"Lord Renly, I hope what happened at Golden Rose Garden that day was the first and last time," Lord Linde said directly, without mincing words.
Renly looked at Lord Linde with a surprised and bewildered expression, saying, "Lord Linde, why do I not understand what you mean?"
"Longstone," Lord Linde said, looking at Renly, mentioning a place name.
Renly's expression instantly changed, terror appeared in his eyes, and sweat beaded on his forehead.
"How do you know about Longstone?" Renly took a deep breath, steadying his emotions, and asked.
Lord Linde did not answer, merely stating calmly, "The first time, and the last time."
With that, he turned and left.
After seeing Lord Linde leave, Loras, who had been observing the commotion, immediately came over and, noticing Renly's somewhat off expression, immediately asked the reason.
Renly quickly composed himself, and Loras smiled, "It's nothing, Lord Linde just told me that a previous investment might result in a loss."
"Was the amount significant?" Loras knew Renly's disposition well and understood that unless it was a major matter, Renly would not be so flustered.
"Quite large, several years of effort," Renly said, speaking ambiguously.
Although he didn't know why Lord Linde knew about Longstone, he was certain that once this news got out, even if he was Robert's youngest brother, he probably wouldn't be able to remain as the Duke of Stormlands.
After all, no monarch would like their subordinates to train Unsullied-like assassins, especially since these Unsullied also possessed some of the Faceless Men's abilities, allowing them to become assassins.
Especially for someone like Renly, who had already reached the pinnacle of power, once the news spread, everyone would assume his only purpose in training such assassin-like killers was to climb higher, and above a duke, there was only the Iron Throne; at that point, no matter how Renly explained it, it would be useless.
Therefore, he had already decided to thoroughly clear out everything on Longstone before Lord Linde could spread the news, and as for the fifty Unsullied assassins already trained, they would all be eliminated without leaving any trace.
Lord Linde was unsure if Renly had accepted his warning. He planned to see if Renly reacted. If not, he wouldn't mind helping Renly clear out the people on Longstone.
In fact, several years ago, Lord Linde discovered Renly's small maneuvers and further found this small island in Shipbreaker Bay, where he surprisingly discovered Renly attempting to train Unsullied assassins, which somewhat surprised him.
Later, he learned that Renly had acquired a Meereenese who was formerly an Unsullied trainer from Slavers Bay, and thus had some ideas, getting this Meereenese to help him train Unsullied assassins.
Previously, Lord Linde had not paid much attention to this matter, because in his opinion, the Unsullied's strength was somewhat exaggerated, mostly inflated by the slave masters in Slavers Bay.
Because once a male is castrated, their overall physical quality is greatly diminished, especially in terms of strength, and these diminutions cannot be compensated for merely by training. Therefore, the Unsullied's weapons are all spears, because only spears can effectively kill enemies in conjunction with their physical condition; once in close combat, even an ordinary warrior can easily kill an Unsullied.
The only thing worth commending about the Unsullied is their obedience and fearlessness, which is the real reason they can form a fighting force. However, their absolute obedience and fearlessness already determine that the only battlefield where their advantages can be fully utilized is a frontal battle; once it turns into guerrilla warfare or harassment, their formation mode is difficult to leverage. Moreover, their weaknesses are particularly obvious: once the Commander is killed, they will be unable to adapt, and even if there is a death trap ahead, they will step into it without hesitation.
So when Lord Linde learned that Renly actually intended to train Unsullied, he didn't take the matter to heart. Even if Renly trained a legion of Unsullied, his Chosen Legion could still annihilate them.
However, what somewhat surprised him was that the Unsullied Renly trained were actually used as assassins, and they even mimicked some of the Faceless Men's disguise abilities, which made him look at Renly in a new light.
However, this merely caused him a slight surprise.
Although he could now confirm that the assassin was sent by Renly, he still found some things perplexing and didn't understand why Renly would do such a thing.
Logically speaking, Renly should have known that an assassin of this caliber could not cause him any harm, so when he sent the assassin, he should have already anticipated the assassin's failure, with the ultimate result being House Tyrell's embarrassment, as a guest being assassinated in Highgarden would undoubtedly cause Highgarden to lose much face.
Lord Linde knew that Renly disliked, even detested him, but he also knew that Renly and House Tyrell's relationship was unusually close. Setting aside his relationship with Loras, his relationships with Lord Mace, Garlan, and the Thorn Queen were all very good, even better than his relationship with his own brothers.
For Garlan's wedding, he helped out at Highgarden the entire time, as if treating them as his own family. At the Great Sept wedding just now, his seat was not next to Robert, but rather at House Tyrell's family table. Therefore, Renly should not have disrupted Garlan's wedding.
"Could it be to stop Garlan's wedding, and he actually loves Garlan!" A bold guess suddenly emerged in Lord Linde's mind, knowing Renly's sexual orientation. He then looked at Garlan, who was greeting guests with his wife, and shook his head again, feeling he was overthinking.
At this moment, Robert, accompanied by a group of nobles, approached Lord Linde. Compared to his state in the brothel, he was much more sober now, and there was little alcohol on him.
"Is this your boy?" Robert looked down at Augustus, who was clutching Lord Linde's cloak, and asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Lord Linde nodded.
Robert squatted down and looked at the little fellow. Augustus showed no fear towards Robert; instead, he reached out, wanting to grab Robert's beard.
"Haha! What a bold fellow! Just like you," Robert let the little boy grab his beard and said with a laugh, "Lord Linde, let's form a marriage alliance! Your son and my daughter."
Lord Linde hesitated upon hearing this, and asked, "Is it Princess Myrcella?"
"Of course it's Myrcella!" Robert said with a serious expression.
"Don't you need to discuss this with Queen Cersei?" Lord Linde asked.
Robert raised an eyebrow, displeased, and said, "Of course not, that woman has no right to defy my decision."
Lord Linde also nodded and said, "In that case, I am certainly very willing to form a marriage alliance with Your Majesty."
"Good! Very good!" Robert laughed happily, then directly picked up Augustus in his arms, walked to the center of the banquet hall, and loudly announced the engagement of Augustus and Myrcella. At the same time, he also pulled Lord Mace over and announced the engagement of Joffrey and Margaery.
Lord Linde was somewhat surprised that Lord Mace still agreed to the engagement with Joffrey after learning that Margaery possessed the power of Garth the Gardener, but he didn't pay too much attention to it, thinking that with the Thorn Queen presiding, they should be able to come up with a countermeasure.
Regarding Robert's announcement, the nobles from the Seven Kingdoms present all showed shocked expressions. Clearly, this matter was a surprise to everyone, but most of them were willing to see such a surprise, because it would make House Baratheon even more stable.
Because with the marriage alliance between Highgarden and the Iron Throne, the entire Seven Kingdoms now only had Dorne outside the Iron Throne's sphere of influence. The current situation was strikingly similar to that of Aegon Targaryen, the Conqueror. Nobles who had some knowledge of history also began to look forward to the emergence of a second dynasty that would last for hundreds of years.
Among all the people, only those from Dorne had somewhat gloomy expressions, as King Robert's actions clearly caught them off guard.
Especially the marriage alliance between Summerhall and the Iron Throne, which was even more unexpected for them. Princess Arianne glared at Lord Linde with an annoyed expression, feeling that this was Lord Linde's premeditation, deliberately not revealing it to her when they met a few days ago.
However, regarding these two marriage alliances, there was one other person who was also unhappy, and that person was Renly. Although he tried his best to conceal his emotions, Lord Linde, who was secretly observing the reactions around him, could still detect his emotional changes. This also made him wonder if that farcical assassination might also be related to this, and if Renly might have known in advance of Robert's intention to form a marriage alliance with Lord Linde.
Subsequently, Robert announced another piece of news that was incredibly shocking to everyone present: he announced the enfeoffment of Lord Linde as King of the Narrow Sea and Stepstones.
After Robert's words fell, the entire banquet hall immediately filled with discussions, because compared to the two previous marriage alliance announcements, this news was the most shocking.
The title of King of the Narrow Sea and Stepstones had existed since Daemon Targaryen, and every person who occupied most of the Stepstones, whether islanders or mercenaries, would claim this title for themselves. But no matter who held this title, none had ever received a formal enfeoffment; everything was self-proclaimed.
Even Daemon Targaryen himself did not receive an enfeoffment back then. When Viserys I heard that Daemon had crowned himself, he merely agreed to him wearing a crown, but did not announce recognition of the title of King, which was completely different from the Prince of Dorne.
But now, Robert publicly granted Lord Linde the formal title of Prince, acknowledging his rule over the Stepstones. Doing so not only elevated Lord Linde's status immensely, but also directly tore a piece from the original Seven Kingdoms' territory, forming eight kingdoms.
Everyone in the banquet hall, except for Lord Linde and Jaime who were already aware, was shocked by this news.
However, some were envious, some were jealous, and many discussed whether doing so was legal, etc., but no one dared to stand up and question whether Lord Linde was qualified to receive this title of King, because they knew very well that even without Robert's enfeoffment, Lord Linde was still the ruler of the Stepstones.
Moreover, some well-informed people also knew that Lord Linde had signed the Miracle Fleet patrol agreement with the Free Trade City States, and the Narrow Sea had also become a sea area under his control. Therefore, he was absolutely more qualified than anyone to receive the title of King of the Narrow Sea and Stepstones, even Daemon Targaryen, who invented the title back then, could not compare.
Under the bombardment of these major news announcements, this wedding banquet, where the newlywed couple became the background, quickly ended. Guests from the Seven Kingdoms also successively returned to their respective territories, and they spread what they had seen and heard, which quickly became common knowledge.
In King's Landing, Stannis, who was holding a Small Council meeting, learned that Lord Linde had become the King of the Narrow Sea and Stepstones, his face so gloomy it looked like it would drip water. He didn't greet anyone and left the meeting directly. When the meeting ended and Lord Arryn went to find him, he had already taken a ship back to Dragonstone. For a long time afterward, his relationship with the Iron Throne remained very cold.
The next to leave the Small Council was Renly, the Master of Laws. Renly did not return to King's Landing with Robert; he stayed in Highgarden for two months, then returned to Storm's End, and subsequently began to visit the various lords of the Stormlands one by one, cultivating relationships with them.
However, he soon found that his methods had little effect, almost the same as before. As long as it didn't involve Summerhall, the lords of the Stormlands would be willing to obey his commands. But once it concerned Summerhall, those lords became outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant. They wouldn't openly violate orders, but would greatly discount their execution or find excuses to delay the order's implementation, with delays potentially lasting years.
So Renly only persisted for two months before giving up on currying favor with his vassals and returning to King's Landing. Loras was also summoned by him to King's Landing, and the two of them resumed a life of drunken extravagance.
As the person who benefited the most among the wedding guests, Lord Linde naturally attracted much attention from all sides. And everything he did after returning to his territory made people wonder if he had been carried away by the title of King of the Narrow Sea and Stepstones, and was beginning to act recklessly.
For example, his permission to build the Temple of the God of Calamities in Miracle Port and the Magic God Temple in Redemption Town were not major issues. After all, with the precedent of the Storm God Temple, building temples for these two newly appearing deities was not an unacceptable matter.
But what truly made people feel that Lord Linde had gone mad was his establishment of the Sphinx Academy in Summerhall, similar to the Citadel, to recruit students. This was simply a challenge to the Citadel's thousands of years of tradition.
And that wasn't all; he also built a Tranquil Court next to the Magic God Temple in Redemption Town, specifically for cultivating people who wielded mysterious powers, such as wizards, diviners, and fire mages.
For a long time, under the influence of the Seven Gods faith, the Seven Kingdoms had a great aversion to magic, considering it evil. But now, the Chosen of the Seven had actually built a place specifically for studying magic. This matter, let alone for ordinary people, even within the Seven Gods Church, caused great surprise, and they all sent people to Summerhall to meet Lord Linde and inquire about the situation, as the Seven Gods faith was now closely tied to Lord Linde, and if something happened to Lord Linde, the Seven Gods faith would also suffer a considerable blow.
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