The day's tournament concluded with only Jaime Lannister, Sandor Clegane, Gregor Clegane, and the masked knight remaining.
By then, the moon had risen, and people were tired.
So, the king announced that the final three matches would be held the next morning before the team melee.
The crowd dispersed gradually, discussing the day's events and the spectacle to come the next day, while courtiers headed to the riverside for dinner.
As the future princess, Sansa was naturally seated beside the king and queen, with Prince Joffrey by her side.
Despite her longing for a fairytale marriage with the prince and her favorable impression of the handsome Joffrey, she couldn't help but feel resentful towards him now, especially after his next words.
"How dare that masked clown insult the betrothed of a prince," he exclaimed sharply in an unprecedentedly venomous tone.
"Tomorrow, my dog will deal with him, or my uncle Jaime will. In a few years, when I can compete, I'll personally take care of him."
These words angered Sansa greatly.
To hear Joffrey refer to the masked knight as a clown in front of her, who had become quite the fan of the mysterious knight, shattered the image of Joffrey she had in her mind as tall, handsome, charming, brave, and just.
At this moment, she began to realize that Joffrey was not the "knight in shining armor" she had imagined.
In reality, he was cruel, petulant, and narrow-minded, as evidenced by the incident with her direwolf earlier.
It was Joffrey who had instigated the challenge against Arya and her friends, but he had used extra measures during the challenge, resulting in his own injury by the wolf.
Yet, he could blatantly lie to the king's face and accuse Arya of attacking him.
Initially, Sansa's dissatisfaction with Joffrey had been building up, but now it erupted uncontrollably.
She quickly recalled many of Joffrey's cruel acts towards servants, his tendency towards violence, and his enjoyment of others' suffering and misfortune.
These details she had previously chosen to overlook or find excuses for suddenly became clear to her.
Her naive romantic fantasies about handsome princes, noble knights, and love were shattered.
She remembered her sister Arya, who, despite often being at odds with her, was always there for her, as well as her father, several brothers, and her younger sister, who were the ones who truly loved her and treated her well.
Soon after, she recalled her father's words: "We're in a dark and dangerous place.
This isn't Winterfell. There are too many enemies who want us dead, we can't turn against each other."
"When the great snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives."
"You and Arya may be as different as the sun and the moon, but you both share the same blood."
Is King's Landing really such a dark and dangerous place?
Initially, she didn't believe her father's words because she always thought Joffrey was the prince charming from the fairytales, and his mother, Queen Cersei, was an elegant and beautiful lady.
But now, she wasn't so sure anymore.
For the first time, she didn't long for life in King's Landing or becoming queen as much as before. She began to miss Winterfell, her warm home in the harsh winter city.
Alaric never expected that his impulsive decision to act as the masked knight would allow Sansa Stark, who was usually naive and even somewhat ridiculous in the eyes of the readers, to see some truths of the world ahead of time.
In the original story, it was because Sansa herself didn't understand the politics of King's Landing and the darkness of human nature.
And because she trusted Prince Joffrey and Queen Cersei too much, that her father's plans were leaked, leading to his tragic death in King's Landing and the eventual disintegration of the entire Stark family.
However, perhaps this time, instead of the Stark family suffering a total disaster, there might be some changes in the fate of the Stark family.
But even if he knew all this, he wouldn't care, because the future chaos of the Seven Kingdoms couldn't be stopped just by preserving the Stark family's strength.
On the contrary, if the Stark's strength could be preserved, then the mastermind behind the chaos would have half of his plans foiled, and the balance of power among the various factions in the mastermind's plans wouldn't be as he imagined.
Although Sansa was now somewhat dissatisfied with Prince Joffrey, as his fiancée and a traditional lady, she couldn't directly confront Joffrey.
She could only express her dissatisfaction through silence.
However, this silence only further angered the cruel and impatient Joffrey.
When he noticed Sansa's indifference towards him, he immediately became furious.
"See, you little bitch, watch how I'll torture your masked knight tomorrow. I'll have the Mountain break his limbs. You know what he's capable of.
Then this masked knight will lose all his fame. Who would like a crippled beggar?
He'll become a pauper, and then I'll buy him into the court and make him a eunuch, just like Varys. I'll torture him viciously in front of you – that's the fate of offending a prince."
"No—" Sansa's cry escaped her lips.
Today, she had witnessed how the Mountain had killed the young knight from the Vale.
The thought that her true knight might suffer an even worse fate than him sent shivers down her spine.
"No! By the Seven, you can't do this," she grabbed Joffrey's sleeve, pleading.
"You're the prince, and he's just a common knight. Why do you have to be so cruel to someone who's never wronged you? Have mercy…"
But her plea only made Joffrey angrier. He shrugged off Sansa's hand and cruelly said.
"Shut up, you bitch! How dare you defy your future husband? Just wait, I'll give you a gift tomorrow, the gift you desire most."
With that, Joffrey stormed off.
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