-Chapter 51-
-POV Raymund Connington-
"Good morning, Lady Sansa. May I accompany you, please?" I asked the young girl who was with her mother and sister.
She hesitated for a moment, so I added, to reassure her: "If you wish, your mother or your sister can be our chaperone."
She turned her head towards her mother, who nodded, though I could see the reluctance in her eyes.
I knew Ronnet had considered me as a match because, with all the Starks dead, the next in the line of succession was obviously Sansa, and I would then become the King in the North—or rather, the Warden of the North.
I would have liked to become king, but I knew very well that Ronnet would never relinquish a piece of land on this damn continent, just as I knew that without Ronnet's help, it would be extremely difficult for me to subdue these northern brutes.
Her mother and sister both accompanied us, and feeling slightly uncomfortable, I began the conversation by saying:
"First of all, I'm sorry that your father was assassinated in such a manner."
"He was a traitor; death is the only path for them," she said in a practiced monotone.
I shook my head and said, "You're mistaken; your father was truly a good man."
She looked at me with a new glimmer in her eyes, and I knew I had touched on something. I searched my memory and recalled what my brother used to say about Ned Stark.
"Damn honorable fool," I muttered.
All three of them looked at me as if they were about to pierce my head with their gaze, so I explained:
"That's how my brother referred to your father. I don't know why, but he hesitated for a long time before deciding not to intervene on his behalf. However, given the conflicts between him and the Lannisters, he chose to side with Renly Baratheon."
Seeing that this didn't calm them, I continued: "Ronnet doesn't really like violence; he's an expert in it, but I'd say he's more like a merchant lord than a bloodthirsty one. He loves counting his gold, spending it, wearing the latest fashions, tasting the finest dishes, and he particularly enjoys the pleasures of the flesh."
They frowned, and I went on: "Generally, my brother only considers two things: risk and benefit. These are the only criteria in his dealings with people."
I thought back to the way he used to talk to our father about the value of each house and how we would seek revenge, and it all seemed so distant that I smiled nostalgically:
"At the time, we weren't a great house; we were simply a wealthy one with an army of 10,000 men. So, for my brother to even consider risking everything for a man who had practically nothing to offer us... because, I'm sorry to say, but the North is terribly poor, it showed me that your father hadn't lied, that he wasn't a traitor, and that he must have been honorable enough for even someone like my brother to consider throwing all his plans away."
"Why didn't you do it? If you had, my father would still be alive," Sansa asked in a reproachful tone.
I smiled and said, "Risk and benefit."
Catelyn Stark lowered her eyes because she knew that no one would risk the future of their own house for someone else.
"Let's say we managed to forcibly recruit soldiers to fill our ranks with an army of 20,000 men and a navy of 5,000 with 30 ships.
We would have marched on the capital with the Starks, crowned a Baratheon as king once again, while the other would have knelt before the power of four combined armies and remained the lord of the Stormlands.
Knowing Eddard Stark, he would have simply handed the crown to Stannis, but whether it was Renly or Stannis, neither of them would have ever granted us the status, the respect, and even less the power that we have today," I said, nearly repeating what my brother had told me.
"You chose to serve a Baratheon king, waiting for them to kill each other off so you could kill the other and join someone else's cause as the Supreme Lord of the Stormlands. You did it for power," she said.
She was truly intelligent; I had to give her that, but she didn't fully understand the stakes.
I shook my head and said, "Power, but also revenge. These are the only two things that have driven us for the past twenty years. I went through the same situation as you, so I know exactly how angry you are.
Our family chose to remain loyal to the true king, and we lost. And even when we sided with the usurper, we almost lost our heads. For more than fifteen years, we became the laughingstock of the Stormlands.
We lost absolutely everything, even respect, and we didn't want either the Targaryens or the Baratheons to rule over us anymore. We wanted the power to choose and the power to take revenge, and we succeeded. That's why you'll always have my sympathy for the ordeal you're all going through."
Catelyn Stark seemed about to say something, but in the end, she remained silent. I frowned and said, "You can tell me or ask me anything you want; I won't be offended."
She gathered all her courage and said, "Bran told us what happened in the tower. How can you stand to be in the presence of that woman, and especially, how can you allow your brother to marry her?"
I smiled softly and said, "Alynne, my sister, nearly tore her hair out when she found out. She really has a grudge against that woman since the incident and doesn't think she's worthy of my brother. At first, he was just having fun as he always does, but then she got pregnant. My brother needs an heir as quickly as possible, and fathering a bastard with the queen mother would not have ended well in any possible future."
Sansa murmured, "Risk and benefit."
I nodded and added, "And finally, I'll simply say that I don't permit anything, and no one can permit him to do anything. He takes and does what he wants, and it's not a bad thing because today, House Connington is one of the most powerful houses in Westeros."
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