"Your guards are truly remarkable, Lord Stark."
Petyr Baelish wore a smile on his face, tinged with lingering fear.
He seemed to still be worried about what he had said in the King’s tent.
"Thanks to this Swordsman, His Majesty is safe and sound."
The latter half was said while looking at Lann, who was approaching. The young man nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
After Edd exchanged a few cold pleasantries with him, Petyr wisely left the obviously displeased Hand of the King.
Edd and Lann watched his departing figure, speaking to each other in lowered tones.
"It was him! I’m certain!"
"The King will surely investigate this assassination attempt. Will you tell him?"
Edd was speechless for a moment, angrily gritting his teeth.
If he could be honest with the King about the current problems, he would have spoken up before the group tournament.
It was for the stability of the kingdom that he could not let the hot-tempered Robert know.
"Look on the bright side; his explosive measures clearly show... he’s in a hurry."
Lann crossed his arms, his fingers tapping lightly on the leather armor of his upper arm.
"To him, you are no longer persistent about investigating the old Hand’s death... But to be this anxious over such a small issue? There are definitely bigger problems at play."
Edd’s mind was now a tangled mess. Were it not for his concern for his dear friend Robert’s safety and the kingdom’s stability, he would have already resigned as Hand and returned to his Winterfell in the North.
"This is too chaotic, Lann... sigh. Perhaps I’m really not fit to govern in a place like King’s Landing. Once this mess is over, I might leave immediately."
"The fact that you’ve realized this already makes you stronger than many others, my lord. Back to the point, have you obtained any clues from others over the past few days?"
"The Royal Scholar gave me a book, a very dull record about noble family lines and bloodlines. The former Hand was reading it before he died."
"Reading?" Lann raised an eyebrow. "What a coincidence. I have a certain confidence in my reading skills. Let me take a look when we go back."
The King’s assassination attempt should have been a scandalous event across the Seven Kingdoms.
But at this moment, the robust King appeared on a high platform, showcasing his unharmed and healthy body with a booming voice.
He also announced that the tournament would continue with the remaining archery competition.
However, everyone knew that the kingdom’s intelligence system had already sprung into action.
After the group tournament’s prize had been set, Lann and Edd, along with the guards, set out to return to King’s Landing.
As they reached the base of the Hand’s Tower within the Red Castle, a raven was "cawing" as it flew toward the top of the tower.
Edd looked up, frowning at the scene.
Ravens were a means of communication on the Westeros Continent, similar in function to carrier pigeons.
But having been finely bred by the Academy City, they were stronger and smarter than their wild counterparts, able to evade predators like hawks better in the wild.
Because of this, this means of communication carried a certain high-end quality and wasn’t used for just any matter.
Flying towards the Hand’s Tower, there was no doubt it was meant for Edd Stark.
"Lann, the book is on my desk. Go take a look yourself; I need to receive a letter. Jorri has the key to the study."
The guards present were all brought out from Winterfell by Edd, and there was no need for discretion around them.
The Guard Captain found it curious the level of trust Edd placed in Lann, but he did not feel jealousy or discontent.
He himself had a carefree nature and knew that a smart mind deserved attention.
Edd went straight to the raven pen at the top of the Hand’s Tower, and Jorri Kaiso shrugged at Lann, "Let’s go up too."
On their way up the Hand’s Tower, they passed by a small room where Alia was practicing.
Jorri Kaiso pulled a key from his leather armor pocket, then opened the study door, standing aside for Lann to enter.
"I’ll keep watch outside."
Upon entering, Lann’s first sight was the hardcover tome on the desk.
As Edd had said, it was a book whose sheer appearance might deter the average person.
Lann merely pursed his lips, walked over, and started flipping through the pages.
"Mentos, begin comprehensive recording and logical analysis."
"Command received, executing."
Lann’s eyes functioned like recorders as the bio-computer in his mind, following his orders, began recording all the information coming into his retinas, starting logical analysis.
This operational mode would be mentally taxing, which specifically meant a headache. However, for the target being just a book, Lann didn’t think it was a big deal.
The sound of pages turning filled the air.
Lann’s demeanor seemed less like reading and more like aimlessly flipping through the book, wasting time.
But undoubtedly, Mentos had already captured all the information.
"Arryn Clan... Stark Clan... Tully Clan... Lannister Clan... Baratheon Clan... hmm, wait?"
The vacant eyes suddenly sharpened.
Mentos captured that spark of inspiration from its host and linked the inspiration to logic.
In Lann’s mind, a chain of clues began to form.
"The Baratheon Clan’s motto is ’A Sturdy Lineage.’ They intermarry with many houses, yet the children born are always of the Baratheon’s black hair and black eyes."
"However, the Lannister Clan’s iconic golden hair is said to have been stolen from the sun by the ancestors during the Mythical Era. So, even when they intermarry, many of their offspring are blonde. But..."
Before Lann’s eyes, Mentos brought up the image of Prince Geoffrey, whose golden hair under the sunlight was so bright it seemed blinding.
Lann flipped back the pages, stopping at the ones concerning the Baratheon Clan.
His fingers accurately pointed to several instances of intermarriage.
"The Baratheon Clan has been recorded in history to have intermarried with Lannisters multiple times, but the offspring in these records... all had black hair and black eyes!"
Jandry’s appearance was placed opposite Geoffrey’s by Mentos. There was no trace of fatherly blood relation between the two.
"’A Sturdy Lineage’... No wonder!"
The world had always been captivated by the Lannister Clan’s Mythical Era legend, believing that golden hair stolen from the sun must surpass any mere mortal’s bloodline of black hair.
But the late Hand of the King had an epiphany near death’s door, starting to investigate the King’s bastards and the hereditary traits of children born from historical intermarriages between the two families.
No wonder the Lannister Clan had been so determined.
So all three royal heirs were born from affairs?!
The Queen had not fulfilled even an ounce of reproductive duty for the King or the kingdom!
Should this be revealed, Robert would hang that woman alive!
Lann clicked his tongue, his perspectives ever-challenged by the aristocracy’s absurd lives.
The major issue seemed resolved, although smaller questions remained, like why the late Hand suddenly doubted the legality of the heirs’ lineage, Petyr Baelish’s role in this...
But without a doubt, Lann had uncovered the main conflict.
With this mess nearing a resolution, Lann felt he could finally leave a stable environment for Alia.
He couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.
However, before he could finish exhaling, hurried footsteps from the top of the tower rushed directly towards the study.
The study door burst open with a bang, Edd standing by the doorframe, his face heavy with complex emotions, looking at Lann.
Lann was about to share his earth-shattering conclusion, but Edd spoke first.
"It’s going to be war, Lann!"
The young man’s cat-like eyes blinked as if in a trance.