Monts later, hurried footsteps sounded outside Maegor's Holdfast.
A maid stumbled into the room, her face deathly pale. "Your Grace! Terrible news! King Joffrey… he seems to have been poisoned!"
The wine cup in Cersei's hand fell to the floor with a clack, crimson liquid splashing across her golden skirts.
"What did you say?!"
She didn't bother wiping it off. Lifting her skirts, she rushed outside.
All thoughts of Eddard Stark and the prison break were instantly forgotten. Her son, her Joffrey, her future…
As she crossed the gallery and burst into her son's bedchamber, Cersei was hit by an indescribable stench.
Grand Maester Pycelle hobbled out of the inner room and bowed shakily. "Your Grace, His Grace is fine. He rely ate sothing bad… it appears to be a laxative."
"A laxative?"
Before Cersei could ask further, Joffrey staggered out of the inner chamber.
His face was deathly white, cold sweat beading on his forehead, and his golden hair clung ssily to his face. The once arrogant young king now looked like an empty sack.
"Mother…" he began, but his face twisted again.
Clutching his stomach, he turned and rushed back inside.
Cersei's hand froze in mid-air.
After a long while, Joffrey finally erged again. This ti, instead of weakness, he was furious.
He snatched a guard's sword and swung it wildly while roaring, "I'll kill all those damned cooks! Chop them all up! Turn them into mince!"
"Joffrey!" Cersei rushed forward to stop him. "Calm down! Let see—"
Her hand reached out but froze in the air.
The sll…
It was too strong.
Overwhelmingly nauseating.
She rembered what the maid had said on the way: "His Grace shat all the way from the godswood to Maegor's Holdfast."
Cersei's hand hovered, unsure whether to lower it.
At that mont, another guard burst in, stumbling.
"Your Grace! Terrible news! Sansa Stark has disappeared!"
Cersei's erald eyes widened in disbelief.
"What did you say?"
The guard's expression grew even stranger. There was sothing indescribable in the way he looked at Cersei, and sothing even more peculiar when he looked at Joffrey. He carefully produced several sheets of paper and presented them with both hands.
"Your Grace… Your Grace… King's Landing has fallen into chaos. Strange… very strange rumors are spreading inside the Red Keep as well."
Cersei snatched the papers.
Then her world collapsed.
They were photographs.
High-definition photographs.
The first: her and Jai in the Red Keep's gardens, lost in passion.
The second: her and Jai in the Queen's bedchamber, lost in passion.
The third: her and Jai in the abandoned tower in the North, lost in passion.
The fourth: Jai pushing Bran Stark from the tower window, the boy's face frozen in terror and despair.
Every image was terrifyingly clear. Her face and Jai's were unmistakable — every expression, every movent, captured in perfect detail.
Cersei's pupils contracted violently. A chill shot from her feet straight to the top of her head.
"What is this?!" Her voice was sharp and piercing, like a lioness being strangled. "Where did you get these?! Speak!"
The guard, a Lannister man, swallowed hard.
"From… from the sky!"
"What?"
"These… these papers fell from the sky! Like rain! It's happening inside the Red Keep too! Now… now everyone outside is saying…"
He didn't dare continue.
Cersei's hands trembled.
"Saying what?!"
"They're saying… King Joffrey is not King Robert's son…"
Cersei's vision went black.
"You're lying!" she shrieked. "This is slander! Slander! This is sorcery! How could anyone draw sothing so… so realistic!"
"I rember now — this is paper! That damned magic baron's paper! He's a sorcerer! Using witchcraft… he's slandering !"
As she spoke, a rustling sound drifted in from outside the window.
Another "paper rain."
Sheets of A4 paper floated down on the wind, covering the windowsills, the corridors, and the entire Red Keep. Every sheet showed images of Cersei's adulterous acts… with Jai, with Lancel, and several lesser-known faces.
Joffrey grabbed a few sheets and looked down.
His face twisted horribly.
"Joffrey!" Cersei rushed over in panic, trying to snatch the papers away. "Don't look! Don't—"
It was too late.
Joffrey stared fixedly at the images — at his mother, at his uncle — and felt the sky itself collapsing.
Was he truly not a "crowned stag"?
His face went from white to green, from green to purple, and finally settled into a terrifying iron-grey.
"Ah—!"
A huge commotion suddenly erupted outside.
Cersei rushed to the window and threw it open.
She saw hell.
Beyond the walls of the Red Keep, a black sea of King's Landing commoners had gathered.
Tens of thousands of people waved the colorful sheets of paper frantically, shouting in fury.
"Cersei the whore!"
"Bastard off the throne!"
"Usurper off the throne!"
In the crowd, a small formation of septas in white robes stood out. They marched together, beating wooden clappers in unison and chanting with religious fervor:
"Sha!"
"Sha!"
"Sha!"
The rhythmic, solemn, and fanatical chant hamred into Cersei's ears again and again.
"Sha! Sha! Sha!"
Cersei felt her vision darken.
The sound grew louder and closer, as if it would swallow her whole.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say sothing.
But nothing ca out.
Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed limply to the floor.
This was the most severe public relations crisis in the history of the Westerosi continent.
The Red Keep's spokesman imdiately stepped forward with a stern declaration: "These are all fabrications! Evil sorcerers used witchcraft to forge them! It is impossible for anyone to draw sothing so realistic, therefore they are fake!"
However, the people of King's Landing scoffed at this.
"Witchcraft? This is clearly the Seven Gods revealing the truth! This is divine power!"
"The Seven can no longer tolerate that whore Cersei and are exposing her filth to the world!"
"It's real! That's the tower in the North! I've seen it!"
"Cersei the whore! Her lover is the Kingslayer Jai, and her cousin Lancel…"
"And all those bastards! Have you forgotten how many of Robert's bastards she killed? This is guilt!"
Stannis Baratheon's letter exposing Joffrey's parentage was once again circulated, and news of Renly Baratheon mustering his army also spread throughout the city.
Cersei ordered the City Watch to mobilize fully, confiscate and destroy all the papers that had fallen from the sky. Anyone caught hiding them would be charged with treason!
But the smallfolk of King's Landing were not so easily silenced.
Paper could be confiscated, but mouths could not.
Public outrage grew. People were no longer just attacking Cersei personally — they were attacking the entire Lannister family!
"Joffrey is a product of incest! Get off the Iron Throne! The Lannisters are all incestuous monsters! That Imp is also a product of incest — this is an evil family!"
Moreover, the Faith of the Seven acted as a major agitator.
The septas and septons had long disliked the "whore queen" Cersei. Now that they had evidence, they were more active than anyone, holding rallies and speeches daily to incite the masses.
Stannis and Renly's agents, of course, were secretly fanning the flas.
Public fury boiled over.
It reached a point where even force could no longer suppress it.
Finally, soone took action.
The first rotten egg smashed against the walls of the Red Keep.
Then the second, the third.
Then ca rotten vegetables, feces, and dog shit.
The enraged smallfolk couldn't reach Cersei or Joffrey, so they vented all their anger on the Red Keep's guards and servants.
Anyone entering or leaving the Red Keep was bombarded with rotten eggs, vegetables, and excrent.
The guards were left in a sorry state, and the maids fled in tears.
The Red Keep — the center of power in the Seven Kingdoms — had beco an isolated island surrounded by filth.
When Cersei woke from another fainting spell, the first words she heard were:
"Your Grace, the situation is dire!"
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