Chapter 88 The Queen of Thorns’ Decision

"How dare he do this, how dare he do this?" In the Duke's Chamber in High Court, Duke Metz took the raven letter sent from Old Town and became furious, and shouted loudly towards Academician Morath: "Immediately, immediately give it to Earl Leighton in Old Town and ask him to help capture Lynd Terra immediately," he then shouted to Fertimo: "He used to be your knight squire, it's up to you to capture him. Catch him."

Seeing the Duke of Metz completely losing his mind, everyone looked at him quietly and waited for him to calm down, because everyone who knew the Duke of Metz knew very well that they must not do what he did when he lost his mind. Decide.

"What are you doing? Didn't you hear my order?" The Duke of Metz yelled angrily when he saw that no one responded.

Everyone looked at each other, feeling that the Duke really wanted to punish Linde.

"Your Majesty, what did Linde commit that made you so angry?" Highgarden garrison commander Roger, who had a good relationship with Linde, asked.

"You can see for yourself." The Duke of Metz threw the letter in his hand to him.

Roger picked up the letter on the ground and looked at it. His expression suddenly changed. Others also saw from Roger's expression that something was wrong. They took the letter over and looked at it. Their expressions also changed like Roger's. Somewhat ugly.

"How dare he do this?" Fortimo was the last person in the room to get the letter. After reading the content on it, his face changed drastically and he couldn't help but murmured.

It’s no wonder they had such a reaction, mainly because the news in the letter was really shocking. First of all, Old Town was attacked by the Ironborn. Later, Linde not only beat all the knights in the team for dereliction of duty. , even Vilas was beaten by him.

The heir to the majestic Duke of Highgarden and the future Lord of the Reach was actually whipped in front of everyone. This humiliation was basically equivalent to lashing the Duke of Highgarden in the face. If this was not done, Punishment, then the Duke of Highgarden will be completely disgraced, and the entire nobles in the Reach will look down on the Tyrell family.

Seeing this, Fertimo felt that Linde might be doomed this time, and he could not plead for Linde, otherwise, he might also be implicated.

At this moment, the Duke of Metz reiterated his order and asked for it to be executed immediately. Fortimo had no choice but to accept it. He just thought that if he could help, he would find another opportunity to help Lin De, at least to keep Lin De. Destiny.

"You guys wait a moment." At this time, Lady Olenna, the Queen of Thorns, walked in with the support of Duchess Ellery, and said to everyone: "The Duke was just worried about Willas's injury, so he said If you make some angry remarks, please don’t take them seriously.”

"Mother!" The Duke of Metz looked at his mother with wide eyes, wanting to refute.

"Don't speak yet." Lady Olenna stopped the Duke of Metz sternly, then took out a volume of documents and handed it to Garth Tyrell, the steward of Highgarden, and said: "Garth, you can use Highgarden immediately. In the name of the Duke, write a letter of condolence to the nobles on this list, praising their sons for their heroic feats against the Ironborn in Oldtown, and mourning their untimely deaths."

"Yes, Lady Olenna." Garth Tyrell nodded.

Mrs. Olenna gestured to everyone: "You all go down now! I have something to talk to the Duke."

After hearing this, everyone stood up and left, and soon only the Queen of Thorns and her son and daughter-in-law were left in the room.

"Alerie, go and close the door." Olenna ordered her daughter-in-law again.

"It's mother." Elerie responded.

When Ellery left and closed the door, Lady Olenna turned to the Duke of Metz and asked calmly: "What do you think about Villas being flogged?"

Although he knew that his thoughts were definitely different from those of his mother, he still resisted the pressure from the Queen of Thorns and said truthfully: "I think Lynd Terra went too far this time. As a knight of the Tyrell family, , he should not whip his lord's son, what he did is completely rebellion and treason."

"Rebellion or conspiracy?" Mrs. Olenna nodded calmly, and then asked: "Do you think I value Vilas very much?"

"Of course you value him." The Duke of Metz added, "You have always been cultivating him as your heir."

Mrs. Olenna asked again: "In this case, should I be more angry than you?"

The Duke of Metz fell silent because he could see that Lady Olenna showed no signs of being angry at all, which was obviously abnormal.

Mrs. Olenna said solemnly: "In fact, after I learned about this, not only did I not feel angry, I also wanted to reward Lind Terra."

The Duke of Metz looked at the Queen of Thorns in surprise and said without hesitation: "Mother, are you confused? Why can't you tell right from wrong? Lind Terra was arrested in front of thousands of people. Your grandson, my son, twenty lashes.”

"Am I confused? Even if you are confused, I cannot be confused." Lady Olenna glared at Duke Mace fiercely and said, "The reason why I want to reward him is because he helped our Tyrell family. A big crisis was solved.”

The Duke of Metz looked completely confused.

"Elerie, show that information to your husband so that he can clear his mind and stop being confused about right and wrong all day long." Mrs. Olenna ordered to her daughter-in-law who came over. He said to the Duke of Metz rather vindictively.

The Duke of Metz took a few pieces of paper from his wife and read them carefully.

These papers wrote in detail what happened on the night of the Ironborn invasion. For example, the knights were undisciplined, leaving the barracks without permission, and entering Oldtown to party. Lynde was worried that something would happen, so he sent Jon to lead ten knight guards with the money given to him by Willas. Special powers, temporarily taking over the military camp, and then the Ironborn invaded. Jon followed Lind's prearranged response plan and sent manpower to support the Oldtown garrison, protect Willas in the Starry Temple, and so on.

The person who wrote these contents is the consultant maester next to Vilas. He is a student of maester Lomis and is trustworthy.

"Even this can't punish Vilas?" Duke Metz put down the intelligence letter in his hand and said: "Vilas was in the Starry Temple at the time. It was those knights who left their posts without permission. What does it have to do with Vilas? ?”

"I really should pry open your brain and see what's in your brain?" The Queen of Thorns rolled her eyes in anger at the Duke of Metz and said, "As the commander-in-chief, Vilas, all the knights under him are good at... Doesn't it have anything to do with him leaving his post? Don't you have eyes? That Lind Terra warned him in advance and told him that those knights were too loose and asked him to restrain him, but he didn't take it seriously at all, so he That night all the knights will leave their posts and go to have a carnival. Now tell me, is he responsible? "

The Duke of Metz lowered his head and did not refute.

The Queen of Thorns continued: "Do you think Lind publicly executed Willas just to punish him for not restraining those knights?"

"Isn't it?" the Duke of Metz asked.

"Of course not, you idiot." The Queen of Thorns glared at the Duke of Metz, pointed at the intelligence letters, and said: "What were you looking at with your eyes just now? Didn't you see that there were more than two hundred people?" Did the knight die in the ironborn attack that night?"

"Ah?" Duke Mace was stunned and whispered: "It's just that more than two hundred knights died. The knights who died when I attacked Storm's End in the Stormlands..."

"Shut up!" the Queen of Thorns scolded, "Do you think the knights you are are the same as these two hundred knights? These two hundred knights are not just mercenary knights, there are also many knights from us. Among the families of the vassals under the Tyrell family, there are also some noble heirs and favored second sons. They were sent to follow Willas to Dorne just to make these heirs and second sons grow up. Have some knowledge and establish a good relationship with the heirs of our Tyrell family. Now that these people have died without even leaving the Reach, what do you think the vassal nobles will think?"

Duke Metz opened his mouth, not knowing what to say for a moment, but he also realized that if this matter was not handled well, it would be a big trouble for the Tyrell family.

Although the knights who died this time were just ordinary nobles or small lords, these ordinary nobles and small lords were one of the important foundations that supported the Tyrell family to gain a foothold in the Reach. If it really happened because of this incident, Resentment and dissatisfaction with the Tyrell family will have a considerable impact on the Tyrell family. Even if it does not shake the foundation of the Tyrell family, it will cause cracks in the foundation.

The Queen of Thorns looked at Duke Metz with an anxious look on his face, and said in a deep voice: "What are you anxious about? Lynde Terra has already solved the trouble for you, so what are you still anxious about?"

"He helped me solve it? How? Why didn't I know?" The Duke of Metz looked completely confused.

The Queen of Thorns sighed, seeming to have completely given up on her son's mind, and replied in a calm tone: "Lind's public execution of the surviving knights was to tell the nobles behind the dead knights that their deaths were due to unauthorized departure. He died a very dishonorable death in the line of duty, and by executing Willas, he was giving an explanation to those guys, letting them know that it was because of their children's absence from duty that the heir of my Tyrell family was so humiliated. The punishment is our vassals, not us. Believe it or not, in the past two days, those people will come to the High Court one after another to plead guilty to you. When the time comes, you must receive every visitor seriously. ”

When the Duke of Metz heard this, he showed a look of surprise, nodded, and said: "I know what to do, mother." But he was still a little confused and asked: "That Lind really thought of punishing Vilas, can he solve it?" Did the vassal nobles do this because of their dissatisfaction?”

"I hope he just helped our family unintentionally, instead of planning to have such a result." The Queen of Thorns sighed slightly, and then she looked at the Duke of Metz with a little doubt and asked: " The information sent from Old Town has just arrived in my hands. How did you know what happened in Old Town, and how did you know that Linde had whipped Vilas? "

"It was mentioned on the letter sent by Earl Leighton." Duke Metz took out the letter that aroused his anger and handed it to the Queen of Thorns.

The Queen of Thorns looked at it quickly, her face became a little ugly, and she couldn't help cursing: "This old thing actually played such a little trick on me." After that, she turned to look at her daughter-in-law and said: " Others say that your father is obsessed with witchcraft and is confused, but I think the person who said this is confused."

Ellelie said with a wry smile: "Did my father do anything wrong again?"

The Queen of Thorns said angrily: "Wrong thing? He didn't do anything wrong. He just wanted to use the hands of our inflatable fish masters to expel Lind Terra, and then he could drag Lind to You belong to the Hightower family." As she said that, she sneered again and said, "That old guy is really willing to spend money, and he actually plans to marry your sister Mauroya Hightower to Linde. If you think about it this way. , you have to call Linde that boy’s brother-in-law.”

As she said that, the Queen of Thorns couldn't help laughing.

The Duchess couldn't laugh or cry. She remembered that Linde was only fifteen or sixteen years old, only one or two years older than her eldest son. Although it was not uncommon in the Seven Kingdoms for old husbands and young wives, or old wives and young husbands, this It was still hard for her to accept this matter.

If the situation that the Queen of Thorns said really happened, she really couldn't imagine what kind of expression she would have when facing Lind. Thinking about it, she couldn't laugh at all.

"Your sons have seen that Linde is a talented person. Your father has also seen that Linde is a talented person. Our bachelors have also seen that Linde is a talented person. The garrison commander and the head coach of Highgarden have also seen that Linde is a talented person. Although Linde is a talent, only your husband, my son, Mr. Inflatable Fish, did not realize that he is a talent at all." The Queen of Thorns said sarcastically: "I should be unique for you. Are you happy with your sight? My lord."

The Duke of Metz said with an embarrassed look: "Mother, I was just worried about Vilas' health and was a little confused. I didn't really want to punish Lind Terra."

The Queen of Thorns found a chair in the room and sat down, then looked at the Duke of Metz and said, "I heard that you plan to change the reward from the manor and village to a territory after Linde completes the task of suppressing the bandits. "

"Yes, mother." Duke Metz nodded and said, "It's the land opposite Weil City on the other side of the Crimson Mountains."

The Queen of Thorns asked again: "Who is occupying that land now?"

The Duke of Metz replied: "The Dondarrion family in Blackport and the Weir family in Weir City both occupy part of the land. The rest is said to be mountainous land, which is too barren for anyone to occupy."

The Queen of Thorns easily saw through Duke Mace's little thoughts and said, "When you gave him that land, did you want him to be the second Randyll Tarly? He would guard it for you like a horned hill." Crimson Mountains?”

The Duke of Metz smiled awkwardly and said, "Since you think it's inappropriate, mother, let's change it..."

"No, it's very suitable. That place is very suitable for someone like Lind Terra." Queen of Thorns shook her head and said: "But you need to give him a little more rights. Just a knighthood can't help. You guard that place."