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"Robb! Sansa!"
Hearing the cell door open, Eddard stood. When he saw his children enter, his face immediately lit with joy.
"Father!"
Seeing her father, Sansa ran to him, her face full of emotion, and threw herself straight into his arms.
With his hands still bound by chains, Eddard carefully stroked his daughter's red hair, afraid the iron manacles might strike her by accident.
"Father, we need to go! Time is short. You can talk once we're safe.
Sansa, move aside for a moment. I'll remove Father's chains."
Robb leaned Ice against the wall and approached with the keys to unlock Eddard's restraints.
"No, Robb. What I said before was serious.
Find Arya and take your sisters back to the North."
Hearing this, Eddard shook his head and answered with a firm expression.
"Father! Stop talking about that damned honor! It isn't worth a copper!
Do you know what? To come save you, more than ten of our men died in King's Landing. Not even their bodies can return to the North.
If you don't come with us, then their deaths will have been in vain!
I know what you're thinking. The honor of your whole life, the honor of House Stark!
But have you thought about Mother? Have you thought about us?
Father! I swear to you, if you don't leave today, you will die here in King's Landing!"
The first time, because of the jailers' shift change, Robb had not had time to continue the conversation with Eddard. Now, seeing his father still refusing to leave, all the anger he had been holding back exploded, and he shouted.
"Robb... Father..."
Sansa, who had stepped out of Eddard's arms and now stood between the two of them, did not know what to do at the sight of her brother's fury.
"Of those men who died trying to rescue me, take good care of their families.
As for death... Robb, I grew up among warriors. I learned long ago how to face it.
Go. Find Arya, take your sisters, and return to the North."
Looking at Robb, consumed by fury, Eddard calmly sat back down in the corner of the cell and answered serenely.
Seeing his father so calm, Robb clenched his teeth. The veins in his forehead stood out, and his fists tightened as he held back the anger burning inside him.
A thousand thoughts passed through his mind. Keep trying to persuade him? Knock his father unconscious and drag him away by force? Or simply tell him that Joffrey intended to behead him?
In the end, Robb drew in a deep breath, unclenched his fists, and spoke.
"...Father, I will respect your choice. Do you have anything to say to Mother?"
"Tell Catelyn... to forgive me."
Hearing that and seeing the sorrow on her father's face, tears spilled from Sansa's eyes.
"Father, please, come with us to Winterfell! Please... I'm begging you!"
"Sansa, let's go.
When Father makes a decision, no one can make him change his mind."
Seeing Eddard close his eyes and refuse to say another word, Robb took hold of Sansa and pulled her out of the cell.
Hearing their footsteps fade, Eddard opened his eyes and looked after them. His lips moved, as if he wanted to call them back.
But in the end, he remained silent.
For three months, Robb had been moving pieces across the board, planning everything, sacrificing the lives of more than ten men just to reach that black cell.
And still, Eddard would rather wait for death in King's Landing than return north with his son.
With his chest burning with rage, Robb led Sansa to the door of the black cells and kicked it open.
Outside the door was a dark, damp stone stairway, with torches fixed to the walls at regular intervals.
Climbing it, they reached the second level of the dungeons.
The second level was made up of more common barred cells. In the central hall, six jailers were gathered around a long table, about to eat lunch.
The moment one of them saw Robb coming up from the black cells with a sword in hand, he immediately drew the sword at his waist and rushed straight at him.
Perfect timing.
Robb was already desperate to vent his anger on someone. Sword in hand, he charged forward to meet him.
The combination of Robb's monstrously strong arms and the great two-handed sword was terrifying, and that jailer felt it in the final instant of his life.
Seeing the man rush toward him, Robb raised Ice with both hands and brought it down in a vertical strike with all his strength.
The jailer raised his own sword above his head, gripping it with both hands, and the blade collided with Robb's.
It did not cleave the refined King's Landing steel sword in two.
Valyrian steel was lighter, harder, and far sharper than ordinary steel, but its true value came from the enchantments and special techniques used in its forging.
In an age where magic had already weakened, a Valyrian steel weapon could not cut through iron as if it were butter. Even so, it remained superior to the finest refined weapons.
But that mattered little here.
The jailer did manage to block it, but only for an instant.
All the strength in Robb's body came down with the sword, crushing the man's weapon downward from above his head down to the floor.
Ice's sharp edge opened the jailer from forehead to groin.
For a few seconds, he remained standing in place, expressionless.
Then a line of blood appeared down the middle of his face, continuing all the way to his lower body.
His body split open like a fruit split in half, and organs, blood, and viscera began spilling across the floor.
Even though his own sword had prevented him from being fully cleaved in two, the sight of him split halfway open was even bloodier and more horrifying.
The second jailer, who had also charged forward, instantly regretted it the moment he saw his companion die in one blow.
But he was already too close to Robb to retreat. He could only attack.
So he thrust his sword with all his strength.
Robb lifted his sword from low to high, deflecting the attack. Using the momentum of the collision, he let the blade arc over his head and then brought down another powerful diagonal slash.
The jailer's right arm had gone numb from the shock of the first block. He had no time to raise his sword in defense.
Robb's strike cut him diagonally into two halves.
The lower half of his body remained standing for an instant, spraying an absurd amount of blood.
Not only was Robb covered by the red spray, but Sansa, just behind him with both hands covering her mouth, was also spattered with blood.
The other three jailers, seeing that blood-soaked figure kill with brutality almost equal to the Mountain's, turned in panic and ran toward the first floor of the prison.
After killing two men to release his anger, Robb saw that the second jailer had been carrying the keys to the cells.
Since he needed them, he decided not to chase the others.
"Lord Robb! Thank the gods, you're safe!"
As he bent down to pick up the keys, a voice came from a cell farther away.
It was Eddard Karstark, waving to him.
Robb quickly went to the cell door. Eddard was indeed there, unharmed, exactly as Varys had said.
His face covered in blood, Robb still smiled as he spoke to the man he suspected of being the spy.
"Eddard, good. You're safe too. I'll get you out now."
As soon as he spoke, he opened the cell and freed him.
"Robb? You are Eddard Stark's eldest son?"
Eddard had barely stepped out of the cell when a man with reddish-gold hair and hard features rose in the next cell and spoke to him.
Robb turned his head and looked more carefully.
The man's clothes bore the sigil of a forked lightning bolt beneath a four-pointed star.
Knowing the great houses of the Seven Kingdoms well, Robb immediately understood who he was.
He nodded and answered:
"I am Robb Stark. You must be Lord Beric Dondarrion of Blackhaven.
How did you end up here?"
"Yes, I am Beric.
A few days ago, Lord Eddard came to me with the king's will and asked for my help in supporting him. I trust Lord Eddard's honor, so I went with him to proclaim the king's will.
And then..."
After confirming his identity, Beric began explaining how he had ended up imprisoned there.
"Thank you for trusting my father.
Eddard, free Lord Beric. Then open all the other cells. We leave the Red Keep together."
After hearing everything, Robb nodded in thanks, handed the keys to Eddard, and gave the order.
Eddard nodded, took the ring of keys, and immediately began opening the cell doors.
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