At this moment, she held on to her sick body and insisted on presiding over the king's welcome ceremony as the mistress of Winterfell, and her intentions were clear.
She wants to declare her unshakable status to everyone, especially Jon, and cut off any "unreasonable thoughts" from him.
Ed's voice was full of pain and helplessness: "What should I do? Master Lu Wen, please—give me an idea. "
Scholar Lewin lowered his wrinkled eyes and face, and was silent for a moment before slowly speaking: "Perhaps—letting Jon leave Winterfell is the only way to calm the blockage in his wife's heart and cut off her thoughts." "
No!
Ed's heart immediately surged with strong resistance.
Send Jon outside the North, exposed to the eyes of those who are eyeing him?
If Jon makes a mistake, he will never be able to forgive himself.
As if seeing through Ed's hesitation, Scholar Lu Wen raised his head, his eyes calm but with a hint of directionality: "How about the Great Wall of Desperation?" Let him join the Night Watch, your brother Lord Banyan, now the chief ranger, with him here, Jon's safety ——— at least some guarantee. "
The Great Wall of Desperate Situation - Night Watch Ed muttered these cold words, his brows furrowed tightly.
The Night Watch Legion, a neutral force that devotes its life to ice and snow with an oath to break away from the disputes of the nobility of the Seven Kingdoms.
There, Jon's identity will be permanently buried under the Black Clothes.
Moreover, there is Ban Yang there to take care of it.
It seems like the only option at the moment that can simultaneously protect Jon, calm Caitlyn's anger, and keep him out of the Southern power vortex.
The pros and cons clashed fiercely in Ed's heart, and in the end, concerns about Jon's safety overwhelmed all reluctance.
He exhaled a long and heavy breath of white mist like a cold air, as if he had unloaded a thousand pounds.
"Okay."
Ed's voice was tired.
"Master Lewin, please write to Black Castle immediately, ask my brother Banyan Stark to go back to Winterfell as soon as possible, and he will take Jon to the Great Wall." "
After getting rid of this heavy matter, Ed didn't feel the slightest relief.
What came to mind was a heavier worry.
The king went north, and his intentions were clear.
He was invited to King's Landing to take over the vacancy left by Jon Arryn as the Hand of the King.
After experiencing the severe pain of Caitlyn's miscarriage and the sudden death of Jon Arryn, Ed was full of instinctive resistance to the southern power field full of intrigue and blood to go south.
He just wanted to guard Winterfell, protect his family who had just regained a little anger, and stay away from those intrigues.
However, how to reject Robert, the king who regarded him as his brother?
He couldn't find a reason that was both decent and not hurt his friendship.
At the same time, another thought weighed heavily on him.
On the eve of his departure from Tellosi, Stannis had promised him that once he returned to King's Landing, he would inform Prime Minister Jon Arryn of what they knew about the conspiracy between Lane and the Tyrell family.
Now, Jon Arryn is dead, dying so suddenly———
Ed couldn't help but be startled, and a creepy thought came to his mind.
Is the death of the Prime Minister related to this shocking secret revealed by Stannis?
Did Jon Arryn incur the murder precisely because of the investigation of this matter?
In an instant, countless dark conjectures and intertwined conspiracies poured in from all directions, almost engulfing him.
He forced himself to dispel these disturbing thoughts.
He decided that when Robert arrived, he would have to carefully test and find out the truth about King's Landing from the king's mouth.
Ed was full of worries and suffered in waiting.
The days slipped day by day, until the king's huge procession, like a moving castle, finally appeared in the desolate and cold fields outside Winterfell.
King Robert Baratheon's fat face carved by time and pleasures still hung with a loud smile.
He turned over and dismounted, with a dust and the smell of alcohol, giving Ed an almost breathtaking bear hug, as if the bitter quarrel over the Targaryen orphans had never happened before in the Red Keep of King's Landing.
Ed barely squeezed out a smile, Robert's personality was like this, anger came and went quickly.
Robert excitedly "reviewed" the Stark children, patting Robb on the shoulder, teasing the shy Sansa, and even laughing at Arya's "wildness".
He walked up to Caitlyn, restrained himself a little, and sincerely expressed his concern for her unfortunate miscarriage.
However, as soon as the noisy welcome ceremony ended, Robert couldn't wait to step back and pull Ed to the deepest and coldest part of Winterfell, the crypt.
The heavy stone door closed behind him, isolating the hustle and flow of the ground.
Only the flickering light of torches cast jumping shadows on the cold and solid stone steps and the black sarcophagi of the Stark Ancestors throughout the ages.
Robert's heavy footsteps stepped on the cold stone ground that had not melted for thousands of years, making an empty echo, he gasped, and the white air he exhaled quickly dissipated in the cold air.
"Ned!"
Robert's voice was particularly loud in the silent cellar, with an unquestionable meaning.
"You know my intentions. This time go south with me, go to King's Landing, be my king's hand, and I will leave the whole kingdom to you. "
He stopped, turned around, his fat body casting a huge shadow in the halo of torches, staring at Ed with burning eyes.
Ed sighed bitterly in his heart.
He met Robert's gaze, trying to make his voice sound sincere enough, but firm enough: "Your Majesty—
Forgive me, you know, Caitlin, she—after such misfortune, physically and mentally exhausted, I——.. I can't leave her anymore, especially at this time. "
Robert waved his hand: "Then take Caitlyn to the south with you, King's Landing is very warm, sunny, more suitable for nourishing the body than this damn northern realm, stay here, the biting cold wind will only blow people down." "
He changed his mind sharply, his tone becoming painful and urgent, and went straight to the point: "Jon Arryn - he's gone, Ned, I've never seen a person deteriorate so quickly in my life!" The damn scholars are helpless, and now Ryza has taken their cubs back to Eagle's Nest City, I can't stop them from persuading them in every way, hmph, forget about that woman, but my kingdom can't be left unattended, the seven kingdoms need a strong person to manage. "
He took a step forward, his fat body with a sense of oppression, and announced categorically: "Duke Ed Stark!
I appoint you as the Hand of the King in the name of the House of Baratheon, in the name of Robert I, the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms and the Guardian of the Kingdoms, the king of the Andals, the Loinas and the ancestors. "