Chapter 140 Wills
"How is Your Majesty?"
"It's not good..." Grand Maester Pycelle sighed and shook his head, "Your Majesty's wounds can't heal at all, they are all gangrene. If I were a normal person, I'm afraid I should have returned to the embrace of the gods. To be honest, I have never I have seen people with such a tenacious will to survive..."
Duke Renly's eyes flickered: "Has His Majesty made a will?"
"Not yet." Pycelle lowered his head, "The Queen also came to ask once before, but Her Majesty insisted on waiting for the King's Hand to return."
"Wait for him to come back?" Duke Renly tugged at his neckline irritably, "He went to the Eagle's Nest City, is there still time to come back? What if Your Majesty..."
Pycelle's voice became even lower: "Actually...it's not a big deal, after all, His Majesty has a legal heir...even if... nothing will happen..."
"But Joffrey is underage." Duke Renly could hardly hide his impatience and eagerness, "He needs a regent."
Pycelle fell silent.
"I'll go see Your Majesty." After speaking, Duke Renly strode into the king's bedroom.
The fireplace in the room was burning hot, and the gloomy red light filled the space, making it look weird and terrifying.
Duke Renly saw his brother lying on the bed at a glance, staring blankly at the ceiling, wondering if he was still awake.
Lord Renly walked to the bed, reached out and lifted the blanket—
There was a terrible scar on the king's abdomen. Although Maester Pycelle tried his best to sew it up, it still had no effect. The oozing blood dyed all the gauze used for bandaging red, and even the internal organs that flowed out were faintly visible...
The king persisted like this for seven days, and the wounds festered and stink.
"Ed... Ed is that you?" Robert suddenly spoke, but his eyes were still out of focus.
Duke Renly wanted to correct his brother, but he held back the words.
His eyes struggled for a while, and he waved his hand to signal several servants to step back, then sat by the bed, held the king's hand, and imagined what Duke Ed would say at this time:
"Robert, how...how did you do this!"
"I was careless, Ed. Damn it, I haven't fought for so many years, and my body is rusted. Alas, if I was me back then, I wouldn't be afraid of those boys."
He really lost his mind, and actually took me for Ed Stark!
Duke Renly suppressed the ecstasy in his heart.
"Damn it!" He tried to imitate Eddard Stark's tone, "Robert, do you have to be so reckless!"
"Damn it! Ed!" Robert retorted, "I don't even have the freedom to fight! Damn it, you killed me back then! Make me the king! You know me I don’t want that **** iron chair! I just want to drink, fight, and **** women! I should have run across the narrow sea and become a mercenary!”
"According to the sequence of inheritance, you are..."
"Fuck the line of succession!" Robert dismissed, "If the line of succession, there are two Targaryens across the narrow sea, why don't you find them to sit on this iron chair. You must Ask me to sit, now it's all right, you say, am I a good king?"
Lord Renly knew that Ed Stark would shut up at this time.
Robert was furious: "You should say yes at this time! Damn it, don't you Starks know lies!"
But after scolding, Robert suddenly laughed: "Yes, what a good king I am! Hahaha, I'm probably better than Aerys, I didn't set people on fire. Damn it. Ed, I was wrong , but I really can't be a king. And I'm surrounded by people! They're either liars or fools, Ed, Ed..."
Duke Renly was annoyed for a while, but he still held the king's hand tightly.
"Help me, help my son..." Robert's tone suddenly became very weak, "He's still so young, so ignorant...You have to help him..."
"I will." Lord Renly promised.
Robert pointed to the table: "Go get a pen and paper, and write down what I said."
Lord Renly's heart was about to jump out of his throat.
While silently praying to the Seven Gods, he spread the parchment on his knees and held a quill in his hand: "Your Majesty, please speak."
"This is Robert I of House Baratheon, King of the Andals, Rhoynar, and First Men, ruler of the Seven Kingdoms... **** it, put all these ghost titles in there." Robert gasped weakly Tone, "...'s will, hereby appoint the Warden of the North, Duke of Winterfell, Eddard of the Stark family as regent and guardian of the whole land. After my death, I will rule the state affairs on my behalf until my son Joffrey comes of age ..."
Writing here, Duke Renly changed Ed Stark to his own name without hesitation.
"...Gods old and new... You know what to write later, I will sign after I finish writing."
When Duke Renly finished writing his will, he felt that his palms were all sweaty.
He handed the parchment and quill to the king, and prayed devoutly to the Seven Gods again in his heart.
I don't know if the gods really heard Lord Renly's prayer.
The king took the quill pen, signed his name on the paper without carefully reading the words on it, and left a pool of blood at the same time:
"When the seal is sealed, someone needs to witness it. Go and call all the important ministers of the imperial meeting."
"Yes, Robert." Duke Renly's eyes shone with excitement, and the hand holding the parchment was trembling.
…
"Where's Your Majesty?"
Hand of the King, Duke Eddard Stark dragged his exhausted body into Maegor's Tower.
So he couldn't care about Lysa's mother and child anymore, and hurried back immediately. The road continued day and night, and three horses ran to death before finally rushing back to King's Landing.
He only wished he hadn't.
"I'm afraid it's not very good..." Varys moved his fat body to barely keep up with Duke Ed's pace, "His Majesty's wound can no longer heal, and now he is relying on his will to survive. Maybe he is waiting for you to come back..."
"Damn it! Why did you let him participate in the competition? Why didn't you stop him!" Duke Ed couldn't control his emotions and roared angrily.
"We have dissuaded him. Countless times." Petyr on the other side shrugged with a helpless face, "But you also know His Majesty's temper. He is not someone who can be easily persuaded."
Duke Ed was also a little depressed when he heard the words. Indeed, his brother's temper is really hard to persuade.
If only I was here.
He suddenly regretted going to Eagle's Nest City.
"That contest was indeed too coincidental, His Majesty's breastplate just fell off..."
Hearing what Petyr said, Duke Ed suddenly frowned: "Did your majesty's breastplate fall off during the competition?"
"Yes." Petyr sighed, and pretended to explain, "Our Majesty is indeed a bit too fat..."
Duke Ed's mouth moved, but he didn't speak.
He suddenly felt that this did not seem like a coincidence.
Thinking of the person who put the armor on the king, it was Lancel of the Lannister family...
"Where are the other contestants in that group competition? Have you interrogated them? Have they been instructed?"
"The few who survived have asked." Varys said, "There is no problem."
"How many survived?" Duke Ed couldn't believe it, "Seven Gods! How many people died in that contest?"
"Actually, there were no dead people in the contest. Instead, after His Majesty was injured, when the 'Magic Mountain' went to rescue him, he failed to control his anger and killed many people." Petyr spread his hands, "You also know That guy has a hot temper."
Now Duke Ed frowned even tighter.
How could he not know that the "Magic Mountain" is a mad dog raised by the Lannister family.
Letting this mad dog out at this time is to silence it?
Reminiscent of his son Bran who was pushed off the tower, and the rumors of cheating on the queen and his younger brother James, Duke Ed became more suspicious of the Lannister family.
But at this moment, he had no time to think about it, he just wanted to see his brother quickly.
Several people came to the king's bedroom, just in time to run into Duke Renly who came out.
When Duke Renly saw Duke Ed, his eyes shrank slightly, but there was nothing unusual on his face:
"Lord Ed, you came back just in time. His Majesty has just made a will. Please come in and witness."
"Your Majesty has already made a will?" Petyr looked surprised, looking at Duke Renly in disbelief.
But Duke Ed didn't notice anything wrong, and strode towards the bedroom.
Duke Renly hurried forward, stuffed the parchment into Duke Ed's hand, and said:
"This is His Majesty's will, and you will be in charge of sealing it later."
Duke Ed received the will and was not in the mood to read it, so he strode into the room.
"Robert!" Duke Ed looked at his dying brother on the bed, his eyes blurred by tears.
Duke Renly was afraid that the two of them would reveal their truth if they talked too much, so he urged:
"Since Your Majesty has drawn up the will, let the king's hand preside over the seal."
"Yeah, Ed... hurry up and let me die!" Robert yelled, "I'm going to die of pain!"
Duke Ed suppressed the grief in his heart, opened the will, confirmed Robert's signature, but refrained from reading the content.
This will cannot be read by the imperial council until after the king dies.
Witnessed by everyone, Duke Ed rolled up the parchment, dripped sealing wax on it, and then took the national seal to cover it.
"All right, Your Majesty."
Robert seemed relieved at last when he heard this, and cried:
"Pycelle, come and relieve my pain! Damn it, I can finally die!"
Grand Maester Pychel hurriedly made a cup of poppy milk, and served the king to drink it up.
Robert threw away the cup, and murmured blankly:
"Can I dream?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, you will have a good dream." Duke Ed comforted in a trembling tone.
"That's good." Robert smiled mischievously, "I will say hello to Jon Arryn and your sister Lyanna for you. I really miss them..."
After speaking, the king closed his eyes tiredly, and sank his whole head into the pillow.
(end of this chapter)