Chapter 130

The portrait is of Duke Rickard's most beloved daughter, Lyanna Stark. If noble families had two sons in a row, they certainly hoped the third child would be a daughter. Miss Lyanna was born to fulfill the Starks' expectation. From birth she was the jewel of Winterfell. Friar Chael spread his hands, smiling at Mei, "Ah, when I have time I'll tell you her story later."

"Her story is known to everyone!" Sir Mason Seaworth exclaimed, "Every person in the North, more or less, has been influenced by her."

Most likely a bad influence.

"No need to limit it to the North."

Mei knew the background of Robert's Rebellion. History began with that absurd cause, making it hard for Mei to understand. She felt there must be something she didn't know behind it.

Generally, an accidental event might only be the spark of dynastic change, not a fundamental cause, but in the case of Robert's Rebellion it seems more like a war caused by some accident, whose result led to a major shift in the political landscape.

The Targaryen dynasty had stood for nearly three hundred years, really too close to the lifespan limit of some central dynasties; yet if one truly wanted to investigate the deep social contradictions commonly existing in the dynasty's later period, one would feel unable to comprehend it, unable to compare with other historical periods to discover and summarize.

Generally speaking, during Aerys II's reign, even in the later period, commoners' lives were not hardship; more information indicates that at that time everyone lived in peace and contentment, life might not be affluent but was sufficient to expectations.

Moreover, according to her understanding, even after the great war, the commoners of the Riverlands in Aerys II's later years were no worse off than today's Riverlands people. Therefore, the only reasonable explanation is that in this world the main class conflict is not between the lower peasant class and the ruling nobility, but between the highest ruling stratum and the great nobility.

Applied to Aerys II's era, this means the conflict between the upper rulers and the nobility had sharply intensified to the point that no one could bear it any longer, so a rash rebellion could gain universal response.

So, how did this conflict arise?

If we attribute all the cause to Aerys II's madness and Prince Rhaegar's occasional rashness, then historical development seems too superficial. Were all previous kings virtuous and sensible?

Or does this world simply lack the entrenched problems of a dynasty's decline?

This attribution does not match her historical view.

She conjectured that some objective causes must have led to an irreconcilable conflict between the highest ruling stratum, i. e., the Targaryen family, and the great nobility.

In fact, even during the final stage of the Dance of the Dragons—the Targaryens' weakest period—they faced no challenge from the great nobility, and later they could still develop, even mustering strength to campaign in Dorne and remain firmly on the Iron Throne for nearly two hundred years, fighting several major battles against the Blackfyre rebellions.

This can only be explained as the Targaryens not yet having serious conflict with the great nobility at that time, even sharing common interests.

But when we stretch the time to Aerys II's era, we can only guess that the conflict between the ruling family and the great nobility seemed to have instantly reached an irreconcilable degree.

Without considering Aerys II's own madness, clues can be seen from Duke Rickard's own actions and Lord Darklyn's actions.

Duke Rickard could without hesitation marry his daughter to the great lord of the Stormlands, take as wife for his heir the great lord of the Riverlands, and send his second son to be fostered by the lord of the Eastern lands.

Is it that Duke Rickard truly harbored ambition, or that the conflict between the great nobility and the ruling family had already reached the point where the nobility began to look down on the Targaryens?

Some say that Aerys II truly saw national politics flourish during Tywin's tenure as Hand of the King, but if that were true, the cause of the Valley of Dusk uprising—the Darklyn family's refusal to pay taxes to the Iron Throne—would be hard to understand.

The Valley of Dusk lies almost right beside King's Landing; how mad would Lord Darklyn have to be to do such a foolish thing?

People blamed Lord Darklyn's mad behavior on his foreign woman, believing she bewitched him, which is why he acted madly.

She had heard too many of those historical tales of throwing filth at women; her textbooks gave them a clear verdict: absurd.

Thus the lesson people drew from the Valley of Dusk uprising is naturally untrustworthy. Setting aside any possible conspiratorial element in the event, it is more likely that the upper-layer conflict had already begun to become irreconcilable.

"'The influence is not limited to the North. When Lord Eddard was still alive, he did not allow people to speak of his sister in Winterfell.' The friar brushed dust and spiderwebs off the map, as if still reminiscing, 'Hehe, to be honest, although the duke said Arya and Miss Lyanna are alike, sometimes whenever I see Your Highness I still feel you resemble Miss Lyanna more, not entirely in appearance.'"

Lord Eddard is already dead, so anything can be discussed.

"'She is the Stark's trueborn daughter, noble and beautiful,' but at least proud and willful; if it were mutual pursuit with that one, perhaps vanity and foolishness would be added, 'I am merely Lord Eddard's bastard,' not necessarily brave, but certainly just and not prone to infatuation, 'so I probably don't resemble her at all?'"

"'The similarities may be more than Lord Eddard thinks. Besides the title 'Queen of Love and Beauty,' you could both be the North's foremost knights; besides that, your methods of doing things are also similar, for example both are just, speaking of honor and morality.' He smiled, 'For instance, I thought you would at least whip Viscount Baratheon twice as punishment, but you did nothing, instead, hehe, you gave him a 'conditional' gift; moreover, I thought you would at least propose killing Lord Rickon Bolton or other important figures, such as Lady Dustin, by assassination as retribution for your brothers' deaths…… you did none of these, nor even mentioned them, I cannot say. The 'wild' Brandon would certainly do it, Robb might, but as far as I know, your aunt Lyanna and you alike would certainly not. These are similarities.'"

"'This point is hard to define. I am not like little Robb, still whipping people to vent anger, too childish. As for that gift, hehe, saying this might be too arrogant; I think Bolton's blood would dirty my sword, so if he had a death that would let me mock him, like Tywin being slain by his own son in the privy, I would be happier; thus I hope that whatever viscount—his name is a bit strange—could use means comparable to a little demon to help me kill him, perhaps when he reaches the end of his rope he will recall my promise. Hehe, whether it succeeds or not doesn't matter; you can take this as a joke I blurted out, although the price of success might be the lands of Ye Xi River.'"

"'Your Highness, are you truly prepared to keep your promise to him, even if Bolton speaks to you like that?' Lord Roose asked, bewildered."

"'Of course. Starks keep their word,' except for women,' she-wolves are even more true to their word."

"'Speaking of assassination, though I do not approve of the method, eliminating Lady Dustin early might help in securing the inheritance of Barrowton.' Sir Rodrik pointed to a coat of arms."

The coat of arms has a yellow field, two crossed and curving long axes, upon the axes a black crown, but the crown hangs from one axe head. That is the Dustin family's coat of arms, altered.

"'Assassination is a coward's act, but if it truly works I would not reject abandoning honor to become a coward, since fewer deaths matter more than a bit of honor; however, the outcome of assassination itself is hard to predict, consequences uncontrollable, good or bad unknown, so better to maintain the status quo. Besides, isn't it said women are unfit to command armies? Let us hope Lady Dustin proves incompetent, which would be even better.'"

"'Her incompetence might have some benefits, but certainly not as much as supporting our lord could bring us.' Sir Rodrik said loudly, 'This lord could bring us at least four thousand cavalry and at least twice that number of infantry.'"

Mei gasped upon hearing this; she never imagined the Dustin family could be so 'formidable'.

She felt as the lord of the North she still had much to learn. Yet what surprised her was why Robb, the legitimate heir, had not objected to the number of troops Dustin sent south.

Mei recalled having once negotiated with Lady Dustin over this matter, seemingly to threaten her with blocking the White Knife River—this further shows Dustin's problem is obvious, even she felt it abnormal.

To dispel her confusion she looked toward Winterfell's counselors and learned men.

"'Your Highness, the Barrowton lands are vast and lie closer to the south, with far more arable and pasture land than elsewhere; that is the root of their strength. Without this foundation, how could they have contended with the King of Winter in ancient times?'"

"'Is their strength merely because of grain and horses?'"

"'Their apples are not bad either,' Friar Chael said with a laugh, then turned serious, 'Besides, Barrowton has copper mines; they produce many bronze goods, so their handicraft is decent. Your Highness, perhaps all the bronze vessels and pipes in Winterfell come from there, precisely because copper is abundant, which is why the ancients chose to settle there.'"

Having bronze ware probably still isn't enough.

"'Even so, they wouldn't attack us with bronze swords, would they?'"

"'Your Highness, their having much copper does not mean they lack iron. How to put it? This is a family without shortcomings.'"

The Starks could muster only six thousand soldiers, yet Barrowton alone could actually raise an army of twelve thousand.

"'Hehe, hearing you say that, I instead want to know what advantages the Starks truly have, and by what means they could defeat these formidable foes and become kings of the North.'"

"'Tribal language? Forget it!'"

"'Magic?' Friar Chael laughed, saying, 'The builder Brandon's architectural magic is famed across the continent; surely he knows other magic. However, these legendary tales could not be finished even if we spent several days on them.'"

"'Well, let us return to Lady Dustin then; if she died, could her heir possibly bring twelve thousand troops to me?' Mei glanced left and right at her retainers."

Several people stared at each other; meanwhile Sasha, eyes half‑closed, showed no interest in what they said, her gaze fixed straight on the map.

"'Why is everyone so silent?' Feeling that assassination is improper?"

"'Your Highness, the Dustin family's succession issue is somewhat complicated.'"

"'Anyway it will come out sooner or later; I don't lack this patience.' Surely a whole bunch of names she has never heard will appear again."