As the former Prime Minister, Jon Arryn, Duke of Vale, has been busy lately.

The coronation of the new king has a lot to consider before and after, involving large and small aristocratic classes. The reconstruction of the Red Fort is also an issue that must be taken seriously.

Rebuilding is easy to say, but there are many factors to consider.

Basic equipment such as stonemasonry and building materials must be stockpiled as soon as possible, to what extent it needs to be rebuilt, whether all the buildings must be stripped away, whether they should be redesigned, etc......

The various checkpoints to keep the country running need to be restaffed, and there are currently only two Kingsguard left at full seven, and the seats in the Imperial Council to discuss and decide the affairs of the kingdom are not even full.

Soon after the war ended, the new king was about to be crowned, and everything was in ruins.

Then Jon Arryn also needs to consider the mood of the prospective king.

The death of his fiancée was a great blow to Robert, although through continuous persuasion, this man no longer had the idea of never marrying a while ago, and gradually no longer rejected the marriage with the West, but he could not be called honest-

Recently, for example, he has become addicted to drinking and visiting brothels.

Originally, this was enough to upset Jon Sr., but somehow, there was news of incest between the Lannister siblings in the city.

This kind of thing in someone else's house is at most to make him sigh, but the Lannister is different. finally persuaded the prospective king to accept the marriage, and now that this thing has happened, it really makes him feel an urge to scold his mother.

So in the face of the black-haired young man who rushed over after hearing the news, he replied angrily: "I will arrange for the nun to check whether the daughter of Duke Tywin is still in chastity before the engagement, but the children of the nobles have been learning to ride horses since they were young, and some places may be affected, so this cannot be used as proof that she is still a virgin." ”

Sunlight poured in from the round window behind him, enveloping the lonely old man in the Imperial Council Hall, who was sitting in the prime minister's chair with a quill in hand and preparing to sign a document, without standing up as he spoke.

It stands to reason that he shouldn't be so snub to a king, but who calls this one in front of him his adopted son, and the fact that the other party is not really crowned, also makes him not have so much etiquette to consider.

Robert didn't care about this at all, but he was obviously not satisfied with the meaning of the other party's words, so he pulled out the chair next to him and sat down, and said with a disgusted face: "Then there is no need to check, do I have to marry that Cersei?" Hell, the women of the Seven Kingdoms who want to marry the king can line up from the Great Wall to King's Landing flea nests. ”

When the old man heard this, he clenched the quill in his hand, and all the annoyance that had been suppressed in his heart seemed to come to his head at once, so he replied in a caustic tone: "I want to remind you, Robert, that our marriage to the Lannisters was never intended to find you a satisfactory wife, so even if this is true, you must marry her!" ”

"So the dignified king can only marry a bitch wife who has incest with his brother and has an abortion? And then tell everyone in the Seven Kingdoms to look at me and laugh at me? The black-haired young man laughed when he heard this.

"What are you and I? Swallowing your anger? The gods save me, if the victory ends up in a wreck, then I might as well run to the Mad King—"

"I'll treat you as a king!"

The old man interrupted him harshly: "A king who can bring good luck to this country, and put an end to the tyranny of the Mad King!" ”

"I never wanted to be king, don't you know? I'm just—"

"If you don't want to, you can turn around and leave now!"

The bald old man with a hooked nose raised his voice and said, "After that, I will go to Dragonstone to welcome back Queen Rayla and Prince Viserys, and then, according to tradition, support Prince Viserys as the new king!" ”

These words made Robert's face turn red instantly, and he leaned over to stare at the other party with both hands on the table, gritting his teeth and saying, "Don't you want to do that!" Jon, I said I was going to slaughter all the Targaryens with my own hands, you listen to me, it's all! I'm going to let them die like dragons! “

The man in front of him was very angry, but the old man just looked at him quietly, not intending to show any signs of resignation.

It wasn't until he saw that the anger on the other party's face had stiffened due to the long stalemate that he suddenly opened his mouth to change the subject.

"You and Ned are good brothers, and you urgently need the aid of a stable kingdom in the cold winter in the north, so you don't have to worry about the north. With me in the valley, my heir will not rebel against your rule in the future. I've joined forces with Ned in the Riverlands, and you don't need to worry about the Tully family for the time being. ”

The old man's voice was full of reason.

"The Stormlands are your property, and the lords love you. We killed Princess Dorne and her children, Dorne will not be honest, but at most we will not be able to control the southern borders of the kingdom. Prince Doran of Dorne was cautious, and he would never dare to raise an army to step out of the Dorne rebellion without any chance of victory. ”

"The Riverlands are strong and have not suffered much in the war, but they have a thousand-year-old blood feud with their immediate neighbor Dorne, and the two sides will not cooperate. At the same time, the heir of the Redwin family on Qingting Island is in our hands, and Earl Redwin's fleet does not dare to act rashly, and the riverbend will also be restricted by the overall situation, unless there is help from the western border close to the river bay, the most important western border. ”

"Duke Tywin has already intended to show goodwill, marrying the West, and only the Riverlands and Dorn are still unstable in the Seven Kingdoms, and perhaps an Iron Island, but these three parties have blood feuds against each other and will definitely not cooperate with each other. But if you don't unite, the Bends, the West, and the Dorne and Iron Islands that are watching us from the sidelines, it is equivalent to half a kingdom. ”

"Half a kingdom, hundreds of lord families, without their feudal rulers, why do you think they should obey your rule? With your Targaryen ancestry? ”

"How long can our victories last?"

The old man's incessant words made the anger on the black-haired young man's face become less and less, and finally dissipated completely, but he also turned pale as if all his energy had been drained, and his body collapsed and sat back in his chair.

Old Jon sighed at this, and the seriousness on his face disintegrated.

"I will arrange for the nuns to have a check-up before the wedding." In a weary tone, he repeated what he had said before.

"Whatever the outcome, the Archbishop will declare that Cersei, the daughter of Duke Tywin, is still a virgin maiden, yes, he will say so. That way, no one will criticize this matter again, and then I will launch a manhunt for the remnants of House Targaryen in King's Landing to let everyone know what the truth is. ”

"What is this? Jon? Robert, who was leaning back in his chair, said bitterly, "Dragon Knight Aemon and his sister Nellis? Cheating under the nose of Aegon IV? So I'm the incompetent king, huh? The future heir to the throne may not be his own species. That's what you mean, old fellow? ”

This made the old man feel helpless.

"Robert, you have to be calm, a good king must be able to distinguish between rumors and truth. Aegon IV became suspicious, and what happened? The kingdom is divided, the Blackfire Rebellion breaks out, and the entire five generations of Targaryens have to wipe his ass, this is a lesson in blood, you must not be misled by such words. ”

did not speak, and the other party seemed to have completely lost interest in speaking at this time. Seeing this, Duke Jon couldn't help but say again: "I will find out the truth of the matter, Robert, I promise." ”

"Forget it, Jon, you're right, it doesn't matter if it's true or not." The black-haired young man waved his hand, with a look of interest, "I don't have to worry about leaving this matter to you, whatever you say is what it is." ”

Seeing this, the old man stopped talking, but after thinking about it, he sighed and did not speak again.

In fact, he already has some clues, and Varys, the intelligence director who has encountered a crisis of trust, has worked very diligently during this time, and will report any news to him, the former prime minister, as soon as possible

The clue was an outsider named Benn, who was suspected of being the source of the rumors, and they had already begun to arrest him.