As the leader of Westeros, I have come here to apologize for the actions of our ancestors. The seeds of hatred between the Westerosi and Valyrian peoples were sown here, and the seeds of peace will be sown here as well."

- Alduin Ackermann, High President of the Westeros Federation.

Stannis cursed inwardly. How had things come to this? Their actions here would undoubtedly have severe consequences. Jon Arryn and Eddard Stark would surely lose their minds when they found out.

Everything had started at the Driftmark meeting. The three kings had reached a formal agreement with the Golden Company commander, Harry Strickland. After the agreement, Stannis had met personally with Strickland and his two deputy commanders, discussing the course of the war and refining the plan to perfection.

However, after the meeting, instead of returning directly to Tyrosh, the Golden Company commanders took a slight detour and paid a visit to Storm's End. There, they held a private meeting with King Robert Baratheon. As soon as the meeting ended, Stannis was urgently summoned to the king's side.

"Come here, brother," Robert had said cheerfully. "I have fantastic news for you. I'm sending an additional 10,000 men for the Stepstones campaign."

"That's unnecessary, Robert," Stannis had replied, maintaining his stoic expression. "We already have a perfected plan. An extra ten thousand men won't make much of a difference."

Then Stannis had heard Robert's 'perfect' plan, negotiated with the Golden Company commanders, and honestly, it wasn't such a bad idea. If it succeeded, the Stepstones problem would be resolved for a long time, and the coffers of the Three Kingdoms alliance would be filled with gold. If it failed, it would be a massive waste of resources, and they would become a laughingstock. Still, Robert was willing to take that gamble, so Stannis approved. After all, as a Stormlander, he had to obey his king.

I'm a complete fool for following Robert's mind, Stannis cursed himself. Then again, even he couldn't have predicted things would turn out this way.

At first, the original war plans of the Three Kings had gone so flawlessly that even Stannis was surprised. Bloodstone had been conquered with minimal trouble, and the other islands quickly fell after coordinated and swift attacks. Not even the Targaryens with their dragons had achieved such an effortless victory in the Stepstones. In Stannis' view, the discipline of the army, the quick exploitation of the shock from betrayal, and sheer luck had played a significant role in this victory.

Once the original plan was largely completed, it was time for Robert's plan. The first major problem arose when they set sail to execute it. The Tyrosh fleet appeared before them. Their 40,000-strong army could easily crush this fleet, but doing so would take time, and wasting time would cost them their element of surprise and doom the plan to failure.

So Stannis made a decision. He would deal with the Tyrosh fleet while the remaining soldiers continued the plan.

It was undoubtedly a risky move because the Tyrosh fleet wasn't that much smaller than the Three Kings' alliance fleet. Stannis took only the 5,000-strong Vale army led by Yohn Royce with him. Bringing too many soldiers would unnecessarily burden the fleet. He entrusted the remaining 32,000 soldiers to Roose Bolton, the commander of the northern army. Stannis respected the man as an effective and pragmatic leader in war. He was confident Roose would execute the plan flawlessly.

The battle with the Tyrosh fleet had been incredibly difficult, but in the end, the alliance army managed to encircle and defeat them. Still, it was a Pyrrhic victory — they had lost far too many ships and soldiers, and Stannis had been wounded during the battle. He had been bedridden for the next three days. If he had learned what kind of 'progress' Robert's plan had made in his absence, he would have dragged himself out of bed and intervened immediately.

'Robert's plan' was, in truth, far more the Golden Company commanders' plan. Robert had merely been convinced and agreed to sponsor it. In fact, the event that had truly encouraged this plan was the Greendoom disaster. After the catastrophe, an anti-Valyrian sentiment began to take shape in Westeros, and this particularly drew the ire of the proud Valyrian city of Lys, whose nobles prided themselves on preserving their pure Valyrian bloodline for generations.

Soon after, these nobles felt the need to respond, and at the time, the only 'Westerosi' institution within their reach was the Golden Company. No assassination attempt occurred, but the commanders and their army were humiliated and disgraced in every way possible. Before long, a hatred toward Lys began to fester within the Golden Company's ranks and leadership — one of the reasons they agreed to cooperate with the Three Kings alliance.

Robert's plan was actually quite simple: if the Stepstones could be conquered without much trouble and they had enough soldiers to spare, they would use their advantage of surprise and attack Lys.

The people and nobles of Lys generally focused on trade, slavery, or prostitution — professions far removed from warfare. The city's defenses relied heavily on mercenaries. The Golden Company was itself a mercenary army and had long held the title of the undisputed number one in Essos. Consequently, they had some connections within the mercenary units guarding Lys. According to Lord Strickland, they could be 'convinced to open the gates.'

The conquest would only be temporary; the alliance army couldn't hold Lys for long. Proud Valyrian cities like Volantis would never sit back and watch. The true objective of the campaign was to plunder the Lys bank, second only to the Iron Bank of Braavos, and seize the gold within for the Three Kings alliance. Once Lys had been humiliated and weakened this way, Tyrosh and Myr — the other members of the Triarchy — would see an opportunity for themselves. Instead of setting their eyes on the rocky Stepstones, they would covet the grand treasures of Lys.

In Stannis' absence, the alliance army under Roose Bolton's command carried out the plan almost flawlessly. The city was struck with shock when a massive army suddenly appeared at its doorstep. The Lys nobility had made no preparations for a siege. Later, Golden Company commanders secretly infiltrated the city and offered the mercenary leaders guarding Lys a generous share of the loot. Just as planned, the city gates were opened.

Had Stannis been there that day, he would have done what he came to do: plunder the Lys bank, ensure the city was humiliated and weakened enough, and then withdraw. Had Yohn Royce been there, he would have acted with Andal honor and prevented the other commanders from behaving otherwise.

But that wasn't the case. Neither of them was there. Instead, Harry Strickland — deeply insulted by the nobles of Lys — was there. Cortnay Penrose — the commander of the Stormlander army and the queen's brother, who held strong anti-Valyrian sentiments — was there. And that bastard Roose Bolton was there.

Lys had not been conquered, no, the city had been truly pillaged and destroyed. While Stannis was fighting the Tyrosh fleet, the alliance army had wreaked terror in the city for an entire week. They plundered not only the Lys bank but also every house they came across. The majority of the Lys people – noble or common – were butchered like pigs, and women were raped repeatedly. Nearly forty thousand of the city's two hundred thousand population were brutally slaughtered, and the majority of the survivors fled. A significant portion of the women were captured and kept as bed followers for the return journey.

When Stannis learned this, he lost his mind, truly went mad. He wanted to immediately kill Roose Bolton and the other two fools on the spot, but he had no authority to butcher the nobles like pigs. Only his brother, the king, could do that. For the first time in his life, Stannis wished he were king.

He did everything he could to minimize the damage. His first act was to ensure that the Lysian prisoners and women were immediately taken from the soldiers and delivered to a safe place. Some soldiers objected to this decision, but before long, their heads adorned the ends of spears.

The good news was the wealth they obtained. The spoils of the plunder were truly enormous. The treasury of the Three Kingdoms, members of the alliance, would grow several times over, and they would not face gold shortages for a long time. Also, the Triarchy had been dismantled as planned, and they would not pose a threat to Stepstones for a long time. The trade routes were secure, meaning the initial goals of the war had been largely achieved.

The bad news was that Valyrian cities, especially Volantis, had begun to cry out for revenge. When news of the Lys sack and its details spread, anti-Westerosi ideologies in Essos reached a peak and would remain popular for a long time.

Unlike the anti-Valyrian supporters in Westeros, the Essosi had little reason to hate Westerosi people. Yes, there was an anti-Westerosi sentiment beginning to form in Essos, but it was more of a childish, 'If they hate us, we should hate them back' mentality. However, the news of the Lys sack gave the Essosi plenty of reasons to despise Westeros.

The sack of Lys would certainly have serious consequences for Westeros. Stannis sighed deeply as he looked at the scene before him.

"Traitors! Looters and rapists! Damn those Westerosi!" cursed the Lys infantry commander.

"I'm sorry, Taros," said Golden Company's deputy commander, John Mudd, raising his hands helplessly. "As you know, 'Our word is good as gold' is our motto, but there are things in this world more valuable than gold. Things like home. Like homeland."

Stannis thought to himself that what they did to Lys wasn't for the good of Westeros. They did it because all of them were sons of bitches.

"Enough!" He raised his hand. "Commander Taros, we will only release you under one condition. Take this letter and deliver it to the Volantis High Council."

The letter was a desperate attempt to start peace negotiations, but it had to be done. Stannis did not have the authority to write such a letter, but he had taken the initiative.

The commander in front of him said nothing and nodded, taking the letter. However, Stannis could see the deadly hatred in his eyes. Stannis had learned that the commander's daughter had been raped and killed during the sack of Lys.

Stannis ordered the man to be released and sighed deeply. After the sack of Lys and the atrocities that took place, he was left alone with his anger and guilt.

A/N: The sack of Lys will definitely have consequences, but no matter what, it won't be as great a tragedy as the Greendoom, and thus it won't face the same massive backlash. In fact, aside from Braavos, almost every other city in Essos had likely been plundered this way several times before. Still, as I said, the sack of Lys serves as a milestone because it is truly where the seeds of mutual hatred and racism between the people of the two continents were sown.