Chapter 176: The Unreal Margaery

King's Landing, Gods Gate.

In the tenth year of the Conquest Era, Aegon I ordered the construction of walls around the residential districts to protect the safety of the capital's people.

In nearly three hundred years of history, King's Landing has suffered from war many times; for instance, during the Dance of the Dragons, the Blacks and the Greens successively controlled this place, and the capital changed hands twice; during the Usurper's War, this city fell into the hands of the Lannisters and the four-house alliance in turn.

But no matter how previous wars were fought, they did not cause much damage to the walls.

To put it another way, the fighting between the Lion-Flower Alliance and Stannis caused more damage to the walls than any other war that had taken place here.

This point was concentratedly reflected near the open terrain of the Gods Gate.

The former walls were twenty feet high, magnificent and grand, and the carvings on the city gate were a marvel; both the iron portcullis and the gate surface were engraved with extremely detailed carvings of gods, and those carved eyes seemed to follow you, watching you.

But today, large sections of the wall are only four or five feet high, and apart from being able to block a cavalry's wall charge, they are of almost no use. Even an agile child could easily climb up, let alone strong soldiers fighting in formation.

The reason for this, besides the caution and steadiness of the commander at the time, Kevan Lannister, also has to do with the way of warfare in Westeros.

Across the entire Western Continent, the division of troop types is extremely vague; the high-ranking great lords can afford to maintain large-scale armies, so they can barely divide the soldiers under their command into sword-and-shield infantry, lancers, light scout cavalry, etc., while the soldiers under small lords and Landed Knights are mainly trained peasants, and having a long weapon and a helmet is already a full loadout, so how could they possibly be subdivided into troop types?

Therefore, when a battle occurs, they fight in the field if they can; once both sides have finished fighting, the nobles admit defeat as they should, which basically does not affect our status.

Only in very rare periods will they retreat into arduous siege warfare. The besieging side usually has several times the number of troops as the defenders, first blocking the city gates, and waiting until the siege engines are built before starting to destroy the castle and watchtowers.

And under the feudal fief system of Westeros, lords desperately reinforce their own castles, and to deal with those stone cities, low-power trebuchets came into being.

The representative among them is the counterweight trebuchet.

The power of that kind of giant trebuchet is indescribable; after all, most of those who have faced it directly are already dead, but from some data alone, it is enough to outline the terror of that city-breaking weapon: a counterweight box seventeen feet long and four feet wide and high, projectiles weighing seventy to seventy kilograms, possibly wrapped in oil-soaked cloth.

Under the ravages of that war giant, the entire western wall of King's Landing was smashed to pieces. And Lord Tarly, who was temporarily responsible for the capital's defense, chose the method of "mobilizing the masses" in order to restore the wall to its original appearance as soon as possible.

To be specific, a large number of commoners were conscripted to repair the wall: blacksmiths, stonemasons, wealthy merchants panting like dogs, carpenters, peasant women cooking, young men carrying wood, old men thin as dried firewood... at the construction site on the west side of King's Landing, these people worked themselves to death, struggling against stones, wooden beams, bricks, and masonry.

Hundreds of soldiers in iron armor patrolled among the working masses, and from time to time, whips would be raised, followed by screams.

"How dare you delay Lord Tarly's business; eat a round of lashes first."

For a lazy commoner, receiving a whipping is already a mercy. Recently, people who have broken the law have been hanged from time to time, hung in conspicuous places to deter the mob.

The offenses are also small, just things like stealing the nobles' meat, hiding in empty places to rest, or disobeying the officers' orders.

There is no other way; in order to show his ability, Lord Tarly strictly ordered that the wall near the Gods Gate be finished before the King returns. His intentions were passed on to the officers and the craftsmen directing the construction, and these people magnified their own pressure tenfold, venting it on the working commoners.

At this moment, in the crowd moving stones by the wall, a young man who was too tired to move his feet stopped, preparing to rest for a while before moving on.

His name is Will, a commoner most common in King's Landing, living on brown soup, wearing a gray, tattered robe, with a sallow complexion and a thin build.

Will originally thought he would only stop for a minute or two and the supervising officer would not notice, but reality taught him what cruelty is.

A leather whip landed swiftly on his exposed arm, leaving a bloody streak.

It was already torn and mangled.

"I was just resting!" Being at an age where he feared neither heaven nor earth, plus the pain from his arm, Will immediately fought back.

But he only dared to cry out, adding a fierce glare.

"Yo-ho, you still dare to glare at people. You, someone from Flea Bottom..." The officer who retracted the whip started cursing on the spot.

Hanging on his chest was the crest of a huntsman, and he was indeed one of Tarly's men.

After his own lord gained power, the officer's voice had risen several octaves. And in such a public place, how could he tolerate a commoner's backtalk?

The more the officer cursed, the harder Will glared.

In the end, the Tarly officer did not know if it was because he feared Will's gaze or because he had worked himself into a frenzy, but he raised his whip again, preparing to lash him a few more times.

But Will, who was already prepared, would not suffer again; he grabbed the whip and held on tight.

Without the officer's supervision, dozens of commoners began to stop, first to rest, and second to watch the joke of this arrogant and despotic officer.

The eyes of the surrounding people made the officer furious, and he immediately drew his sword, preparing to hack him a few times.

Will certainly would not suffer an immediate loss, so he let go of the rope and, with nimble steps, escaped the officer's attack range.

Seeing the commotion, the surrounding soldiers immediately rushed over, and before long, the disheveled Will was caught by the shiny, imposing soldiers in iron armor.

To vent his anger, the officer first spat on Will a few times, and then gave him a few more lashes.

During this process, they attracted the attention of even more commoners.

Perhaps out of showing off his power, or perhaps out of duty, the officer shouted: "Such a lazy scoundrel should be hung up for you all to see. Only when a few die will you know that life is as cheap as an insect, and only then will you work diligently for His Majesty Arthur I."

At the beginning, the commoners did not know what mistake the young man being held down had made, but there were witnesses who had seen everything, so the truth of the matter was widely spread.

The already exhausted masses naturally had immense sympathy for Will, and they whispered to each other.

"Does this person have the authority to hang people?"

"Why should Reachmen command us King's Landing folk?"

"Is the new master of the chair this cruel?"

Because they were supervised by soldiers, the commoners still did not dare to speak their minds as they had before, cursing the labor-demanding King and nobles to the ground, only secretly using "the new master of the chair" as a substitute.

The questioning from the surrounding masses made the officer even more determined in his thoughts, and he ordered his men to bring over a wooden frame, preparing to hang the young man on the spot.

With his head pressed to the ground, Will begged loudly: "Merciful lord, I will never dare again, please spare me this one time!"

But the soldiers would not let him speak, and Will's mouth was thus forced to kiss the earth.

The actions of the Reach soldiers and the officer made the commoners of King's Landing even more dissatisfied, and the masses' disobedience made the officer feel that he had been too merciful.

"His Majesty's capital must be protected by magnificent walls; what do you insects understand?"

The Tarly officer made up his mind to hang this young man to suppress the crowd, just as his lord had done during the mutiny at Bitterbridge.

Just as the wooden frame was set up and the noose was placed around poor Will's neck, the commotion at this construction site finally attracted the attention of a noble.

"Stop—" A tall, large soldier in plate armor ordered the Tarly officer to stop his actions.

Then, escorted by several fully armored soldiers, a noble lady walked into the group of commoners dressed in mud and dust.

"This sergeant, why do you want to hang this poor man?"

The officer who was called turned his head, and the noble lady within his sight left him so stunned he could not speak.

A green, cinched-waist dress outlined the noblewoman's perfect figure, and her brown curly hair was pinned up with a hairpin carved with a golden rose, revealing a neck as elegant, fair, and tender as a swan's.

"It... it is like that, Lady Tyrell." The officer was already relaxed enough to speak fluently, but I still insisted on finishing the reason behind it.

The noble lady who came was none other than the daughter of the Lord of the Reach, the new King's betrothed, Margaery Tyrell.

Margaery Tyrell, who possessed a natural, approachable temperament, listened to the Tarly officer's explanation while smiling and nodding at the commoners.

It was just that the commoners, whose bodies were worn out by labor, paid little mind to the sweet treats tossed out by the noble lady, even if she was stunningly beautiful.

"That poor person only wanted to rest for a moment; that hardly warrants the punishment of hanging, does it?" Margaery questioned.

Facing the Tarly officer, Lady Tyrell became much more serious.

"But if I allow such behavior, the entire construction schedule will be delayed, and Lord Randyll Tarly cannot bear such responsibility..." After stuttering for a while, the officer finally regained his composure.

He brought out his biggest backer, hoping that this seemingly extremely young noble lady would stop meddling in this trivial matter.

After all, in King's Landing right now, no one could overshadow the influence of Lord Tarly.

"Just because he glared at you, he is to be hanged? Is there no rule of law? Does the kingdom have no justice to speak of?" But Margaery ignored the officer's subtext.

No matter how prominent Lord Tarly was, he was still a vassal of her House Tyrell.

"I have heard that Lord Randyll is about to take office as Master of Laws. Are you Tarly men going to act so wantonly against the laws of the kingdom and ruin his reputation?"

The officer hesitated for a moment and replied, "But we cannot bear the responsibility of delaying the construction schedule; his act of slacking off must be sanctioned."

He was already prepared to reject Lady Tyrell's words again, but Margaery did not pay him any mind and instead gave a direct order:

"Release that poor man, give him food and water, and let him have a good rest."

After giving the order, Margaery, who was about to become Queen again, turned to face the commoners with a smile and announced loudly:

"The King is my future husband, and he is known for his kindness and benevolence. How could he allow his subjects to be enslaved like this? I, Margaery Tyrell, in the name of King Arthur I, order that today's work ends here. Everyone go find a place to rest. When it is time to eat, our House Tyrell will prepare a sumptuous dinner for everyone..."

With a turn of her lips, she made tens of thousands of commoners stop working and go to rest.

The surrounding crowd immediately burst into cheers, and as the news spread, the commoners across the entire construction site felt grateful for the future Queen's mercy.

"The kind Queen Margaery will surely be remembered in history books."

"The Tarly nobles are too harsh, but Lady Tyrell is compassionate toward the people!"

"Whoever lets me have a good meal, I will acknowledge."

Tens of thousands of commoners chattered away, and Margaery's name spread rapidly. Their affection for House Tyrell, and their dislike for House Tarly, had formed in a very short time.

But such a major matter as stopping the entire city wall construction project could naturally not be decided by one Tarly officer, so someone immediately reported the situation at the site to the master builder and the Sworn Knight of the Tarly family, which was then passed on to Lord Randyll, who was handling affairs in the city.

"She plays the good person and lets me bear the infamy."

The Tarly Lord, clad in Iron Armor, whispered.

He could not say he liked Lady Tyrell's actions, but he also did not quite like such petty tricks of manipulating the hearts of the people.

Upon hearing this, the Sworn Knight responsible for delivering the message asked, "How should we proceed? His Majesty the King is about to return to King's Landing, perhaps in a day or two, and our schedule cannot afford much delay."

Because King Arthur I, who had gone north to welcome Queen Stark and the loyalists of the Reach, was about to return south to King's Landing, the Sworn Knight believed the commoners should not be resting today.

"The King's opinion is what matters most; a few commoners are of no consequence." Randyll Tarly stood up. "I will go discuss this with Lady Margaery; the project must proceed according to schedule."

He took several guards and the reporting Sworn Knight out of the city, prepared to make Lady Margaery retract her order.

Outside the Gods Gate.

Arthur, who had arrived at the destination first on horseback, recognized Margaery comforting and consoling the crowd at a glance.

"If it comes to being approachable and putting on a show, she is a born Queen." The King said to Podrick, who was following him.

Arthur had already had very deep exchanges with Margaery, but he always felt he could not see through this beauty.

Not real—that was the King's only evaluation of Lady Tyrell.

No matter what Margaery did, even if Arthur could guess her intentions and motives, he felt there was thirty percent pretense mixed in.

Toward Sansa, King Arthur I could still treat her with one part sincerity, but in front of Margaery, he only dared to use three parts sincerity.

Perhaps this feeling would only slowly change after the wedding!

Riders carrying the three-headed Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Honglong banner of House Targaryen appeared alongside the King. The crowd immediately parted like flowing water, creating a path so that King Arthur I could smoothly reach the front of Queen Margaery.

Even though Lady Tyrell had not yet married the King, a large number of commoners had already begun to call her Queen.

If it weren't for the fact that House Stark still had some reputation, I fear Queen Sansa would have been forgotten by the commoners.

Margaery raised her willow eyebrows slightly, her almond eyes revealing thirty percent amusement, and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly. After putting on a standard expression of a virtuous wife and mother, she looked at her future husband.

"You have finally returned."

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(End of chapter)