Jaehaerys separated from the Dornish as they entered the rock. The maze-like tunnels required them to be guided. Serena left with her family, while Sarella seemed to want to talk to the prince.
The prince was surprised that Tywin allowed Oberyn's bastard daughters to walk around his castle as if nothing had happened; one would think he would not allow such "dishonor" to his house.
"Prince, Lord Tywin wishes to see you," a squire sent for him. The boy had given him bread and salt, an insult to the royal family. Jaehaerys didn't mind; he wasn't planning to be so polite.
The boy had golden hair, like most things he had encountered since entering the castle.
"Fine," Jaehaerys entered the rock to find him after all; he did not plan to be a guest in the castle. "Lead the way, boy," he now traveled with two Unsullied and two knights. The rest of his men had gone to Lannisport; entering with such a large number of soldiers was impossible.
Jaehaerys walked through the damn maze for what seemed like hours. He could understand why it was such a complicated fortress to take, even with dragons.
If Jaehaerys had to take the castle... he wouldn't. He would melt every one of its entrances, leaving them no room to escape. Tywin had finished off the Reyne in much the same way.
Soon, after climbing the entire mountain, he reached Lord Tywin's manor. Two soldiers guarding outside looked at the prince's men with suspicion. The young squire knocked on the door, and a simple "Come in" was the reply.
Jaehaerys opened the door.
The office was quite spacious, with a vast window that allowed natural light to enter. The rest was upholstered in gold. Every armchair, bookshelf, desk, even the cups and jugs, were shining gold.
'Even Tywin's clothes have gold on them,' he thought, looking at the man.
Tywin hadn't turned to look at him. His head was bald, with only two horrible sideburns that Jaehaerys could only attribute to the man's desire to appear unpleasant.
Seeing Tywin's lack of desire to talk, a stupid need to control the conversation, Jaehaerys went to the bookshelves to take a book. Most of them were about finance. Although he found one on metallurgy, he took it to read. His reverberatory furnaces and blast furnaces were ready and had been tested before he left ArgentStone.
The prince read silently, sitting down in a padded chair near the window.
"Did you come for the gold?" asked Tywin Lannister.
Jaehaerys did not answer, simply turning the page. He had already read twenty pages before Tywin decided he was worthy of his time, and he would not interrupt his reading for the man. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Tywin, his face hard as stone.
Tywin continued to review and sign documents, trying to ignore the prince's indifference.
Meanwhile, Jaehaerys read the entire book. He didn't know how long it took him, probably an hour or two. It wasn't too long, and Jaehaerys was a reasonably fast reader.
The book didn't teach him much that was new, although it was pretty advanced for its time. He looked out the window and saw the sun beginning to set.
"I was hoping to find Jaime to offer my condolences on the death of his wife," said the prince. He meant it; Jaime was a man he respected to a certain extent.
Tywin hesitated for a moment, his pen still moving across the paper, but he knew that if he didn't answer now, the prince would probably leave.
"Lysa left a legacy to protect," Tywin said coldly.
"Ah, yes. Little Tommen had no noticeable Lannister features—a boy with reddish-brown hair and gray-green eyes. I remember Lord Coin's eyes were the same color," he said, watching Tywin tense for a second before ignoring his words.
Jaehaerys wanted to occupy Lord Lannister's mind with other things. But it seemed that Tywin knew how to discern the time and place for every action. He did not ask about Baelish, as many other lords might have done.
"A strong heir," Tywin lowered his pen to look at the prince.
"Of course," Jaehaerys had heard about the boy's frailty; some said he barely survived. "You wanted to talk, let's talk," he changed the subject with ease.
The prince left the book on the shelf before taking a seat in a neatly carved wooden chair in front of Tywin's desk. He found the seat uncomfortable. He got up and, pushing the chair aside, took the sofa he had been sitting on before and placed it in front of Tywin. The latter looked at him with dead eyes, without intervening.
"Lord Stark will arrive tomorrow," Tywin said as if that were all.
Jaehaerys found it curious how the man always seemed to speak with a period at the end of his sentences.
"Ah, yes, I have unfinished business with my adoptive father," the prince said, unconcerned.
"And with your bastard daughter," the man said bluntly.
"Yes, with my daughter, Rhaelle." He didn't like his daughter to be called a bastard. "I suppose I should thank you, because if it weren't for your warning, my daughter could have ended up in unwanted hands," Jaehaerys said, in a passive-aggressive tone.
"I have decided that Sansa will make a good wife for Tyrion," the man surprised Jaehaerys this time.
Jaehaerys had hoped that Sansa would be betrothed to Jaime, not counting his intervention, of course.
"I remember that Tyrion is married," the prince said. "A smallfolk girl named Tysha," he said, looking the man straight in the eye. Tywin held his gaze, only raising his nose slightly in the air.
"An opportunist who took advantage of a fool," Tywin said.
"A marriage in the eyes of the gods does not discriminate between commoners and lords," the prince expressed, enjoying Tywin's face. The man was much better than he had expected.
Jaehaerys had heard of the girl in his previous life and in this one. In his last life, Tywin had had a group of soldiers rape her in front of Tyrion, making her pass for a prostitute hired by Jaime to deflower the imp. In the end, Tyrion left a gold coin for the woman before being the last man to rape her.
In this world, Tywin's hand had been stopped by the kinder Joanna Lannister, who was still alive.
The woman ordered the girl to be whipped twenty times before expelling her from Westeros, and no one knows the woman's fate. Joanna might seem like a pleasant woman at first glance, but she was as ruthless as Tywin when necessary.
When Cersei and Jaime were discovered practicing incest as children, a maid discovered them and notified Lady Joanna. The maid died on the orders of the lady of Casterly Rock.
"Invalid marriage, I made sure of that," Tywin had hidden that story too well, although he was not too surprised that the prince knew about it.
"I don't care. After all, it's not just what you, Mighty Tywin, want; Lord Stark's opinion matters more than yours," the prince said. "Although I must admit I expected us to talk about other things, not like gossiping ladies talking about marriages and nonsense of that sort," the prince leaned back in his chair.
"Sansa's impending union with Tyrion comes with a small problem," Tywin continued.
"Ah... if it has many problems, it shouldn't happen at all." Jaehaerys shrugged.
"Rhaelle Snow will be raised at Casterly Rock. The king has already given his consent. So as not to dishonor my son, your offspring will be given the Targaryen surname and the right to inherit a dragon egg," Tywin said expressionlessly.
"Ah... no. My daughter will be raised at Argentstone. After I speak with Lord Stark, I will leave with her." He did not include Sansa among the people he would take with him, although he did not plan to take her away from his daughter.
"It is cruel to take a mother away from her daughter," Tywin had a feeble grasp of morality.
"Cruel? Coming from the one who paid to every bard to sing 'The Rains of Castamere,' that's quite surprising," Jaehaerys stood up. "The sun is setting, and I need to leave. My men must have already found a suitable mansion to keep my men and Serena, as my ward must remain by my side," he said. Tywin did not seem at all surprised.
"You'd better leave as soon as possible. The roads from Casterly Rock tend to become dangerous at night," Tywin said with a hint of anger. He lit a candle, illuminating his desk, and picked up a quill.
"Ah... that's just your inability to keep your castle safe. I have a good ability because I know incompetent men like you exist," Jaehaerys scoffed. "I hope there are no problems during the tournament," he said, looking down at the man. "My daughter... if you touch her, I will end your lineage."
Jaehaerys walked away, hearing the sound of the pen in Mighty Tywin's hands break.