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Inside Winterfell's Great Hall, silence reigned after Garon and the others carried away Theon's corpse.
Only Robert and Ned remained behind.
The two n stood motionless, each staring at the bloodstains Theon had left upon the stone floor, neither willing to speak first.
For a ti, the vast hall fell into an oppressive silence.
After a long while, Robert was the first who could no longer endure it.
"Ned…"
Robert looked toward his old friend and laughed bitterly in self-mockery.
"Did you see the way she spoke to ?"
"That is my dear wife."
He grabbed a wine bottle from the table and poured two goblets, handing one toward Ned while keeping the other for himself.
"I shouldn't have struck her," Robert admitted after taking a mouthful of wine. "That's not sothing a king ought to do."
But Ned remained furious.
He suddenly drained his own cup in one gulp before slamming it down heavily.
"Why did you let Jai leave?"
"Theon is dead, slain by a dishonorable sword!"
"What will Balon Greyjoy think when he hears this?"
"Theon was his only living son!"
"If we do nothing, this will lead to war!"
Robert appeared completely unconcerned.
"He has no son now."
After speaking casually, Robert walked over beside Ned and lowered his voice.
"Theon is already dead. That fact cannot be changed."
"Whether Balon rebels or not depends entirely upon how much he values this son."
"But if you had Garon arrest Jai tonight, I guarantee House Lannister would retaliate imdiately."
Robert paused briefly before warning him seriously.
"Tywin values Jai far more than Balon ever valued Theon."
But Ned refused to accept such reasoning.
"So we simply let Jai walk away?"
Ned angrily slamd his goblet onto the table again, wine splashing across the wood.
He ignored it completely.
"Even if Jai truly conspired with Theon, we are supposed to ignore it?"
"Theon is dead," Robert replied stubbornly. "His dying words prove nothing."
"How can they prove nothing?"
"Theon clearly shouted that Jai promised him sothing!"
Ned's voice rose further as he attempted to force Robert into agreeing to seize Jai for questioning.
But Robert refused to yield.
"Promised him what exactly?" Robert retorted impatiently. "Promised to help him murder the Starks?"
Robert spread his hands dismissively.
"Ned, you heard Garon yourself."
"It was Theon and so woman coupling in the Broken Tower before Bran discovered them."
Robert even forced out a bitter laugh.
"Do you think Jai is a woman?"
"Or perhaps you believe Jai was bedding Theon?"
"Please. Jai doesn't fancy n."
Ned ignored Robert's humor entirely.
"Even so, Jai should still be detained first."
"If he is eventually proven innocent, then release him afterward!"
Robert's patience was gradually wearing thin.
He drained the remaining wine from his cup before making one final attempt to persuade Ned.
"If you do that, you will grind House Lannister's honor into the dirt."
"Tywin will never let it go."
Ned imdiately shot back furiously.
"I don't care about Tywin Lannister!"
"If he dares to start a war, I will help you crush him!"
Robert's voice suddenly rose as well.
"You can stop the Westerlands perhaps, but can you stop the wildlings beyond the Wall?"
"Have you forgotten Benjen's reports?"
"The wildlings are gathering in huge numbers, and there are even giants among them!"
At this point Robert abandoned all attempts at subtlety.
"The Iron Throne owes House Lannister a mountain of debt," he admitted bluntly.
"If the North and the Westerlands go to war now, how exactly am I supposed to rule this kingdom?"
The disappointnt in Ned's eyes beca impossible to hide.
He stared at the old friend with whom he had once fought side by side during Robert's Rebellion and suddenly found him unfamiliar.
The man before him was bloated and weary, utterly lacking the fearless vigor he once possessed as the young lord of Storm's End.
"Is this what the Iron Throne does to a man?"
"Does it turn a Stormlord into a king who thinks only of power and compromise?"
For the first ti, Ned felt a deep unwillingness toward traveling south to King's Landing.
"Your Grace," Ned finally said heavily, "if this is truly your command, I will obey it."
"But…"
"Please forgive ."
"I can no longer accept the office of Hand of the King."
Robert froze instantly.
Then anger surged across his face.
"Ned, are you threatening ?"
Ned slowly shook his head.
"It is not a threat, Your Grace."
"It is simply that my abilities are insufficient for such responsibility."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"It is late. You should rest soon."
"I still need to see Bran."
"Please excuse ."
Without waiting for Robert's answer, Ned simply turned and walked away from the Great Hall.
After only a few steps, the sound of a goblet shattering violently against the floor echoed behind him alongside Robert's furious curses.
But Ned never turned back.
He rely continued walking through the corridors of Winterfell with a weary and desolate gait toward Bran's chamber.
Ten minutes later, Ned arrived outside Bran's bedroom.
He paused quietly for a mont before slowly pushing open the door and entering.
Inside were only Maester Luwin, Catelyn Stark, and the unconscious Bran.
"My Lord," Maester Luwin greeted quickly while rising to his feet.
Catelyn, however, remained seated motionlessly beside Bran's bed like a lifeless statue, her hands tightly gripping Bran's smaller one.
Ned gently closed the bedroom door behind him before nodding toward Maester Luwin.
Then he walked slowly to the bedside and sat beside Bran.
His hand gently stroked Bran's cold forehead.
The next words from his mouth instantly shocked both Catelyn and Maester Luwin.
"Bran… the one who hard you has already…"
"Soone hard Bran?"
Maester Luwin looked completely stunned.
But Catelyn reacted far faster.
Like a statue suddenly awakening, she snapped her head toward Ned, hatred filling her eyes instantly.
"Who was it?"
Her voice had turned hoarse from grief.
"Ned, tell ."
"Who hard Bran?"
Ned carefully adjusted the heavy furs covering Bran before answering painfully.
"It was Theon."
"What?!"
Maester Luwin cried out in shock.
He had always believed Bran's fall was rely an accident.
Never had he imagined soone intentionally caused it, much less Theon Greyjoy, who had practically grown up alongside the Stark children.
"My Lord… could there be so mistake?"
"Theon… how could Theon do such a thing?"
No matter how hard Maester Luwin thought about it, he simply could not reconcile the idea.
Though arrogant and difficult at tis, Theon had never seed truly cruel at heart.
How could he harm Bran?
Ned remained silent briefly before answering heavily,
"Theon confessed personally."
Those words left Maester Luwin utterly speechless.
anwhile, Catelyn suddenly stood up.
Her eyes looked like those of a furious lioness preparing to tear apart her prey.
"Then why are you waiting here?"
"Send n imdiately to arrest him!"
"He is already dead."
"Dead?"
Both Catelyn and Maester Luwin were shocked once again.
But Catelyn quickly recovered and asked through gritted teeth,
"How did he die?"
Seeing the dangerous hatred in his wife's eyes, Ned feared she might do sothing irrational.
So he quickly explained,
"Jai Lannister killed him himself."
"Bran's revenge has already been taken."
Catelyn trembled violently all over before finally breaking down into tears.
Seeing her collapse emotionally, Ned walked forward and gently pulled her into his embrace.
At that exact mont, Bran seed to sense sothing faintly.
Beneath the heavy furs covering him, the fingers of his hand twitched slightly.
Outside the window, the direwolf's mournful howls continued endlessly through the cold northern night.
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