"Summer red wine from Dorne." The servant poured the wine into the cup. This was a wine cup made in Myr, with exquisite design and smooth texture.
Garlan Tyrell was very familiar with this cup. His father Mace carried it everywhere, and the rose pattern on it was unmistakable. So what was the meaning of this? Was he being insulted with his father's wine glass?
"Good wine should be paired with high-quality glass cups, you are right, Ser." Cole took the wine bottle and poured himself some wine. He, however, used an ordinary copper-plated wide cup. "This wine glass is the property of my respected father, and I should return it to its rightful owner."
Garlan took a sip from the wine glass that his father cherished so much. The wine was not particularly good, far inferior to the red grapes produced on Arbor Island. In the vaults of Highgarden, there was also a golden wine from the Arbor, the color and taste of which were far superior to any wine he had ever tasted. A barrel of this wine could be sold for dozens of gold dragons.
"There are several types of wine. We have many vineyards at Highgarden. I once took Leonette to pick grapes there. She is my wife and comes from the Fossoway family. The steward there told me that the weather affects the quality of the grapes, and only the plumpest grapes can produce the best wine." He took a bite of garlic sausage.
"Winter is not a good time to grow grapes." Cole put down his wine glass.
Garlan nodded. "Wine sells for more money in winter."
"The Reach is the richest place in the Seven Kingdoms. As the lord of Highgarden, how much ransom would the Tyrell family be willing to pay for their lord and his son?" Cole grabbed a handful of salt from the salt dish and sprinkled it on the beef, using a knife and fork to cut a piece of meat of suitable size. He sprinkled a little pepper on the meat and speared a slice of onion with his fork. "I remember you said that you came as a messenger."
"Three thousand golden dragons," Garlan stated directly.
"Ten knights for one lord?" Cole waved his knife and fork. "The king's reward for hosting a tournament is tens of thousands of golden dragons."
"What about you, Ser? I recall you seem to be the Lord of Rainwood now." He continued to ask.
"One thousand." This was the price Garlan set for himself.
Cole handed him a plate of apple pie. "Try the pastry. We are not negotiating now, it is just a conversation between friends. We should be friends, Ser."
Garlan silently took a piece of apple pie. Friends? Don't be ridiculous, they had met on the battlefield.
"Renly and Stannis are brothers. Your sister is Renly's queen, and I am married to Princess Shireen Baratheon. Logically speaking, we should be relatives," Cole said.
"Brothers?" Garlan said with a sarcastic look on his face. How could there be brothers who meet each other with swords? "My sister is about to marry His Majesty Joffrey. We probably won't be related anymore, Lord Cole."
"Isn't Joffrey also from the Baratheon family?"
But he saw Garlan's face grow cold. "I hope I won't anger you by saying this, Ser. I don't agree with your father-in-law's approach of taking advantage of his nephew's youth to raise an army to fight for the throne. He has no honor at all."
Cole just smiled and said, "You are scolding Lord Renly as well."
He passed the wine to the servant and asked him to pour it for Garlan. "War is not a game of honor, my lord. If everyone fought for honor, it would be a Targaryen sitting on the Iron Throne now."
"Game? Do you think so?" Garlan handed over the wine glass, and the servant poured the wine into it.
"It can also be a bet. Each family has its own chips, and all you have to do is put your chips up, but sometimes it doesn't mean whoever has the bigger chips wins." He chuckled. "A crude metaphor, please forgive me, I haven't read many books."
"A very clear explanation." Garlan nodded in appreciation. "So what do you mean, Ser? I believe you are definitely not trying to preach to me."
"Do you think it's easier to get along with lions or stags?" Cole asked him.
"Lions are dangerous, but Stannis is not a stag. He is a ball of fire, and fire is the enemy of roses," Garlan said bluntly.
Cole clapped his hands. "So it seems that we must be enemies?"
"It seems so at the moment."
"I have heard your nickname - 'Garlan the Gallant.' You do have a lot of backbone, Ser. But for the time being, you will have to stay in the dungeon for a while."
"Ser." At this time, Gilbert came over and whispered something in Cole's ear.
He stood up suddenly, gestured and said, "Excuse me, I'll be back shortly."
Cole followed Gilbert to the back cabinet, and he took out a letter and handed it to Cole.
"My lord, this is a letter from the Hand of the King from Dragonstone," he said to Cole.
Looking at the sealing wax, Cole knew that it was either from the King or the Onion Knight.
Davos was illiterate, so this letter must have been written by someone else.
He read it sentence by sentence, and suddenly his eyebrows relaxed.
Gilbert hadn't read the letter, but when Cole handed it to him, he unfolded it and read it.
"Ironmen attacked Arbor Island?" Gilbert shouted in shock.
"Gods, why are they doing this?" The knight seemed unable to understand what the ironborn were doing. "Has His Grace already won the loyalty of the ironborn?"
"It wasn't written in the letter, but I think it's unlikely." Cole shook his head. He knew the ways of the Ironborn. If he wanted the raiders to surrender, he could only beat them into submission.
"This is undoubtedly good news for us, Ser." Gilbert was a little excited.
"It's not bad news. The fleet of the Arbor was destroyed, and the sea became the territory of the Ironmen. They are a group of raiders, and they don't care who we are."
The only one left of the three most powerful fleets in Westeros was the Ironmen's Iron Fleet, a group of greedy men. With Stannis's character, he would never cooperate with the Ironborn.
If the Iron Fleet turned to the Lannisters, they would still be their enemy.
But now at least there was no need to worry about the fleet besieging them. With the remaining ships on Dragonstone, there was not much combat power at all.
Without the Arbor Fleet, the Lion and Rose of King's Landing could only stare at each other across Blackwater Bay.
He should have thought of the Ironmen earlier, who were also a group of restless masters. Cole didn't know if the king of the Iron Islands was Balon Greyjoy or Euron Crow's Eye. Both were mad - one wanted to restore the old ways, and the other was even more deranged. Cole thought Euron's eyes might be set on the whole of Westeros.
The dragon horn "Dragonbinder," a magical item used by the Valyrian dragonlords to control dragons.
Cole knew that this item was in Euron's hands now, along with a set of Valyrian armor.
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