The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Casterly Rock.

The castle of Lord Kevan Lannister.

Evening.

Outside Casterly Rock, the sun was setting, the sea as calm as a mirror, the golden sunlight of the setting sun along the coast beautiful and enchanting, but inside Casterly Rock, in the heart of the city, it was already dark.

Casterly Rock was a city built inside a stone mountain twenty miles long and fifteen miles wide.

Because of the poor natural lighting, night came to the city center earlier than outside.

Outside the city, the sunset was beautiful, but inside, torches were lit everywhere, illuminating it as if it were daytime.

Tywin rode his tall horse slowly through the streets of the city.

Archmaester Hallyne was beside Tywin, the two riding abreast.

Ten guards with swords followed two horse lengths behind, led by the captain of the Casterly Rock guard, Bronn.

The Duke's saddle was woven with gold thread, a dazzling yellow.

The horse's head and entire body were adorned with golden silk ornaments, turning a warhorse into a brocade of splendor.

The warhorse arrived at the castle gate of Lord Kevan Lannister, who respectfully welcomed his elder brother, Duke Tywin.

Tywin did not dismount, but rode straight in.

Inside the gate was a large courtyard planted with many flowers and plants.

The Duke's warhorse passed through the courtyard and stopped at the entrance of the main hall.

The Duke dismounted, and a servant who had followed him all the way took the reins and led the horse to the stables to be cared for.

Captain Bronn and the ten guards dismounted at the entrance to the main hall of the keep and stood guard at the door with their hands on their swords.

Kevan was cautious and taciturn, and had little private contact with other knights and lords of the Westerlands.

Although Casterly Rock was bustling with people coming and going because of the upcoming wedding of Jeyne and Gregor, with nobles from all over the Westerlands arriving one after another, no one came to visit or stay with the taciturn and aloof Kevan.

Lord Kevan led the way, the two brothers passed through the hall, and Archmaester Hallyne followed all the way.

The three turned into a corridor and entered the tall maester's tower.

Kevan seemed mysterious all the way.

Tywin, with his steady personality and especially his composure, could not help but frown slightly.

Tywin did not know why Kevan had secretly invited him here.

Duke Tywin did not like mystery and circumlocution, and Kevan also seemed to have a reason.

Finally, the party of three arrived at the maester's tower.

The maester's tower had four floors.

In the study of the maester's tower on the second floor, Kevan gently opened the door and stood respectfully at the door, waiting for Duke Tywin and Archmaester Hallyne to enter.

The study was decorated warmly.

The four walls were lined with bookshelves, which were filled with books.

From the lowest shelf on the ground to the highest shelf on the ceiling, all were filled with books.

There were already three people in the study: two maesters and a lord.

The lord was also a Lannister—Lord Addam Lannister, the High Lord of Lannisport.

Beside him was Lord Addam's archmaester, Bancroft.

The other maester, Yarlinn, was Kevan Lannister's maester and also the owner of this maester's tower.

The two maesters and the lord quickly stood up to greet Duke Tywin, bowing and scraping, with amiable smiles.

Duke Tywin was expressionless and did not return the greetings of the maesters and the lord.

He went to the head seat, picked up the fragrant tea that had been prepared, and took a small sip.

Archmaester Hallyne stood behind the Duke.

No one could see his joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness from Duke Tywin's face or expression.

If the Duke did not express his emotions himself, then he had no expression.

His face was like iron, and his eyes had no focus when he looked at people.

You thought Duke Tywin was paying attention to you, but when you looked closely, you realized he was not.

You thought Duke Tywin was not paying attention to you, but when you looked carefully, you found that he was staring at you.

"Your Grace, Lord Addam has something very important to tell you, and he was afraid of causing unnecessary misunderstandings, so he chose my place.

In three days, the wedding of Jeyne and Gregor will be held, and the city is full of nobles and knights from all over the Westerlands, but my place is basically empty whether it is peacetime or holidays..."

Kevan said cautiously, while observing his brother's face.

Tywin suddenly waved his hand, interrupting Kevan's nagging.

Kevan stopped awkwardly and then winked at Lord Addam.

Lord Addam smiled and said, "Your Grace, I feel that some things are unusual, and Your Grace needs to understand and be vigilant about them, so I dared to come to Lord Kevan's place.

I discussed it with Lord Kevan first, and Lord Kevan also felt it was necessary to report it to you.

This is also what the loyalty I swore to Your Grace requires me to tell you the truth in my heart."

Duke Tywin's unfocused gaze finally focused on Lord Addam's face.

But he neither signaled the lord to continue nor signaled the lord to shut up.

Small beads of sweat appeared on Lord Addam's nose.

The lord was nervous, and the Duke's expression made him doubt his decision.

But, the arrow was on the string.

"Maester Bancroft, please show the Duke the S-bend diagram."

"Yes, Lord Addam!—Your Grace, look, this thing is called an S-bend.

This is the structure diagram and principle of the S-bend."

Maester Bancroft stood up and opened a piece of parchment.

The S-bend and the text annotations drawn on this paper were exactly the ones Jeyne had drawn in Lannisport.

The original drawing!

Archmaester Hallyne, standing beside Duke Tywin, took half a step forward.

He glanced at the structure diagram and then read Jeyne's text annotations at a glance, saying, "Miss Jeyne told the Duke and me about this matter yesterday.

This is a structural component of a drainpipe, and Miss Jeyne named it an S-bend.

A very appropriate and pleasant name."

"Yes, Archmaester.

I also know that Miss Jeyne will tell the Duke about the invention of the S-bend, but what I want to say is, did Miss Jeyne really invent this thing?"

Lord Addam's question increased his tone, "Your Grace, if this S-bend was not invented by Miss Jeyne, but by Ser Gregor, then Miss Jeyne and Ser Gregor are both deceiving the Duke."

This remark was very powerful, directly destroying the trust between Gregor and Duke Tywin.

Gregor was lawless, did all kinds of evil, was fierce and evil, and extremely vicious, but since he was sixteen years old, he had not been completely evil for sixteen years, but the more bad things he did, the better he lived.

No one in the Seven Kingdoms could do anything to him, why?

Because of Duke Tywin, this high mountain.

Why did Duke Tywin use such an evil person, and bear the infamy of the Seven Kingdoms?

Because this evil person was useful, but what really moved Tywin more than usefulness was Gregor Clegane's absolute loyalty.

Lord Addam directly pointed to Gregor's loyalty to Duke Tywin.

Speaking ill of someone behind their back is a double-edged sword, it will either hurt others or hurt yourself.

Duke Tywin stared at Lord Addam without saying a word, still expressionless.

This caused Lord Addam's forehead to begin to sweat profusely.

But, the arrow was already on the string!