Moments later, Lucas entered Peteyr's solar with a swagger. His eyes roamed all around the room taking into account the rich decoration and the costly furniture in the room. His face was marred by a smile and an expression which oozed confidence and power.
Petyr remained seated on his chair as Lucas finally looked towards him and approached towards Petyr.
"Lord Baelish," Lucas smiled as he took his seat on the chair across the table from Petyr. Lucas did not look even a bit bothered by the lack of respect shown by Baelish.
"Ser Lucas," Petyr drawled back. His expression was placid and it was hard to pick what Littlefinger was thinking.
"I hope I am not disturbing your work by this sudden visit from me," Lucas said.
"It is fine," Petyr replied curtly. He did not deny that he was being disturbed.
Lucas smiled. He seemed thrilled. Happy.
"Lord Baelish," he said. "I was wondering if you could provide me with the ledger and the records of the salary paid to the soldiers of the City's Watch."
"As a Lord Commander of the Watch, it is imperative for me to have a good idea what and on what intervals my soldiers are being paid," he added with the same smile.
For the first time, since, Lucas had entered the solar, the almost neutral and placid expression on Petyr's face crackled for a bit. He had expected Lucas to come asking for the accounts but he had never expected him to come asking straightforwardly for the ledger. And that too on the very same day the announcement had been made.
A stiff smile appeared on his face.
"Ser Lucas," Petyr said in an attempt to salvage the situation. "I believe that you do not need to trouble with this matter. The payments have always been handled by the Master of coin and I assure that you will have no problems regarding the payment of the salaries."
Lucas shook his head. The smile on his face had not changed a bit but the very same smile which had appeared harmless to Petyr moments ago was now looking to him as if he was being mocked.
"I am afraid you do not understand my intention," Lucas said. "I am not trying to take command of the salaries from you. Now that you said it, paying them from my own pocket does not seem a very bad idea."
"Nonetheless," he continued. "I am looking for the ledger to understand the pattern in the payment of their salaries. How they are paid? What is the salary difference between a solider who has been working for a decade and someone who has been working for a couple of years? The salary difference between a knight and a squire and an ordinary solider. Understanding all these patterns is quite necessary to run the City Watch in a smooth manner."
This time Petyr was left speechless. He could not refute what Lucas was saying. But he could also not show him the ledgers. He needed some time to manipulate the ledgers and the records.
"I am afraid that I will not be able to fulfil your wish your immediately, Ser Lucas," Petyr sighed. "First of all, you will have to take the king's permission to look at the ledgers. I cannot give them without his permission."
"While this may not have been a major problem and I may have looked over it for one time, I currently do not have the ledger in my possession."
"Where are they?" Lucas asked with narrowed eyes.
"In my private residence," Petyr answered smoothly.
A frown appeared on Lucas' face as he countered, "But should they not be stored in your official residence in the Red Keep."
"They should," Petyr said, confidence was returning to his face as he finally had a plan in his mind. "But you know the condition of the Red Keep. This place is infested with rodents, mice and termites. Storing records here is not a safe thing."
"Besides I was thinking about getting my section of the Red Keep renovated thus I shifted all the records to my private residence where they had been stored in a very safe vault guarded all the time by my private guards."
"Oh!" Lucas mumbled. "I see."
"But worry not," Petyr continued. "Though, not today since I have some work to finish but I will provide you the ledger of the last three months by tomorrow evening."
"Meanwhile, it would be great if you can take the royal permission to access those ledgers," Petyr added.
His face was now back to his smug self as he had little doubt that he could get out from this situation very safely.
"Then I will wait for it," Lucas said as he got up from his seat and turned to leave.
He was at the door when he turned back towards Petyr.
"Lord Baelish," he said. "Now that you will be retrieving the books for the salaries of the soldiers of the City Watch, you should also retrieve the tax books and the public and welfare expenditure books."
"Since they are work of my domain from now onwards, I better understand about them too," he added with the same smile.
"Of course," Petyr added stiffly.
"Thank you, Lord Baelish," Lucas muttered and stepped out of the room.
As Lucas walked towards the training yard where the soldiers of the City Watch were to gather, he could not help but smile in amusement.
Petyr was no simple man. He was quite impressed by Petyr's abilities. The man had not panicked and had found out a way from his situation.
Lucas was well aware that Janos Slynt and Peteyr Baelish must have been embezzling the funds in collusion.
He did not need a lot of brain to know that Petyr was merely stalling for time. But what intrigued him was how Littlefinger was going to manipulate the books? If Lucas had wanted, he could exposed Baelish in moments but he did not want to do so.
Baelish was an important player of the game and he was going to be useful in causing chaos. And that chaos will be Lucas' ladder too.
Meanwhile, as soon as Lucas stepped out of the room, an expression of rage formed on Petyr's face. It had been years since, last time, Petyr had felt such an overwhelming anger. But he was not the one to lose himself in anger.
He picked up a parchment and hastily scribbled a message on it. He did not seal it or applied his emblem of the master of the laws.
He pressed the bell on his table and a moment later a man stepped inside.
"My Lord," he bowed.
"Deliver this message to Janos Slynt," Baelish said. "Ask him to come find me immediately or if he is busy at the moment, he must write a reply and give it to you, hand to hand. No delays."
The man nodded and took the parchment from Petyr. He was about to exit the room when, Petyr interrupted.
"Also send Vala in," he said.
"Yes, My Lord," the man grunted and moved with quick steps.
Petyr picked another parchment and began writing on it. He had just finished writing when a lady stepped inside the room.
"My Lord," she bowed.
"Deliver this to Lady Arryn," he said in almost a whisper as he folded the parchment and handed it to the lady.
The lady gave a nod and departed. This was not the first time of her doing such a chore and thus not a lot of words were required about her being cautious and maintain secrecy.
Only after Vala departed, did Petyr breathe a sigh of relief.
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