Chapter 163: Sansa's Plea for Mercy

Harrenhal, kitchen.

This was a massive building with a vaulted ceiling, said to be as large as the Great Hall of Winterfell; over a dozen stoves were distributed along the walls, while the center of the room held long tables piled with various raw meats and vegetables.

At this moment, dozens of old serving women and menials were picking through the kitchen stoves, searching for the good things the cooks had saved for themselves.

Because today was the day the master of the castle was getting married, Lady Stark allowed the servants to come and go from the kitchen freely to take some food they liked. The meals prepared for the nobles had already been sent to the vicinity of the garden, and the remaining food was left for these people to finish.

Wearing a brown tunic, dark gray trousers, and soft leather boots, Sandor Clegane followed behind the serving women, preparing to find some chicken legs to eat.

After he was saved by Septon Meribald, he had followed the old septon to build a small wooden sept. Halfway through the construction, the old septon was conscripted by the nobles, and then they traveled by boat from the Gods Eye to Harrentown, and then to Harrenhal, where he began chanting scriptures all day long, praying for the souls of the blood-stained dead.

Perhaps fearing that Sandor would continue to degenerate, Septon Meribald also brought Sandor here, letting Clegane follow him in reciting The Seven-Pointed Star and various prayers.

Sandor naturally refused to recite scriptures; he only followed the old septon around, and then ate a free meal of the good food in the castle.

During the time he followed the old septon to build the small sept, he hadn't even smelled a single chicken leg and had long been craving it, so today he prepared to have a big meal.

"Hey, a pot of cold brown soup, which fool cooked this stuff for the masters?" A serving woman in front lifted a small pot, took a look, and then covered it again.

She described this pot of soup as brown soup, but in reality, the two were worlds apart.

Flea Bottom in King's Landing produced a type of delicacy very popular among the poor: brown soup.

Its preparation method was exceptionally simple: dump everything edible into a pot and start boiling until the ingredients turned into a paste.

In a certain Blue Star, this kind of one-pot stew was sometimes called broth, and in a certain mysterious place, it was called stewed offal.

We old Beijingers just love this stuff, thick and gooey, that's what you call authentic.

Lick half a circle around the edge of the bowl, smack your lips, and give a thumbs up. jpg

Back to the story.

Due to the richness and randomness of the ingredients, brown soup became a delicacy with an extremely high ceiling and an extremely low floor. Sometimes, a diner could even find authentic claypot rice in it.

Therefore, as soon as the serving woman saw the soup in this state, she covered the pot and walked away.

Sandor's nose twitched, and he keenly smelled the scent of chicken wafting from the pot.

He stopped, preparing to pick up this pot and finish it off first.

The serving woman behind him also wanted to see what was in the pot and shouted, "Where did this country bumpkin come from? Don't you know the rules? You have to let us old hands in the castle see it first before it's your turn to choose!"

The person speaking was an old maid who had served Lady Whent; although she was also just a servant doing rough work, she was full of superiority in front of the unfamiliar faces in the castle.

Sandor lifted the pot from the stove, didn't say a word, and just turned his head to glare, which made the shouting old maid shut her mouth.

His height was only half a head shorter than his older brother, The Mountain, and coupled with that terrifying, burned face, his whole person looked extremely intimidating.

The old maid was a bit arrogant, but not a fool; she knew she couldn't afford to provoke such a person, so she shut her mouth and quietly walked away.

With no one to disturb him, Sandor carried the pot to a corner of the large kitchen, threw the lid aside, and without using a bowl or ladle, reached directly into the cold soup with his hand, grabbed a piece of meat, and brought it to his mouth.

It really was chicken!

As Sandor chewed, the meat juices collided passionately with the taste buds on his tongue, and then entered Clegane's esophagus along with saliva and shredded chicken, filling the void in his stomach.

Truly delicious!

"About half a chicken, not enough to be full."

After fishing another piece of meat out of the pot, "The Chicken Leg Destroyer" Sandor reached this conclusion.

But it didn't matter, finish eating these first.

In three or four minutes, he had finished all the meat and poured all the thick soup into his mouth.

Afterward, Sandor snatched a pig's trotter from the hand of a manservant, and while gnawing on it, scanned for his next prey.

Seeing this, some of the people in the kitchen immediately slipped out with the food in their hands, and most of the rest stayed far away from Sandor.

After finding a few fried fish, he finally filled half his stomach.

For the other half, Sandor prepared to try his luck in the garden.

The wedding banquet for the Riverlands King and Lady Stark was being held there.

Come to think of it, since arriving at Harrenhal, Sandor hadn't met Lady Stark yet, so he decided to put on some makeup to avoid being recognized.

After beautifying his face with stove ash, he covered most of his features with his hair and walked toward the south side of the castle.

Harrenhal garden, the Riverlands King and Queen Sansa, having finished the first half of the wedding ceremony, were receiving congratulatory gifts from their vassals.

Because the wedding came too suddenly and they were still at war, the nobles' gifts were more or less unworthy of their status.

Arthur I already possessed a Valyrian Steel Sword, "Lady Forlorn," and a dragonbone Valyrian steel dagger, so the gifts from the Jiaodus were not weapons, but primarily decorative items and books, along with a small amount of daily sundries.

Among them, the gift from Marquess Folei Innes was the strangest; he sent a barrel of ale soaked with many things.

"Inside this hides the secret of how my father still married a new wife at over ninety years old." The bald man gave the King a smile that all men understood.

Marquess Innes leaned his head toward Arthur and whispered, "If Your Majesty finds the effect good, send someone to tell me, and I will have someone send the recipe over."

Arthur looked at Sansa, whose beautiful face was overflowing with happiness, then glanced at the Dornish Princess sulking at the banquet, before looking at the bald Innes, eagerly saying:

"I trust Marquess Walder's judgment. Later, have someone send the recipe to Podrick Payne—that is my taciturn Attendant; he never leaks secrets."

The disadvantage of having many wives is that the body might not be able to hold up.

As the saying goes, there are only exhausted oxen, no exhausted land, so Arthur had to plan early.

As for the effect of this barrel of wine, the Riverlands King had no doubts at all.

The nobles of the Seven Kingdoms once used one sentence to describe old Walder: Marquess Folei sired an army. This was enough to show his secret to longevity.

With the support of such medicinal wine, Sansa would have to beg for mercy on her knees tonight.

After waving for Marquess Folei to leave, another great noble offered his gift.

"Your Majesty, time was too rushed, so I only found two very rare books as your wedding gift."

Mathis Rowan handed the two books in his hands to the King with both hands.

"The small one is 'Strange Stones,' compiled by a Maester named Sylloro. It records some things about the Hightower, the Seastone Chair, and Dragonstone, as well as Maester Sylloro's speculations about the Drowned God and the creatures of the Salt Sea. Although the wording is a bit flowery, there is still some real substance to it."

After Earl Rowan finished introducing the small, old book, he began to explain the large, new, thick book.

"This is a new book compiled by a young Maester named Adal, titled *A Song of Ice and Fire*. He has recorded in detail the history of our world and the geographical and cultural knowledge of most of the known world. The appendix also contains the family trees of several great houses and portraits and overviews of past Targaryen kings. I think you will like this book."

To save time, Mathis Rowan only briefly introduced the gist of the book.

In fact, this book is a full three hundred and thirty-six pages long, covering content from the Dawn Age, the Age of Heroes, and the Doom of Valyria, to the Dragonlord Reign (Conquest War) and the Glorious Reign (Usurper's War), and it details the peoples, cultural customs, and geographical features of the Seven Kingdoms and the Sunset Kingdoms.

It can be said that this book is humanity's summary of this world.

In order to make the King remember the preciousness of the gifts, Lord Rowan added: "There are only a few copies of *Strange Stones* circulating in the world. As for *The World*, it was only compiled a few months ago; apart from the Citadel, I believe I am the only one in all of Westeros to have a copy..."

Arthur hurriedly took the two books, "This is wonderful, I am just in need of such books. Your gift is the most impressive one to me."

The Riverlands King also held the book with both hands to show his fondness.

Afterwards, the many minor nobles presented their gifts in turn, but there were not many that he could remember.

At the end of this segment, it was Qyburn's turn to present a gift.

Coincidentally, he also presented a book.

"This book is titled *Death Sorcery Notes*; it is my personal collection of insights regarding Black Magic, and I present it to Your Majesty."

This former Maester, who is old in age but young at heart, loves performing vivisections and has a deep study of necromancy.

Let's put it this way: give him a headless corpse, and he can create a powerful "biochemical" warrior that knows no pain and fears no death.

The "biochemical" warriors created by Qyburn cannot match Wights in agility, but the advantage is that they are obedient and can follow the orders of Qyburn and those he designates.

"Excellent, excellent. I love reading the most; such a gift is exactly what I need."

Arthur said two polite words on the surface, then leaned into Qyburn's ear, "Later, when the situation settles down, I can let you use death-row prisoners for vivisection experiments."

To tell the truth, Arthur also wanted to figure out the similarities and differences between Wights and biochemical warriors; letting Qyburn practice might actually lead to finding the internal mechanism for how corpses "resurrect."

A gleam of light suddenly appeared in the eyes of the clean-shaven old Maester.

"You truly are a wise and sagacious King."

Although the Citadel does not allow the practice of necromancy, if the King permits it, then once he is out of the Citadel, no one can control him.

After receiving this promise, the "mad modifier" Qyburn left satisfied.

After the gifts were collected, the wedding proceeded smoothly; musicians, bards, and circus troupes performed in turn, and Arthur even opened a giant pie stuffed with white doves.

Of course, to avoid the bad omen of dead doves, the Riverlands King used a wooden sword to cut the pie.

Afterwards, Arthur entered the area where the guests were located and began to clink glasses with the attending noble Knights one by one.

After finishing half the room, Arthur encountered a very special guest.

"Yo, isn't this the chicken-leg annihilator Sandor? Haven't seen you in a few days, and you've put on a Septon's brown robe?" He lowered his voice so that the head-bowed Sandor would not be too embarrassed.

Regarding this former personal bodyguard of Joffrey, Arthur did not have much disgust.

Sandor's earlier evil deeds were all because of the orders of Joffrey and Cersei; during the time Sansa was trapped in King's Landing, if Joffrey ordered Sansa to be slapped, only Sandor refused to act and actively maintained the dignity of Lady Stark.

As for his later behavior, it was more for the sake of surviving in troubled times; such was the environment, so he could not be blamed.

"Blessings to you, my King." Sandor, who had just been burying his head in eating, calmly raised his head, said a kind word in a deep voice, and continued eating his chicken leg.

"Eat well, don't let others disturb him." Although he did not understand why Sandor Clegane had snuck in, Arthur ordered those around him not to do anything to him.

Afterwards, the Riverlands King continued his glass-clinking.

It was just that Sansa, who had been keeping an eye on her husband, also saw the disheveled Hound.

She walked down from the high seat, moved to Sandor's side, and began to greet this Clegane.

Sandor himself had an inexplicable fondness for the Little Bird, Lady Stark, so he told Sansa about all his experiences.

"... Ever since Arya left me, I was saved by an old Septon; he was conscripted here to recite the Seven-Pointed Star, and I just followed along."

The new Queen sighed, "Your experiences are truly unfortunate! Then what are your plans for the future? Will you continue to follow Meribald and become a true Septon? Or seek a position here with my husband and me?"

Sandor shook his head and said, "I cannot think clearly for the moment; perhaps I can discuss it with Meribald and give you my answer then."

He actually wanted to protect the Little Bird, but because he had lost Arya, Sandor felt a bit ashamed in his heart.

Sansa, wearing a pure gold circular crown, nodded gently, "When you have decided, come to the main keep to find me."

After speaking, she turned and returned to her seat, continuing to stare at her handsome husband.

After the wedding banquet was mostly over, Arthur and Sansa followed the set procedure and went to Harrentown outside the city for a tour.

Doing this had three benefits: firstly, it displayed the approachable image of the new King and Queen; secondly, it avoided the bad custom of the wife's family members "teasing the bridal chamber," because Sansa had few relatives in the Riverlands, and she did not want to have her clothes torn off by anyone;

Thirdly, it made various enemy factions believe that the Riverlands King had truly held a wedding with Sansa Stark at Harrenhal.

Because Sansa had ordered people to prepare a large amount of fish and meat, allowing the tens of thousands of commoners in Harrentown to finally have a meal with meat, the newlyweds received the heartfelt blessings of the commoners.

In the scientifically planned and orderly new town district, countless people crowded both sides of the road, voicing their prayers for the new King and Queen with a thousand mouths and tongues.

"May the Seven bless the two Majesties."

"Her Majesty the Queen looks so robust; I imagine she can bear the King five or six children."

"May you live a long life!"

After the inspection was finished, it was already dusk, and the nobles returned to their rooms to rest one after another.

Arthur and Sansa also finished washing up in time and began a battle that would shake the heavens and move the earth.

PS: Seeking guaranteed monthly tickets and recommendation tickets.

(End of this chapter)