A month later, King's Landing.A beast-like roar echoed through more than half of the Red Keep.
"Seven hells—!! That Essosi eunuch! That venomous spider!"
Inside the Small Council chamber, Lao Bo (Robert) reeked of alcohol. His face was red, his eyes bloodshot, his neck thick as a wild bull's as he roared at Wa Li Si (Varys), whom he had pinned against the wall.
"I swear by the Seven! I swear by every damned god, old and new! Your crime of deceiving the crowned stag is proven—see if I don't crush you to death today, you dead spider!"
Suspended with his feet off the ground, Wa Li Si's head—swollen larger than an iron pot—hung low. His face was mottled blue and purple, slick and wet, a mix of spilled wine and saliva, no longer looking human.
"Speak! Speak, damn you! Why the hell did those Tasi bastards suddenly field thirty thousand iron troops, and you—dead spider—didn't get a single scrap of news?!"
Lao Bo slammed the unconscious Wa Li Si against the wall again and again.Despite their similar builds, despite both of them being round and heavyset, despite Wa Li Si being his spymaster!
"Speak! Were you deliberately deceiving your king?!"
Lao Bo lifted Wa Li Si's heavy body with ease, pouring all his surging rage into him.
It was this very spymaster who, earlier that morning during the Small Council meeting, had nervously reported on the Tasi Island forces stationed at Luolasi. In response, the enraged Lao Bo had dragged him away from the long table and beaten him to the ground with several punches.
After a round of kicks and blows, Wa Li Si had been pinned to the wall and interrogated, repeatedly suffering Lao Bo's steel-helmed, battering-ram headbutts—until he completely lost consciousness.
Over the course of a month, Wa Li Si had exhausted every effort to uncover the situation of the Tasi joint legion stationed at Luolasi.
Sadly, what he received in return was being brutalized nearly to death by an enraged, drunken king.
"Cough—cough! Cough—enough!"
Qiong En coughed uncontrollably, feeling as though something was lodged in his throat.
"Cough—!"
Compared to two months ago, his face was pale, his legs weak, and even the decorative eagle-headed cane had finally become necessary.
Seeing his adopted son continue to savagely abuse the Spider—who truly might die—he hurriedly tried to stop him.
"Cough—Lao Bo, stop at once!"
But his voice was dry and hoarse. No matter how hard he tried to shout, it was nothing more than a mosquito's buzz, unable to reach Lao Bo's ears.
"Cough, cough—you all—Ren Li, cough—!"
At the long table, Ren Li (Renly), whom Qiong En looked at with pleading eyes, hesitated before standing up—then finally lowered his head and remained where he was.
Including the recalled Ren Li, Grand Maester Pai Xier (Pycelle), and the Master of Coin Pei Ti'er (Petyr), all avoided the Hand's gaze. No one dared step forward to stop Lao Bo, who was drunk, berserk, and red-eyed with fury.
At that moment, a strong wind from Blackwater Bay blew open an iron window more than a meter wide, the two shutters slamming loudly.
"I'll smash you to death, you poisonous spider!"
Half-dazed, Lao Bo began dragging Wa Li Si—like a dead pig—toward the window.
A strange thought welled up in his mind: he wanted to break Wa Li Si's legs as punishment.
And the last shred of reason told him that the hall was only a dozen meters above the ground—probably not enough to kill that thick-skinned, pig-bodied, spider-hearted Wa Li Si.
Qiong En · Ai Lin (Jon Arryn) panicked completely.No matter how disliked Wa Li Si was among the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms, he was still a member of the Small Council, someone who had served two generations of kings.
If Lao Bo truly threw Wa Li Si to his death today, the negative consequences would be impossible to undo.
He shoved past Ren Li's attempted restraint, leaning on his cane, limping as fast as he could toward Lao Bo.
"Lao Bo, my child—calm yourself!"
At last, just before the window, he caught up and grabbed Lao Bo's long robe embroidered with a golden crowned stag.
"You're drunk. Let go of Wa Li Si and go rest!"
Before he could even breathe in relief, Lao Bo shouted to the Kingsguard,"Stop the Hand for me!"
Zhan Mu · Lan Ni Si Te (Jaime Lannister) had been watching the spectacle with leisurely interest.
A thought suddenly crossed his mind: if this wild boar Lao Bo exhausted himself here in the Small Council, he wouldn't have the energy later to go find his sister—and lover—to vent his frustrations.
The moment he heard the king's order, he hurried forward and grabbed Hand Qiong En, allowing Lao Bo to throw Wa Li Si and vent the rage in his chest.
"Damn it! Your king is drunk—don't you know that?!"
Lao Bo stood at the window. Behind him, Qiong En struggled fiercely against Zhan Mu, even lifting his cane to strike Zhan Mu's armor.
The other Kingsguard all wore conflicted expressions, unsure whom they should help.
As for their captain, the Fearless Ba Ji Si Tan (Barristan), he had returned to Harvest Hall half a month earlier to secure the Stormlands.
"Hic—!"
Facing the salty sea wind, Lao Bo let out a long drunken belch, his mind clearing just a little.
Still, deep down, he wanted to throw Wa Li Si to his death. He squatted down, iron-pincer hands plunging into Wa Li Si's armpits.
Lao Bo hefted Wa Li Si's weight, just like he had weighed the great wild boar he'd hunted yesterday. The motion was almost identical, and a strange sense of satisfaction rose in his heart.
"Bang—!"
Just as he was about to lift the dead eunuch, he suddenly felt something slam into his back. In the next instant, something shattered below, a dull crash echoing up and rattling his skull.
"My head hurts! Throwing the dead spider down would probably make the same sound—forget it, I won't throw him!"
Muttering, he pulled his hands back and turned around—only to see Zhan Mu staring blankly at his calloused hands, his face filled with disbelief.
"Damn it! Where's your Hand?!"
The moment Lao Bo said this, the entire hall fell into an eerie silence. Everyone stood frozen, trembling, keeping their mouths shut.
"Hmm—!"
A flash of realization struck him. His body jolted, most of the drunkenness evaporating, and he too froze—unable to react at once.
Among everyone present, the fastest to recover was Xiao Zhi Tou (Littlefinger).The surprise came too suddenly, and he was the first to awaken from the upheaval.
"Your Majesty, our Hand has just passed away from illness!"
He walked toward Lao Bo with a pained expression, forcing a few tears from his eyes, like a benevolent physician informing a patient's family.
"Please allow me to collect the Hand's body and arrange his appearance, to properly tend to the late lord!"
Lao Bo nodded dully. He still hadn't fully processed it, but instinctively felt this was a very good choice for him.
Zhan Mu · Lan Ni Si Te had acted under his orders to restrain the foster father. And it was he himself who had been standing by the window—only to squat down at the worst possible moment and collide with the foster father, leaving an opening at the window.
After Xiao Zhi Tou left the hall, Grand Maester Pai Xier's eyes lit up—then quickly dimmed again.
"Your Majesty, please allow me to first pay my highest respects to the Hand, who has passed from illness."
He shuffled forward with "great difficulty," wobbling on his legs step by step until he reached Lao Bo, then gently kissed the king's hands.
"By custom, I shall have the alarm bells rung at once!"
Then, dragging his feet and bracing against the wall, he hurried out of the hall to "urgently" give the order to ring the bells.
"Trouble you, Maester Pai Xier."
Lao Bo finally came back to himself and politely nodded toward the grand maester's hunched back.
The last to react were Ren Li and the Kingsguard. They frowned slightly, waiting for the king's orders.
Including Zhan Mu—since the Hand had "died of illness," it had nothing to do with him.
For everyone in the hall, the best course now was to forcibly forget what had just happened.
"The Hand has unfortunately died of illness!" Lao Bo immediately defined the matter, instructing everyone, "I don't want even a whisper of what just happened to leak out."
He glanced at the severely injured, unconscious Wa Li Si, then at his Kingsguard, trusting that they understood his meaning.
...
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(End Chapter)