Like her sister Jenny, Eleanor was exceptionally intelligent.
Children's lack of understanding is often a reflection of adults' ignorance and arrogance.
Whether a person is smart or sensible is not solely determined by age!
A very smart little girl, with guidance from an experienced person, will be incredibly talented; it wouldn't be surprising if she surpassed the experienced person in some aspects.
*
Horst Tully looked at Jenny and Erinia with a gleam in his eyes, as if he could vaguely see the childhood versions of the two sisters, Caitlin and Lysa.
Lysa never returned home or wrote a letter after marrying Jon Arryn.
Horst knows why.
Because of mugwort.
Tansy is a herb that can cause miscarriages in girls.
Hoster tricked Lysa into drinking chamomile tea, causing her to miscarry, because the child in Lysa's womb was Littlefinger Petyr Baelish's. This poor, ordinary fellow had taken the virginity of the Duke of Hoster's daughter, enraging the Duke.
He drove his adopted son, Littlefinger, out of Riverrun and tricked Lysa into drinking tansy tea.
This bowl of tansy tea took away Lysa's child and also destroyed the bond between Horst and Lysa.
From then on, Lysa never went home again and cut off all contact with Horst.
This bowl of tansy tea led to Lysa's recurring miscarriages. With each miscarriage, Lysa's hatred for her father intensified.
This is a pain in Horst's heart.
He wanted to reconcile, but he couldn't leave the house, and he couldn't bring himself to say it to anyone else.
Back then, Lysa was just like the little girl Elena in front of me—innocent, carefree, and beautiful.
Jenny's beauty also reminded Horst of Caitlin in her teenage years.
When she was a teenager, Caitlin was just as beautiful as Jenny.
"Jenny, Eleanor, would you like to stay a few more days?"
"I do, my lord," Elena said fluently, her smile sweet.
Horst looked at Jenny, who curtsied apologetically, "Your Grace, I must accompany my husband to King's Landing for the King's Tournament. I wish to return to see you after the tournament."
The Duke smiled: "I greatly admire the ancient and noble Westerling family. Sir Gregor, congratulations on marrying such a beautiful wife, and thank you for the hundreds of pounds of noodles and the hundred pounds of snow salt. A pound of snow salt is worth a pound of gold, a very valuable gift. And thank you for the chopsticks."
The Mountain bows in greeting!
"However, I didn't see your noodle-making machine. The Riverlands have plenty of high-quality flour, which would make Westerling noodles that taste even better than those from the Westerlands!"
"My lord, the noodle machine will be delivered to Benliu City after the martial arts tournament ends, and you will have to pay me another sum of money for it."
"Then what about the snow salt technology? Now that Westerling has married into the Tully family, we are all one family. I don't want to have to ask you for more snow salt after I've eaten this hundred pounds. I hope that the salt ponds in the Riverlands can produce snow salt on their own."
"I will speak to Lord Tywin about the Snow Salt partnership," the Mountain replied. "We haven't had time to discuss anything yet, and we haven't even had time to get to Lord Tywin's Casterly Rock. The news of your serious illness has already made Lord Edmure rush back!"
"Yes, I understand. Besides, there's a martial arts tournament going on. Who would dare disobey the king's decrees?"
"Yes, Your Grace, this national martial arts tournament is also to celebrate Lord Ed's inauguration as the new prime minister. Ed is your son-in-law. After Elena and Edmure got engaged, it also allowed me, a rough man, to climb into a prestigious family like yours. The Mountain is deeply honored."
"Hmm, Edmure, I've heard that your engagement to Miss Irene is not honorable!" Duke Horst's expression turned serious.
Edmund immediately turned pale. His father hated him most for his "insolence" with women. But what noble youth wasn't like that? Many barons and viscounts of low status kept mistresses, while those elegant and noble ladies, dressed in gorgeous gowns and speaking elegant and polite words, were actually all libertines at heart.
Edmure was speechless and knelt on one knee.
"Fortunately, you corrected your mistake in time and made the right choice," Duke Horst said.
Edmund was taken aback: "No!" he blurted out instinctively.
"What?" Duke Horst said, looking at Edmure with a probing gaze.
Edmure knelt on the ground, head bowed, without uttering a word.
The matter of his fake engagement needs to be discussed with his father behind closed doors.
*
Evening, in the Duke of Horst's study.
"Did you take Elena's virginity?"
"Yes, I saw the bloodstains on the bed."
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"You bastard."
"I hate guys like you the most. If you weren't my son, I would have killed you."
Edmure was speechless; he had always been ashamed of this. With a thud, Edmure knelt down, head bowed in dejection.
After an unknown amount of time, Horst slowly said, "Caitlyn wrote that the Lannisters are making frequent moves and we should be careful."
What did the Lannisters do?
"I don't know. The letter didn't say it explicitly. It only said that Jon Arryn's death was suspicious and that Bran Stark was murdered."
"The Lannisters did it?" Edmure asked incredulously. "Why? What was their motive? If the Lannisters murdered Jon Arryn, why did Catelyn know but the King didn't? Jon was the King's foster father! If the Lannisters killed Jon to become Hand of the King, then Edmure wouldn't be the Hand of the King."
"Things seem confusing. Caitlin is afraid you'll be detained in the West and wrote to me asking you to come back immediately."
What evidence does Caitlin have?
"No! — Elena's family background is quite good. Although she is still young, she is very beautiful and will grow up in another year. I want to keep her in Riverrun."
"Our engagement was fake," Edmure quickly said. "The idea was Arlene's own. I… got drunk and broke into Arlene's room… got caught by the Mountain and locked in the dungeon. Arlene brought me milk."
"Oh, this little girl doesn't know how wicked you are. She still thinks of you as a count. It's good enough that the Mountain didn't kill you on the spot. I'm surprised that the Mountain can control his temper. You must be careful of a rational and calm Mountain."
"I'm going to King's Landing with The Mountain tomorrow."
"I won't stop you, but I can tell that the girl has feelings for you. Go and say some nice things to her later. Tell her that I like her very much and ask her to stay and keep me company. She will definitely agree."
"Father, it's absolutely impossible for me and Elena to be together." Edmure mustered his courage.
Duke Horst sighed deeply. "Edmu, I won't force you, but if Arlene stays in Riverrun, at least the Mountain won't do anything to you. The Mountain of the past, so violent and ruthless, couldn't be controlled by a little girl. However, he's become more rational, calm, and less indiscriminate in killing. This is his progress, but also his constraint, do you understand? If this woman were Tywin's daughter, that would be even better. In case something happens between you and the Mountain, or if the Westerners want to do something to you, we still have the Mountain's sister here."
"Father..."
"Stop talking, I really do like Elena, she's just like Lysa when she was little."
Edmure wanted to say that Eleanor and Lysa didn't look alike at all when they were young, but he held back. He decided to let Eleanor stay in Riverrun for now; he could tell his father truly loved her. After the tournament, he sent Eleanor back to the Westerlands with the Mountain. His father's idea of using Eleanor to protect him from any harm the Mountain might do was really overthinking things.