Chapter 216

The duchess, even if she is busy, still climbs onto the city gate each day to stand and gaze far away.

The passage that extends outward from the main gate leads straight to the King's Road that passes by; at the narrow junction where the two mountains diverge, a defensive fortress has been repaired, with its curved walls, hundreds of feet long on each side, extending into the mountain ridge. Going up the slope along the ridge, there stands a cliffside watchtower.

The small pass, abandoned for nearly three hundred years, was not opened even during the major upheaval more than ten years ago, yet at the onset of this winter it once again blocks Winterfell within the forests, deep valleys, and hills.

The atmosphere of war grows thicker day by day; the number of people who continue to travel south and north past Winterfell can be counted on one's fingers, and the guards' warnings are issued less and less often—one blast of the horn means a friend is coming, two blasts mean the enemy is at hand—chai er no longer knows how long it has been since he last heard the horn.

Several days ago the duchess released a raven flying toward the Black Castle, but she has yet to receive a reply; the raven sent to Sea Border City, however, brought back news that shan sha has set out.

A cavalry detachment of nearly fifty was sent to meet them, stationed at Kalin Bay, patrolling the long causeway of jingze each day. The guards on the watchtower could not sound a welcoming horn for them, yet they still have not arrived.

Chai er understands the duchess's anxiety; watching her each day patrol the city walls and gaze south and north, he feels it is exactly like Lord Rui Ka De Shi Ta Ke waiting in Winterfell for news of the heir.

When he first met Lord Rui Ka De Shi Ta Ke, he was not yet a follower of the Seven Gods; he was merely the nephew seized by his uncle, who served in Winterfell, to take over his uncle's position as heir.

His poor uncle had served in Winterfell for most of his life, yet left no adult offspring; when he felt that his administrative post in Winterfell would inevitably have no heir to inherit it, he finally remembered his mischievous nephew who often caused trouble by the White Knife River.

Winterfell opened the door to knowledge for him.

For this, he needs to thank Lord Ai De Le Shi Ta Ke; without him, he would never have had the chance to study alongside Lord Ai De Le Shi Ta Ke's sole son, Lord Rui Ka De Shi Ta Ke, receiving a maester's education.

The memories troubled him.

He recalls that upon first entering Winterfell, he immediately fought with Rui Ka De Shi Ta Ke, who was nearly the same age, beneath the heart tree; Rui Ka De Shi Ta Ke indeed received instruction from the master-at-arms Hong Kai Suo, but his proper assault was harshly schooled by the thugs of the White Knife River.

He did not know how much of his victory over Rui Ka De Shi Ta Ke was due to a slight advantage in age or physique.

When chai er, enduring intense bodily pain, beat Winterfell's heir until his head was bloody and bruised, he only then realized he might have caused a great disaster—he had never seen his companions bleed so much—that very day he slipped out of Winterfell, enduring the pain, and passed through the dense forest and marsh before reaching the banks of the White Knife River.

"That damned wolf pup will surely find me along the King's Road and hand me over to the Boltons for flaying," he thought, and without hesitation he leapt into the gentle White Knife River.

He had never feared the water; living by the White Knife River, everyone said he was as agile as a fish in the river, and even during the White Knife River's flood season he could easily swim back and forth between its banks.

He intended to swim across the White Knife River and return home from the east bank, but this crucial, life‑saving attempt failed. After only a brief swim he found he could no longer move his arms or kick his legs; he wanted to float on his back and wait for his strength to return, but his limbs kept cramping, and the bruises from the wolf made it hard for him to move.

"I am going to die," he thought at the time.

Fear was like the surrounding water enclosing him; the waves he had previously ignored lapped over his face one by one, and when river water flooded his nasal passages, forcing him to cough, he lost his balance.

It was utterly unfair that the surging river swallowed him while he was completely powerless to resist, and he thought,

It was then that he began to doubt the old gods. They had given him unrivaled swimming ability, yet they cruelly took it away just when he needed it most— they had fought beneath the heart tree, and that tree must have been helping rui ka de!

Drowning was his fate, he had once heard people say, but he had always thought it was merely a caution to be careful, an unavoidable excuse that could not be dissuaded.

After losing consciousness, he did not know how long later when a great, warm thrust pushed him out of the water's embrace; so much time had passed that he could still feel the warmth of that moment and smell the incense.

"Oh, it's just a child!" after a strong‑built man squeezed the water from his chest, he heard someone say.

He was pulled aboard by a monk from the White Harbor ship; the monk was not handsome in appearance, but his wet‑soaked robes made him cleaner and gentler than anyone else nearby, and he was certain that this was the moment he prepared to renounce the old gods.

When he returned to Winterfell ten days later, his uncle brought him back from his humble dwelling by the White Knife River to Winterfell, yet upon arriving he discovered that no one paid any attention to the "brutal" fight that had taken place ten days before.

When he next saw young Lord Rui Ka De Shi Ta Ke, the boy was swinging a wooden sword in the practice yard, mercilessly pounding the dummy, appearing unharmed, whereas he himself felt a faint ache in his back bones that did not fully fade until several months later.

From that time on he began living in Winterfell. After almost enough time had passed to forget that stupid stunt, rui ka de secretly sought him out and warned him not to tell anyone he had been injured, or else… he could not remember what the Winterfell heir had threatened him with at that time.

This memory makes him want to chuckle. At that moment he realized that this noble heir had not told anyone about his injury.

Because there were too few children in Winterfell close in age to Lord Rui Ka De Shi Ta Ke, later, so that his heir would have peers of his own age, Duke Ai De Le Shi Ta Ke had them both receive training from the master-at-arms and a maester's education.

Gradually their aptitudes showed a difference: under Hong Kai Suo he was always the one criticized, but when they went to Old Maester Suo Er, the criticism fell on Rui Ka De Shi Ta Ke.

Afterward he began managing the library for the old maester, and there he read through all the collection— the religious texts from the maesters being his main focus— not because he had much interest in the Seven Gods, but because in the North where the old gods hold sway, trying a distinctly different faith really does help attract extra attention……

May the gods forgive, that was the shy, secret aim of his youth.

Lai Ya Na Shi Ta Ke often returned to Winterfell and visited his library; he was always happy to introduce her to whatever knowledge he understood, and when she once asked a question about the Seven Gods, he recalled that his answer pleased her greatly.

Thinking of this, he gave a wry smile; he could no longer recall what the little daughter of the "Wild Wolf" Luo De Li Ke had asked at first. To this day the only impression left is that his understanding of Seven‑God‑related knowledge is extremely profound, and this deeply impressed that lady.

She later became the wife of her nephew Rui Ka De Shi Ta Ke.

Their marriage was opposed by the mother of Rui Ka De Shi Ta Ke, Mi Na Luo Ke, because she believed his son should not marry a relative, and she put forward the stern reason that offspring of a close‑kin union would be cursed by the gods.

"May the tan ge li an go to hell!" At that time, already a duke, Rui Ka De Shi Ta Ke roared at his mother, "As long as the old gods do not curse! No, even if the old gods and all the gods of the world together curse!"

At that time Monk Chai Er relinquished his inherited duties, left Winterfell, and went to the White Harbor sanctuary to study the Seven‑Star Scripture.

Time flowed, and he registered his clerical status in White Harbor, becoming a northern monk, and in the sanctuary he took charge of receiving visitors.

The Church held northern monks in high esteem, so he was recommended by a bishop to travel to jun lin, jiu zhen and other cities and villages of wei si te luo, where over the long years he shook off idle frivolity and ridiculous affectation.

When he returned to Winterfell again, the beautiful Winterfell lady who had made Lord Rui Ka De Shi Ta Ke disregard his mother's opposition and wish to marry her had passed away, leaving behind three healthy sons and a daughter equally beautiful.

He sighed.

In Winterfell few know the duchess's origins, but he is certain he is among them—those who have seen and remembered the young Lai Ya Na Shi Ta Ke and her little daughter Lai An Na Shi Ta Ke would guess the true mother of this bastard pair, and from there infer their true father.

Few meet this requirement, but this is absolutely not a secret for him to reveal……

"Ugh—" the horn sounded.

He held his breath and focused, waiting; when it became clear there would be no second blast, he climbed onto the wall.