Chapter 6: Chapter 5: Winterfell
As we saw the Winterfell in the distance i would've been gaping like a fish i wasn't so shocked.
It was bigger, better and much more shocking than show version. It really looked like out of a fairy tale. It situated upon a very large hill that i am guessing around 200 to 300 meters in height. Sure it was a little bit old and not properly taken care of but it still had it's magical air.
I might need to rebuild it all again, it was legendary sight sure but still it wasn't built with proper technology nor was it worthy in its current state.
As we entered it my opinion started to drop immediately as it was clear the castle only looked great from outside but inside wasn't properly taken care of or more like the North is too poor to take care of a behemoth like Winterfell.
Waiting us to greet was all important dudes. Among them a scowling but gorgeous, as in she looked like an actual goddess, red head was drilling holes in uncle Ned's face with his eyes.
"Welcome home, Winterfell is yours Lord Stark." Said Catelyn Stark in a cold tone she then turned to my mother.
"Welcome to Winterfell Lady Dayne i hope you will be comfortable in your visit." She said with a fake sincerity.
I, like everyone, saw the insult she threw to both my mother and me. First she called my uncle as Lord Stark as in head of House Stark and called my mother Lady Dayne intentionally which is not really an insult or wrong but it is clear she meant as a way to say she didn't recognize my parents marriage. Well she just signed her death order after i deal with Edmure and Hoster makes Robb heir. I might still need her to birth few Starks to use as bargaining chips but after that trout shall be gutted.
"I am not visiting my lady, as mother of Lord Paramount of the North, my home is Winterfell as i am Lady of Winterfell." My mother said with a beautiful smile that men would fight each other to see on her face.
"That is correct as my brother's widow and mother of my nephew she is Lady of Winterfell." Ned said with a cold glint that made Catelyn realize his husband might not like to see his nephew subtly insulted in front of him.
"Of course husband. This is your son Robb Stark." He practically took young Robb who looked around like a curious puppy from arms of a servant and shamelessly used him as shield.
Obviously when Ned holded his son for the first time his anger was forgotten immediately. After a rather boring sequence of greeting and bowing from random people, my mother retreated to his chambers with me.
As she started to colorfully complement Catelyn. I thought about what do with Winterfell now that i see it with my own eyes. I might have to hold of on any repair before we solve our fund problem.
First things first i need to get rid of little spy infestation problem, already have 4 in my minimap, but there is a small obstacle nobody will take me seriously as i only said few small words to show i am really smart. I need Eddard to do my bidding that means this plans won't be starting until my first birthday.
For now i shall keep reading and studying any materials written about basic economics, accounting, building, mining, engineering and agriculture. Faster i start faster i can start changing things around here.
Days passes quickly until one day i wake up with a notification saying it is my birthday. It is time to see my favorite uncle. I am saying favorite because Benjen doesn't even come close to me due to helping Lyanna escape and not telling anyone about it caused my father's death. I am not blaming him but currently i am hiding the fact i can use complete sentences, thanks to my efforts of few months, so i can't tell him that. Still he can keep hiding Eddard is the uncle i want right now.
He doesn't make me wait as i stand in my crib Eddard comes in to room and greets my mother. He turns his eyes to look at mine and his freewill lost forever.
[Subject Acquired]
[Name: Eddard Stark
Loyalty: Cregan Stark, House Stark
His Thoughts About You: He sees you as his God, Lord and Master. He will do everything in his power to fulfill your orders. He believes with you House Stark and the North will reach heights never seen before.]
Shorter than Tywin then again he is not that complicated man. He looks at me for a few seconds more then turns to my mother.
"Lady Ashara would it be alright if i take Cregan to Godswood." Ned Stark ask with a kind and respectful tone.
"You can call me Ashara, Ned i am your goodsister. Of course you can take him but please be careful he is especially playful and active these days." Ashara says with a laugh.
"Of course i won't let him leave my sight." Ned says and takes me to his arms then leaves the room with me.
With quick steps we reach main gate of Godswood. Guards stay behind as Ned carries me to Heart Tree. As soon as we reach it he lowers me to ground so i can sit a rock.
"We can talk without being seen here my lord. What is your orders?" Ned Stark says with devotion.
After using minimap to make sure we are alone in Godswood, i start speaking with my second minion.
"First we need to find a way to meet up alone regulary if we can't meet up alone i can't give you, your orders. You need to convince mother to let you take me here every few days so you can update me in situation regarding castle and the North related affairs. " I spoke with my serious baby voice that might be either cute or terrifying.
"I can claim you liked the trees and Heart Tree. I also can say that you remind me Brandon so she can't refuse our visits here." Ned offered his suggestions.
"That is good enough. If not you can use the excuse of showing Jon to me. So you can take me his room we can be alone there." I say. Catelyn nor anyone besides Benjen, Eddard and wetnurse taking care of him enters his room.
"There is something i must say about Jon my lord. He is not my son or a bastard. He is Lyanna and Rhaegar's trueborn son named Aemon Targaryen. What should we do about him?" Ned Stark confess without hesitation.
"I am aware. For now nothing he might be useful in future if not we can get rid of him." I say and he nods.
"There will be a gathering of Lords 2 weeks to see you my Lord. They were supposed to come for your nameday but i wanted give them some time in their home before calling them to Winterfell. I didn't want them to be annoyed with you if they had been called before they can have time with their families after the war." Ned gives me a critical piece of information.
This is good news i can't operate based on canon. I can use observe on them to get a idea on their thoughts and personality. I need to see who i must subjugate other than Rodrik Ryswell and Roose Bolton.
"What about House Dustin is other than Barbrey Dustin do they have any members left?" I ask because widow's law is bullshit and i don't want an important region like Barrowlands to be in the hands of a women who is angry with my dad.
"Other than her nobody. Her husband was last of his House." Ned answers.
"We need to find a way to get rid of her. I don't want a region important like Barrowlands ruled by a problematic women like her." I speak my mind.
"I agree she might not be fool enough to rebel but she will never be loyal and will drag her feet in any commands you give her." Ned agreed with me.
"If we kill her we can give Barrowlands to uncle Benjen. That way we can have lord absolutely loyal to us and exploit resources of Barrowlands." I say.
"Wouldn't be easier if we married her to Benjen. That way we can curtail her influence and in the future if she proves a problem we can kill her." Ned gives his suggestion.
"It might br easier but it is also more risky option. I hardly think she can deny her father but she hates our House and if we were to gave her a Stark husband she might have Stark children with claim. If that happens she can kill Benjen discreetly and use her children to cause trouble for us. So it is not acceptable to have a women hostile to us bounded to us in a marriage. Besides there will be inventions i will make that she can leak to south just to spite me. " I disagree with his suggestion.
"What shall be done about her then? We can't kill her without just cause. Even if we did her father and goodbrother would use this to their advantage to alienate other Lords." Ned points out a legit concern.
"We need to wait until my 2nd and 3rd birthday. I will subjugate Rodrik Ryswell and Roose Bolton so any significant opposition to us will be eliminated. After which we can kill her using Roose Bolton. He can have her attacked by bandits leaving Dreadfort after inviting her to Domeric Bolton's nameday or something. That way she won't suspect anything and we will be in the clear if her death happens in Bolton lands. " I tell Ned plan.
"But before all that we need to clear Winterfell from spies. I don't want anyone knowing what happens inside these walls." I talk about our current problem.
"How can we find out each spy?" Ned asks.
"I can tell who loyal and who isn't. We can hunt anyone remotely disloyal." I inform him.
"People would talk if i suddenly kill off or send people away because of a 1 name year old baby." Ned says with a confused voice.
"I just need to see them once if i see them i can tell their name and if they are loyal or not. I have a good memory i will write a list to you when we next meet. I will spend few days walking around with mother to see anyone disloyal." I explain my power to him.
"Anything else my lord?" He asks after my words.
"I need you to get me a report on finances of our house. How much we have, our debts and debts owed to us, taxes we gathered from our bannermen and payed to crown each year for the last 10 years, coin we earn from our direct territory each year for the last 10 years. Also any expenses we had for the last 10 years and yearly upkeep of Winterfell for the last 10 years. I need this report as soon as possible preferably before the gathering in two weeks. So i would have a better idea how to proceed with my plans." I order him making him nod obediently.
"I already was gathering old reports to get a better grip on affairs of the North. I can prepare the detailed reports on our finances in a week." He says.
"If you have nothing else to say you can return me to my mother." I say and he picks me up after shaking his head.
Next few days i have pestered my mother to have me carry everywhere except crypts. I played too much Skyrim in my past life to enter a crypt with only a women and as a toddler.
After these few days my uncle brought me to his solar by using excuse of 'i missed my nephew' and i wrote down names of every spy. Which was amounted to 28 people. I wasn't surprised by spies of Olenna, Tywin, Boltons and Varys. Spies from Manderlys and Jon Arryn was a suprise. There was even a spy from Doran. Besides these there were 4 spies in Tully men came from the Riverrun with Catelyn. 2 guards and 2 servants was ordered to keep an eye on everything and report them back to Hoster without Catelyn knowledge. Septon and septa that came with Catelyn is spies for Faith.
This week Catelyn also ask Eddard for a sept and he rejected her immediately. Saying if he built a sept in Winterfell while he was a regent to me. Other lords might seek to establish a regency council themselves. Which caused Catelyn to be even more angry with her husband. According to observe info she is jealous of Ashara because Brandon chosed her and hates me because her husband spends more time with me than with her own kid. She also didn't get over the Jon Snow's existence. So suffice to say Catelyn is suffering throughly in here and i love every second of it.
One of the spies, a scrawny dude in his twenties, was seperated by rest and secretly Eddard put him in crypts. Today we will visit it and i will kill him so i can use Drain Vitality on someone. I am curious about the effects.
Rest of the spies either hanged if found with proof or if there is no proof found they were simply sent away. It was better than hanging random dudes. I also checked new people when we hired to replace them.
Now me and Eddard are inside a secret chamber with terrified dude. According to Eddard there are 10 secret chambers in crypts which used to store valuable artifacts, secret coin stashes for rainy days and documents that are vital to be kept secret.
Even Jon's real birth announcement document is in document chamber signed by Rhaegar with additional document about their marriage and few secret love letters between them. There also few letters addressed to Jon by Elia Martell, Lyanna and Rhaegar but i didn't read them yet i might need to use them in future on Jon.
Still enough talking about paperwork. Now lets kill a dude. I never killed anyone yet so it's better to do it in secret so i don't vomit at the first sight.
I hold my hand out and Ned gives me a dagger. I must look terrifying as a killer toddler because dude startes to trash around like crazy i didn't want blood on me so i stabbed him directly on heart and didn't pull the blade out. Light gone from his eyes within less then a minute.
I looked at him for a moment expecting to vomit but it didn't came it was more like surreal experience like it was fake. Granted i stabbed him in the heart. I assume beheadings much more emotionally impactful.
After he died i put a hand on his head and tried to use Drain Vitality to drain him.
He started glowing for 5 seconds then suddenly his entire body disappeared. Even blood on the dagger was gone. All left was his clothes and ropes that tied him.
[Drained Full Human Body]
[Status
Name: Cregan Stark
Soul: Demigod
Mind: 120
Body: Human Toddler
Body Age: 1 Year 2 Month 1 Week.
Real Age: 1 Year 1 Week.]
So according to information i recieved now. I need to reach at least 18 years of body age, when i will be fully grown, before i can start developing my healing factor and body strength. Right now it takes a grown up body to make me advance 2 month but each body will have a lower impact of growth.
With Drain Vitality i need to drain, at the least, 200 bodies before Greyjoy Rebellion so i can be strong enough to shine in battlefield without too much worrying about death or injury.
It would cement my place as Lord Paramount if i lead men in battlefield at age 8 regardless of my body size or strength.
Faster growth and increased strength will even be helpful selling Blessed by the Old Gods story.
After my uncle leaves me at the enterence of my room. I get in my bed, yes thankfully i have a bed now that i am 1 year old, i fall asleep thinking about meeting of Lords that will happen next week.
---------End of Chapter---------
-I don't own ASOIAF/GOT or anything related to it.
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