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'A Valyrian steel dagger?'
The moment Robb saw the familiar black dagger, the thought flashed through him that he could not block it with magic.
Even so, with the heightened sight that had let him see the Night King's javelin clearly, the assassin's speed was still not enough. Robb's left hand closed with perfect accuracy around the right wrist that held the dagger.
Crack.
Clang. Clang.
Robb did not hesitate. His left hand clenched with brutal force.
With the crisp sound of bone breaking, the assassin's right wrist bent into a grotesque angle. The Valyrian steel dagger fell from his hand and struck the ground.
The man was hard, that much had to be admitted. Even with his wrist broken in Robb's grip, he did not let out a scream.
A murmur of panic swept the wedding.
"An assassin!"
The exchange between Robb and the assassin had happened in an instant. Only now did the crowd cry out.
The Wolfguard, the guards, the Gold Cloaks, Theon, Prince Oberyn, Garlan, Loras, and the other fighters nearby had only just begun to close in.
Robb looked at the assassin before him, who had abandoned the thought of attacking barehanded with his left hand. He raised his free right hand and signaled the others not to approach.
Then Robb looked surprised.
"After taking my sword stroke, by all rights you should not have lived.
"Since you managed to survive so stubbornly, why come to King's Landing and throw your life away?
"Jaime Lannister."
The assassin raised his head and looked at Robb. Even under makeup and disguise, his ruined features remained ugly, and cold sweat had broken across them from the pain.
He drew a deep breath, easing the pain a little, and answered calmly.
"Why? You should know the answer.
"Did you not break into King's Landing for your father?"
"Heh. My situation was different from yours. I entered King's Landing because I was certain I could leave safely. You, however, will not leave alive today.
"Still, you managed to bring a dagger into the Red Keep and attack me. Whether among the Stormlands nobles or among the guards of the Red Keep, someone must have helped you.
"Give me their names, and I may consider sparing your life."
Robb shook his head as he answered Jaime. As he spoke the last words, he looked across the Stormlands nobles trembling before him, then over the surrounding guards and Gold Cloaks.
"Your Grace, it could not be me! I have never had dealings with the Lannisters!"
"Your Grace, it is absolutely not me either. I cut off Daven Lannister's head with my own hands!"
"Your Grace, he cut off the head of a corpse. I was the one who stabbed first!"
"Your Grace, the knife I drove into Daven Lannister's heart was the fatal blow!"
Hearing Robb, the Stormlands nobles immediately dropped to their knees and shouted their loyalty, each trying to prove his innocence.
Jaime listened to their voices behind him and laughed.
"Go on, then. Search slowly for the traitors at your side. The taste of not knowing when betrayal will come is not pleasant.
"Of course, you can try torture. I still will not tell you."
"Mm. I believe you."
Robb nodded. Then his right hand shot out like lightning, seized Jaime by the throat, and squeezed hard.
Crack.
With a sharp sound, Jaime's throat was crushed in Robb's hand.
Jaime's eyes bulged. His left hand grabbed Robb's wrist, trying to pry it away, and his mouth opened wide as he struggled for air.
But he could not breathe. Instead, blood kept pouring from his mouth where the shattered bones had torn into his windpipe.
He did not struggle for long. Jaime Lannister choked to death.
"I once promised your father I would spare Tyrion and your two children. You were not part of that promise.
"And you are too dangerous to those around me. I am sorry."
Looking at the purple swelling that had begun to rise in Jaime's dead face, Robb spoke softly and let go. The body collapsed limply to the ground.
"Will. Come here."
Seeing Jaime truly dead this time, Robb turned his head and called to Will.
"Yes, Your Grace."
Will ran to Robb's side at once.
Robb leaned in and whispered a few words to him. Then he raised his voice.
"Take two brothers and bury him with Tywin."
Will nodded, received the order, and left the wedding grounds with two Wolfguard carrying Jaime's body.
After they were gone, Robb picked up the Valyrian steel dagger from the ground and turned it in his hand. His gaze, cold with murder, swept over the Stormlands nobles.
Every noble his gaze touched trembled, dropped to his knees, and loudly declared his loyalty.
"Robb."
As the mood of the wedding grounds grew heavy enough to crush the air, Catelyn rose from the left side and softly called his name.
She said nothing more, but Robb understood what she meant.
Margaery, who had gone pale with fright at first and stood silent for a moment, also stepped forward and took Robb by the left arm.
"Your Grace," she said softly, "the ceremony should continue."
"Heh. Very well.
"Jaime Lannister must have slipped in on his own.
"Rise. Stop kneeling.
"Continue the wedding. I will not let this small interruption ruin a good day."
Robb's grim expression suddenly softened into a smile as he spoke loudly.
When he smiled, the frozen atmosphere eased again.
The Stormlands nobles released relieved breaths as if reprieved, then stood and continued offering gifts to Robb.
Apart from Auren Estermont, who had submitted earliest, every Stormlands noble would have to be replaced when the chance came. That would clear the road for Gendry's rule.
The Wolfguard responsible for security inside the Red Keep should have had no problem. The Gold Cloaks, however, would be replaced first, and then investigated slowly.
Looking at the Stormlands nobles as they continued offering gifts with desperate attentiveness, Robb smiled kindly and nodded in response. In his mind, he was already considering how to move against them.
The gift ceremony continued in orderly fashion.
Near the end, Sansa represented House Stark and offered Robb and Margaery a modest gift full of sincere feeling.
Lord Mace then represented House Tyrell and presented the final heavy gift, one that drew startled cries from the nobles present.
Between the coronation and the wedding, the two rounds of gifts had drawn out at least half of the wealth the great and small nobles of the Seven Kingdoms had accumulated over the years.
Those riches would lay the foundation for rebuilding the Seven Kingdoms after the war.
Afterward, Robb and Margaery, witnessed by both their parents, swore to love one another for life and formally became husband and wife.
The ceremony should originally have been witnessed by the new High Septon of the Faith, but Robb had his own thoughts about the Faith. Naturally, he had no desire to allow that. He had simply changed the process.
Then came the raising of cups and the feast.
As for the bedding that usually followed... with Bloodwind watching beside Robb like a hungry shadow, even Theon, who loved bawdy mischief more than anyone, did not dare misbehave.
When the wedding in the Red Keep's royal garden was nearing its end, Will and the two Wolfguard finally reached a bone-strewn slope outside King's Landing with Jaime's body.
At first, this had been a place where the poor of King's Landing buried relatives and friends. Later, the Gold Cloaks had thrown unidentified corpses from the city here at will, and it had gradually become a potter's field.
After Tywin and Cersei's heads had been displayed in the Red Keep for several days to warn others, Robb, who had no interest in desecrating corpses further, had ordered Will and the others to bury their remains here.
Will chose the place from memory and used the iron shovels they had brought to dig a deep pit. Then they threw Jaime's body inside and covered it with earth.
By the time they finished, the sun had already slanted west and the hour was late.
Will and the two Wolfguard mounted their ice direwolves and left.
After the three of them were gone, the empty potter's field fell silent. Only the occasional wind passed over the bones with a faint whistle.
Tap, tap, tap.
After a while, Will and the two Wolfguard, who had supposedly left, suddenly rode their ice direwolves back from three different directions and met at the place where Jaime had been buried.
Seeing that nothing had happened for so long, Will nodded to himself and left again with the other two Wolfguard.
None of them noticed a pair of eyes hidden in the shadow beneath a nearby tree, watching them beneath the glow of the setting sun.
As if uncertain whether they had truly gone, the eyes remained until the sky darkened. Only then did they vanish from the shadow.
A little while later, a hooded woman with an alluring figure approached with an oil lamp in hand. Two men with pitch-black eyes followed her, each carrying an iron shovel.
The three exchanged no words. The two men began digging at once, throwing aside the earth over Jaime's grave.
They worked as if they did not know exhaustion. In a short time, Jaime's dirt-covered body had been dug out.
The woman, who had stood waiting nearby, lowered her hood and revealed a mature, beautiful face.
Using shadow magic to control the two men, Melisandre had them roughly brush the earth from Jaime's body. Then she walked to the corpse, knelt beside it, and placed both hands on its chest.
Expectation and worry mingled on her face. After a brief hesitation, she finally began to pray.
"My lord, the Lord of Light, let your light shine upon this man..."
Huh.
As Melisandre's prayer ended, Jaime's eyes snapped open. He sat up violently and drew great mouthfuls of air.
The wrist Robb had broken and the throat he had crushed had already returned to their original state.
"The vision I saw in the flames was correct. Brother Beric's power of resurrection truly passed into you."
Melisandre's face lit with joy as she looked Jaime up and down.
"Pah."
The resurrected Jaime spat dirt from his mouth. Then he stood, brushing soil from his clothes as he answered her.
"I remember you saying with great confidence that I could be brought back. Why are you so surprised now?"
"When I found you, Brother Beric was already dead beside you. I saw him resurrecting you in the flames, but I could not be certain you would continue to rise afterward."
Melisandre answered first, then continued with a grave expression.
"And were you not the one who refused to listen?
"I told you long ago that even if I used magic to help you enter the Red Keep with the Valyrian steel dagger, you alone could not kill that powerful demon servant.
"Jaime, the Lord of Light had Brother Beric pass the power of resurrection to you, not so you could throw your life away."
"House Lannister is destroyed. My father and my sister both died at that demon's hands. I went to the Stormlands to join Daven and found only his head.
"If I did not even try to assassinate Robb Stark, would I still be a Lannister?"
Anger twisted Jaime's ruined face as he shouted at Melisandre.
"Enough, Jaime. You have tried. Now we leave."
"Where?"
"Essos."
Many things happened inside and outside King's Landing that day, but because the king's wedding brought so many benefits, the whole city remained in a lively, festival-like mood.
The next morning, Robb did not sink into the warmth of the marriage bed. As usual, he rose early and went to the throne room to handle government affairs.
After several months of trial, Crey had proven his ability and had already received the pin of the Hand of the King from Robb.
So, with parchment and quill in hand, Crey began by reporting the more important matters he had selected.
"Your Grace, after repeated checks, the list of soldiers who earned knighthood through military service has been confirmed.
"Their lands have also been divided, all from territory in the Westerlands that has not yet been assigned."
"Mm. I understand. Crey, continue handling this matter."
Hearing the report, Robb nodded and threw the matter back to him.
"Next, Ser Willas sent a raven from Goldengrove. The work of opening hillside terraces is going very smoothly. As the refugees gain experience, the pace grows faster and faster.
"But there are too many refugees and prisoners working there now. The hills near Goldengrove can no longer hold them all."
Crey marked the first matter with his quill, then continued.
"Send a letter praising Willas first. After that, draw away part of the refugees and prisoners to open the hills of the Red Mountains, and send another part to the Riverlands for rebuilding.
"The war of the five kings damaged the Riverlands more severely than anywhere else. Rebuilding will begin there.
"Tell those sent to the Riverlands that as long as they complete the rebuilding work properly, they will be freed from their present status afterward and become free smallfolk of the Riverlands."
"Yes."
After that, Crey reported one matter after another in orderly fashion, and Robb handled them in turn.
When Crey finished, he bowed and returned to the Hand's seat. The throne room fell into a strange silence.
Seeing that no one else reported after Crey withdrew, Robb turned his gaze to Theon.
"Theon, how far has the Iron Fleet progressed against Dragonstone?"
"Your Grace, very well. We have surrounded Stannis's army on Dragonstone and cut off their supply lines. Once their food runs out, they should surrender on their own."
Theon was a little confused by Robb's question. He remembered reporting this already. Still, he could only repeat the answer.
"Their food runs out? How long are we meant to wait? Half a year? A year?
"Dragonstone's position is too important. It sits at the throat of King's Landing. It must be taken quickly."
Robb frowned slightly, displeasure showing on his face.
"But Your Grace, the Stone Drum on Dragonstone holds an excellent position, and its walls are strong. If we attack uphill from below, the losses will be heavy."
Theon did not know why Robb wanted Dragonstone so urgently, so he could only give his judgment.
"Do not worry. This time I will go personally with Bloodwind.
"Notify the Iron Fleet and have them prepare for battle. Tomorrow, we board the Redwyne fleet and sail for Dragonstone.
"It is the last loose end in the Seven Kingdoms. And that island holds something I want."
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