Sansa looked at Marg blankly, and Lynd's face also showed a thoughtful expression.
"I guess Lady Catelyn probably doesn't know yet that she still has two sons alive, and they are at the Wall. In Lady Catelyn's eyes, all the male Starks are dead, and among the daughters, Arya is missing, her fate unknown. Only you, Sansa, are alive. You are the only heir of the Stark." Marg analyzed seriously, "Although you are under Lord Lynd's protection and are not in danger, Lord Lynd will certainly not interfere in matters concerning the heir of Winterfell. So whether you can inherit Winterfell is still an unknown."
Saying that, she picked up her glass and took a sip of juice, then continued, "Among the two strongest noble forces in the entire North right now, one is Daisy Mormont of Bear Island, and the other is Roose Bolton. Lord Manderly of White Harbor is far behind them. So only by gaining the support of either of these two can Sansa possibly become the Duchess of Winterfell."
Sansa immediately shook her head and retorted, "That's not right! If that's the case, Mother should have chosen Lady Daisy! Lady Daisy's loyalty is beyond reproach, and she even avenged Robb. Mother should trust Lady Daisy more, there's no way she would choose to marry Roose Bolton!"
Marg nodded and said, "Indeed, under normal circumstances, she should have chosen Lady Daisy Mormont, but something happened in between that might have caused Lady Catelyn to change her mind and choose an extreme path to marry Lord Roose Bolton."
After speaking, she pointedly looked at Lynd.
And Lynd, too, thought of something because of Marg's words and said, "Is it because of Storms End and Dragonstone?"
Marg nodded.
At this moment, Sansa, who was already very intelligent, also understood what Marg wanted to express, saying, "Mother felt that if she chose to gain Daisy's support, then Winterfell would also be annexed by Lord Lynd, just like Storms End. That's why she chose to gain Roose Bolton's support and married Roose Bolton."
"Yes." Marg sighed and said, "I think Lady Catelyn must have completely panicked because of Robb's death and lost her ability to think normally, because if she could think normally, she would realize that even without Daisy, Lord Lynd could completely annex Winterfell and the North through you, making you a puppet, or even directly letting Daisy occupy Winterfell is not impossible. At that time, who would dare to object, and who would have the ability to object?"
Sansa was silent for a long time, then suddenly asked, puzzled, "But what's in it for Roose Bolton?"
Before Marg could speak, Lynd gave the answer, "Roose Bolton is probably aiming for Riverrun."
"Riverrun?" Sansa was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized that with Edmure Tully's death, Riverrun had also lost its male heir. And now, the only people eligible to inherit the Riverrun title and lands were the Tully sisters and Blackfish Brynden.
However, Blackfish Brynden had publicly broken with Lord Hoster a long time ago and established his own house, so he no longer had the right to inherit the Tully family. Among the two Tully sisters, Catelyn Tully's right of inheritance was definitely above Lysa Tully's. Therefore, as long as he married Catelyn and then manipulated things, Roose Bolton could use Catelyn to usurp the position and make his descendants the masters of Riverrun.
"Roose Bolton's descendants becoming the Lord of Riverrun?" Not only Marg found this incredibly absurd, but even Sansa's face showed a strange expression.
It could be said that among the Riverlands, from lords and nobles down to common folk, the most hated person was not Lord Tywin, who started the war and allowed his subordinates to plunder the Riverlands, but Roose Bolton, who breached the riverbanks and flooded the Riverlands.
And now, Roose Bolton had the chance to become their liege lord, which made the people of the Riverlands feel incredibly awkward. The mere thought of such a scenario was amusing.
Clearly, Lord Tywin must have realized this as well, and he further perceived the benefits of this matter for himself, as an unstable Riverlands aligned with his interests.
Thus, an edict of reward and punishment from the Iron Throne was proclaimed to the Seven Kingdoms: Catelyn Tully became the Duchess of Riverrun and Lady Paramount of the Riverlands, with her and Roose Bolton's descendants as the legal heirs to the next Lord of Riverrun; Littlefinger Petyr Baelish became the Lord of Harrenhal; Sansa Stark became the Duchess of Winterfell and Lady Paramount of the North; Lord Robert Arryn, the Lord of the Eyrie in the Vale, was entrusted to Lord Yohn Royce of Runestone for upbringing until he came of age to inherit the Eyrie and its title; and Lysa Tully was to immediately choose a noble to marry and then move out of the Eyrie.
In addition, there were also rewards and punishments for a series of lords and nobles in the Riverlands, Crownlands, Vale, and North. In short, this edict of reward and punishment from the Iron Throne threw the entire territory north of the Blackwater River into chaos.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right nobut who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/TripleCrown
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"