Chapter 26:
Deep into the night, in the secret passages beneath the Red Keep.
The place was dark and damp, lit only by the crackling torches.
Tyrion Lannister carried a small bundle on his back and followed Varys with uneven steps. Although he had won the trial by combat, his ruthless father Tywin would never let him go. Exile was his only way out.
"My lord, the exit is just ahead," Varys stopped and pointed forward. "The ship is ready and will take you across the Narrow Sea."
"Thank you, Varys," Tyrion smiled bitterly. "Though I know you're doing this for your own interests as well."
At that moment, a shadow blocked their path.
"Why the hurry, my friend?"
Tyrion's entire body stiffened.
Victor Pompey leaned against the stone wall, casually playing with an exquisitely crafted hand crossbow. The weapon gleamed with a cold blue light — clearly no ordinary item.
"Victor?" Tyrion frowned. "Have you come to kill me? Or to see me off?"
"I've come to give you a choice."
Victor stepped forward, ignoring Varys's wary gaze, and pressed the hand crossbow into Tyrion's hand.
[System Item: Sting of Vengeance (Improved Repeating Hand Crossbow).] [Features: Armor Penetration, Silent, Auto-Aim (Ballistic correction within 100 meters).]
"You're just going to leave like this?" Victor looked down at the small but immensely wise man. "Carrying the stigma of 'kinslayer' without doing anything? Letting the father who wants you dead continue sitting on his high seat, sweeping you out like garbage?"
"What else can I do?" Tyrion clenched his fists. "Go kill him?"
"Why not?"
Victor leaned close to his ear and delivered the final straw that broke the camel's back.
"By the way, let me tell you a secret. Your beloved Shae… is not suffering in a dungeon right now."
"She is currently lying in the Hand's Tower bed, wearing the silk nightgown you gave her, with that Lannister gold chain around her neck…"
"Waiting for your father's 'favor'."
Tyrion's pupils dilated violently. His breathing became heavy like a bellows.
"You're lying! Shae loves me! She was forced to testify against me!"
"Whether I'm lying or not, why don't you go upstairs and see for yourself?"
Victor pointed to a branching upward passage beside them.
"That's the secret passage leading to the Hand's Tower bedroom. I've paved the way for you, and I've given you the weapon."
"Will you run away like a coward, or will you act like a true Lannister… and repay your debts?"
Tyrion trembled.
The last remnants of reason in his eyes burned away, replaced by endless rage and pain.
He snatched the hand crossbow and rushed toward the branching passage without looking back.
Varys watched Tyrion's retreating figure and sighed, making no attempt to stop him.
"Lord Pompey, you have just set fire to the entire Lannister family."
"The old lion is getting old. It's time for him to step aside."
Victor gave a cold smile and followed.
"Let's go watch the show too, Varys. This is a once-in-a-lifetime historical moment."
…
Hand's Tower, the bedroom.
The firelight in the hearth flickered.
Tyrion slipped out of the secret passage like a ghost. At this moment, anger and tension made his whole body shake.
He saw the large bed.
A woman was lying on it.
Shae.
She was indeed wearing the silk nightgown, lazily turning over and muttering, "My lion lord… you're back?"
In that instant, Tyrion's heart shattered.
All his love instantly turned into the deepest, most bone-chilling hatred.
He climbed onto the bed and used the gold chain — the symbol of the Hand of the King — to strangle Shae's neck with all his strength.
Shae's eyes widened in terror as she looked at the tear-streaked dwarf before her and struggled desperately. But rage gave Tyrion terrifying strength.
One minute later.
The struggling stopped.
Tyrion released his hands, looked at the body he had once loved so deeply, and let out a beast-like sob.
But he didn't stop.
Because there was still one person who deserved to die even more.
He picked up the hand crossbow and walked toward the adjacent privy.
Tywin Lannister, the most powerful man in Westeros, was sitting on the toilet.
Even in this embarrassing situation, he maintained his suffocating dignity. He was reading a document. When he heard footsteps, he looked up.
When he saw Tyrion holding the crossbow, those pale green eyes showed no fear — only anger.
"What do you think you're doing? Put down that damn toy."
Tywin ordered coldly, "Is Shae in bed? Go call her in."
"I killed her."
Tyrion raised the crossbow, aiming at his father's heart. "With these hands. Just like I did with that farm girl Tysha you made me marry the first time."
"Tysha?" Tywin scoffed disdainfully. "That whore? I've already forgotten her name. Wherever she went…"
Twang!
A soft sound rang out.
It wasn't Tyrion pulling the trigger.
It was the crossbow Victor had given him, which seemed to "sense" its master's killing intent and automatically corrected its trajectory.
A bolt buried itself deep into Tywin's lower abdomen.
"Ugh…"
Tywin let out a muffled groan, staring at the arrow in his belly in disbelief.
"You… you dare shoot me? I am your father…"
"I have always been your son."
Tears streamed down Tyrion's face as he pulled the trigger again.
Twang!
The second bolt struck Tywin in the chest.
A generation of schemer, the patriarch of House Lannister, died in an absurd and humiliating posture — on his own toilet.
Just as the rumors would later say — the shit Tywin Lannister shat did not smell like gold.
Tyrion dropped the crossbow, took one last look at the shadow that had loomed over his entire life, and fled into the darkness.
…
A few minutes later.
Victor emerged from the shadows.
He looked at Tywin dead on the toilet with no mercy in his eyes.
"Magnificent."
Victor clapped slowly.
Tywin didn't seem completely dead yet. A gurgling sound came from his throat as he stared fixedly at Victor. In that final moment, he seemed to understand everything — the crossbow, the secret passage, the mastermind behind it all.
"Don't look at me like that, father-in-law."
Victor stepped forward and smiled as he gently closed those eyes that refused to stay shut.
"Rest in peace. I will take good care of your daughter."
"I will also support your grandson (Tommen)."
"As for the Lannister family legacy…"
Victor took the golden Hand of the King brooch from Tywin's stiff hand.
He weighed it in his palm, then pinned it to his own chest.
"I'll accept it with thanks."
At that moment, the bells of the Red Keep rang again.
This was the third time tonight.
The first was for Joffrey.
The second was for the scandal of the Mountain.
This time, it was for the fall of the lion.
Victor pushed open the privy door and walked out onto the balcony.
The night wind blew through his black hair.
He looked down at the sleeping city of King's Landing and at the lonely boat carrying Tyrion away on the distant Blackwater Rush.
The first volume had ended.
[System Settlement in Progress…] [Main Quest Phase One: King's Landing Storm (Completed)!] [Completion Rating: SSS-rank (Perfect).] [Killed / Indirectly Killed Targets: The Mountain, Joffrey, Tywin, Walder Frey.] [Recruited / Allied Targets: Cersei, Sansa, Arya, Melisandre, Red Viper, Tyrion (foreshadowing).] [Acquired Items: Ice, Galleon Ship Blueprints, Teutonic Knights, Shadow Guards, Ecological Greenhouse.] [Volume Two Unlocked: The Dance of Kings and Dragons!] [New Feature Unlocked: Family Talent Tree (Can be lit up)!] [New Map Opened: Across the Narrow Sea / The Wall.]
Victor took a deep breath.
Now, he was the Regent for King Tommen.
He was the lover of Queen Cersei.
He was the de facto controller of the North and the Riverlands.
But his gaze had already turned toward even farther horizons.
There, winter was coming.
There, dragons would roar.
"The real show… has only just begun."
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