Late morning of the next day,
Red Keep
The entire capital was in chaos.
The beginning of this chaos lay last night when Jon Arryn's kidnapper had infiltrated the castle once again.
The gossip was that the white-haired kidnapper wasn't alone, but he was a member of a trained group of thieves. The kidnapper would have gone in and out without alerting anyone, if not because of some internal fighting that had caught the guards' attention.
The entire Red Keep had been awakened by the thorough search that had taken place thereafter.
Even after the search, the night was bound to be a sleepless one for them.
This time, it was the queen.
Even bigger figures were involved in this sleepless scandal.
When the time was just shy of dawn, the queen, commanding the Kingsguards and her household guards herself, descended on the blackwater bay like a sun. The beggars at the port told later that in her royal garments, the queen looked so furious that even the waves had receded at her command.
Well, that could have been an exaggeration, but the purpose of Cersei Lannister was not.
Anchored at the port was Mariene. When the red-cloaked Lannister guards stormed the ship, under the command of Kingsguard Meryn Trant, they found Lysa Arryn disguised and hidden under the Captain's bunk. The heir of Vale, Robert Arryn, was with her.
Why? Where was she going? How did the queen know?
The royal court must have demanded the answers from Cersei later. But first, she threw Lysa Arryn into the dungeon, accusing her of perpetrating the kidnapping of her husband, Jon Arryn. Even outrageous was Cersei's action of sending Robert Arryn to her father, Tywin Lannister, via the same ship right there and then.
But who would dare to doubt the queen's explanation?
"The capital is festered with kidnappers and thieves," she told the court. "I feared for the little boy's safety. Lysa Arryn is half-mad. Who knows what she had planned to do with the boy?"
The king had listened to this all as if his face were a stone. He hadn't said a single word, nor had he refused the queen's reasoning. But Robert Baratheon's fury erupted when Cersei accused the Lady of Vale of having an affair with the Master of Coin, Petyr Baelish.
"How dare you say such things?" the king had roared, they say.
"My king," Cersei had replied innocently. "Lysa Arryn and Petyr Baelish had been at it under your royal nose for who knows how long. I say we should use a hard hand on her. All lies will spill out from her whore mouth before the sunset."
That was the end.
In the late afternoon, this sleepless night ended, with no more word from the castle.
The only thing was sure that a storm was brewing, hidden under these events, which would soon engulf the entire Westeros. How could the lords, sworn to House Arryn, sit without doing nothing when their liege lord was kidnapped, and the heir of Vale was shipped off to the Warden of West?
Something had tipped over the balance of the seven kingdoms. Someone had lit the match of discord.
That someone was savoring wine in the company of none other than Jon Arryn.
*
*
"You seem happy?" Jon Arryn asked feebly.
There was a smile on Kai's face. Happy? Yes, he was. After regaining his strength, the first thing Kai had done was to let the queen know about Petyr's plan. It was a short meeting, barely enough to take in her sleepy face. Kai had to be content with that, though.
Then he waited.
Kai drank, ate, and healed, as he waited for the chaos to spread out, encompassing every nook and cranny of the capital.
There was another reason for his happiness, too.
…
[
Hidden Mission: Incriminate Lysa Arryn
Hidden Mission Status: Success
Hidden Mission Rewards:
1. 300 Mission Credits
2. +2 Attribute Points
…
Note: All Attribute Points gained, either directly into the said Attributes or as Unassigned Points, will be counted within the Set's Points Quota, unless exclusively specified
]
…
Attribute Points! Kai remembered seeing them with sheer elation. It was like completing a Main Mission in itself. My Main Mission's Grade is E, while the Hidden Mission's is E+. So I guess its reasonable…
Kai didn't think about how close he came to death while completing this Mission, though.
What happened, happened because my choices, Kai reflected, as per his nature to analyze the data after conducting experiments. It had nothing to do with Hidden Mission's Grade. Hmm… I can't really rely on guessing the potential danger just with Grade…
Moreover, with the newly obtained Attribute Points, Kai had now obtained a total of 5 Points out of the 20 Attribute Points one could obtain from the 1st Set.
Unlike last time, Kai assigned the 2 points to his Correspondence right away.
As most of his Abilities were advancing at a steady pace, Kai didn't need to add more points to his Agility. But with all the Skills piling up, he severely lacked MP and HP to back them up. He could overcome the lack of HP through the Act, Relentless Love, but there was no other solution to MP.
"Oh, I am happy," Kai finally replied, looking at the Hand. "I just don't know how to spend this night."
There was too much turmoil for him to go out.
So Kai waited, the wine dulling the pain in his left hand. Yet, it was remembering the taste of Cersei's lips that made him wince.
Just as he remembered Cersei… he remembered another Cersei, too.
Damn it! Kai felt an itch in his bones. It was like an addiction. With one prophecy already coming true, and the way he avoided it, now he longed for nothing but executing the Act once more.
So, reluctantly, Kai went to sleep, forcing himself to think about Cersei's After.
However, in his dreams, there was only blood.
*
*
48 hours to Mission End
Afternoon,
King's Landing's sewers
"Primordial Theater…"
The thin veil of smoke parted and the young Cersei walked out in her lavish red-yellow frock. Her green eyes glistened black in the candlelight. Her head bobbled, examining her surroundings, and she frowned.
Kai frowned at her frown.
"Again?" she worded out aloud, sneering. "… Blood…"
Kai could feel the revulsion within her as if she wanted nothing but to go back to wherever she had come from. He didn't blame her, though. Any place would be a welcome sight when compared to the sewers. Especially now.
It was raining in the morning. Though it was but a drizzle, most of the rainwater had come down the drain to the sewers, bringing up the filthy water's level to just below Kai's knees. The girl had grime reaching above her knees as well, blackening the pure frock on her virgin body. Cersei didn't complain outright if Kai was to ignore her condemning gaze.
I should have known better, he thought, rebuking himself. After my conversation with the Book's Petyr, I should have known.
"Don't let me die…" said Kai, narrowing his eyes at Cersei.
The girl played with her long silky hair, ignoring the smell as hard as she could, and giggled. There was a playfulness in her smile too.
Kai dreaded it.
He bit into his thumb and let her hold his wrist. Cersei smirked at him and then brought her head down before gently licking away the blood.
Blood Prophecy!