"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ser Lancelot. My brother often speaks of you. He says you are highly skilled and have a compassionate heart! Your virtues rival the knights of legend!" Margaery smiled like a flower, her words sweet enough to kill.
Lancelot had to admire her. The most formidable member of House Tyrell wasn't Loras or Garlan, but this Margaery.
"My lady's beauty is renowned throughout the Seven Kingdoms. The Rose of Highgarden truly lives up to her name! Hahaha!" Lancelot replied.
After exchanging pleasantries, Margaery had another dance to attend, so she left with Loras.
The Starks also arrived to take Sansa home.
In the end, only Lancelot and Myrcella remained.
"Alright, let's head back too!"
Lancelot remembered the bicycle he had parked outside the previous night. But when he went to look for it, it was gone without a trace.
"Sigh! Truly King's Landing!"
"Myrcella, you go back to the Great Hall of the Red Keep first! I'll go look for the bicycle!"
Lancelot called over some nearby Gold Cloaks and asked if anyone had seen a bicycle. They all shook their heads.
"Don't you patrol at night?" Lancelot asked.
"Ser Lancelot, the Tyrells invited us for drinks last night! So we..."
The Gold Cloaks looked fearfully at Lancelot's darkening expression.
"It seems the City Watch of King's Landing needs a reorganization as well," Lancelot said.
He then went to the headquarters of the City Watch and met Janos Slynt.
Janos was a large, bald man who looked imposing but was actually spineless.
Jaime had told him this.
Janos Slynt was also close to House Lannister. Upon seeing Lancelot, he immediately greeted him with a smile.
"Ser Lancelot! What wind blows you here? Come, sit! You there, bring me the Dornish wine for Ser Lancelot to quench his thirst!"
Janos Slynt roared.
Lancelot sat in a wolf-skin chair, propping his feet up on Janos Slynt's desk.
"Ser Lancelot, I haven't offended you recently, have I?" Janos asked.
"Before, no. But as of yesterday, suddenly yes!"
Lancelot recounted the story of attending the masquerade and losing his bicycle, emphasizing that House Tyrell had treated a Gold Cloak captain and his men to drinks.
"Ser Lancelot, rest assured. I will strip that captain of his post immediately and find that... bicycle for you."
Janos Slynt promised.
Then he began to complain.
"The population of King's Landing has swelled again because of the Hand's Tourney. Public order is chaotic! We can barely pay our wages!"
Lancelot found Janos's plea of poverty amusing.
"Gold Dragons, is it? The one thing House Lannister doesn't lack is Gold Dragons, for we have mountains of gold and silver!" Lancelot said.
Lancelot sat in Janos Slynt's seat. Within half a day, the bicycle was recovered. Brought in with it was a blacksmith.
When Lancelot saw his face, he was stunned.
Tobho Mott.
"Ser Lancelot, it's good that you're here. Could you put in a good word for me? I didn't do anything! Someone sold that... bicycle to me!"
"Old Tobho! You have a good eye for goods!" Lancelot said.
"That kind of technology seems beyond our current limits, but it's not impossible to replicate!" Old Tobho said.
"You can replicate it?" Lancelot was even more curious about his skills now.
Bicycle technology, although manual and mechanical, shouldn't be easily reproducible in this era!
"In my youth, I visited Volantis and learned some techniques that only remain from Valyria."
"Alright. If you can copy it and build me another bicycle, you won't have to go to the dungeon," Lancelot said.
"No problem! Give me half a month."
"Agreed. I'll come to your smithy then. You can't run anyway, so you can go back for today."
Lancelot said.
---
In the Tower of the Hand, the Stark family was having breakfast. Sansa Stark arrived last.
"Sansa, where were you last night?" Arya asked while eating her porridge.
"I went to a masquerade!" she said.
"How was it? Did you find out who Lady Rose is?" Catelyn asked.
In her youth, she had also hosted masquerades at Riverrun. Back then, she was called the Mermaid Maiden. Some also called her the Red-Haired Songstress because she sang beautifully.
"She is Margaery Tyrell, the sister of the Knight of Flowers, Loras Tyrell."
"Oh, Duke Mace's youngest daughter! But she should be older than you!" Catelyn recalled.
"She is fourteen this year!" Sansa said.
After breakfast, Eddard Stark went to attend the Small Council meeting, while Catelyn took her daughters to do needlework with the septa.
Eddard Stark arrived at the Small Council chamber.
Everyone else was already seated; only Eddard Stark and King Robert had yet to arrive. (Note: The text says "only Eddard Stark and King Robert had yet to arrive" but then implies Eddard arrives. It might be a slight phrasing issue in the source, meaning he arrived late or Robert was still absent).
"Today, let us discuss the specific events of the tourney and the invitations to the lords of the Seven Kingdoms!" Eddard Stark said.
Half a day later, the meeting ended.
As everyone filed out, Eddard Stark looked at Grand Maester Pycelle, who was leaving last.
"Grand Maester, may I have a word?"
Pycelle turned around, looking at Eddard Stark in confusion.
"Lord Eddard, how may I assist you?"
Eddard Stark closed the door and instructed his Captain of the Guard, Jory Cassel.
"Let no one enter without my command!"
"Yes, my lord!" Jory Cassel said.
Grand Maester Pycelle looked at Eddard Stark nervously.
"I heard that you determined Jon Arryn could not be saved, and thus gave him the milk of the poppy?"
"My lord, Lord Jon Arryn went to meet the Seven long ago," Pycelle said.
"I know. He may be listening to the Father's teachings now!" Eddard Stark said.
"Though it is more likely he is with the Old Gods! For the blood of the First Men flowed in his veins," Eddard added.
"Lord Eddard, what exactly are you trying to say?" Pycelle asked.
"Are there any suspicious points regarding Jon Arryn's death?" Eddard asked.
"There are. He died suddenly, without any warning signs! He may have been poisoned!" Pycelle said calmly.
"Do you know who did it?"
"I do not know. Anyone in King's Landing could have done it, especially those who could approach him at any time," Pycelle hinted.
Eddard Stark frowned.
"Are you... implying something to me?" Eddard asked.
"Lord Eddard, stay in King's Landing long enough, and people change! Jon Arryn was long past being the Jon Arryn you knew when you were fostered at the Eyrie."