From afar, you can see the gloomy castle standing quietly on a high slope. The castle is quaint in shape, without fancy minaret embellishments, and there is no relief shape on the entire castle body.

The castle is extremely old, seven or eight thousand years old. It is said that it was Brandon the Builder who built it. Stark. He was also the Stark ancestor who built the Great Wall of Desperation.

However, compared to the behemoth of the Great Wall of Desperation, which traverses the eastern and western continents, the castle in front of him is much smaller.

Winterfell is said to be a city, but in fact it is just a huge fortress, although it looks quite atmospheric on the outside, in fact, it does not occupy much land at all, only a few acres in size, and there are not many troops stationed in it.

As a result, most of the team stayed in the winter town outside Winterfell, waiting for their lords to return to their territories after returning from the war, while a small number of them, received by the masters of Winterfell, continued to walk in the direction of the castle.

……

"Hey, Charles!"

As soon as I arrived at the winter town, I could hear an excited greeting from a distance, and when I looked up, an ugly little guy with long tan hair was bouncing around not far away and waving his hand.

However, she didn't jump a few times before she was reprimanded in a low voice by a red-haired woman beside her. So he closed his mouth in a daze.

Then, the group greeted them.

"Sir Cranston."

As soon as she approached, the red-haired woman bowed deeply to Charles, "Thank you for all that you have done to my father and my husband, the Tully and Starks will always remember that you will always be our most honored guest." ”

"Mrs. Stark is gracious." Charles smiled.

Even though they had just met, the children around the woman could already tell who this person was.

Caitlin. Tully, the mistress of Winterfell, Eddard. Stark's wife, the eldest daughter of the old duke he had saved.

She was quite enthusiastic, and depending on the situation, this one seemed to come out with the whole family to welcome her.

In exchange of pleasantries, Charles glanced at the children beside her.

Arya was wincing at him, and Sansa, with a reserved but sincere smile on her face, still stood aside like a lady.

Beside her, a troubled little kid rubbing his eyes was supposed to be Stark's youngest son.

Finally, he looked at one of the more special of these people.

A ten-year-old child with chestnut hair and blue eyes and a very cute appearance, now carried by a big man in a special basket, his legs drooping under the basket, looking full of powerlessness.

This seems to be an important figure in the future.

Charles secretly recalled.

But before he could take a closer look, a crow crow suddenly appeared from the depths of Winterfell. Faintly seemed to greet him.

Charles glanced in that direction, thoughtful.

……

On the night of entering the castle, a grand dinner began, attended by the Starks, as well as Sir Roderick, Maester Lewyn, and all the important people of Winterfell.

One obvious difference is that in the north, status is not as clear as in the south.

Here, commoners and nobles could also eat at the same table, without such strict class distinctions.

Of course, the commoners here refer to the retainers and subordinates of the lord family, not the actual peasants.

Temperatures in Winterfell are relatively low. Despite being somewhat non-human in some places, Charr's actual physique was still in the ranks of normal people, and he felt a little shivering as soon as he arrived.

However, the temperature in the bedroom is not bad.

The city is built on a hot spring, and through pipes, the hot water is transmitted to all the rooms of the main fort, which in turn generates heat.

It's just that no matter how comfortable the bedroom is, you can't always stay inside, especially after realizing that Winterfell has some kind of secret.

So the next morning, he got up early, and with the escort sent by Mrs. Stark, he walked in a certain direction of the castle.

However, it didn't take long for him to return disappointed.

……

"The Heart Tree is a symbol of the Old Gods," said Lady Caitlin, looking at Charles with a very peculiar gaze, "I thought you would be the first to go to church when you came here." ”

In the corridor on the second floor of the castle, Lady Catelyn was about to go about her daily affairs when she met Charles and his party returning from the Sacred Wood Forest in Winterfell.

"There's nothing to see in the church." Charles replied. Thinking back to what he had just seen, he frowned secretly.

The Heart Tree is equivalent to the idol of the Old Gods, and the Sacred Grove is a place of prayer that every believer of the Old Gods must be, just like the church of the Seven Gods, but the Old Gods do not have a priest.

However, there is a special existence than a priest......

Although the so-called Heart Tree had some peculiarities, in general, there was nothing in the Divine Wood Forest, and he had not seen either the real crow nor some mysterious being in his memory.

But the loud crow I heard when I arrived here yesterday must not have been an illusion. With such a loud voice, it is even more unlikely that it is an ordinary crow.

"Is it hidden? Or am I in the wrong place? ”

While he was secretly pondering, a noisy sound suddenly came, and he looked over and found that several children were laughing and playing not far away.

The three boys were in the courtyard, and the girl, Arya, stood in the wooden corridor on the second floor, looking at the courtyard below with an annoyed expression.

"Those two are the Great Wade of the Freys. Frey and Walder Jr. Frey, my two adopted sons. Seeing that his gaze swept away, Caitlyn opened her mouth to introduce, as if she wanted to stop here for a while.

However, seeing that her face was different, as if she was in a hurry, Charles proposed: "Madame can go and do it if she has something to do, leave me alone, with the guards with me, I probably won't get lost." ”

"This ......" Catelyn hesitated for a moment, but saw that Charles did not care, so she nodded.

"Well, thank you for your understanding." She said and hurried away.

This man has always been haunted by his son's disability, so when the "suspect" Tyrion. After the Lannister was pressed here, she certainly couldn't stay calm anymore - even though she had caught the dwarf once before.

Charles understood this, but he didn't think the short man would be the murderer.

It wasn't trust or anything, it was his scepter.

The scepter can tell if a person is lying.

"Good luck."

Shaking his head secretly, he walked down the wooden corridor to Arya's side. At this time, the little guy was staring angrily at everything in the courtyard below.

As soon as Scharff looked around, he saw that Bran of the Stark family was carefully aiming with a bow and arrow, and the two bear children of the Frey family were now giggling around the target and disturbing him.

"Those two bugs in the Frey family are so annoying!"

Muttering, Arya suddenly found Charles standing beside her, and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Doesn't the wizard make a sound when he walks?" ”

"No, it's just that you didn't pay attention."

Charles said as he burst into laughter, and when he looked down, he saw that Bran had missed an arrow.

Arya glared at this and walked towards the stairs.

Charles grabbed her just in time. "What are you doing?"

"Go beat them up!" The girl's face was angry, and judging by the look on her face, it seemed that she had endured it for a long time.

"You have a bow, why don't you use one?"

"I'm afraid of missing shots, and my mother doesn't want to see them hurt." Arya replied, shaking a broom she had quietly picked up in her hand, "My sword won't miss." ”

This broomstick?

Charles shook his head, snatched the bow and arrow from her hand, and with a slight aim, the arrow shot out like lightning, slamming into the dirt of the school yard, right in front of the heel of one of the bear children.

The cacophony of laughter came to an abrupt end.

After staring at the half-minted arrow at his feet, the bear child couldn't help but look upward, and Arya, who was holding a bow and arrow, made him look ashamed.

"Horse-faced ugly bastard, what are you doing!?"

Arya didn't respond, but looked at the bow and arrow that had just been stuffed back in her hand and looked a little dazed.