|3rd POV|
The situation in the north gets worse, but for some unknown reason, the nobles rarely complain to him, which worries Eddard more than them complaining. Robert decides it is time to help the North, but it is the help they do not need at the moment.
Instead of telling the Reach to reduce their price for food to the base minimum, the king instead cut down the tax the North needs to pay by half. It is great for the long run, but it is not good for the immediate problem.
Without the help of the Royal Family and the Small Council, he knew where the others got their food. He doesn't want to admit it, but he knows that his people are buying them from the Golden Dragon, Viserys Targaryen.
That place is the only place where food is abundant, and they can buy it at a very cheap rate.
And now he is standing between a rock and a hard place. If he decides to forbid the nobles from buying food from the Solaris Kingdom, he will be the first Stark Lord to have a civil war in a long time.
However, the difference now is that fewer Lords will support the Stark Family in the civil war.
It is not only the House of Bolton and their allies who will rebel; he will have half the North rebelling against him and his family.
On the other hand, if he decides to support them in buying the food from the Solaris Kingdom, it is a treasonous act against the crown, and the entire North will be branded as traitors, and they will have another civil war.
There will be war if he chooses to side with the Royal Family. If he sides with his people, there will be war. He is truly standing between a rock and a hard place.
"We can refrain from doing anything, Ned."
He snaps from his thoughts and looks at his wife, who is sitting next to him, as he tells her the reason why he has been so stressed out lately.
"What do you mean?"
"We can just do nothing. If the Royal Family realizes that the people are buying food from the Solaris Kingdom, we can say that we don't know anything."
Catelyn Stark might not be the most cunning woman in the Seven Kingdoms, but she knows how to play politics. She is still the oldest child of Hoster Tully, after all. She learned how to play this game since she was a child.
"But the others will see us as stupid or incompetent if we ignore them."
"Let them be, Ned. It is better to be branded as incompetent than a traitor or Tyrannical Lord who ignores their vassals' pleas."
Eddard looks at his wife with widened eyes as the Lady Stark continues.
"You can subtly tell the lords you know about their actions, but tell them that if they are too blatant in their practice, you will make a move, or worse, the Royal Family will notice and take action. With this, they will be careful, and you will have an alibi when they get caught. It will also give you a good excuse to move against them without the other lords thinking of you as Tyrannical."
Eddard nods his head, and plans appear in his mind. What his wife says to him is right. With this plan, the positive outweighs the negative when the situation gets out of hand.
"I shall call the lords and tell them directly. With this, the impact of my words will carry more weight than before."
"That is also a good course of action. With them taken care of, you can offer help to the people to the west, Ned. Helping them will strengthen our alliance when the situation gets worse than we thought it could."
Eddard looks at his wife with a smile and says.
"Thank you, Cat. Your council really helps me."
Catelyn smiles, kisses her husband on the cheek, and says.
"Think nothing of it, husband. This is my job as a wife of a Lord, after all."
When Catelyn leaves his solar, Eddard starts to write a letter of invitation to lords whom he suspects are buying food from the Solaris Kingdom.
==||==
Viserys reads through the letter in front of him and releases a hum. The content of the letter is about the northern part of the Seven Kingdoms. It looks like the Grand Plan to sow the seed of rebellion is going smoothly.
However, it gets even smoother because of an unexpected help from Catelyn Stark.
The only thing that makes the plan not work is destroying the plan before it can grow. How to do that? Inform the king about the Northern Nobles buying food from them, and his plan will be over.
Lucky for him, there are a lot of people who want the kingdoms to be as chaotic as possible. Littlefinger even fed the fire by ensuring that all the food he sold to the north was very expensive. What makes matters worse, he is also thinking of destroying the farm by burning it and making sure the famine keeps happening.
On the other hand, the Spider wants the realm to be as chaotic as possible so that his Black Dragon can have an easier time conquering the Seven Kingdoms. Yes. Viserys already knows about Varys' allegiance and how the eunuch hates him with all his being. Varys is a great spy master, but Viserys has the entire House of Black and White on his back.
However, it does change something for the overall plan. He needs to make a base in the Seven Kingdoms faster than he thought he needed to be.
He calls Melisandre to his office, and when she arrives, he explains the contents of the letter to her. When he is done, he explains to her that they need to push their plan a little bit.
"I see. Very well. I shall tell the other to prepare. They should be done by tomorrow or the next day after tomorrow."
Viserys nods his head and says.
"Good. We will start building our base in Hardhome just north of the wall."