Foreigner Of Time [JENLISA]

13

House Stark

The family of three finally had a chance to sit together, but all was quiet at the dinner table.

House Stark may be a merchant's family, but they had a lot of house rules. 

One of them was: do not talk when you eat, do not mutter when you sleep.

Seeing that his wife and daughter should be done with their meal, Eddard finally put down his chopsticks.

Ruby and Jennie put down their chopsticks too.

That was another rule of the estate: Cease eating once the master of the family puts down his chopsticks.

The servant girls carried water basins, towels, spittoons and rinse water in an orderly manner.

The family of three rinsed their mouths, then they washed their hands. 

The servant girls cleared the table, then they placed down three cups of clear tea.

Eddard raised his cup to take a sip, then he said, "Jennie, follow me to the study. I have something to discuss with you."

"Understood, father."

***

JENNIE

Once we arrived to the study, father sat behind the desk while I stood before it.

I kept my head low and shoulders rounded as I stood silently.

"Sit then."

"Thanks, father."

I moved a stool over to sit on it.

"About what happened... your mother has already told you everything, right?" He continued after a pause.

"Yes."

"Have you thought of a countermeasure towards this?"

A slight gloominess brushed my heart, but I suppressed it very quickly.

I felt helpless and bashful that I had to discuss such things as a woman, but I understood why my father would ask this question.

He was absolutely not asking this to cause me embarrassment; I was different from the average daughter after all.

Being in charge of such a vast family business forbade me from thinking like the average woman.

"Officially or privately, this daughter must never become a concubine of someone's House. If the spy's information is accurate, Victor and the Minister will definitely come prepared. They will not be easy to deal with. Even so, they are probably afraid of alerting us beforehand, because they have controlled that information very well. This daughter thinks that... since it is so, we might as well give them a taste of their own medicine. We should act according to the circumstances and dissolve this crisis." I answered after considering it over.

A trace of approval flashed in my father's eyes, but he did not speak a word of praise.

He continued to ask, "How should we dissolve it."

"Since they do not wish to let our estate know that they intend to take this daughter as a concubine, we shall pretend not to know. Before they arrive in Winterfell, this daughter should marry someone as soon as possible. By then, spilled water will be hard to keep. This would stuff their mouths and keep the estate from making enemies."