iron throne of ice and fire

Chapter 405 Gentleness and Innocence

Cersei's green eyes gently swept over Green's body, the corners of her mouth raised, with a meaningful smile, she said: "Your words are always so pleasant, my dear Green, I can't help but reward you in advance, right here."

Green's eyes seemed to be staring at some rare treasure. He raised his glass to indicate, "The deal is fair. I have enough patience, my queen."

Cersei raised her glass gracefully in a gesture of appreciation: "I look forward to it, my dear knight."

"Me too."

After breakfast, Green actually enjoyed the treatment that only James had in the past... watching the maids dress up the lioness in front of the full-length mirror.

after an hour.

Green and Cersei saw Qyburn, who had been waiting for them, in the hall of Maegor's Tower.

He had a faint smile on his face that easily made people feel good about him, and he touched his chest respectfully and saluted: "Good day, Her Majesty the Queen Mother, Your Excellency the Duke."

Cersei raised her chin slightly and said in a haughty tone, "Good day, my intelligence chief."

After that, she continued to walk forward and said, "Let's go together."

While walking, Cersei felt Green's gaze. She turned her head to look over and said, "The old lion doesn't like the chief of intelligence, but I am different. I need eyes that can help me identify the enemy. Qyburn happens to have a pair of good eyes."

Qyburn's intelligence-gathering abilities were recognized by Cersei (Chapter 391), and he was one of the many ministers promoted by Cersei herself last night.

Lord Green had to admit that the lioness's speed was indeed... amazingly fast.

"You have a sharp eye."

Green turned around to look at the person following behind him, and Coben smiled at him gently.

He nodded his chin and said, "Congratulations, Mr. Coburn."

Hearing this, Coben stroked his chest again and said sincerely: "Thank you, Your Excellency the Duke. I have no way to repay you. All I can do is to serve Her Majesty the Queen Mother with all my heart and soul."

Green nodded, then turned to Cersei and said, "He looks reliable."

A smug look flashed across the lioness's face. "Varys once made everyone think he was indispensable, but not everyone is a fool. When I announce Qyburn as the new chief of intelligence, those pests will rush to curry favor with me and sell all kinds of intelligence for a little money."

Green agreed: "Yes, gold and silver can shake the loyalty of most people."

As they were talking, they had already arrived in front of the carriage. Cersei paused, curled her lips, looked up and down at Green, and asked, "Most people?"

Green shrugged, he offered his hand to help Cersei into the carriage, then he took the reins from the servant and climbed onto the horse.

…………

In the small hall of the throne room, the main figures of the Queen Mother's party gathered. Green's eyes swept over the old and frail Pycelle, the chinless-looking Ser Harys Swyft (Kevan's father-in-law, Chapter 205), the coughing Earl Giles Rosby, and Jaime who was alone in a "remote" corner.

Seeing them coming, the three old men stopped talking and came over with smiles on their faces.

"Everyone..."

Cersei glanced at Jaime who was a little further away, gave a slightly stiff smile, and continued: "Please forgive my tardiness."

As soon as she finished speaking, Sir Harris immediately responded attentively: "No, we are all servants serving the Queen Mother. It is our great honor to wait for your visit."

Hearing this, Cersei showed a somewhat satisfied look and said, "Qyburn, please come forward. Everyone, he is the chief of intelligence I appointed before the king."

The sleepy Grand Maester Pycelle immediately opened his eyes wide, his old face flushed purple, and said, "Coburn was deprived of his maester's necklace by the Maester City. How can such a person become a minister before the king! Your Majesty, such a person should be expelled. His standing here is a disgrace to the Red Castle!"

The old maester was spitting in front of her, and Cersei said coldly: "Shut up, if you can't be quiet, I will expel you first."

While the lioness was teaching the old man a lesson, Green came to Sir James' side and pointed his chin in the direction of Sir Harris. "He seems to be here for the position your father left behind."

James looked at it for a while, and said with a complicated expression: "He doesn't have that ability."

He added in his mind: But Cersei might prefer to employ such weak and incompetent people...

After a pause, Sir James looked at Green beside him with his green eyes and suddenly asked, "Is it sweet?"

Green was slightly startled, and raised an eyebrow: "What do you mean?"

Sir James looked at Green with the eyes of an old swordsman looking at a novice swordsman, and said earnestly: "Look at me, take it easy."

After a moment of silence, Green scratched his cheek with his index finger and said, "I suddenly feel that the white robe suits you very well, James."

James glanced at Green, paused, and said, "How are the preparations going?"

"It may take a few days..." Then Green asked in confusion, "Why are you so concerned about me?"

After a moment of silence, James sighed as if he had thought of something, and said, "Looking back on the past, you always seemed to make the right choice..."

Hearing this, Green's lips curled slightly: "Are you interested in following me to quell the war in the Seven Kingdoms? I just need a white knight to lead my horse."

James glanced at Green again and said, "It's a great honor."

After the two chatted casually for a few words, the smile on James' face suddenly disappeared, and his eyes inadvertently met with the lioness's... Then she walked over here.

After getting closer, Cersei's tone was a little bit angry: "Jaime, you'd better find all those pyromancers. Otherwise... forget it... I will ask Harlin (President of the Alchemists' Guild) to send a few more people over."

Jaime shrugged. "Cersei, I just discovered today that my sword is pretty good at driving people away."

"you!"

Seeing that the Lannisters were about to start another argument, Green left silently, but he soon met Ser Harys who came over on his own initiative.

He gave a slightly flattering smile and said, "Dear Duke Kleiber, please allow me to disturb you for a moment."

Green nodded slightly and said, "Sir Swyver."

"King Joffrey and Hand Tywin died on the same night... They died together in an accident. It is so sad..."

Sir Harris sighed: "The man is gone, but the kingdom still needs someone to stand up... Respected Duke, Lannister and Crabbe are like a family, I don't want to hide it from you... My son-in-law, alas, he loves his brother, he is too sad to serve the kingdom for the time being, alas..."

After a pause, he continued, "In such a critical moment, I hope I can stand up on behalf of my son-in-law and serve King Tommen... Queen Cersei... and all the lords... If I can shoulder the responsibility of stabilizing the Seven Kingdoms..." The bald old man moved closer and lowered his voice, "I promise that I will listen to Crabbe's voice."

Green patted Ser Harris on the arm and said, "Very good, your courage is admirable. I look forward to the day when you can serve the Seven Kingdoms."

As everyone continued to exchange pleasantries, the butler hurried over to Cersei and whispered in her ear.

After hearing this, Cersei sneered, and she swept her eyes over the people present, saying, "Everyone, Tyrell's distinguished guest has arrived. Please follow me."

…………

Throne Room.

As the door behind the Iron Throne slowly opened, the Butler sang: "Meeting—the Duchess of Casterly Rock—the Protector of the Realm—the Queen Regent—Her Majesty Cersei Lannister—"

Cersei walked in front with her head held high, and the others followed behind her.

Hearing the noise, the Duke of Metz, who was standing in front of the tall narrow window, glanced at his mother who was sitting at the end of the long table in the imperial meeting, then put his hands behind his back and looked at the newcomer with a dignified look.

The Lord High Lord of the Admiralty, Count Matus Rowan (Chapter 351), rose from his chair and followed the Duke of Metz's gaze.

Cersei took her place at the other end of where Lady Olenna sat, where the King's chair was.

After the simple exchange of greetings, Cersei glanced at the old woman who was still pretending to sleep and said, "This old lady seems to have treated the royal meeting as..."

As she spoke, she sat down in the king's chair with an elegant posture, and a mocking arc appeared at the corner of her mouth: "Is Rose's bedroom here?"

Slowly opening her eyelids, Lady Olenna's cloudy eyes kept staring at her without saying a word. Cersei couldn't help but frown and said, "Perhaps, I can send you to a room with a bed, so that... at least you won't disturb me from discussing government affairs with everyone present."

Lady Olenna smiled toothlessly and said slowly, "Old women who have just woken up are always prone to making mistakes. I'm so sorry. I just thought it was my hen that woke me up. Please forgive my rashness."

How dare the old woman from Rose's family directly mock the lioness? !

Cersei's face suddenly turned gloomy, and her eyes were burning with anger. She glanced at everyone present who focused their eyes on her, and said coldly: "Is this the friendship that the Tyrells want to show me?"

Hearing the lioness's question, Lady Olenna just chuckled and said, "Does the friendship of the Lannister family mean that the Duke of Highgarden and I will respectfully wait for your arrival?"

She turned to Mace Tyrell. "Lord Highgarden, please tell me, how long have we been waiting here?"

The Duke of Metz stroked his beard, frowned unhappily, and said, "It's almost half the morning."

Lady Olenna looked back at Cersei. "My dear Queen, do you see the friendship of the Tyrells?"

Cersei moved her lips and said perfunctorily: "It seems that someone has made a mistake in the meeting time, everyone..."

Lady Olenna interrupted Cersei unceremoniously: "If someone deliberately got the time wrong, please punish that person immediately. This is a conspiracy to destroy the friendship between Tyrell and Lannister."

The Duke of Metz agreed with a sharp look: "Yes, he must be severely punished."

Cersei clenched her hands under the table. When she was about to speak, Grimm's voice rang out: "Ser Osfryd."

Hearing this, Ser Osfried, who was standing behind Cersei, glanced at the queen mother secretly, then took two steps forward, touched his chest and said, "Duke Green."

Green looked at Osforley and said, "Did you hear the request of Lady Olenna and the Duke of Mace? Please fulfill your duties as the commander-in-chief of the Golden Cloaks. Time..."

After a pause, he continued, "When the imperial meeting is over, I hope you can give us a satisfactory answer."

Seeing Ser Osfried looking at her hesitantly, Cersei cursed him as a fool and frowned, "Sir, didn't you hear Lord Green's order?"

"As you command, Your Majesty the Queen Mother, Your Excellency the Duke." After turning around and taking a few steps, Sir Osfryd came to his senses. He wondered what Duke Green was hinting at. Thinking of the distance to the dungeon... he couldn't help but quicken his pace.

"Dear Duke of Metz, please take a seat."

The Lord of Mace nodded slightly, and with his hands behind his back, he walked to the first seat on the right of Lady Olenna and sat down, while Green sat in the first chair on the right of Cersei.

After the two of them sat down, Queen Cersei raised her chin and said in a cold voice, "Everyone, please take a seat."

The others took their seats, and the first royal council after King Tommen's coronation officially began.

However...the agenda of the meeting was a constant test of the patience of those present at the time, and Green had to "admire" Cersei's willfulness.

The first was Lord Gyles, who was reappointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer by Queen Cersei. While coughing constantly, he stated the poor current situation of the royal financial revenue. With an anxious look, he expressed his deep concern about the royal debts.

Next came Grand Maester Pycelle, who shakily spent more than twice as much time as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and still hadn't finished talking about the problem of nearly half of the Crow's Nest in the Maester's Tower being empty.

His trembling voice echoed in the hall, making people feel irritated...

Jaime's brows were twisted into knots. Cersei, the mastermind of the meeting, couldn't help but interrupt and said, "Let's change the subject. I heard that..."

After a pause, she instructed the waiter to pour the wine and said, "Has the church not elected a new archbishop yet?"

Pycelle, who was about to sit down, straightened up as much as he could. His bachelor's necklace rang softly. "Your Majesty, it is said that because there are too many outstanding archbishops, they have been unable to reach a consensus."

"It's really boring..."

Cersei took a sip of her summer red and said impatiently, "Pycelle, on behalf of the Conclave, I recommend Archbishop Olidor as High Septon (Chapter 368)."

"As you command, Your Majesty the Queen Mother."

Then, Cersei's eyes moved to Lord Matus, who was sitting in the first seat to Lady Olenna's left, and said, "Next topic, my Lord Admiral, I would like to know the status of the reconstruction of the royal fleet."

Aren't we here today to discuss the alliance between the Tyrells and Lannisters? Although Lord Matus guessed that something "accident" must have happened here, he still carefully and earnestly reported to the Queen Regent on the progress of the new ship construction and sailor training.

"Next topic."

Cersei's voice fell, and then Lady Olenna's voice sounded: "Queen Lannister, when will this boring show end? You and I both know that these topics are not the theme of our gathering here at this time."

She leaned back against the chair, leaning forward slightly, the wrinkles on her face seemed to become deeper because of this action. "An old woman's body cannot compare to that of a young woman, and it is easy to stink. In order to prevent the young people who are close to me from being uncomfortable with the stink emanating from my body, I must take care of myself every day. When I was in Highgarden, once a day, occasionally twice was enough. But in King's Landing, which is full of the smell of feces and urine, I have to wash at least twice a day, preferably three times. Only in this way can I be close to others at any time."

Cersei's face showed obvious impatience, and her brows were furrowed. "What do you want to say, my lady?"

Lady Olenna's eyes were deep, and her tone was unusually kind: "This city known as the City of Kings is really unbearable for an old woman like me. This place... is not worthy of Rose's nostalgia. So, if the Queen Mother is not satisfied with the oath that Tyrell and Lannister once made, this old woman will respect your wishes and will do her best to speak well of you in the South. I, this old woman... don't want this meaningless waiting and maneuvering to continue to erode the little friendship that Tyrell and Lannister have accumulated with great difficulty."

(End of this chapter)