Chapter 44: Declaration of War
"It's not fair why it's Sister Sansa and not me who is marrying Teacher Zoro!" This is the twenty-ninth time that little Lori Arya has said such things to her mother today.
Mrs. Stark's face was full of helplessness, and she sighed and said, "You are still young, and it is not yet time to marry and have children. ”
"But my sister isn't much older than me!" Arya retorted.
"But you two can only marry Count Sauron alone."
"Then why not me!"
Madame was really helpless with this eccentric little daughter, and she could only show her true colors as a strict mother, "That's because Sansa is more suitable than you!" ”
Before the marriage was proposed, Mrs. Stark had already considered it. Compared to Sansa, who didn't have much contact with later, it is obvious that Arya and Count Sauron are closer emotionally. But compared to the docile and skilful Sansa, the lively and active Arya is obviously not suitable to be a good wife, or even a ...... A queen.
"What's more, she's still so young!" Madame looked at her youngest daughter Arya, who had an indignant expression on her face, and felt a great headache, and at the same time, for the first time in her heart, she felt a trace of resentment towards the Count of Sauron.
"I don't care! Since you don't agree, Mom, I'll talk to the teacher personally. With that, Arya ran away, leaving Mrs. Stark in place.
I don't know what Zoro and little Lori said, anyway, until the eve of the wedding, Arya never made any dissatisfaction, but walked around the Castle of Winter every day with a smile, and it is said that she practiced a strange set of footwork called "Lost Steps".
Because the war was imminent, the time for the wedding was arranged very urgently, and it was in this anxious planning that the wedding finally arrived.
On wedding day, the halls of Winterfell were steaming with the aroma of roasted meats and freshly baked bread. The gray stone walls of the hall are covered with flags, white is the Stark family's Ice Running Wolf, green is the Mormont family's jungle black bear, gray-green is the black crocodile of the Reed family, the brown-haired roaring giants with a fiery red background are the Amber family, the Mandalay family with the white fish-man on a blue-green background, and the Merko family, the protagonist of tonight's wedding reception, a dragon-like creature with a head and tail on a black basemap.
At his wedding, Zoro finally displayed his family crest for the first time, and the strange image attracted the attention of the northern family who came to congratulate him.
The coat of arms of the Merko family is the Ouroboros, and its language is "cycle, infinity, eternal life".
On the high platform, Robb, who had a broken leg, sat in the seat belonging to Duke Stark, his expression lonely and depressed. If it weren't for the wedding of his beloved sister, he would never want to step out of the dormitory.
Even when his vassals came forward to meet him, Robb only nodded faintly in response. Everyone sighed, "The once majestic young wolf lord is dead, and the current Duke Stark is just a walking corpse with a broken leg and all ambitions." ”
This upset the nobles of the North, who needed a new leader, and this was the biggest reason for their wedding.
In the hall, singers were playing harps and singing ballads, but under the cacophony of fire, wax saucers, and drunken conversations, most of the powerful of the North and the high-ranking of the Advent were gathered.
However, the Advent and the nobles of the North seemed to be a little out of place, and they were clearly divided into two distinct circles.
This is the contradiction between the old and the new aristocracy.
After the battles of the Castle of Terror, the Deep Forest Castle, and the Twin River Cities, some of the Arrivals received knightly names and even titles for their exploits, and because Sauron himself was only an earl's title, the highest title that could be canonized was only a viscount.
However, knighthoods are not so easy to obtain, and so far only the leaders of the three major teams of the Adventists have been awarded the title of Baron, and this is still taken into account the merits of their subordinates.
Even so, the old nobles with a long heritage still have a discriminatory and contemptuous attitude towards the new nobles, and they look down on them at all.
This is also the unique historical reason of Westeros, where the aristocracy pays more attention to honor, history, fame and responsibility than strength and wealth.
In fact, if it weren't for the fact that Sauron had killed the four Great Kingsguards, entrusted him with the death of the lord, and traveled thousands of miles to the north, he was simply a model for the knight class, and it would have been almost impossible for him to gain the approval of the noble class so easily.
For the deliberate neglect of the nobles of the North, the Advent is also happy to enjoy the wedding scene of this world by themselves.
The old nobles of the North looked down on them, and they were even more disdainful of these so-called nobles. For the Adventists, these people are just a group of humanoid puppets who can't even control their own fate, similar to the NPCs in the game.
When Mrs. Stark brought Sansa up, everyone was amazed, dressed in a splendid gown made of gold and silver thread, her red hair, apparently well-groomed and braided into thin braids at the back of her head, her slender and graceful figure, and her blue eyes staring at the man in front of her, projecting endless love and admiration.
Sansa fell to her knees and whispered, "My lord, I hope I didn't disappoint you." When she heard her mother say that she was going to marry her to Sauron, her heart almost jumped with joy, and unlike her superficial affection for Joffrey, the man's presence was already deep in her heart on the escape from King's Landing to Winterfell.
Are you going to get married? At this moment, even Sauron was a little in a trance, although he knew that it was all illusory, but the warm breath exhaled by the girl in front of him told him that everything was real!
Looking at the beautiful girl in front of him, Sauron sighed lightly, gently lifted her up, and said, "You amaze me, Sansa." ”
"Thank you, gods, for allowing me to meet you, my lord." Sansa replied shyly.
On the high platform, Maester Ruwen said, "The bridegroom, please put a cloak on the bride to symbolize eternal protection." ”
Sauron puts a cloak on Sansa as they watch out.
"Under the witness of the seven gods, two souls become one and tie the knot forever." Mr. Lu Wen greeted the two and announced that they would become legally married from today.
Originally, there was a face-to-face oath session, but Sauron said that he did not believe in any new gods or old gods, so this section was omitted.
"Sansa in the world of ice and fire is much more beautiful than on TV." Below the stands, an Advent muttered to himself, unaware that his glass had fallen to the ground.
"The area of the north is quite a medium-sized country in Europe in the real world, Sansa's identity is equivalent to a royal princess, and her temperament is of course different!" The other descender was even more jealous and crazy, "Sure enough, the treatment of the traverser is different, we fight to the death, but he enjoys all the gentleness, and when he becomes the lord of the Iron Throne, the beauty in the world of ice and fire will be his alone, Sansa, the dragon lady, Margaery, and even Roselyn of the Frey family......"
"If you want, you can find some beauties who are willing to sacrifice themselves for you, with your current status as a knight, I'm afraid you won't be able to find them." Said the Adventist who spoke earlier.
"Cut, you think I don't want to." The Adventist pursed his lips, then said with a sad expression, "But I came in with my girlfriend!" ”
“……”
Stark's wedding ended with laughter, but the impact on the Seven Kingdoms was profound, and since then, the history of Westeros has taken a completely different path.
After the wedding, Sauron represents the Stark's leading figure, ruling over the vast territory of the North.
However, he did not immediately declare war on the Lannisters, and he could not be like Stark, who was beaten by Greyjoy when most of his soldiers were fighting on the front lines.
Soon after, he issued an ultimatum to Baron Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands: surrender or die!
It is said that Baron Greyjoy was furious when he saw the letter, and he promised to lead the army himself to teach the ignorant man a lesson, and then he accidentally fell and died two days later on the bridge. Shortly after his death, his brother Euron Greyjoy returned to the Iron Islands, where he persuaded the people to take revenge on Balon for his murder by Sauron, defeating his biggest competitor and brother, Victor Greyjoy, and becoming Balon's rightful heir.
But before he could send troops to the north, he died the next day at his own dinner table, and according to eyewitnesses, he was choked to death.
While most of the skeptical eyes were focused on Sauron in Winterfell, two seemingly accidental deaths still made most of the contenders for the throne of the Iron Islands feel troubled.
It was at this time that Sauron released Asha Greyjoy, who had been held captive by him, and once she returned to the Iron Islands, she imprisoned all the competitors and inherited her father's title and castle. The woman then submitted to Sauron in Winterfell.
At this point, the Iron Islands were pacified.
In the spring of 299 A.D., the first year of the new calendar, Sauron Melko of Winterfell declared war on Joffrey Baratheon, Lord of the Iron Throne, as a false king and usurper. The Starks, Tully, Greyjoy, and the nobles of the Riverlands, all of the nobles of the Northern Kingdom, joined the conquest.
In response, Duke Tywin Lannister used his political prowess to win over the powerful House of Tyrells and gain the allegiance of the Riverbend military and civilians. To everyone's surprise, Lady Stark's sister, Rysa Tully, ruler of the Eagle's Nest, joins the Lannisters on behalf of the Arryns.
Despite the unanimous opposition of the Eastern nobles, Lysa insisted on making enemies of Sauron, who had hurt her favorite man, Littlefinger, so that in the end, only the soldiers of House Arryn were willing to fight for her.
So far, the royalist faction is composed of the Lannisters, the Tyrells, the Arryns, some nobles of the Western Kingdom, most of the nobles of the South, and some nobles of the Stormlands.
War is on the verge of breaking out.
However, at this time, the Martell family suddenly turned against the Lannisters, and Prince Dorne Martell of Dorne angrily accused Tywin of harboring the murderer of his sister Elia in the Usurper's War, and he would not hesitate to declare war on this for revenge.
In order to appease the anger of the Martell family and prevent them from falling into a situation of being attacked on the back, Tywin had to sacrifice the head of the Magic Mountain Gregor, and was willing to marry Princess Messira to Prince Trisdan Martell, a compromise that temporarily prevented the Martell family from threatening the military, but caused serious dissatisfaction among many of the Lannisters' generals, which also laid the fuse for the future destruction of the Lannisters.