Chapter 122: Edmure's Wedding

After capturing Jaime again outside Golden Tooth, Robb brought this Lannister to the city walls to demand they open the gates, but was refused by the noble in charge.

This noble in charge was Arthur's distant cousin, Janos Bracken.

After presenting the Kingslayer to Kevan, this man had remained with the Westerlands detachment.

After the detachment was defeated by Robb in a night raid outside The Twins, a large number of Westerlands nobles and Knights fell into the hands of the Northmen. With Kevan retreating to the Westerlands and Jaime captured once more, Janos had instead become the highest-ranking noble among the Westerlands Army guarding Golden Tooth.

To show his surrender, Kevan had always treated Janos the same as the great counts of the Westerlands, so after Jaime was captured, he took over command of Golden Tooth.

An unwritten rule of war among the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms is not to kill high-ranking noble captives, so Jaime was naturally in no danger of his life. Thus, Janos naturally refused to open the gates, ensuring Golden Tooth remained in the hands of the Westerlands Army.

This infuriated the Young Wolf, who immediately ordered the decorated Arthur to be named Count of Stone Hedge to spite Janos.

At first glance, after killing The Mountain and holding Harrenhal and the Ruby Ford crossing, there was nothing wrong with Arthur receiving this reward.

But the problem was that the legitimate Count of Stone Hedge, Janos, was still alive, as were his legal heirs, Jeyne and her four sisters, and the heir he had been cultivating, Hendry.

This was very awkward.

"From now on, in the North and the He Jian Wang Guo, you are Count Bracken."

Patrick, who had returned to Harrenhal with the Eastern Allied Forces, leaned in and raised his right hand to pat Arthur on the shoulder.

"Don't mess around. The Sworn Knights and subordinate minor nobles of Stone Hedge won't recognize me; they only recognize Janos, to whom they have sworn their oaths."

Janos's defection to the Westerlands camp only drew condemnation from within the Fish-Wolf Alliance; in the eyes of nobles from the other five kingdoms, this was a perfectly normal act of choosing a side.

Because great nobles are actually dual vassals: they are both vassals to the Warden family and vassals to the King, and have sworn oaths to both.

Therefore, after a conflict arises between the King and the Warden family, the local great nobles can fight for the King, fight for the Warden family, or, like the House Frey at the beginning of the War of the Five Kings, wait for the best offer.

None of this violates their oaths.

If it were just a war between the Riverlands and the Westerlands, Janos's behavior would certainly be looked down upon, but when Tywin led his army into the Riverlands, he had already become the Hand of the King, theoretically representing the King in battle.

So Janos's actions only disgusted the Riverlanders; they did not violate the basic rules of noble conduct.

"I have an idea." The fat Wylis Manderly tapped his massive head. "Since Janos's five daughters are all at Riverrun, after we head west to attend Edmure's wedding, Arthur, you can simply marry a pretty one and then legitimately inherit Stone Hedge."

This was also a path.

According to the rules of Westeros, daughters also have the right of inheritance, but because women have no advantage in war, female Jiaodu are often uncommon.

If a Jiaodu has daughters but no sons, the common practice is to pick a shrewd and capable nephew to inherit the family.

If there are no nephews, a son-in-law who marries into the family often works too.

One King of the Rock was a son-in-law of the Lannisters; after changing his surname, he inherited Casterly Rock and the Xi Jing Wang Guo.

During Aegon the Conqueror's conquest, even after Orys Baratheon defeated the Storm King, he had to marry a daughter of the Storm King and continue the Storm King's coat of arms and house words to stabilize the Stormlands.

According to the plot of the original work, after the Battle of the Blackwater, Kevan's son Lancel received Darry, but he also had to marry Amerei Frey, the heir of the extinct House Darry, to securely become the Count of Darry.

This Amerei is the daughter of Merrett Frey and Mariya Darry, and is known as "Gatehouse Ami" because she is willing to open her legs for any Knight who approaches her. She is quite a match for Lancel, who has become a Sparrow and practices celibacy.

Wylis's suggestion was approved by several of the older men.

But someone objected, "I think Lord Arthur should be allowed to choose who to marry himself, rather than us making the decision for him here."

Sansa, who had changed into a purple-grey slim-fitting robe, expressed her opinion at the right moment.

After returning to the Northmen, she no longer coiled her hair into the buns popular among southern noblewomen, but returned to the habit of wearing her hair loose as she did at Winterfell.

This allowed Sansa's long, auburn, wavy hair to hang down to her waist and hips, and combined with her slender and graceful figure, she looked extremely beautiful.

Arthur also said, "Right, my marriage is not urgent. What was that Wylis just said about heading north to Riverrun and Edmure's wedding?"

He had noticed this remark and hoped someone could resolve his confusion.

"I forgot to explain it to you." Wylis slapped his massive head hard. "Lord Edmure's previous arrow wounds hadn't fully healed when he led men to intercept Tywin's main Westerlands force; this naturally had no effect, and instead added several new wounds. Now everyone is saying he might not live much longer, so House Frey wants to fulfill the marriage contract early and have Edmure marry a Frey."

Patrick added with a hint of disdain, "I heard that after Edmure was seriously injured again, House Frey went crazy and sent the dowry and old Walder's daughter directly to Riverrun, then had the Tullys send out invitations everywhere, preparing to hold the wedding. Lord Edmure is truly unlucky; judging by old Walder's appearance, can the women of House Frey be good-looking?"

Patrick was a fan of good looks, so he cared very much about whether they were attractive.

"The weasel's little schemes!" The arrogant Robett snorted heavily through his nose. "They just saw the flaws in the line of succession at Riverrun, which is why their greed is so ugly."

Arthur thought about it; what House Frey did was indeed unseemly.

In a normal marriage, how could one rush to send the bride and dowry over while the groom was still seriously injured?

The reason they were so urgent was that they believed Edmure was about to die.

Except for Dorne, the other six kingdoms all place sons ahead of all daughters in the line of succession.

So after Duke Hoster died, his only son Edmure was the undisputed Jiaodu of the Tullys and Riverrun Protector.

Only after Edmure, his wife, and any potential children were all gone would it be Catelyn's turn to inherit Riverrun with her children, and then Lysa's turn with her son, Robin Arryn, who was also the heir to The Vale.

If Edmure married but didn't have time to make a final effort to leave an heir for the Tullys, then Riverrun would be managed by Edmure's wife, just like Harrenhal is now.

"Speaking of the line of succession, I suddenly thought, is the inheritance of Harrenhal also in Edmure's hands? If so, then House Frey has really made a killing."

Herman Tallhart's serious face remained as always as he raised another important question.

"That is the case." Lady Whent was already very old, so she sat in the main seat of the Hall of a Hundred Hearths listening to the group chat, only interjecting when the topic related to her.

Duke Hoster's wife came from House Whent.

In a situation where the main branch of her family had basically passed away, it was the married-off daughters and their children who held the right of inheritance.

Although old Walder had also married a Whent, she was ranked after Duke Hoster's wife.

"In other words, the weasel only had to marry off a daughter to gain claims to the two best castles in the Riverlands, tsk tsk tsk!"

Robett's head tilted high, and he made a sound of disdain.

But everyone understood clearly that his disdain was laced with obvious envy and jealousy.

"I will never allow such a thing to happen." Lady Whent usually spoke very gently, but this time her volume was very loud.

It seemed she was also angered by House Frey's actions.

After all, this was truly the behavior of someone preying on a dying house.

"Richard, go call Maester Tothmudd and those Septons over. I want to designate my heir in front of all the lords and the gods above."

At this moment, Lady Whent was very bold; with a wave of her old hand, her servant went to carry out the task.

"My Lady, you are..." the fat Willis blinked, puzzled.

"I intend to name Sansa as my heir, to inherit Harrenhal and the earldom after my death."

These words stirred some commotion.

By rights, Lady Hoster's three children all had rights of inheritance, usually choosing a male, namely the severely wounded Edmure and his betrothed Frey wife.

If Lady Whent designated Sansa Stark, then Harrenhal would have nothing to do with House Frey.

Such a matter of bypassing the normal heir to designate someone favored by the Jiaodu to inherit the family estate was not common, but it was not impossible.

In the original story, while in the Westerlands, Robb had once made a will, naming Jon Snow, who had already become a member of the Night's Watch, as his heir.

Sansa immediately waved her hands, "How can this be? I am only a woman, and in these chaotic times, I fear I cannot hold onto your estate."

Harrenhal was the largest castle in the Riverlands; although its fiefdom had been reduced, if managed with care, it was enough to make its master the hegemon of the Sanhe.

"Then I shall designate a powerful and upright noble to help you guard it until you come of age," Lady Whent said, her mind seemingly made up.

She turned to Arthur, "You once led troops to rescue me, a dying person, while my nephew Edmure cowered in Riverrun and would not come out; from that moment, I determined you were worthy of trust. Now that I am not long for this world, and my heir is a weak girl, I request that you help manage and protect Harrenhal and the subjects under its rule until Sansa Stark marries, or until she believes she can handle this earldom herself."

These two are quite a match, Lady Whent thought.

Due to some of Edmure's actions, as well as the weasel-like conduct of House Frey, she was determined to let Catelyn Stark's children inherit Harrenhal.

The reason she chose Sansa was because among the five children born to Lady Stark, only Sansa was currently before her.

And Sansa's auburn hair often reminded her of her own husband and sons.

Because this hair color was one of the hallmarks of House Whent.

"No problem, my Lady," Arthur agreed readily.

He was in need of a large territory to develop; although the Young Wolf had enfeoffed Stone Hedge to him, Arthur had no roots there.

This was the same logic as Littlefinger in the original story, who obtained Harrenhal and the Riverrun Protector title but never went to the Riverlands to develop, only growing his power in the Vale and the Eyrie where he had roots.

At present, the great war was spreading through the Riverlands, so Lady Whent allowed Arthur to use Harrenhal.

But this permission also applied to all Riverlands nobles and allies.

Now with this matter settled, Arthur could openly manage Harrenhal and collect the necessary supplies and manpower from the entire earldom.

Although a large number of farmers had fled to safe places, quite a few still chose to stay behind. Making good use of this group was no small help.

Old Maester Tothmudd and groups of Septons, including the High Sparrow, soon arrived.

Under the joint witness of the Maester, the Seven-gods Septons, and the nobles of the North and the Riverlands, Sansa Stark became Lady Whent's heir, and Arthur became the temporary manager of Harrenhal and its associated territories.

"Manager" Arthur became the third title of Bracken.

He had previously held the two titles of "Justice" and "Brave," but they were only passed down by word of mouth among the commoners.

The title of "Manager" was quite suitable for circulation among the nobles.

After the brief ceremony ended, the old Maester and the Septons left, and the nobles were still discussing when to set off for Riverrun to attend the wedding.

After Robb ordered the Dong Xian coalition to fight against the small units of the Westerlands forces executing a scorched-earth policy, Willis and the other two joint commanders dispersed the 8,000 troops from House Bolton, House Frey, House Stark, and others to fight in the eastern lake region, the western river region, and other parts of the Riverlands, intending to eliminate the scattered Westerlands forces that lacked a numerical advantage.

Robett and Herman Tallhart remained here because the soldiers burned by fire needed to rest and recover from their wounds, so they stayed for a period of time.

Of course, the fall of House Tallhart's Torrhen's Square and House Glover's Deepwood Motte was also one of the reasons these men remained here.

They were thinking of taking these two thousand-plus Northern soldiers directly north to recover their homeland.

Willis was also preparing to head north with them, so as to obtain reinforcements from White Harbor—the continent-renowned White Harbor Cavalry were all sitting idle on House Manderly's lands.

It was just that Robb had fought deep into the Westerlands and could not reply to these men's requests in time, so they were delayed for a while.

Fortunately, Edmure's wedding would bring most of the Fish-Wolf Alliance nobles together, and Robb would also send people to Riverrun to offer congratulations and update orders—he was locked in a stalemate with Tywin, Kevan, and others in the Westerlands and could not pull himself away to the western Riverlands—at that time, these nobles who wanted to go north would know what to do.

"It is a pity that King Robb cannot attend this wedding," Robett said, shaking his head.

Others did not know what he was regretting.

"He will attend the wedding," Arthur said.

Only this wedding was not Edmure's, but Robb's own.

"Then we shall depart tomorrow, head north first, and then take a boat upstream along the Red Fork," Herman Tallhart concluded.

The crowd had no objections, and the matter was thus decided.

Then, one thing left them all stunned.

A dragon hatchling was flying in through the gate of the Hall of a Hundred Hearths, flapping its wings toward Arthur among the crowd.

Lady Whent blinked her eyes and said, "I must be senile; I actually thought I saw a dragon."

Robett echoed her, "Me too; I almost thought it was a dragon. Perhaps my recent worry over Deepwood Motte has made me delirious."

Willis rubbed his eyes with his fat hands, and after confirming the illusion was still there, "Why am I also seeing things? That dragon's phantom is still in my eyes."

Sansa opened her alluring little mouth, and it took a long time before she uttered, "I think that really is a dragon."

The dragon hatchling flapped its disproportionately large wings and landed accurately on Arthur's shoulder.

"Everyone, this is indeed a dragon hatchling," Arthur carefully stroked Alduin's dragon head and explained to the crowd.

Then he gave a detailed "explanation" of how Joffrey had fled to the Kingswood and been gored to death by a wild boar, as well as about this dragon hatchling that had flown out from who knows where.

"Coincidentally, this dragon and I have a bond; it had been circling in the Kingswood, and then as soon as it saw me, it flew onto my shoulder, asking for a hug."

Bracken said this to the crowd.

There was no need to explain such things in great detail; letting them guess the dragon's origin themselves was actually more persuasive than Arthur saying it himself.

The crowd was spooked by the appearance of the dragon.

Having been dominated by House Targaryen for three hundred years, they knew very well what a dragon meant.

(End of this chapter)