.”

“Prime Minister, you are joking, you are not sincere at all, I can see it!” The Queen of Thorns' words pierced the false balloon like a sharp needle. She looked at Sansa, “But Lady Sansa, my invitation to you is from the bottom of my heart, the Seven Gods testify!”