"How dare he do this? How dare he do this?" Inside the Hall of Affairs at Highgarden, Duke Mace, holding a raven scroll from Oldtown, was furious, shouting at Scholar Moras, "Immediately, right now, send word to Earl Layton in Oldtown, tell him to assist in capturing Linde Terra immediately!" Then he yelled at Fotimo, "He was your squire before, so you go arrest him."
Seeing Duke Mace completely lose his mind, everyone quietly watched him, waiting for him to calm down, because everyone who knew Duke Mace understood very well that they should never carry out decisions he made when he was irrational.
"What are you doing? Didn't you hear my order?" Duke Mace immediately rebuked them when he saw no one reacted.
Everyone exchanged glances, feeling that the Duke truly wanted to punish Linde.
"Your Grace, what exactly did Linde do to make you so angry?" Ser Roger, the Commander of Highgarden's garrison, who had a good relationship with Linde, asked.
"See for yourselves." Duke Mace threw the scroll in his hand to him.
Ser Roger picked up the scroll from the ground, read it, and his expression suddenly changed. The others also saw from Ser Roger's expression that something was amiss and successively took the scroll to read it, their faces also turning somewhat grim, just like Ser Roger's.
"How dare he do this?" Fotimo was the last person in the room to get the scroll. After reading its contents, his face changed drastically, and he couldn't help but murmur.
It was no wonder they reacted this way; the news in the scroll was simply too astonishing. First, Oldtown was attacked by the Ironborn, and then, Linde, under the charge of dereliction of duty, not only whipped all the knights in the troop but even Velas was whipped by him.
The heir to the Duke of Highgarden, the future Lord of The Reach, was publicly flogged in front of everyone. This kind of humiliation was basically equivalent to whipping the Duke of Highgarden's face. If this went unpunished, then the Duke of Highgarden's prestige would be completely lost, and all the nobles of The Reach would look down on House Tyrell.
Seeing this, Fotimo felt that Linde was probably doomed this time, and he couldn't intercede for Linde, otherwise, he might also be implicated.
Just then, Duke Mace repeated his order, demanding immediate execution, and Fotimo had no choice but to accept. He just thought that if he could help, he would find an opportunity to help Linde again, at least to save Linde's life.
"Wait a moment, all of you." At this moment, Thorn Queen Olenna, supported by Duchess Allerie, walked in and said to everyone, "The Duke was just anxious about Velas's injuries earlier, so he said some angry words. Don't take them seriously."
"Mother!" Duke Mace stared wide-eyed at his mother, wanting to retort.
"Don't speak yet." Olenna sternly stopped Duke Mace, then took out a scroll of documents, handed it to the Steward of Highgarden, Gals Tyrell, and said, "Gals, immediately write a letter of condolence in the name of the Duke of Highgarden to the nobles on this list, praising the heroic deeds of their descendants in fighting the Ironborn in Oldtown, and mourning their untimely deaths."
"Yes, Olenna." Gals Tyrell nodded.
Olenna gestured to everyone, "All of you may leave now! I have something to discuss with the Duke."
Upon hearing this, everyone rose and left. Soon, only the Thorn Queen and her son and daughter-in-law remained in the room.
"Allerie, go close the door." Olenna instructed her daughter-in-law.
"Yes, Mother." Allerie replied.
As Allerie left to close the door, Olenna calmly asked Duke Mace, "What do you think about Velas being flogged?"
Although he knew his thoughts would definitely differ from his mother's, he still endured the pressure from the Thorn Queen and honestly said, "I think Linde Terra went too far this time. As a knight of House Tyrell, he shouldn't have whipped the son of his liege lord. What he did was outright rebellion, treason."
"Rebellion, treason?" Olenna nodded calmly, then asked, "Do you think I value Velas very much?"
"Of course, you do." Duke Mace added, "You have always been grooming him as an heir."
Olenna countered, "If that's the case, shouldn't I be even angrier than you?"
Duke Mace fell silent, as he could see no signs of anger from Olenna, which was clearly abnormal.
Olenna said in a deep voice, "In fact, after I learned of this, not only was I not angry, I even want to reward Linde Terra."
Duke Mace looked at the Thorn Queen with a surprised expression, blurting out, "Mother, are you confused? How can you no longer distinguish right from wrong? Linde Terra arrested your grandson, my son, and gave him twenty lashes in front of thousands of people."
"I'm confused? Even if you were confused, I could never be confused." Olenna glared fiercely at Duke Mace and said, "The reason I want to reward him is because he helped House Tyrell resolve a major crisis."
Duke Mace looked completely bewildered.
"Allerie, give those intelligence reports to your husband to clear his head. He's always so confused he can't tell right from wrong." Olenna instructed her approaching daughter-in-law, then, still holding a grudge, spoke to Duke Mace.
Duke Mace took a few papers from his wife's hand and read them carefully.
These papers detailed what happened on the night of the Ironborn invasion, such as knights being undisciplined, leaving the barracks without permission to revel in Oldtown. Linde, worried about trouble, dispatched Jon with ten knightly guards, using the special authority Velas had given him, to temporarily take over the barracks. Later, when the Ironborn invaded, Jon, following Linde's pre-arranged contingency plan, sent men to support the Oldtown garrison, protecting Velas in the Starry Sept, and so on.
The person who wrote these contents was Velas's consulting scholar, a student of Scholar Moras, and trustworthy.
"Even so, it doesn't justify punishing Velas, does it?" Duke Mace put down the intelligence scroll in his hand and said, "Velas was in the Starry Sept at the time. It was those knights who deserted their posts on their own. What does that have to do with Velas?"
"I really should pry open your skull and see what's inside your brain!" The Thorn Queen rolled her eyes in exasperation at Duke Mace, saying, "As a commander, all of his knights deserted their posts. Does that have nothing to do with him? Don't you have eyes? That Linde Terra warned him beforehand, telling him that those knights were too undisciplined, and asked him to restrain them. He completely ignored it, which is why all the knights deserted their posts to revel that night. Now tell me, is he responsible or not?"
Duke Mace lowered his head, no longer arguing.
The Thorn Queen continued, "Do you think Linde publicly executed Velas just to punish him for not restraining those knights?"
"Isn't it?" Duke Mace countered.
"Of course not, you fool." The Thorn Queen glared fiercely at Duke Mace, pointing at the intelligence scrolls, and said, "What were you looking at just now? Didn't you see that over two hundred knights died in the Ironborn attack that night?"
"Ah?" Duke Mace was stunned, and whispered, "It's just over two hundred knights who died. The knights who died when I attacked Storm's End in the Stormlands…"
"Shut up!" The Thorn Queen snapped, "Do you think your knights are the same as these two hundred-plus knights? These two hundred-plus knights are not just mercenary knights; many of them come from the families of House Tyrell's vassal lords. Among these people, there are also some noble heirs and favored second sons. They were sent to follow Velas to Dorne simply to gain experience for these heirs and second sons and to build good relationships with House Tyrell's heir. Now, these people died before even leaving The Reach. What do you think those vassal lords will think?"
Duke Mace opened his mouth, momentarily unsure what to say, but he also realized that if this matter wasn't handled well, it would be a big problem for House Tyrell.
Although the knights who died this time were backed by only ordinary nobles or minor lords, these ordinary nobles and minor lords were one of the important foundations that allowed House Tyrell to establish itself in The Reach. If they were to truly harbor resentment and dissatisfaction towards House Tyrell because of this incident, it would have a significant impact on House Tyrell. Even if it wouldn't shake House Tyrell's foundation, it would cause cracks in it.
The Thorn Queen looked at Duke Mace, whose face showed anxiety, and said in a deep voice, "What are you anxious about? Linde Terra has already solved the problem for you. What are you still anxious about?"
"He solved it for me? How? How come I don't know?" Duke Mace looked completely bewildered.
The Thorn Queen sighed, seemingly having completely given up on her son's intelligence, and replied in a flat tone, "Linde publicly executed the surviving knights to tell the nobles behind the deceased knights that their deaths were due to dereliction of duty, and thus highly dishonorable. And his execution of Velas was to give those fellows an explanation, letting them know that it was because of their descendants' dereliction of duty that House Tyrell's heir suffered such a humiliating punishment. Now, it's our vassals who should be anxious, not us. Believe it or not, in the next two days, those people will come to Highgarden one after another to apologize to you. When they do, you must receive every visitor seriously."
Duke Mace, hearing this, showed a look of realization and nodded, saying, "I know what to do, Mother." However, he was still somewhat puzzled and asked, "Did Linde truly think that punishing Velas would resolve the dissatisfaction of the vassal nobles, and that's why he did it?"
"I rather hope he just inadvertently helped House Tyrell, and didn't already plan for such a result." The Thorn Queen sighed slightly, then she looked at Duke Mace with a hint of doubt and asked, "The intelligence from Oldtown just reached my hands. How did you know what happened in Oldtown, and how did you know Linde flogged Velas?"
"It was mentioned in the scroll sent by Earl Layton." Duke Mace took out the scroll that had ignited his anger and handed it to the Thorn Queen.
The Thorn Queen quickly read it, her expression turning somewhat grim, and she couldn't help but curse, "That old man is playing such petty tricks on me," she said, then turned to her daughter-in-law and said, "Everyone says your father is obsessed with witchcraft and has become muddled, but I think the muddled ones are those who say that."
Allerie said with a wry smile, "Did my father do something wrong again?"
The Thorn Queen said impatiently, "Wrong? He didn't do anything wrong. He just wanted to use our inflated fish lord to expel Linde Terra, and then he could pull Linde into your Hightower. "She then sneered, "That old fellow is really willing to spend money; he even plans to marry your sister, Moroya Hightower, to Linde. If that's the case, you'll have to call that Linde boy brother-in-law."
Saying this, the Thorn Queen couldn't help but laugh.
The Duchess, however, was in a state of mixed emotions. She remembered that Linde was only fifteen or sixteen years old, just a year or two older than her eldest son. Although old men with young wives or old wives with young husbands were not uncommon in the Seven Kingdoms, she still found it somewhat difficult to accept if it happened to her.
If the situation the Thorn Queen described truly came to pass, she couldn't imagine what her expression would be when she faced Linde. Just thinking about it, she couldn't smile at all.
"Your sons saw that Linde is a talent, your father also saw that Linde is a talent, our scholar also saw that Linde is a talent, the Commander of the Garrison, the Highgarden Drillmaster, all saw that Linde is a talent, but only your husband, my son, the inflated fish lord, did not see that he is a talent." The Thorn Queen said mockingly, "Should I be happy for your unique and discerning eye, my Duke?"
Duke Mace said awkwardly, "Mother, I was just worried about Velas's health earlier, and I was a bit muddled with anger. I didn't truly want to punish Linde Terra."
The Thorn Queen found a chair in the room and sat down, then looked at Duke Mace and said, "I heard you plan to change the reward from an estate and villages to a piece of land after Linde completes the bandit suppression mission."
"Yes, Mother." Duke Mace nodded and said, "It's the land on the other side of the Red Mountains, opposite Weil City."
The Thorn Queen asked again, "Who occupies that land now?"
Duke Mace replied, "House Dendalyon of Black Harbor and House Weil of Weil City both occupy a portion of the land. The rest is said to be mountainous and too barren for anyone to occupy."
The Thorn Queen easily saw through Duke Mace's little scheme and said, "You're giving him that land because you want him to be a second Randyll Tarly, to help you guard the Red Mountains like Horn Hill?"
Duke Mace chuckled awkwardly and said, "Since Mother you think it's unsuitable, we can change to another…"
"No, it's very suitable. That place is very suitable for someone like Linde Terra." The Thorn Queen shook her head and said, "But you need to give him a bit more authority. Just a knightly title won't be enough to help you hold that place."
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