WILOW-Ch.318: Facing the Realities of Life
King's Landing
POV of Mannequin Sansa Stark
Usually, an Imposter Mannequin wouldn't behave so cowardly and weakly. But the most significant characteristic of Imposter Mannequins was their ability to mimic.
The Mannequin that replaced Sansa had copied her memories through a 12-hour, highest-level ritual. And the order given to it was to act exactly like Sansa.
Therefore, unless the order changed, she was Sansa Stark herself, and in every situation, the Mannequin would behave and react exactly as Sansa would.
This included being afraid when necessary and consequently wetting herself.
Even her feelings and thoughts would be the same as Sansa Stark's, even if no one knew it.
Gold Cloak Commander walked up to "Sansa" and bent down before he took a long sniff of her skirt, even as she whimpered in fear, hoping that someone would come and save her from this nightmare.
"Smells like just the little whore that I fucked last night." He said and turned her around before taking her inside the bloodstained alley they had come from. Then he pushed her against the wall and started tearing at her clothes.
"No…" She cried out in fear, but he simply pushed her pathetic attempts aside and continued to tear her dress.
"Never fucked a Warden's daughter before." The man said with a cruel laugh, "What do you say, lads? Wanna have a turn with the Honorable Lord Stark's daughter?"
The men cheered around her, and she closed her eyes even as the commander removed the last of her clothes.
"Well, well, well… Haven't you a little red peach?" He smiled, "I'm going to…"
"Stop. What the fuck do you think you're doing…" she heard from the other side. She opened her eyes and saw more Gold Cloaks coming from the main road.
She squinted her eyes and recognized the man as the Commander of the City Watch.
"Teaching the little whore her place."
"Have you gone mad with lust, Deem. She's still the betrothed of Prince Joffrey. Do you want all of us to lose our heads so that you can sate your lust?"
"I… oh for fuck's sake. Alright. Here. Have the girl." The man said and threw her toward the Commander of the City Watch.
She sobbed as he took out his cloak and put it around her to cover her modesty.
This was her first real experience with the cruelties of the world, and she was terrified.
At least, that's how the real Sansa would think if she had experienced these things.
On the other hand, the real Sansa's thoughts weren't very different from those at the moment.
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Dreadfort, Bolton Lands
POV of Real Sansa Stark
Sansa opened her eyes as the magical circle she lay in slowly dimmed and lost its power.
This wasn't new to her. For a long time, she had been lying in this special room every day, prepared just for her, watching the mannequin's memories that had replaced her before going to the King's Landing.
Lyra had explained the characteristics of the Imposter Mannequins and how the circle worked in detail the day she secretly arrived at Dreadfort. And this left her completely astonished.
From that day to this, Sansa had been watching the mannequin's daily memoirs regularly every evening. Luckily, watching a day's memoirs only took about ten minutes. So, it wasn't difficult for her.
Since arriving in Dreadfort, she had seen the mannequin in many different situations.
How Prince Joffrey had mistreated "her" for a trivial reason, and how the Queen had ordered to cut off the weapon hand of the Stark guard who had protected her by holding the prince's hand that raised to strike her.
How nobles in King's Landing had treated her coldly and contemptuously because she came from the North.
How the Queen had taken every opportunity to insult them and make things difficult for them.
As Sansa watched those memories, it was as if she had lived through it all herself. And the fact that the mannequin managed to move and act in the same way as her would make those memories even more intense.
But today...
Today's memories couldn't even be compared to the memories she'd seen before.
The king died.
Her mother abandoned her.
She tried to escape King's Landing with her household.
The Stark guards were killed before her eyes.
And... and she was almost raped.
As Sansa began to truly understand the impact of what she saw, her frozen expression slowly softened, and her eyes filled with tears.
Then she covered her face with her hands and began to sob uncontrollably.
Since Sansa began training with Lady Barbrey in Dreadfort, her perspective on the world had changed, and she had left behind her former naive outlook and rosy dreams.
But today, through the mannequin's memories, she had fully understood the true face of life.
She was genuinely grateful to Domeric for giving her the chance to live comfortably in Dreadfort and grow up under Lady Barbrey's wing, without having to endure these hardships.
But now, Sansa realized how weak and powerless she was in the face of life's realities.
And she truly hated it.
Now she understood how ridiculous the lady-like training her mother had taught her was. What good would that lady-like knowledge be in the situation she had just been in? Could it protect her from being raped?
Sansa was now beginning to understand why Arya and the woman Domeric loved placed so much importance on training and strength.
Not because they wanted to act like men or simply because they enjoyed it. They wanted to take their own destiny into their own hands, not leave their lives in someone else's.
And frankly, she would have preferred to be at least able to fight back when she was about to be raped. Or to be strong enough to avoid this situation in the first place.
But she had no intention of ever finding herself in such a situation again. Perhaps she couldn't be as good a fighter as Arya or Lady Ygritte, but she wanted to learn enough to fight to protect herself.
And if her own strength weren't enough, she would harness the strength of others.
Sworn shields, guards, allies…
But to obtain these, she first needed to improve herself. These people wouldn't follow ordinary people, and allies would only remain your allies if you were valuable to them.
And gold, diplomacy, knowledge…
She would pursue anything that would give her strength. From now on, she had no intention of leaving her fate entirely in someone else's hands.
Sansa Stark would be reborn as a different person from this day forward.
But for now, Sansa continued to sob uncontrollably.
This was the worst day of her life. And she really wished Domeric were here and wished she could lean on his shoulder and cry.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.319: Lyra Learns the Latest News
Ch.320: Domeric's Ambition
Ch.321: Calling for the Banners