"Marriage should be decided by one's parents," Margaery forced a smile again, suppressing the frustration in her chest. "Let's not talk about this, Lord Aegon. The lords of the League of the Righteous have all been captured. Since Your Majesty ordered you to accompany the army, he likely has no intention of killing them. How do you think they will be dealt with?"
How could the Night's Watch possibly influence such matters? Margaery seemed to be asking Aegon, but she was actually asking Barristan. She wasn't particularly interested in this information, but having just answered a question from the old Kingsguard, driven by the instinct not to be taken advantage of, she unconsciously wanted to ask a question in return. Information that seemed useless sometimes turned out to be of great use, her grandmother said so.
"Needless to say, the main culprits, besides a few Earls who led the rebellion, among the accomplices—about a dozen knights who commanded soldiers to guard the Bloody Gate and block the army suppressing the rebellion will be sentenced to take the black," the Kingsguard Captain said. This was confidential, but facing a Night's Watch officer and a Tyrell lady who would know the news sooner or later, there was no need to remain silent. "As for the castles that were captured, as long as the original owners are willing to admit the head of the family's treason and offer hostages, they will generally be returned to them—of course, the size of their fiefs will be greatly reduced. The land awarded to the Blackfish and other meritorious officials today was all taken from the rebels."
...
Being forgiven for rebellion was almost unimaginable under the centralized dynasties of ancient China, but on the Westeros Continent in the Ice and Fire World, this plan was discussed and everyone agreed it was the most "appropriate" way to handle it! This strange situation, where politics still involved personal feelings and reason, was quite characteristic of the Ice and Fire World.
The lenient punishment was actually influenced by many factors. First was Littlefinger's escape; his flight was an admission that the rumors were true, so the League of the Righteous, whose rebellion was "justified and well-founded," naturally gained sympathy and support from many sides.
Secondly, punishments like executing the entire family and implicating nine generations were simply ineffective in this feudal lord era. The great alliance of the Stag, Wolf, Fish, and Falcon had been forming for decades, from its initial stages to today. During this time, these important families in the Vale had intermarried with the Stark, Tully, and Baratheon families to varying degrees. To implicate them without limit... Tsk, after a bloodbath, there might not be a single noble left in Westeros.
These were the explanations Aegon thought of for Robert, but the deepest and most important reason was likely that these families in the Vale had contributed and shed blood for Robert during the War of the Dragon's Fall, and the King himself did not want to exterminate them completely.
The sound of breaking cups and plates came from inside the large tent where the "wedding" was being held, whether it was due to excessive revelry or an accident... Although Robert had two other Kingsguard with him, Barristan was still worried. Lifting the wine jug and draining the remaining liquid, the old man who had completed the "task" assigned by the King excused himself to Aegon and Margaery, then returned to the tent, his hand on his sword hilt.
Only a single man and woman were left by the bench, but there was no romantic atmosphere.
As the Highgarden Flower, Margaery naturally wouldn't warm up to Aegon's cold shoulder, and being disheartened at the moment, she had no desire to continue chatting and probing. She glanced at the Night's Watchman and decided to return to her tent to sleep. "Chief Logistics Officer, you are busy with many affairs. I will not bother you further. I will stay in King's Landing for a few days before returning to Highgarden. I will visit the Office then and get a glimpse of the legendary Night's Watch Industry."
Aegon breathed a sigh of relief: "I look forward to your visit, my lady."
With her head held high, she turned and left without looking back, her movements seemingly elegant and graceful, but Margaery's heart was in a tangled mess. She had originally thought of becoming Queen, but now it seemed she might not even be able to keep the position of a Lord's wife. Jaime Lannister, as a Kingsguard, could not marry; Lord Arryn was still young and seriously ill, not expected to live long; Renly Baratheon was close to Loras, and since one The Knight of Flowers was enough to win over the Lord of the Stormlands, offering herself to make them siblings was clearly a huge waste... Could it be that, besides getting into Edmure Tully's bed, she could no longer make any other contribution to her family?
Getting into bed was originally the ultimate move her grandmother taught her, with immense destructive power. Queen of Thorns had become a Tyrell daughter-in-law precisely with this move... But using this move on Edmure Tully carried significant risk—what if he held a grudge for her previous coldness and rejection and drove her out, which would completely lose the last bit of dignity she had as the Highgarden Flower!
As the most beloved youngest daughter of the Tyrell family, when had Margaery ever experienced the awkward feeling of hitting walls everywhere and no one wanting to take her in even when she offered herself? In the dim firelight and the night, tears of unwillingness and humiliation shimmered in the girl's eyes. She quickened her pace and quickly disappeared from the Night's Watchman's sight.
***
The farce caused by the runaway rumor finally subsided after raging in the Vale for nearly two months. A piece of paper caused a war, and Aegon's understanding of "the terrible power of words" reached a new height.
However, with the end of the rebellion in the Vale and Littlefinger's escape, the power of the story Aegon had concocted was finally exhausted—the rumor was most powerful when it was constantly spreading and fermenting, but once it became a fact, it quickly softened and disappeared from people's sight like a deflated ball.
After all, no matter how terrifying a rumor was, it was at best a wild beast. Compared to a man-eating monster like war, it immediately seemed harmless to humans and animals.
The day after the victory feast, the eighty thousand strong army dispersed like birds and beasts, each returning to their homes and mothers—those who survived were content to embark on the road back to farming, leaving only over a thousand elite soldiers from the Crownlands and the Vale still stationed at the foot of the Eyrie mountain, waiting for Lysa to come to her senses or run out of provisions before opening the city gates and descending the mountain.
The King gathered the armies of the Six Kingdoms to deal with your rebellious vassals. Even if you had no problem, you should at least show up to express your gratitude and loyalty... Not to mention that there are indeed problems now? Jon Arryn was Hand of the King for over ten years, how many people's interests were tied to him? As his wife, you poisoned him for sleeping with another man. Even if Robert doesn't pursue this, the other families won't let it go just like that.
Among the founders and core members of the League of the Righteous, the rebel leaders in Robert's words, except for Countess Anya Waynwood who was ordered by Robert to be imprisoned in the Red Keep dungeons because she was a woman, the remaining twenty-odd people were sentenced not to be ransomed and had to take the black. With so many nobles filling the Night's Watch, the difficulty of Jeor Mormont's lack of available men will certainly be greatly alleviated... Aegon completely handed this matter over to Yoren to handle. With Robert allocating a troop of soldiers to "escort" them to the Castle Black, it is likely that the Crow can manage this matter.
This farce was indeed quite large, and there were many trivial matters to wrap it up, but these were all unrelated to the Night's Watch. The day after the victory feast ended, Aegon took his young attendant and, along with the soldiers from the Six Kingdoms who were sent home, passed through the dilapidated and under-repair Bloody Gate once again, embarking on the road out of the Vale of Arryn.
After traveling lightly for a few days, Aegon returned to the bustling and "lively" Seven Kingdoms, winding through familiar yet unfamiliar roads, and arrived at the door of the "Night's Watch Office" he had created himself.
—