V For Vanguard
patreon
Ch.95: Conditions
🕑 Added 2025-03-05 06:00:05 +0000 UTCDreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton
Lord Stark's face turned solemn once again and the man nodded at him to continue.
"Condition number 1. If Sansa wants to marry me, she'll stop following the Faith of the Seven. She'll stop learning from the Septa and start following the Old Gods."
Lord Stark frowned at his words "Is there any particular reason for it?"
He nodded at Lord Stark's words. "Many. But the most important one is that the whole religion is corrupt to the core. I do not like it and will not tolerate the presence of someone in my house who would want me to build a sept for her so that she could spread that religion in my lands."
Those Andals destroyed every Heart Tree and Weirwood Tree in Westeros except the North. And they had almost wiped out the Children of Forest and giants. There was no way he would allow Faith of Seven in his land. Those cultists believed that magic shouldn’t exist and would do everything to destroy or kill the magical items or beings when they found one.
His lands had a lot of magical items and beings including himself. So, allowing Fait of Seven into his lands meant endangering himself and other magical beings. And that was something he couldn’t tolerate.
Lord Stark slowly nodded at his words "It's understandable. I'll have to talk with my lady wife and see what we can do about this."
"Very well. Condition number 2. Sansa will spend 6 months every year in Dreadfort until she is betrothed to me. If she wants to be my wife, then she needs to understand my lands and my people before everything else. One month she spent every year in the last few years at Dreadfort clearly wasn’t enough for her."
Lord Stark nodded, and he continued.
"Condition number 3. She'll stop wasting her time on lessons in music, poetry, singing, dancing, embroidery, and other such traditional activities. If I wanted to marry a singer, I would marry a bard. If I wanted to marry someone who could do embroidery, I would have married a seamstress. If I wanted someone beautiful to marry, then I would have married a Lyssini whore. No, if she wants to be my wife and rule beside me, then she'll learn things like administration, accounting, horse riding, negotiating skills, diplomatic skills, etc. In fact, I'll send two of my very best maesters to see to her education. She can still learn those traditional activities, but they will not be in her main learning lessons."
Lord Stark grimaced at his harsh words "These… are a lot of conditions."
"No." He shook his head. "These are the bare minimum of what your daughter needs to do if she wants to be my wife. If I'm sacrificing my happiness and freedom for this marriage, then I want it to at least be worth the effort."
Actually, Domeric wasn’t bothered with Sansa’s skills and education except for learnings of Fait of Seven and Septa’s tales about chivalry knights with their happy endings, rose color lives.
Of course, he wanted to marry someone who was talented and could help him with his administration. But if his future wife wanted to be a traditional lady who sat in the castle and waited for him to return after a hard-working day, he was okay with that.
He was forcing Sansa to learn administration and other lessons to understand the difficulties and realities of life, not to change her character. Once she abandoned her rosy outlook on life and started to look at life more realistically, she could live the life she wanted.
"Is there anything else Lord Bolton?" Lord Stark asked, and Domeric shook his head.
"No, that'll be all Lord Stark."
"Very well." Lord Stark said and got up from his chair "I… need to think about it. And talk about this with my lady wife. Rest assured. I'll give you an answer by the end of the month."
---------------
Outside of Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton
"Here," Domeric said as he handed out a pair of direwolf pups to Lord Stark who looked at them in surprise and trepidation.
"And… what am I to do with them, Lord Bolton?" Lord Stark asked while holding the two pups awkwardly.
"My friend Briar told me that the pups have grown overly attached to your two boys." He said with a shrug. "She also tells me that both your boys have a little talent for warging." A talent that became even more prominent once they started living in the magically rich area of Dreadfort.
Lord Stark looked a little shocked at the revelation and Domeric continued.
"Briar told me that Rob and Jon have already started getting wolf dreams and have formed a bond with the direwolves. Unfortunately, I don't have a talent in this area, but if they ever want to learn how to warg into the wolves then you can send me a letter and I'll send one of my more experienced wargs to teach your boys how to warg into the direwolves."
Lord Stark looked rather uncomfortable by this whole revelation but simply nodded along at his words.
He smiled. "Don't worry Lord Stark. Direwolves are one of the most loyal creatures you'll ever find. And rather intelligent in their own way. Your family will be far safer thanks to these Direwolves than without them."
Lord Stark nodded and looked at his sons who were having a last-minute conversation with Ygritte and the other kids they'd become friends with during their month-long stay in Dreadfort.
Domeric had a very limited amount of free time due to all the added duties thanks to the tourney, but he made sure to spend some quality time with them now and then. After seeing the prosperity of his lands and the success he'd gained in only half a decade, he had a feeling that Robb and Jon had looked up at him in admiration even more.
In the end, he bid goodbye to Lord Stark and his two sons before sending them off with an escort that would follow them till the end of Bolton Lands.
