"Forgive me, Lord Eddard, and Sansa. I had planned to come and say farewell to you in a moment, but things have been far too busy…"
As soon as she drew near, feeling Kal's masculine presence and handsome appearance washing over her, Sansa hurriedly lowered her head, not daring to look at him and not daring to say a single word.
Eddard Stark, of course, would not be angry with Kal for having to come personally to see him off.
After all, he himself had just been busy saying farewell to Jon.
"After you return to Casterly Rock, if there is any trouble, send a letter to King's Landing," Eddard said with great kindness, even patting Kal's shoulder as he spoke. "The King and I will give you our fullest support."
Kal smiled, unconcerned about Eddard's kind promise, but upon being reminded, he recalled another matter.
So he asked, "His Grace—he does not seem to be here."
Kal had never called Robert "father," so he could not simply address him that way.
After all, unlike Edric Storm, Kal had never received Robert's personal acknowledgment.
Because if both parents of a bastard were nobles, he would not be considered lowborn, so Robert had acknowledged Edric Storm's status and allowed him to live in Storm's End.
As for why Kal asked about Robert, it was because after the tournament ended, he had taken the initiative to resign from his position as Master of Coin.
Together with needing to prepare to go to the Westerlands early to receive his lands, he had not paid much attention to court affairs recently.
Thus Kal really did not know where the King had gone.
After all, with such an unreliable King, it was not surprising for him to do something odd, and few people cared about a man who never handled matters.
And after Kal resigned from the post of Master of Coin, the one who became Master of Coin after him—unsurprisingly—was the Lord of Highgarden, Warden of the South, Defender of the Marches, Paramount of the Reach, and head of House Tyrell:
Lord Mace Tyrell."
After receiving the King's appointment, he had rushed from Highgarden to King's Landing, and up to today, he had been in office for not even a week.
Seeing that these two—father and son—indeed cared about each other yet deliberately acted otherwise, Eddard could only pretend not to notice.
"His Grace said that watching the hunting event in the tournament made him itch with envy, yet he could only sit and watch. So these past days he has gone to the Kingswood to hunt. He has been gone for just two days."
"Ser Barristan Selmy took the newly chosen Kingsguard to protect the King."
As he spoke, Eddard seemed to think of something and added another sentence.
"And also going to hunt are Ser Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers, Margaery Tyrell, Lord Mace Tyrell, and Lord Renly Baratheon—they all went."
"This should count as a family gathering for them, so the great lords did not attend."
Hearing that he had gone neither earlier nor later, but had waited until nearly a month after the tournament ended, right when Kal was about to head to the Westerlands, Kal could not be bothered to expose his intentions.
He simply gave an unconcerned smile. "Then I wish the King victory and a pleasant time."
Cersei was already dead, the Seven Kingdoms were now flourishing, and the political order of the court had already been reshuffled.
As for schemers with ulterior motives, such as Varys, who was still alive, Kal was certain they would not dare to make trouble.
So Kal had no worries regarding Robert going out this time for leisure and hunting.
Not to mention Ser Barristan Selmy and the newly chosen three Kingsguard were there, and with Renly and the others present, Kal had even less reason to be concerned about Robert encountering any mishap.
But after Kal finished speaking, both Eddard and Kal suddenly did not know what to say. Then Eddard tactfully stepped back to give space to the two young people, turning to walk toward his wife and children.
Seeing Eddard walk off into the distance, Kal finally relaxed for real.
He had not felt it before, but now that the man's daughter had become his fiancée, Kal always felt a bit awkward when interacting with Eddard Stark—especially with Sansa not yet married into his household.
Across two lifetimes, this was his first time becoming someone else's new son-in-law.
"When do you think you might come back~?"
Seeing her father leave, Sansa was no longer so shy and felt much more at ease.
But the moment she asked this question, she still could not help the flush spreading across her face—after all, the question was indeed somewhat bold.
"Do you want me to come back sooner to marry you?"
Sansa was very beautiful; although she had not fully grown into her looks yet, she was unmistakably a traditional beauty.
So Kal could not help teasing her a little.
Sansa had inherited her beauty from her mother: the Tully family's delicate cheekbones, clear blue eyes, and thick auburn hair—none of it was missing from her.
Although she was only in her teens, she already possessed a kind of charm that was difficult to describe with words.
Add to that the lady's education she had received since childhood, and she carried upon her a traditional feminine grace befitting her noble birth.
And after their betrothal was settled and their relationship confirmed, during the private moments Kal and Sansa had spent together in their free time, Kal also learned that Sansa, in music, poetry, singing, dancing, as well as in some other "women's leisurely pursuits" such as embroidery, actually possessed considerable skill.
This caused a significant change in Kal's long-held impression of her as a naïve, simple-minded girl.
It was precisely because of this that Sansa, in Kal's eyes, had grown far more vivid and complete.
Setting aside the prejudices of the original books and the television adaptation, Sansa was in essence a young lady untouched by the world, protected carefully by her family.
She indeed did not have Margaery Tyrell's kind of exquisite cunning that allowed her to show every man her best side.
But she instead had a purity and innocence unique to her, an untouched whiteness untainted by worldly dust.
This gave Sansa a sense of clarity like the still surface of a deep pool.
And Kal could also feel that Sansa was actually very intelligent and truly talented—it was just that she was too pure and too clear-eyed, even a little foolish.
But to Kal this was not any kind of fatal flaw.
Facing Kal's bold words, Sansa lowered her head in shame, not daring to speak.
So Kal could only helplessly pat her head. "When you feel you have grown up, send me a letter. I will come to fetch you myself."
After he finished speaking, Kal left a kiss upon Sansa's forehead and turned to leave.
In this continuous drizzle, the host of Lord Kal El departed, leaving through the Lion Gate, following the Gold Road ahead, and vanished from sight.
On the road, Tyrion Lannister, who had always had little presence, walked with Sam to Kal's side.
Looking at the road that had once been his way home, he remained silent, then finally let out a free and easy smile.
He turned his head toward the man he had chosen to swear loyalty to.
"You have not told me what your house words will be, Duke Kal El."
"The words of House Kal are only three phrases."
"Which three?"
"Thought! Sword! Truth!"
...
Walking out of King's Landing and following the Goldroad all the way west, Kal's host had already traveled for nearly ten days.
But for a large army on the move, exhaustion aside, the slowness itself was something that truly could not be solved.
After all, Kal was not marching in haste; he chose heavy wagons and steady advance, fighting to feed the war.
Moreover, in order to make his reception of the fief appear even more composed this time, Kal had in fact already prepared for several months.
So even if they had spent ten days, at their pace they had only just crossed the Blackwater Rush and reached the edge of the rolling mountains of the Westerlands.
The land of the Westerlands was vast, and the entire territory consisted of mountainous and hilly terrain.
This terrain was, to be fair, essentially a natural stronghold and barrier within the Seven Kingdoms.
Because the rolling mountains blocked the way, the eastern border adjoining the Riverlands was extremely strong in defense, with the main road through the mountains guarded by the fortress Golden Tooth, which stood upon the River Road.
Entering the Westerlands from the south was mainly through the Ocean Road; its defensiveness could not compare to the Red Fork River, but the forests around Crakehall also formed a fine natural barrier.
Only because the terrain along the coastline was rather flat, attacking from the west coast was relatively easier.
And the most attention-drawing aspect of the Westerlands' territory was, in fact, its economic attributes.
The economic condition of the Westerlands, among the Seven Kingdoms, was neither the largest in area nor the most populous nor the most abundant in natural products.
But without any doubt, the Westerlands were the richest.
This was because the Westerlands were mountainous, and the output of their gold and silver mines was so abundant it made people click their tongues.
This was also why, when the war first began, Riverrun of the Riverlands cared so much about the place called Golden Tooth.
Aside from the strategic threat that Golden Tooth itself posed to the Riverlands, the rest was tied to this gold.
And besides this money that grew out of the ground, Lannisport and Fair Isle also had some fishing grounds.
Even counted historically, the Westerlands had fertile land, a mild climate, and were particularly suitable for crops to grow.
This was because mountains shielded it on the east and south, and the west was the boundless blue Sunset Sea.
These unique attributes, taken together, built the wealth of the original Lannister family.
But now all of this bore the name El; it was the possession of Kal El.
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