Aegon quietly returned to his room in the darkness, his heart unable to calm down for a long time.
This was a huge gamble, a great adventure undertaken to compensate for his foolish mistake in preventing Bran's fall and to clear away potential troubles when leaving The Wall in the future. It felt like telling another lie to cover up a previous one; although it temporarily passed muster, the danger afterward was no less than facing White Walkers: once the two sides confronted each other, he, a mere soldier who slandered and defamed a Prince, would definitely be decapitated.
Just like how Littlefinger told Catelyn that the dagger used by the assassin who attacked Bran belonged to Tyrion, Aegon was now betting that the Stark family, upon learning of this matter, would handle it discreetly rather than erupting in a big display. However, completely unlike Petyr Baelish, he created lies and suspicion not to gain an advantage in chaos, but for the situation to stabilize so he could smoothly leave The Wall, and to have a chance to survive and gradually find a way to shed his Night's Watch identity.
Given his familiarity and understanding of the plot and character personalities, his chances of winning the bet were high, but no matter how confident he was, the essence of him risking his life wouldn't change... Now, he had done what he could do. Whether he lived or died was entirely up to these great Lords above him.
If he could choose his future destiny, he hoped he would never have to rely on gambling his life to protect himself like this again.
***
Bran remained unconscious as in the original plot, and only the family of the fallen were heartbroken. For the other Winterfell residents, especially the hundreds of visitors from King's Landing, life had to go on. Aegon chose a time when few people were around to sneakily return facilities like the archery target scarecrow from the Old Inner Courtyard to the warehouse. In the following days, he stayed in his room, patiently waiting for the day of departure. After four more days passed like this, a servant brought word from Benjen—they would set off tomorrow morning, at the same time as the King and the new Hand of the King, returning to The Wall.
...
The sky was dimly lit, with fine snowflakes drifting in the air. Aegon reluctantly left his small room on the lowest floor of the guesthouse, which had 'heating' and a soft bed, and was like heaven compared to The Wall. After eating breakfast, he went to the training ground to wait.
The King was probably not awake yet, and the Lord of Winterfell and the First Ranger had not yet appeared... But the so-called assembly, of course, meant the younger and lower-ranked people arrived first to wait for these great Lords.
Five days had passed since Bran fell from the tower. Aegon felt as if he had been forgotten, not being called in for questioning or confronted by anyone, which eased his mind slightly. What made him even more relieved was that his message had been effective: he learned from a servant that guards had been added to Bran's door, keeping watch day and night. His daring adventure had achieved half its goal. Now, as long as the person who tried to assassinate Bran couldn't find an opportunity to strike, and after returning to The Wall, Tyrion successfully persuaded the Night's Watch hierarchy to let him leave to be a 'Supplies and Recruitment Officer' (material procurement officer), he would be able to leave The Wall.
Hopefully, everything goes smoothly.
...
The King and the Hand of the King's attendants and guards gradually gathered. Jon Snow also appeared and actively greeted Aegon. The young man had already decided to go North with Benjen to The Wall and join the Night's Watch. In Aegon's eyes now, he was a comrade and senior who would soon become his Black Brother. Even though he knew the other was trying his best to leave, he instinctively wanted to get closer to the latter.
"Morning," Aegon nodded to the young man. "When I was your age, I couldn't get up before it was fully light."
"Starting today, Uncle Benjen is my superior," Jon replied with a smile. "Ser Rodrik taught me to make a good impression on my new superiors."
"Indeed, that's life experience from someone who's been there. In a few years, you'll find that doing well is sometimes far less important than appearing to do well."
"Doing well is less important than appearing to do well?" Jon tilted his head in confusion. "Is there a difference between the two?"
"Sometimes there's no difference, but more often, the difference is significant."
...
A bastard and a Night's Watch member walked and chatted casually in the courtyard for a while, and before they knew it, they reached the blacksmith's shop at the South end of the training ground. Here, Jon stopped to retrieve the slender and elegant rapier he had ordered here, intending to give it to Arya.
"Such a small sword, it's for a girl, right?" Aegon asked, though he already knew the answer.
Jon wiped the small sword clean and held it up for a careful look: "Hmm, don't talk about this with others. I won't talk about what you discussed with the Little Imp either."
"Hey, you kid!" Despite still being full of worries about the future, Aegon forced a relaxed smile: "Alright, deal."
"Kid, you're going to The Wall today?" A hearty male voice suddenly came from behind them. Jaime Lannister walked over with a cheerful face, seemingly completely unaffected by Bran's fall. He was genuinely happy to finally leave Winterfell, this godforsaken place where he couldn't even find a place for a tryst.
"Yes, Lord..."
"Please convey my respect to the Night's Watch. I am grateful to have such a good group of people guarding the North for the Kingdom, saving us from the invasion of Wildlings, White Walkers, and other demons and monsters. Thank you in advance," he extended his hand to Jon. The young man hesitated for a moment, then also extended his hand and shook his.
A few seconds later, the Kingslayer extended his hand to Aegon: "And you, Otherslayer, kill a few more. Don't let those ghosts cross The Wall."
"Willing to serve," the Night's Watch member shook his hand somewhat uneasily. The other man squeezed hard, making his palm ache, and he had to use force to resist to feel a little better.
"Alright, I wish you a smooth journey." The handsome blond man finished this nonsensical act, dropped a sentence, turned around, and left without looking back.
Looking at the man's retreating back, Jon frowned slightly in dissatisfaction: "What does he mean by that?"
"What else could he mean," Aegon shrugged, knowing that Jaime was warning him to keep his mouth shut, but he had a lot on his mind now and no time to bother with this cynical nobleman: "These noble sons from the South have nothing to do all day and are so idle they're a bit neurotic."
The young man nodded, half-understanding, and took the small sword from the blacksmith's hand: "I have to go say goodbye to my brothers and sisters. Please excuse me for now."
"Yes, go."
The bastard turned and left. He grew up here, and now that he was leaving, he naturally felt reluctant to part. Compared to him, Aegon had no relatives in this city or even in this world, so he had no attachments. After wandering aimlessly for a while, he was called by the late-arriving Tyrion. He then sat leaning against the railing at the edge of the training ground with the Dwarf, chatting about more strange stories from his hometown of "China" while watching the team about to head South gradually form.
The sun was blocked by clouds, but the sky was still getting brighter and brighter. Around nine in the morning, the two most important figures finally appeared in everyone's sight. Without needing to say more, the people who were about to separate kissed and said goodbye, then resolutely mounted their horses, rode out of Winterfell through the hunter's gate, turned west onto the King's Road, and embarked on their journey.
After traveling together for a few miles, amidst the sounds of people and horses and the creaking groans of the Queen's carriage, the King's banner and caravan, knights, and free riders turned left at the first fork in the road and headed South. Aegon, along with Benjen Stark and his nephew Jon, as well as Tyrion and his two guards, turned North.
The half-month of life in Winterfell, with its food and drink, as well as its excitements and accidents, ended here. Waiting for the two Night's Watch members to return was the still intact Wall, and the army of the dead North of the high Wall, which had grown immeasurably larger during this time.
—
[T/N: I gave you 9 chapters today because I wasn't able to update y'all for 2 days straight. I dunno why but webnovel often goes down for some reason.
Anyways, if you've made it this far, then the story must be pretty compelling for you as it was for me. If you don't mind giving a few donations, you can do it via PayP@l to @margxsch. ([email protected]/margxsch) Thanks for reading!]