Chapter 80: The Power of Rumors (Part 2)
"Already all over the city?" Aeg raised his eyebrows, struggling to keep his tone from sounding too abnormal. He realized he might have underestimated the destructive power of gossip involving high-level affairs, such as the affair between the Master of Coin and the Hand's wife. However, the purpose of spreading the rumor was not just to disgust others. He now urgently needed to know whether his actions had already, or would in the future, cause enough damage to Littlefinger's plans: "Well... has the person involved responded?"
"Why should I care?" Tyrion snorted disdainfully: "He is just a minor squire, and those notes are probably not his last words. But the person who wrote these things is cunning. The contents are either impossible to verify or distorted and exaggerated facts, with no loopholes to be found... But Baelish is the Master of Coin, a 'pillar of the state.' How could a rumor bring him down? Hmm... But I haven't seen him in a few days. All I know is that his brothel is still running smoothly."
"Is that so." Aeg hid his helplessness. Smart people generally don't indulge in gossip, and it was in character for Tyrion not to care about such things. Well, since the rumor had already spread, there was no need to worry about attracting attention by inquiring about it. But next, who should he ask to find out if his goal had been achieved?
***
After some thought, he decided to take the time to "chat" with the Stark guard who brought Arya to class every day. After all, his direct goal was to prevent Littlefinger from gaining Eddard Stark's trust, and to obtain information in this regard, who better than the man's own subordinates?
He soon discovered that there was indeed someone better.
"That rumor..." Arya sniffed again. The two adults in front of her were finally talking about something she knew, and she didn't miss the opportunity to chime in, proudly showing off the information she knew: "My father said the king has written a letter, asking Lady Arryn to return to King's Landing to explain the rumor and prove her innocence."
Aeg also came to his senses at this moment. Yes, he had been foolish. Eddard Stark's precious daughter was right in front of him, so why go out of his way to ask the guard outside? He habitually treated Arya as a child who knew nothing, but in reality—a ten-year-old, if smart, could understand everything they heard. They just lacked the experience and insight to analyze the significance of what they heard. Arya was Eddard's daughter and also his "apprentice." She could approach Eddard every day and was simple-minded and trusting of him. If used well, wouldn't she be his best "ears"?
Understanding the key points, he was secretly delighted. The benefits of connecting with a Stark were far more than he had initially thought.
But he couldn't get carried away. Arya might tell him everything, but she would also tell her father, Eddard Stark, everything. He could get a lot of key first-hand information from her, but if he wasn't careful and let Eddard know that he was asking questions all day, arousing suspicion, that would be shooting himself in the foot.
Tyrion winked at Arya: "Lady Arryn? If I'm not mistaken, she's your aunt."
"Oh yeah, she's my aunt." Arya also winked at Tyrion, a little embarrassed: "I don't even know what she looks like... I never thought she was that kind of person!"
"It's just a rumor. Believing everything you hear is a characteristic of the mob." Tyrion said in an educating tone, "As for the king's letter, it's written in vain... She will never come to King's Landing. If the rumor is true, Lysa would never leave her nest to walk into a trap; and if the rumor is false, it means someone is out to get her, so she can't leave the safety of the Eyrie and come to this ghostly place called King's Landing."
"Indeed... In the Vale, Lady Arryn is like a queen, but if she comes to King's Landing, she's just the widow of the former Hand. I wouldn't come either." Aeg nodded in agreement with Tyrion's analysis and then asked casually, pretending not to care: "Well Arya, what has the Hand... your father been doing these past two days? What does he think of the rumors, or is he still running around with Lord Baelish?"
Without a second thought, Arya blurted out everything she knew: "No, I don't think so. Jory said Littlefinger has been ordered not to leave the Red Keep, and my father... seems to be investigating the source of the rumors."
Ordered not to leave the Red Keep? Wasn't this the otherworldly version of "restricting personal freedom, awaiting organizational investigation"? As for investigating the source of the rumors... Aeg subconsciously reviewed the entire process of making and spreading the notes: The ink was the most ordinary ink, and the paper was high-quality sheepskin paper commonly available on the market. The purchases were made by Tyrion's attendant and had a reasonable and legitimate use. No one else was involved or aware of the entire process. Unless Eddard could deduce that it was his doing through the fingerprints left on the notes, there was no way he could trace it back to him.
Oh, I should have worn gloves when doing the deed! But it didn't matter, Westeros obviously didn't have such technology.
He breathed a sigh of relief and suddenly felt a strong sense of unreality: Could it be that Littlefinger, the chess player in the power game of the original plot and the biggest boss in King's Landing, was defeated by his small rumor?
***
Anything is possible in the real world. Littlefinger's power stemmed from intrigue and the trust of those in power, with no real foundation. When no one cared about him, he was at his strongest; but once an opponent who knew everything and hid well targeted him from the shadows, forcing him to expose himself to everyone, his "power" melted away like spring snow under the sun.
Losing Eddard and the king's trust and becoming a suspect in the murder of the Hand, Petyr Baelish's ambitions were over. Admittedly, Eddard Stark would suspect that the rumors were smoke bombs spread by the Lannisters to stop his investigation, and Littlefinger could use other methods to make Eddard "discover" Cersei and Jaime's secret as usual, but with Aeg's interference, even if the plot continued by inertia, the outcome would be vastly different from before!
No matter what, the situation couldn't be worse than what happened in the original plot.
Aeg didn't indulge in the joy of easily taking down a major antagonist for long: Littlefinger was finished, but he wasn't dead, and even if he were, it didn't mean he had won. His opponent wasn't a single conspirator, but war—after the death of the last dragon of House Targaryen, Westeros actually no longer had a realistic basis for remaining united, only barely holding together under the enormous inertia of historical momentum... War was inevitable, it was just a matter of "when, why it would break out," "how big it would be," and "who would win or lose."
Littlefinger's ambitions were over, but there was still Varys stirring up trouble in the shadows. He had won precious time for himself and Tyrion's financial games, and next, it would depend on whether he could eliminate another troublemaker before the inevitable war broke out and grow to a point where he could protect himself and decide his own fate.
"Arya did well today. It's my fault, I was too busy with other things and delayed the swordsmanship class." Aeg was in a great mood and used the head-patting move again. He keenly noticed that the girl liked this. This little she-wolf had helped him a lot today and deserved a reward: "As compensation and a reward, I'll spend the whole day with you tomorrow. Whether it's practicing swordsmanship, telling adventure stories, or going to the paper mill, whatever makes you happy, okay?"