Chapter 127

"Sir Rodrik, any suitable young talent you have can be arranged for Sansa; she is the trueborn daughter of Lord Eddard and Lady Catelyn, I am merely a bastard, I will leave no offspring to threaten her inheritance." This ball is easy to kick away. "That would be beneficial for the long-term peace of the North."

"Meiyi again poured a cup of hot wine and gave it to Lord Luofu Geluofo, saying, 'My lord, though your service to Winterfell is not as long as Sir Rodrik's, I believe you can contribute strength in the coming wars. The lands along the Sea Dragon Coast are vast but sparsely populated; I truly hope we can establish a garrison there to defend the North against enemies from the west. Coincidentally, this land borders the territory of the Earl of Deepwood Motte, and I believe he will gladly assist you in developing the land. Moreover, I will also invest funds to solve the castle's construction problems.'"

"Lord Luofu could only express his gratitude. He is merely a distant cousin of the Earl of Deepwood Motte, and being allowed to stand guard earned him a promised high position, which is truly a rare joy."

"At this moment, the other ministers unconsciously turned their gaze to the other empty cup in her hand."

"Meiyi smiled, poured another cup from the jug, and handed it to Sir Mason Seaworth."

"Sir, you performed outstandingly in the Iron Islands rebellion, yet you were only made a knight; during Robert's Rebellion you once accompanied my father south and earned much merit. If we are fortunate enough to quell the Bolton rebellion this time, I cannot see any reason not to make you a lord of a land. Heh, the Stony Shore was sacked by Theon, precisely because it lacked warnings, which allowed him to penetrate inland and sweep all the way to Torrhen's Square, nearly able to sneak attack Winterfell. That place requires a truly seasoned warrior to command."

"I am willing to pledge my allegiance to Your Highness." He knelt on one knee.

"Meiyi gestured for him to rise."

"In the history of the North, the western coastal lands have been transferred who knows how many times, and hardly any family has managed to truly gain a foothold there; that region not only lacks trade, but constantly faces raids by the ironborn. Mei Yi cannot solve the trade problem, but if she ever finds the opportunity, she will surely scrutinize the Iron Islands thoroughly—she simply cannot understand why King Robert already took Pyke, yet did not exterminate the Greyjoy family that sparked the rebellion."

"This is clearly a family whose livelihood is raiding; even if one or two generations of heads opposed raiding Westeros, due to the culture and economic conditions of the Iron Islands, they ultimately had no choice but to try again the 'old way'."

"If she conquers the Iron Islands, she will directly declare the Drowned God faith a heresy, and relocate all Iron Islands families whose livelihood is raiding to live on the mainland—perhaps having them dig the soil along the Stony Shore coast would be a suitable settlement, solving both the population problem of the Stony Shore and their objective difficulty of being hard to subdue due to their distance from the mainland; it would indeed be perfect."

"Lord Royce, we need not make further arrangements. I believe Lord Rodrik will make good arrangements for you, after all, ruling such a vast territory alone would entail some hardship."

"Lord Royce stared for a moment, then burst out laughing."

"Thank you all for worrying about my marriage, but I think the ones who most need worrying are you, after all, the North has much land, the South also has plenty, and we truly need more children to divide the land."

"Your Highness, are you truly unwilling to enter a marriage?" Rodrik asked anxiously, "Although Sansa would solve your succession issue, this is not fair to you."

"There's no question of fairness or unfairness." She has greater ambitions: "Now, among those trustworthy within Winterfell, there are only you lot; I intend to recall Qiongen from the Wall—what do you all think?"

"Chaplain, the steward, and the ministers fell silent again."

"This matter is not urgent; at least we must wait until the Wall situation stabilizes before it can proceed." Mei Yi sighed, there are those who actively removed their white cloaks of the Wall guards, and those who were forcibly stripped of their white cloaks, yet I have never seen a Night's Watch member who could survive after taking off his black cloak, let alone one who had his black cloak stripped away.

"The Night's Watch oath?" Lord Royce questioned.

"Can the Night's Watch oath not be undone?"

"Perhaps it can be undone," the Chaplain replied with a smile, "For the Seven Gods, oaths not sworn upon them are invalid; Qiongen can……"

"Meiyi gave him a stern look; he immediately stopped, saying 'Discourteous'."

"Everyone present except himself is a follower of the old gods; demanding that Qiongen renounce the old gods and convert to the Seven Gods to lift the Night's Watch oath in front of them is utterly absurd."

"Um, I actually have another method," the Chaplain said with an embarrassed smile, "Although there may be no precedent, at least everyone can accept it: request the king or queen to issue a pardon, waiving the oath."

"We have no king or queen to appeal to," Sir Rodrik said coldly, "Moreover, that child Qiongen is both sensitive and has a strong sense of self-esteem; he would likely not easily submit to a royal pardon."

"Meiyi sighed; this is also her worry. If Qiongen were that easily persuaded, she would have succeeded long ago. Perhaps someday after meeting him they could try communicating again; after this long time, his thoughts might change."

"Your Highness, if Qiongen can lift his oath and return to Winterfell, I think—" Sir Mason Seaworth held his cup, somewhat hesitant, "I think we could let him marry Sansa, and in her name rule the North; this would likely be acceptable to all the northern bannermen."

"Meiyi glanced at Seaworth twice; at first she thought it odd, but the more she considered it, the more she felt it was a strange yet splendid idea, and she couldn't help but clap her hands in praise."

"That plan is good, but the key is how to get Qiongen free from his oath; this cannot be settled by a royal pardon. If he is unwilling to bear the responsibility of Winterfell, nothing will help." Lord Rodrik's voice was heavy.

"A royal pardon is mostly useless."

"Are there still a thousand Night's Watch members now?" Mei Yi asked.

"If Commander Jeor Mormont indeed suffered a major setback north of the Wall, I wonder whether the Night's Watch can still muster five hundred men." The Chaplain lamented, "Truly few, not like before."

"The Wall is three hundred leagues long but has only five hundred men; of those five hundred, how many can actually mount the Wall's battlements to patrol and monitor the passing wildlings?" Mei Yi lamented, "How effective can such a garrison's defense be?"

"Anyway, it's very few."

"If that is the case, and if Qiongen does not obey the royal pardon, then we shall announce the dissolution of the Night's Watch. Five hundred guards are better than nothing, but it would be better to reclaim all granted and newly acquired lands and have the Starks station troops directly."

"Announce the dissolution of the Night's Watch just to let Qiongen lift his oath?" Mason Seaworth gaped.

"Your Highness, what a grand gesture! Truly admirable!" the Chaplain laughed heartily, "May the glory of the Seven Gods shine upon you!"

"The Chaplain's words made her laugh. She felt that one day she would be both the Father and the Mother, both warrior and smith; now she is the Maiden, and someday she will be the Crone, and as for the Stranger, she has always been playing that role."

"Perhaps the king could help issue a pardon, but dissolve the Night's Watch?" Lord Luofu said while shaking his head.

"A king? You cannot be a queen right before your eyes?" the Chaplain chuckled, "Or do you still wish to worship the little Tommen of the Iron Throne, or Stannis of Dragonstone?"

"If one were to worship those two, it would be better to serve you as queen." Lord Luofu Geluofo glanced at Mei Yi, lowered his head, and looked at the cup in his hand.

"I didn't expect you, Chaplain, to have this side. If you were to announce you are no longer a chaplain, I would let you become my queen's hand!"

"That's great; I never imagined the poor boy from the White Knife River could also be the queen's hand." He smiled faintly, "But if you use me as your hand, be careful you won't be able to draw a sword, for I cannot help but forgive your enemies in the stead of the Mother."

"Although the Chaplain is a northern cleric, he is flexible and clear-headed, with a comprehensive and deep understanding of affairs; just these few days of interaction have made Mei Yi view him anew."

"My lord, now is not the time to discuss these matters, Bolton—" Lord Rodrik was cut off by the sound of the door opening.

"Your Highness, the Bolton envoy has arrived." This time entering was Shasha Boqi.

"Please let him come in, and you stay by my side."

"Shasha Boqi had a long face and fine eyebrows; her visage was beautiful, yet possessed a strange, wild beauty. Mei Yi could not fathom why a girl from Skagos could be so lovely."

"During her time at Winterfell, although she was a 'wildling' from Skagos, she was dearly loved by the children; sometimes Mei Yi felt she was a recombination of the good parts of Sansa and Arya."

"Miss Mei Yi," he gave a slight bow. "Seeing you……"

"The visitor appeared about forty years old, dressed elegantly, with a goatee, wearing a grey fox-fur cloak bearing the sigil of the Dreadfort, and on his hood was a lifelike red fox, looking quite exquisite."

"I also wish to address you politely, but I still don't know your name; are you also a Bolton?" His sigil was embroidered at the center of the cloak, split on either side of the buttons.

"Miss, my name is Baltarsha Bolton, Viscount of Ye Creek."

"Viscount, you also bear the surname Bolton, don't you? Do you flay people?" Mei Yi sat in a seat to the side, her several senior officials seated apart, none of them moving.

Besides the envoy, the only one standing was Shasha Boqi, but she was bored, looking around, with one hand still resting on Mei Yi's chair back, and she smelled of unicorn.

"I, I have never flayed a person." He looked at Mei Yi with some surprise, "The North has long forbidden……"

"Oh, you still remember, tell me, who forbade flaying in the North?"

"Miss, I really don't remember that!" He smiled and said, "Don't be misled by outside slander, OurBladesareSharp, but we no longer use it for flaying."

"How far apart are Ye Xihe and Xijian Ling?" Mei Yi stared at Ba'ertasa.

"They are adjacent." He was somewhat doubtful.

「I once caught Lord Roose Bolton's bastard in the Stream Bank Territory, that guy named Ramsay Snow, he was skinning several women there, 」Mei Yi turned to Ser Rodrik, 「Ser, do you still remember the girl's name? 」

Terms:

- Stream Bank Territory (maybe a region? "Stream Bank Territory"? Could be a place name. Not sure if it's a proper noun. Might be a generic term: "stream bank territory". Likely not a proper noun. Exclude.

- Lord Roose Bolton (Lord Roose Bolton) - person name: Roose Bolton (Roose Bolton). Title Lord.

- bastard (bastard) generic.

- Ramsay Snow (Ramsay Snow) - person name.

- Mei Yi (maybe a person name) - appears as Mei Yi (Mei Yi?). Could be a name.

- Ser Rodrik (Ser Rodrik) - person name: Rodrik (Rodrik). Title Ser.

- Ser (Ser) - title.

「Your Highness, I'm sorry, I forgot the girl's name. 」Rodrik replied, 「But I can't forget the scene I saw that day. I have never killed a woman, but that day I had to use my sword to end that lady's suffering……」

Terms:

- Your Highness (Your Highness) - title.

- Rodrik (Rodrik) again.

- lady (lady) generic.

Mei Yi nodded.

- Mei Yi again.

Although he doesn't bear the name Bōdùn, his methods are second to none. Do you know about this?

"Miss, I had no idea about this." He still smiled, "Lāmǔsī Xuěnuò claims to be a bastard of Lúsī Bōdùn, but Lúsī Bōdùn has never publicly acknowledged his status. You know, bastards are born of lies and... Miss, the practice of flaying has long died out in the legitimate Bōdùn family."

He showed an embarrassed smile.

You say the North has long banned flaying; do you know whose order this is?

Miss, my history isn't great; I'm not sure which king's order this is, but I know it's a promise made by the Red King, Luójiā Bōdùn, to the King of the North.

Although Mei Yi is pushy, Viscount Bā'ěrtǎsà still refuses to take the bait.

My history is just as bad, but I still remember that this is an order from the King of the North, Bùlándēng Shǐtǎkè, to the Bōdùns. Tell me, why do you obey?

We keep our promises, so we no longer flay people." He said with a smile, "Miss, actually my purpose in coming here today is to help you find the answer; you could simply marry into House Bōdùn and monitor whether the Bōdùns have truly banned flaying. That way, not only would you resolve your concerns, but you could also end the feud between the two houses, keeping the North from war. What do you think?

Lord Lúsī Bōdùn already has a wife.

I mean Lord Lǐkè Bōdùn.

Hehe, although I'm a bastard, what right does Lord Lǐkè Bōdùn have to marry me?

He has already been established by Lord Lúsī Bōdùn as the heir to the Dreadfort.

If I'm not mistaken, when I last passed through Twin Rivers, Lord Bōdùn's Fat Lady Fuléi was already pregnant; if she gives birth to a child, what share would Lord Lǐkè Bōdùn have?

This... I think Lord Bōdùn will surely handle this matter properly.

His homework is obviously not done well.

I heard you came here at the behest of Lord Lǐkè Bōdùn? Even though he is the heir of Lord Bōdùn, he is not the head of House Bōdùn; what right does he have to send you to say this?

Miss, Lord Lúsī Bōdùn has already given his consent.

Several senior officials exchanged glances upon hearing that.

Lord Lúsī Bōdùn seems to have anticipated this all along, so the timing was seized so precisely. Mei Yi noticed a red smile appear once again on the hilt of the passionate sword.