The Eyrie.
Guest Chamber.
After seeing off Galon's messenger, Catelyn secluded herself in her room and spent the entire day thinking.
She thought about many things.
The happy days of her childhood with her playmate, Littlefinger.
The bond she once shared with her sister Lysa.
Her love for Ned.
Her love for her son Robb.
Yet no matter how much she thought about it, Catelyn could not understand.
How had everything come to this?
Every word in Galon's letter was like a poisoned thorn piercing her most vulnerable nerves.
She did not want to believe it, yet she could no longer deny it.
At last, Catelyn realized she could wait no longer.
'No matter what, I have to speak with Lysa. I need to hear the answer from her own lips.'
Having made up her mind, she changed into fresh clothes and headed toward Lysa's chambers.
On the way, she carefully avoided everyone she encountered.
Above all, she could not let Littlefinger know where she was going.
After everything that had happened, Catelyn no longer trusted him.
She understood all too well that once Petyr Baelish became involved, every truth would be rewoven by his clever fingers into yet another web of lies.
So she arrived alone at Lysa's chambers.
Lysa's room was warm as spring.
The fireplace blazed brightly, and the air was filled with the sweet scent of spices.
Her younger sister lay half-reclined on a luxurious couch, dressed in an extravagant silk nightgown.
The front of her robe hung open, and cradled in her arms was her frail son.
Though he was much older than Rickon, he was nursing at her breast like an infant.
The disturbing sight made Catelyn's heart sink even lower.
"Lysa. I've come to say goodbye."
Rather than confronting her directly, Catelyn chose a more indirect approach, hoping to slowly break through her sister's emotional defenses.
Lysa blinked in surprise.
"Goodbye?"
"Yes, I'm returning to the Riverlands. Robb and Rickon are dead, but their bodies are still there.
I'm their mother. I have to bring them home and bury them beside their father and brother."
A flash of delight crossed Lysa's eyes.
She instinctively tightened her embrace around her son, causing Robert Arryn a slight pang of pain.
"Mother!"
Robert let go with a dissatisfied pout, white milk still clinging to the corners of his lips.
"Be good. Mother wants to speak with your aunt. Go outside and play for a while."
Robert blinked.
"Then I want to watch someone fly!"
Lysa lovingly stroked her son's forehead without refusing him. Robert immediately ran out of the room in high spirits.
Catelyn quietly watched the interaction between mother and son.
In the past, she would certainly have tried to persuade Lysa otherwise.
Now, everything seemed meaningless.
After Robert disappeared, Catelyn slowly walked over to Lysa's bedside and sat down.
"Lysa, my little sister."
She gently took Lysa's hand.
"I've lost nearly all my sons. My heart has been completely shattered.
All I want now is to return home and stay beside the graves of my husband and children.
But before I leave, I wanted to speak with you a little longer. After all, once I go... we may never see each other again."
Her voice carried all the warmth and affection of an elder sister.
Yet it was precisely that warmth that filled Lysa with disgust and resentment.
She jerked her hand away and screamed:
"I have nothing to say to you!
You've always been like this! With that face of yours, you stole all of Father's love. You stole my marriage.
And now you even want to steal... my Petyr!"
A glint flashed through Catelyn's eyes as she deliberately provoked her.
"That wasn't my fault, Lysa. You know I never loved Petyr. Everything was one-sided.
Even in King's Landing, he secretly confessed his love to me. He was even willing to help Ned because of it, and I still rejected him.
You know, Lysa?
He actually told me everything he'd ever done was for me because there had only ever been one woman he loved in his life... and that woman was me."
Smack!
A loud slap echoed through the room.
Lysa's face twisted hideously with overwhelming rage and jealousy.
Like a crazed beast, she glared at Catelyn with bloodshot eyes.
"You're lying! You're a liar! You wicked woman!
Petyr loves me! Me, not you!
He poisoned that old fool Jon Arryn for me! He had me send you that letter so you'd think it was the Lannisters!
He betrayed your stupid husband Ned Stark in King's Landing for me!"
The words poured from her mouth like a flood bursting through a broken dam.
Catelyn covered her burning cheek and slowly rose to her feet, utterly stunned.
She had believed she was mentally prepared. But when the truth actually arrived, she still broke apart.
"You..."
Her eyes reddened with fury.
"How... how could you do this to me? I'm your own sister!"
"My own sister?"
Lysa also climbed off the bed and stared directly at Catelyn.
"Ever since we were children, everything good belonged to you!
Petyr loved you.
Brynden loved you.
Ned Stark loved you!
But what about me? Why were you allowed to marry into House Stark while I had to marry that old man Jon Arryn?
He was as old as our father!
Do you know what it feels like to have an old man crawling all over you? It was disgusting!"
Lysa's bitter confession left Catelyn speechless.
She could only ask the question she cared about most.
"So you joined forces with Petyr to murder him! But why frame the Lannisters?
My husband died in King's Landing because he went there to help you!"
Lysa merely looked at her coldly with hatred in her eyes.
"Hmph. Your husband was a fool.
Petyr said he only used a tiny little trick, and your dear husband walked right into it.
Oh, that's right.
Petyr also told me your foolish husband trusted him because of you. That's why everything went so smoothly."
She burst into laughter.
Those words completely shattered Catelyn's composure.
Unable to restrain herself any longer, she stepped forward and slapped Lysa across the face with all her strength.
"It was you who murdered your husband!
It was you who started the war between House Stark and House Lannister!
It was you who killed Ned!
It was you who killed all my children!"
Roaring in fury, Catelyn threw herself at Lysa.
The two sisters, once inseparable and able to tell each other everything, collapsed into a vicious brawl.
If Lord Hoster Tully could witness this from beyond the grave, who knew what he would think?
The commotion quickly drew the guards of the Eyrie.
"My lady?"
Expecting an assassin, the guards rushed in with swords drawn. Instead, they found two noblewomen beating each other senseless.
For one awkward moment, every guard wished he could simply vanish.
"What are you standing there for?! Seize this madwoman! Throw her into the sky cells!"
Faced with Lady Lysa's command, the guards had little choice.
After pulling the two women apart, they escorted Catelyn away to the sky cells.
Soon, word of Catelyn's imprisonment spread through every corner of the Eyrie like the wind.
When Petyr heard the news—The smile that never seemed to leave his face cracked for the very first time.
An overwhelming sense of dread surged through him.
Abandoning everything, Littlefinger hurried straight to Lysa's chambers.
"What happened? Lysa, why did you throw Catelyn into the sky cells? She's your own sister."
His voice carried unmistakable reproach.
Lysa burst into tears.
Showing him the scratches Catelyn had left on her shoulder, she threw herself into his arms and embellished the entire story.
'Idiot! Complete and utter idiot! She actually told her everything!'
Littlefinger's face turned deathly pale as he furiously cursed Lysa in his heart.
Every plan.
Every scheme.
Everything he had painstakingly built had been thrown into complete chaos by this woman's jealousy and stupidity.
'Now isn't the time to lose my temper. I have to calm her first.'
Suppressing his anger, Petyr wrapped an arm around her and gently stroked her back.
"My dear, you did the right thing. I never should have brought up those old memories in front of her.
I promise you, I've only ever loved one woman. From beginning to end, it's always been you."
Lysa beamed with happiness as she nestled into his embrace.
Meanwhile, countless thoughts raced through Petyr's mind.
From Lysa's account, it was obvious Catelyn had deliberately drawn out the truth.
'How did she learn about our conspiracy? Was it those rumors spreading below the mountain?'
He frowned deeply.
He had learned of those rumors before anyone else. He had also been investigating their source all this time.
To this day, he had found nothing.
'No. I need to question Catelyn myself. I need to find out where she learned all this.'
His eyes darkened before he once again addressed Lysa in an exceptionally gentle voice.
"My dear, I need to see Catelyn.
Don't misunderstand.
I only want to know how she learned about us. Lysa, you know our past must never become known."
Lysa thought for a moment before nodding.
"Very well. But you have to promise me you'll leave as soon as you're done."
"I promise, my dear."
After soothing Lysa, Littlefinger went alone to the sky cells where Catelyn was imprisoned.
Outside the cells, an icy wind howled endlessly.
Inside, Catelyn sat against the stone wall. The anger had vanished from her face.
Only a lifeless emptiness remained.
"Catelyn."
Standing outside the bars, Littlefinger once again adopted his familiar voice of tender affection.
"I'm sorry.
You know Lysa... she simply loves me too much. Don't worry, I'll find a way to get you out.
But first, you have to tell me. Have you heard something?"
Catelyn slowly lifted her head.
Those blue eyes were filled with undisguised contempt and hatred.
"Heard what? Petyr, spare me your pathetic act. It disgusts me."
Littlefinger's face instantly darkened.
"Littlefinger. Lord Petyr Baelish."
Catelyn spoke through clenched teeth, her hatred burning away every last piece of his carefully crafted disguise.
"I truly was blind.
I actually believed you were someone I could rely on like a younger brother.
You're nothing more than a maggot that crawled out from the rocks of the Fingers through scheming and betrayal.
You'll never understand what honor means. You'll never understand loyalty."
In an instant, the words shattered him.
Hearing the woman he had loved all his life speak this way ripped open every inferiority and grievance he had buried.
"Enough!"
Petyr stepped forward and gripped the iron bars so tightly his knuckles turned white.
His gray-green eyes blazed with long-suppressed ambition.
"A maggot?
That's right. I am a maggot!
Your father looked down on me. Brandon looked down on me. The Starks looked down on me.
All of you looked down on me!
Just because my rank was lower. Just because my birth wasn't as noble as yours!
Even though I was far more capable than any of you!
Do you think I wanted that?"
He shook the iron bars violently as he roared.
"I loved you! I've always loved you! You knew it, but because of my birth, you rejected me!
You would rather choose that dull block of stone named Ned than spare me a second glance!
Catelyn... if I'd been born noble, would you still have treated me like this?"
He stared at her, pouring out decades of suppressed resentment.
"Yes, I used Lysa. I used your husband.
And next, I'll use you to control the North! I'll climb. Step by step by step. I'll claim that damned throne!
I'll make your father, the Starks, you, and everyone who ever looked down on me watch as I rise above them all!"
Panting heavily, Petyr finally emptied everything he had buried in his heart.
Catelyn looked at his twisted face.
Then she gave a cold, mocking laugh.
"Keep dreaming."
Those two words were like a bucket of ice water. Littlefinger instantly regained his composure.
He stared at Catelyn for a long moment.
Without saying another word, he turned and walked away.
Moments later, he returned to Lysa's chambers.
"Send men after Glover's messengers. Not one of them is to escape."
But Littlefinger was already too late.
When John waited until dusk on the second day, exactly as he and Catelyn had agreed, and she still had not appeared...
He knew something had happened.
Without the slightest hesitation, the three riders mounted their horses and galloped toward the Riverlands.
By the time they reached the Riverlands, Galon had just returned to the Crossing camp with his army.
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