Eagle of the Valley of Ice and Fire.

Chapter 273 The Rose's Thorn

271. The Rose's Thorn
The gray smoke from the embers hovered above the candle. In the corner in front of the window was a round table. The table was not big and could only accommodate two people sitting opposite each other.

Two knights stood on either side of the round table, which were actually on either side of the window, both staring intently in front of them. The knight on Lady Olenna's left was staring at the door, and the knight on the right was staring out the window. From his strong and upright posture, everyone could tell at a glance that he was an outstanding knight.

The door opened with two "clicks", and Mace Tyrell, the guardian of the kingdom's southern border and the Duke of Highgarden, had an anxious look on his face, as if he was possessed by an alien and was out of his mind.

"Mother!"

The huge body brought a gust of wind, and the gray smoke from the candle flew to Lady Olenna's nose. She couldn't help but cover her mouth and coughed twice.

"Left Hand" quickly handed over a tissue. Lady Olenna wiped her nose and looked at her son the Duke with a frown, "What are you panicking about?"

Mace Tyrell pounded his palm with the back of his hand and began to talk word by word: "The ironborn have occupied the Shield Islands, slaughtered the fishermen, and robbed their wives and daughters, as well as the castles of the nobles. Greyjoy's longships are approaching the Arbor and Oldtown. Some people even saw traces of the ironborn on the coastal road. Only the Seven Gods know when they will want to plunder Highgarden."

"Your beloved Highgarden Castle has already been plundered by the Dornish. I'm afraid those ironborn are not interested in grabbing a piece of scorched earth."

Lady Olenna took the bottle of wine from the Right Hand Knight and took a sip of the wine.

Meis' eyes widened. "Mother, this is not about whether there are fertile fields or not. This is, this is..."

“Tell me,” Lady Olenna put down her bottle. “What can you do to stop the ironborn longships that are raiding the Reach, even if they do attack Highgarden?”

Lord Mace held his chest with his hand, and his breathing became much more stable. He pulled out a small square stool from the round table, sat on it, and looked up at Lady Olenna. "The Iron Throne didn't send an invitation to Lord Tywin's funeral either. I think this matter may be more important."

"Answer my question!" Lady Olenna raised her voice.

"Oh!" The Duke of Mace was a little flustered. He was always so inexplicably embarrassed in front of his mother, without any attitude of a duke. "I will. I will send a raven to report this to the Iron Throne. After all, Greyjoy's claim to the throne is also a betrayal of the kingdom." He frowned, thought carefully, and his eyes suddenly lit up. "I will let Earl Paxter lead his Qingting Island fleet back."

Lady Olenna closed her eyes and opened her toothless mouth as if to say "I knew it would be like this"

Mace had lived with his mother for many years and knew what her expression meant. He swallowed and said, "That..."

“If the Arbor leaves King’s Landing,” said Lady Olenna, “your daughter, my dear granddaughter, Queen of Westeros, Margaery, will be alone in King’s Landing.”

"It doesn't matter. Highgarden can gather thousands of guards to go to King's Landing to protect the interests of the Queen. Besides, we will also be going to King's Landing to attend the funeral soon. We can just take our own guards with us then."

"What if nearly 10,000 Ironborn come from the Shield Islands to attack us? I remember that the entrance to the sea through Highgarden is much wider than that in King's Landing. Why don't they care about these thousands of Tyrell guards?"

Mace opened his mouth, and his throat seemed to be blocked by something, so he couldn't utter a word for a long time.

Lady Olenna stretched out her hands, and the two knights took them, and she stood up and walked towards the wall of the house behind her. The wall was painted with light blue patterns, and black lines outlined a huge map. Anyone with a discerning eye could recognize that this was the entire River Reach, with Highgarden as its center. There was also a huge blue hand in the upper right corner, but the color was much lighter, and the rose pattern of the same size next to it was obviously added recently.

"Tell me how your admiral and the nobles under him reported to you the invasion of the Ironborn."

Mace stood up and sighed, "The Ironborn's attack was too sudden. I just received news that their longships were approaching the south of South Shield Island, and the next moment the Shield Islands were occupied. Now it is reported that they have nearly a hundred longships gathering on the island. I am afraid they are heading straight for the Mander River, which is our Highgarden!" A sneer came out of Lady Olenna's mouth, "Change the admiral, this man is getting old and confused!"

The Duke of Metz frowned. "Lord Huls once managed shipping at the harbor. This..."

"No match for me, an old woman from Qingting Island!"

"Okay mother, I will remove him from his post, I will remove him from his post." Metz took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Lady Olenna stroked the wall, rubbing the rough, light lines on it.

"I am an old woman who doesn't understand military affairs, but I know a little bit about playing hard to get. The Ironborn are not like Balon Greyjoy in the past. He was a pig-headed man who only knew how to act recklessly. He rebelled a few years after Robert seized the Iron Throne. He was really making fun of the Seven Gods. It was pathetic."

Mace blinked. He didn't understand what his mother was talking about. "That"

Olenna turned around. "That madman Euron Greyjoy knew how to feint even when attacking a small Shield Islands. What's there to attack in Highgarden now? What's there to rob in Highgarden? Can he take it down?"

"You mean," Mace looked at the map, "the army he assembled is going to attack Oldtown from the south?" He stamped his feet subconsciously, "Then we must quickly gather the army and reinforce Hightower!"

"What's the hurry? What's the hurry? What's the hurry?" Olenna glared at her son in dismay. "Baile Hightower sent a warning letter a long time ago, but most nobles didn't believe it. Everyone was in a panic and was unwilling to send troops to defend other people's castles."

"Then what should we do?" Mace's voice became noticeably softer.

Lady Olenna sighed. "What Euron did actually gave us an opportunity." She looked at the wall. "If their longships were to attack the surrounding lords, and we in Highgarden did not take action, the vassals below would surely think that the lord was weak."

"But his feint gave us a chance to show our abilities." Olenna spun the bottle in her hand, the wine swaying. "Poor Ironborn, they never know how to defend their land. Let your sons try to help the lords of the Shield Islands regain their lost territory. Tyrell is a rose, an everlasting rose. He may look weak, but he cannot be truly weak. He must have poisonous thorns."

Mace nodded hurriedly, "I'll get ready."

After saying that, he ran towards the door, leaving the room in the same manner as when he was a child, Olena thought helplessly.

She sat at the round table again, watching the Mander River flow through the wilderness. The castle was full of life in spring. The fertile land that was previously scorched by the Dornishmen was now green again, and in time, it was a field of ripe and sweet fruits.
Olenna sighed again. She had no idea what had happened in King's Landing. The Faceless Men seemed to be planning a bigger plan. She could never have imagined that Tywin would die on the spot in King's Landing.

Now that Tywin is dead, isn't the Iron Throne Artis Arryn's uncrowned throne?

"Being a hollow queen." Olenna thought of her lovely granddaughter and the chance she had to marry Arryn. "Is it really better than being a duchess?"

She shook her head and cleared her mind of distractions. There was no romance involved in the struggle over chess and cards.

Olenna was not sure whether the ironborn would attack Highgarden, but she knew from the news confirmed by the Faceless Men that the main battlefield would definitely be in the bay of Oldtown.

(End of this chapter)