Chapter 453: King Eddard is Ready to Forgive

WILOW-Ch.453: King Eddard is Ready to Forgive

Red Keep, King’s Landing

POV of Domeric Pendragon

"Are you telling me my wife is innocent in this?" King Eddard asked Vincent.

"I can’t say anything definitive about that, Your Grace. According to Peter Baelish, their initial relationship was entirely due to the effects of the concoction, and Lady Catelyn was completely out of touch with reality. Lord Baelish also stated in his interrogation that Lady Catelyn remembered nothing when she woke up the next day. But..." Vincent said, but paused after reaching this point.

"But what? Continue," King Eddard said.

Then Vincent glanced at Domeric and, seeing his nod, continued.

"According to Lord Baelish, he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his intercourse with Lady Catelyn. Therefore, he made another plan to have intercourse with her while she was still sober. When Lady Catelyn woke up, he offered her orange juice to help with her headache. But this orange juice contained an aphrodisiac. However..." Vincent was about to continue, but Catelyn Stark’s screams interrupted him.

Catelyn Stark was now standing and shouting at Petyr, "You shameless bastard! How could you do this to me? What enmity do you have with me? When did my family or I ever mistreat you? My father raised you like his own son. Brandon spared your life in the duel. Is this how you repay me, YOU BASTARD?"

At King Eddard’s signal, the men seated Catelyn Stark back in her place, but she continued to yell at Petyr Baelish. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Meanwhile, Littlefinger glared at Catelyn Stark, clenching his teeth.

Domeric knew from her gaze that he wanted to respond to what she was saying. According to Petyr, neither the Tullys nor the Starks had helped him; on the contrary, they had taken away his wishes and humiliated him.

Petyr’s feelings towards the Tullys and Starks were not gratitude, but rather enmity and a desire for revenge.

But Petyr couldn’t voice these feelings here. He knew that responding to Catelyn’s accusations and saying what was on his mind would be tantamount to admitting his guilt.

"Silence! SILENCE!" King Eddard’s shout finally silenced Catelyn Stark’s yelling at Petyr.

King Eddard turned to Vincent and said, "Go on. I want this to be over as soon as possible."

"Yes, your grace. Petyr Baelish had Lady Catelyn drink orange juice containing an aphrodisiac, but unlike the previous concoction, this aphrodisiac didn’t sever her connection with reality; it only aroused her. After that, Lord Baelish and Lady Catelyn had sex for several more hours. According to Lord Baelish, Lady Catelyn continued the intercourse even after the aphrodisiac’s effects wore off, but this is only Lord Baelish’s opinion; we don’t know if it’s true. Then Lord Baelish offered Lady Catelyn fake moon tea and had her enter the Red Keep through a secret passage before the tournament began," Vincen said.

And with that, Vincent’s account of the forbidden affair between Catelyn Stark and Petyr Baelish came to an end. The rest was up to King Eddard.

After a moment’s thought, King Eddard turned to Catelyn Stark and said, "Catelyn, what will you say in your defence? According to the information, it’s clear you were mostly a victim in this incident. But there’s one thing only you can answer. Did you do all this under the influence of the concoctions given to you, or is there something you will confess?"

Domeric could see from King Eddard’s gentle and conciliatory tone towards his wife that he was willing to forgive her.

All Catelyn Stark had to do in response to King Eddard’s question was say she was a victim and that she would never have done such a thing if she hadn’t been under the influence of the concoctions.

Then her name would be largely cleared, and King Eddard could declare her non-guilty of the accusations. After that, he would most likely direct all his anger towards Petyr Baelish.

After all, the man had raped his wife, and he would want to get revenge. Anyone in their place would want that.

Catelyn Stark, who had kept her head down throughout Vincent Page’s final remarks, raised her head at King Eddard’s question and looked him in the eyes.

And there, perhaps she saw a gentler gaze than the harsh one she’d seen since the trial began, her shoulders slumped with a sense of relief.

For the first time since the trial began, Catelyn Stark didn’t seem tense. Like Domeric, she seemed to understand that King Eddard would pardon her.

Then Catelyn Stark began to speak in her defence. "I don’t know what to say. Everything the witness described matches what I experienced. At the time, I never imagined Petyr Baelish could do such a thing."

"Before you left Winterfell, I warned you about Petyr Baelish. I told you to keep your distance from him and never be alone with him. But you went to see him anyway. And in a brothel, no less," King Eddard said.

It seemed that although King Eddard was willing to forgive Catelyn, he wasn’t going to do so without getting the answers he wanted.

"Because I needed someone to confide in. Cersei Lannister was constantly doing everything she could to make things difficult for me and Sansa in King’s Landing. The other noblewomen were acting as if we were savages. I needed someone to talk to. And he was the only person I’d known here for a long time. I went to this bastard’s brothel because only then could this conversation remain secret, and you wouldn’t hear about it," Catelyn said.

"Hmm... So, you’re saying there’s no crime and everything was done because of concoctions, without your consent?" King Eddard asked.

’Finally,’ thought Domeric. ’Just say it was all because of the concoctions and let’s close this matter.’

"I don’t know myself. After talking to Petry and having some wine, I barely remember what happened. The next morning, I woke up naked in bed," Catelyn Stark said.

’Oi! Woman. Don’t go into details. Just say you weren’t yourself and drop the subject. Otherwise, this will drag on.’ Domeric thought to himself.

But Catelyn Stark continued.

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Next Chapters’ Name:

Ch.454: The Verdict Regarding Catelyn Stark

Ch.455: Veritaserum

Ch.456: Do You Have a Champion?