Chapter 292

"You look like you're smiling, Your Majesty the King?" Mei Yi turned her head to look beside her, "Is there anything we can share together?"

After the envoy of Qiongsifeite left, Mance Rayder, who had been set up on the wooden frame inside the large tent, began to twitch inexplicably at the corner of his mouth, and the huge cross-shaped wooden frame mounted on his body also started to shake.

"I'm not laughing, girl," he twitched the corner of his mouth, surely finding it very amusing, "I just need to take a dump. Although free folk can just go whenever they want, I still try to avoid doing it in front of others, especially in front of women, oh, beautiful women."

"That's best."

The cold wind poured in through the gap left by the opened tent flap, blowing his gray-white hair into a mess.

His appearance was extremely bad: his hands and feet were bound and hung on the wooden frame behind him, his exposed hands and feet were swollen from the cold, and his face was also red from freezing. Despite this, his demeanor and tone were very relaxed, completely unlike a prisoner; he indeed possessed a very unique charm.

From a fugitive Night's Watch brother, after several years he leapt to become the King Beyond the Wall recognized by the wildlings, which is certainly not something an ordinary person could achieve.

Qiongen's letter said that he had already settled the wildlings... the women and children of the free folk along the Wall's fortresses, but I have already promised to give the fortresses and lands west of the Wall to the meritorious mountain clans; therefore, these free folk and their warriors can only occupy the eastern side...... I plan to settle them in the northeastern corner of the North, facing Seal Bay, overlooking Skagos Island across the sea, to resist the invaders of Cannibal Island Claw.

"Thank you for telling me this arrangement, but I'm still more concerned about whether I can relieve the pent-up feces."

"You are their king, you ought to care about their fate." Mei Yi turned around, smelled the sour odor emanating from him, felt it was indeed rude to treat such an enemy, "Moreover, this is not an arrangement but a plan... If these free folk are truly that free, I cannot rest easy settling them in the northeast, giving them the opportunity to march south and directly threaten my new capital."

"You want to solicit my opinion?" He pursed his lips, as if thinking, "Even if I give it, how can you be sure that the advice I give you is correct, or that it will help you?"

"If you cannot understand them well enough to be their king, you have obviously done so. However, now it's my turn to become their lord and queen; the only person I can learn from is you. If I can learn and learn well, they might live a bit better; but if I fail to learn or learn poorly, their fate will be hard to predict."

Mei Yi turned her head to look at him, noticing that his face was full of relaxed wrinkles, as if he were listening attentively to her words.

This feeling of speaking is actually not bad.

"You actually want me to teach you?"

"Why not? If they cannot become my friends or honestly serve as my subjects, although I won't sell them to the eastern continent, I also won't kindly share the already scarce food with them, nor risk offending my loyal lords by allocating land to them—don't think that this rabble can snatch food or land from my hands; that's completely impossible, especially now that they have been scattered and disrupted, and hostages have already been sent to Winterfell, making it even more impossible."

"You didn't answer my question. I could say many things, hehe, saying it this way you'd find it reasonable, saying it that way you wouldn't think it's wrong—how can you be sure I'm giving the answer according to your wishes?"

"I won't say you're a friend worthy of trust, after all we've only met twice before and with a long interval. You also shouldn't expect me to think you're a moral, principled great person willing to sacrifice for your subjects. However, I must admit you are a legend, one that could be ranked among the legends of Westerosi history—such a legend naturally needs no petty tricks to deceive me. I am willing to believe you, as long as you are willing to speak. Moreover, you should thank me for not exposing your true identity to King Robert nor even to my father, which would have caused you to wither away early."

"You're wrong. It's not the 'legend' part, although I do like that metaphor. Moreover, I won't be grateful that you didn't tell Robert or your father my identity, or merely suspected it."

"I'm willing to hear you elaborate."

"I have reasons for adventure: I ate your father's food, took shelter under his eaves from the cold; even if he knew my identity, given his nature he would only drive me out, toss me back to the Wall, and for his honor order the Night's Watch not to pursue me until I return safely. I truly understand his nature, and even before I came to Winterfell I had already made thorough preparations."

Mei Yi smiled, unable to tell whether it was admiration.

His judgment of Eddard Stark was completely correct; moreover, daring to go alone over the Wall and then south to join Robert's northern army already showed extraordinary courage, truly worthy of Mei Yi's praise.

"That is not a mistake."

"What you're wrong about is that we haven't met only twice; including this time, it's three times."

"Indeed, but on this point I am not wrong either." Mei Yi likewise smiled, "The two meetings I spoke of do not include this one. When we first met, you were still a Night's Watch brother; it was summer, yet one night heavy snow fell unexpectedly, and the Night's Watch's Commander Kegeer, being too old, had to stay in Winterfell for a period. If you were just passing by, I wouldn't have noticed, which would be normal, but you stayed long enough, long enough for me to get to know each of you."

"Indeed, you are truly a peculiar doll; your brother completely doesn't remember."

"After all, he's my brother." Mei Yi laughed, "I also remember the 'Goatbeard' Kegeer who rode with you; before joining the Night's Watch he was a ruffian in the capital, and he actually bragged to a bunch of kids including a little girl about his chaotic past in the capital, though some of his foolish antics were actually fresh—just a pot of hot wine could make him recount all the tales he knew from south to north; at the time you were still laughing foolishly beside him; and there was the young Gewen from Fairy Island, whose stories had many maritime tales, from him I first heard the name of Lady Elishafaman and her 'Sun-chaser' ship."

"These are truly old acquaintances; I didn't expect you to really remember."

"After that I never saw them again."

"Yanghuzi once went on a patrol beyond the Wall with me and was killed by free folk; as for Gewen, after returning to the Wall he went back to Donghaiwang, while I went back to Yingzita. The two places are thousands of li apart, and since then I have had no news of him, and after leaving the Night's Watch I don't even recall ever killing him."

"Perhaps you should kill him." Mei Yi approached him, drew her long sword, cut the binding ropes, and Mance Rayder fell directly from the cross-shaped wooden frame, then let out a muffled grunt. "These people's stories, including the commander's, are all interesting, only yours is rather lacking, but at the time I still thought you were most likely to become the new commander of the Night's Watch."

"Really thank you... for your praise." He struggled to stand up, patted his ragged fur. "But you obviously guessed wrong, right?"

She nodded.

The two attendants and two guards beside her all began to watch him warily at this moment.

"You're not afraid I'll suddenly attack and tie you up like this?"

"You can go ahead and try."

As her words just fell, Mance Rayder moved, reaching toward her waist.

She lightly sidestepped, then kicked his right calf joint; he had not yet fully moved, and already fell heavily to the ground, while Mei Yi, with a motion he couldn't see, planted her sword on the ground, cutting off any possible line of further attack, and he chose not to continue suffering.

The guards at this moment hurried forward, half-drawing their swords, unsure whether they should continue advancing.

Mei Yi reached out to stop them.

"That Night's Watch brother, although he lacks experience, still had the same chance to see the whole world on the Wall, and his swordsmanship looks not bad; he will surely become the new commander of the Night's Watch someday—I told that to the still-young Eddard Stark with full confidence, but Lady Kaiselin Furen heard it and said, 'His status is too low; even if he's capable, he can't rise above, moreover, young people must endure many trials, perhaps after touching warmth they'll become lax, relaxed, or start having delusions and go astray, besides, the Wall and the lands beyond are dangerous.' At the time I thought Kaiselin was just using 'low status' to criticize me and Qiongen, or complaining that the commander had stayed too long in Winterfell, or reminding Eddard Stark of my identity... but she was indeed right. You failed to endure the trial, and you indeed went astray."

Mei Yi reached out to pull him up, but he instead pushed himself up from the ground.

"Or perhaps, after that you came into contact with true 'warmth'? I heard from Qiongen that you married a free-woman and had a child. I'm sorry, your lady died in difficult childbirth, and your child didn't live much longer than her."

His expression began to turn solemn.

"I want a cup of wine."

Mei Yi turned her head, poured a cup from the water jug on the nearby table and handed it to him. He took it and drank it all in one gulp.

"This is not wine."

"Sorry, in the entire camp only the maester's quarters have wine, but it's not for drinking."

"You're more miserly than the free folk." He pushed the cup back to the attendant beside him, "Dana is someone I met after leaving the Night's Watch; she wasn't the 'warmth' that lured me away, I never had any desire for high rank in the Night's Watch, let alone the need to endure trials. As for going astray, that was the path I chose myself, I have never regretted it." His expression gradually turned solemn, "The free folk don't have many schemes; if they promise something, they'll try their best to keep it—if that's useful to you."

"Others can believe my promises, but I cannot rely on others keeping their word for my safety. Tell me, are they truly never going to kneel? I don't like Qiongen's report on this point."

"They are people, not stubborn beasts."

"What do you mean?"

"Being human means they will learn and follow. They have knees, so they can naturally bend down; it's just that they haven't yet encountered someone worthy of making them bend."

"I know the answer, sir." Mei Yi sat back in her seat, "And you?"

"They once elected me as king, and a king never kneels before anyone else."

"Not bad, I was rude," Mei Yi nodded, "Since you're a king, you deserve kingly treatment."

Thus she ordered Banyangtaoha to prepare hot water and new fur garments for the king.