Beside the main keep and beneath the Broken Tower, the ground had already beco muddy from the chaos surrounding Bran's rescue earlier in the day.
Any traces that might once have remained there had long since been destroyed.
Garon raised the oil lamp in his hand and carefully surveyed the surroundings for a while before finally giving up on finding any useful clues below the tower.
"Let's go," he said calmly. "We'll investigate inside the Broken Tower itself."
Jon naturally could not see anything either and simply followed behind Garon without objection.
A short while later, the two appeared on the first floor of the abandoned tower.
Because the upper section of the Broken Tower had never been repaired after the lightning strike years ago, almost nobody ever ca here anymore.
Even the previous ti Jon had accompanied Garon, they had only stopped near the base of the structure.
As a result, the inside of the tower was damp, filthy, and in complete disrepair.
Combined with the dim evening light, the small oil lamps in their hands illuminated only a tiny area around them. Moss covered many of the old stone steps, making them slippery and dangerous.
"Be careful, Garon," Jon warned as he prepared to climb upward.
But just as Jon stepped forward, Garon suddenly stopped him.
"Wait."
Jon lowered his foot again and looked puzzled.
"What's wrong?"
Garon crouched slightly and lowered the oil lamp closer to the moss-covered stone steps, observing them carefully.
Jon also leaned over curiously, but after staring for quite so ti, he still failed to notice anything unusual.
Finally, unable to hold back any longer, he asked, "What exactly are you looking at?"
Garon pointed toward the moss.
"Jon, don't these marks resemble footprints?"
"Hm?"
Jon squinted and leaned closer.
"There are marks?"
"Why can't I see them?"
Garon used his finger to trace an outline through the air.
"Here."
"Look carefully."
Following the direction Garon indicated, Jon finally noticed faint indentations upon the mossy surface.
The longer he looked, the more they truly resembled footprints.
"They really do…"
"But even if soone ca here before, that shouldn't be strange, right?"
Garon nodded slightly.
"Ordinary footprints aren't strange."
"But bloodstains are another matter."
As he spoke, he lifted the oil lamp slightly higher and pointed toward the third stone step from the ground.
A dark dried bloodstain remained there clearly.
Jon instantly beca agitated.
"Could soone really have tried to harm Bran?"
"But Bran is only a child."
"Who would hold a grudge against a child?"
Garon naturally knew the answer already, but there was no way he could reveal it directly.
So he rely replied vaguely.
"Who knows?"
"That's exactly why we're investigating."
"Co on. Let's continue upward."
"And pay attention to every step carefully."
The two slowly climbed the winding stone staircase together, holding their oil lamps while carefully examining every section of the tower.
Not long afterward, they made another discovery.
On one of the stone steps rested a strange milky-white dried substance that carried a faint but peculiar odor.
Jon frowned imdiately.
"What is this?"
Having never experienced relations between n and won before, Jon naturally could not recognize what lay before him.
But Garon was different.
In his previous life, he had nearly married and naturally understood what dried bodily fluids and sen stains looked like.
However, considering his current identity, he obviously could not explain such things directly.
So he rely shook his head thoughtfully.
"I'm not certain."
"But we can collect so and ask Maester Luwin to identify it."
Jon nodded imdiately.
"Wait here. I'll go find a wooden box."
With that, Jon hurried back down carrying the oil lamp.
anwhile, Garon remained standing silently within the tower, his gaze fixed upon the winding staircase while countless thoughts passed through his mind.
"The presence of sen stains proves Jai and Cersei really did co here."
"But what about the blood?"
"And where is Theon?"
"I didn't see him earlier."
"Could Jai have already killed him?"
Garon frowned slightly.
"Were these bloodstains left behind by Theon?"
But almost imdiately afterward, he rejected the thought himself.
"No."
"If Theon had died, Ned would already know."
"Which ans he's still alive."
"Then did he really strike so sort of deal with Jai?"
Yet the more Garon thought about it, the stranger the situation beca.
He simply could not understand why Jai would allow Theon to live after discovering such a dangerous secret.
After all, Jai and Cersei's identities made their affair unforgivable.
Anyone who uncovered the truth could never be permitted to survive.
Jon Arryn had died because of it.
Ned Stark would eventually die because of it as well.
If news of the incest between the twins spread openly throughout Westeros, the entire Lannister family would face destruction.
In truth, the downfall of House Lannister after Tywin's death stemd largely from Jai and Cersei themselves.
Their incest alienated potential allies throughout the realm.
Because neither sibling was willing to marry strategically into another great house, the Lannisters eventually found themselves isolated against enemies on all sides.
Their fate had practically been sealed from the beginning.
Of course, if Jai and Cersei had truly obeyed Tywin's wishes, they would never have beco the people they were now.
Just as Garon was silently considering how Jai managed to keep Theon quiet, Jon finally returned carrying a small wooden box.
Pulling the dagger from his waist, Jon carefully scraped the bloodstained moss and the strange white substance into the box.
"Let's keep going upward."
The two continued climbing.
Along the hundreds of old stone steps, they repeatedly discovered more traces of blood along with additional dried white stains.
As Garon walked, he could not help inwardly sighing in admiration.
"I have to admit…"
"Jai and Cersei really know how to enjoy themselves."
"This staircase is ridiculously long, yet they still managed to continue all the way down."
"Jai's stamina truly is impressive."
The pair continued stopping and searching repeatedly until, after nearly an hour, they finally reached the topmost accessible section of the Broken Tower.
Jon held the oil lamp in one hand and the wooden box in the other.
"This is as high as we can go."
"Beyond this point is the section destroyed by lightning."
Garon nodded slightly.
"Let's inspect the room."
The mont they entered the upper chamber, both n imdiately noticed how chaotic the room appeared.
Footprints covered nearly every part of the dusty floor.
Most notably, a large concentration of footprints gathered near the open window.
Garon instantly understood that so form of struggle must have occurred here before Bran's fall.
He slowly raised the oil lamp higher and leaned closer toward the window.
Sure enough, several small drops of dried blood could still be seen nearby.
Garon carefully leaned outward and looked down.
Everything beneath the Broken Tower had already vanished into darkness, though his eyes lingered montarily upon the distant raven nests nearby.
"It seems this was the true scene of the incident."
Knowing the truth already, Garon could naturally reconstruct the sequence of events far more easily than anyone else.
"Judging from the footprints," he explained calmly to Jon, "there were at least three people here."
"One of them was definitely Bran."
"The bloodstains indicate there was likely so sort of conflict."
Garon slowly turned his head toward Jon.
"I suspect Bran was pushed from the tower."
"What?!"
Jon's face changed dramatically.
"Who would do such a thing?"
Garon shook his head.
"I don't know yet."
"We'll need to hear what Robb discovered first."
"Co. Let's return and et him."
"On the way, we can also ask Maester Luwin to identify these samples."
Jon nodded heavily, though anger already burned within his eyes.
"If I discover who hard Bran…"
"I'll make them pay in blood."
Under the dim glow of the oil lamp, a faint aningful smile appeared on Garon's lips.
"You will."
"I promise you'll get your wish."
At that sa mont elsewhere in Winterfell, Jai and Cersei, who had been quietly dining together, also learned that Robert had ordered an investigation into Bran's fall from the tower.
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