-POV MC-
"I have nothing in mind, Your Majesty," he said in a professional tone, allowing no emotion to filter through the tone of his voice.
It was clear as day that Jaime Lannister was lying. I could have left him alone after that, but I knew he reported all my actions to his father once night fell, so I didn't want to make it easy for him. He was a spy, so I was going to play a little with him to punish him.
I turned my head towards the Commander of my Royal Guard and asked, "Sir Barristan, do you believe this liar?"
Sir Barristan, in the same tone as Jaime, said, "No, Your Majesty."
"And you, Valeria?" I asked my mistress.
"Not for a single second, my dear," she said with a teasing smile, seeing the knight known as "the best swordsman after me and after Ser Barristan" becoming more and more uncomfortable.
We both looked at him expectantly, and he finally admitted, annoyed:
"I don't understand what you're trying to get from them."
"You don't need to understand," I said because it was true; he didn't need to understand, just to execute my orders to the letter, period.
He frowned and turned his head, then I said with a small smile:
"But if you ask me politely, maybe I could explain my reasoning to you."
He rolled his eyes under his helmet before taking on a mixed air of false submission and false modesty and said in an almost theatrical manner, "Please, Your Majesty, would you enlighten the little fool that I am?"
I nodded my head and in the same tone, I replied, "Gladly, Sir Jaime. In fact, I'm simply trying to redeem my family's name. We have ruled this kingdom for 300 years, and even though I know that war is inevitable, I also want to give them something that can make them happy. For nearly half of this time, we've been at war, and for the other half, the kingdom has suffered from famine, cold, disease, and the royal family's disinterest in the fate of the kingdom and its servants."
"They don't need to be happy; they need to know how to obey, nothing more; they are commoners," said Jaime, and I could see Ser Barristan in contradiction, even though he said nothing to defend the commoners, as this was a point on which almost all nobles agreed; they were above the commoners, and it was the commoner's job to serve them, not the other way around.
I nodded my head to concede that Jaime wasn't entirely wrong before shaking it, indicating that it was ultimately a false idea.
I said, "Sure, they need to know how to obey, but they also need to live. Half the nobles in Westeros hate me, and the other half despise me, but I have something they won't have, they'll never have."
"What?" he asked, perplexed, not understanding where I was going with this.
"King's Landing, of course, the largest city in Westeros, and the most populous. Do you realize there are over half a million people in this place, and if I'm really desperate, I can mobilize 100,000 soldiers?" I said.
"100,000 people, not soldiers," Jaime corrected, refusing to consider peasants armed with pitchforks and without any training as soldiers.
I smiled and rolled my eyes before retorting, "True, 100,000 people, but if I lead them in a charge, I'm certainly sure I could destroy your father's army. Armies are not just a matter of tactics but also a matter of who leads them into battle. A charge with me and Ghost at the forefront would be unstoppable."
"I can see your point of view, but I'm really skeptical about the effectiveness of such a rudimentary method," he said in a haughty tone, almost disapproving of the insinuation that his father could lose a battle against a crowd of peasants.
"I understand, but it's undeniable that even your father would have trouble facing 100,000 well-equipped people, regardless of their combat level. Can you at least acknowledge that?" I said, seeing he was still not convinced.
"Yes, he would have trouble…but he would win," he said, this time more out of pride than truth.
"So be it, let's say he could win, but now he's on my side, and he's on my side because I know that your father's army is the most organized and best equipped in the entire kingdom," I said to my 'loyal' Royal Guard.
"Wise decision not to have our heads chopped off, but we have strayed from the topic. If you need soldiers, then recruit them and pay them, as long as they have gold, they will fight for you. What I don't understand is why pay them to do nothing?"
That's called a bribe, corruption, under the table; I'm buying them to win their love.
"Hahaha, I have a question. If someone enters your room to fuck your sister, kill your children, and take your gold, what would you do?" I said.
"I would kill him without hesitation," he replied, stating the obvious.
"Even me?" I asked with a raised inquiring eyebrow.
He didn't answer, and I said, nodding my head:
"Of course you would, in fact, anyone who said no would be a liar, but that wasn't the topic of our discussion, so let's get back to the point. If I manage to make everyone living in King's Landing love this city as their own homes, what would happen?"
"I don't think that's possible," he said, not answering my question because he knew that if I managed to unite all of King's Landing, I could easily colonize the Crownlands and launch an invasion on the Riverlands and Stormlands with a fallback base capable of withstanding a siege for several months and a people ready to defend themselves from the 'invaders'.
"It's possible, but I'm going to try anyway, because it's not the nobles who will fight for me in the front line and sacrifice their lives by the hundreds of thousands, at least not with as much loyalty."
Underestimating the people never ends well; Louis XVI, the King of France beheaded by his own people, can attest to that… oh actually no....he's dead.