"What happened to him?" Velas asked Lord Linde beside him, looking over at the Dornish contingent. He saw Red Viper sitting listlessly on his horse, not even interested in his mistress's provocations, as if he had been castrated.
Red Viper had been acting strangely for the past two days, and before he started acting strangely, he had a brief conversation with Lord Linde, though the Dornish guards didn't overhear what they discussed.
"He's just suffered a great blow," Lord Linde replied indifferently, but his answer was vague and gave no clear reason.
It was no wonder Red Viper had become like this; he had always wanted a Valyrian steel weapon his entire life but had never even seen a hint of one. Yet, Lord Linde possessed two Valyrian Greatswords, and these two Greatswords even contained magical power. How could he, a Prince, bear that?
What was even more unbearable was that Lord Linde even told him he had a Valyrian steel armor being forged. At that moment, Red Viper's composure completely shattered. From that day until they set off for Godgrace today, he still hadn't recovered.
"Lord Linde, did you also spar with him that day?" Gals Hightower leaned over and asked expectantly.
In fact, Red Viper wasn't the only one whose composure shattered that day; all those among Gals's group who had sparred with Red Viper yesterday also had their composure shattered.
Although they had all heard of Red Viper's reputation and knew he was strong, due to certain rumors, they always believed Red Viper's strength lay in poisoning.
However, the truth was that Red Viper was not only highly skilled in poisoning, but his spearmanship also exceeded their expectations, causing them to suffer such a crushing defeat at his hands. It could be said that the knights of The Reach lost face greatly.
However, they still had one last piece of dignity to preserve. In their view, as long as Lord Linde sparred with Red Viper and defeated him, the knights of The Reach could still regain their honor.
Unfortunately, they were destined for disappointment. Lord Linde shook his head and said, "That day, I didn't fight Red Viper. He and I both knew each other's strength very well, so fighting or not fighting would be the same." As he spoke, he turned to look at Gals Hightower and said, "Regain your own honor, Knight Gals."
Gals pouted, not refuting. He was already thinking that in the martial arts tournament's jousting competition, if he was lucky, he might still be able to regain some honor from Red Viper.
Lord Linde turned his head to look at Velas, who had fallen into thought again, and asked, "Was the meeting with Doran Martell not smooth that day?"
"No, it was very smooth. Doran Martell is a very…" Velas wanted to describe the Doran Martell he had met, but he couldn't find the right words. His words got stuck in his throat and he couldn't speak them out.
Lord Linde didn't disturb him. He rode his horse, sharing his vision with Glory, who was in the mountain forest beside the contingent, observing the entire contingent's situation from an outsider's perspective to correct any problems in time.
After a long while, Velas slowly said, "I didn't understand why Grandmother described Doran Martell that way before. Now I understand a little."
"The snake in the sand theory?" Lord Linde said.
"Yes!" Velas nodded and said, "That day in the Water Gardens, I did most of the talking. Doran Martell only said a sentence or two in between, listening the whole time. I felt like I controlled the rhythm of the negotiation, but after leaving the Water Gardens, I realized that Doran Martell had been guiding my thoughts and words from beginning to end. Every sentence he interjected was like a rope pulling me, leading me in the direction he wanted. He's truly a terrifying person."
Velas looked like he had a lingering fear, then took a flask full of Arbor wine from his attendant and took two sips, calming the strange emotions that arose when recalling yesterday's experience.
"Lord Velas, you are very intelligent, much more intelligent than most people your age, but intelligent people all have one flaw: they overthink," Lord Linde said, looking at Velas. "You don't need to truly understand what kind of person Doran Martell is. You just need to know if your ideas can gain Doran Martell's approval. Did Doran Martell refuse your proposal to sign a peace treaty with Dorne yesterday?"
"No, Doran Martell agreed very quickly," Velas shook his head and said. "However, he wasn't optimistic and set a precondition: at least one-third of the Dornish lords must agree before he would actively promote this matter." As he spoke, he saw Lord Linde nod slightly, then asked doubtfully, "Lord Linde, are you also not optimistic about the peace treaty I proposed?"
"Not optimistic," Lord Linde expressed his thoughts very directly.
Velas was completely surprised that Lord Linde was so direct. He paused, then couldn't help but ask, "Why aren't you optimistic?"
"Does my lack of optimism affect your plan, Lord? Instead of worrying about why I'm not optimistic about your plan, you should spend more time connecting with those Dornish nobles, especially Prince Oberyn," Lord Linde reminded. "Prince Oberyn has very high prestige in Dorne. If he is willing to advocate for you, you should be able to easily gain the support of one-third of the Dornish lords."
Upon hearing this, Velas also felt that Lord Linde was right, so he rode his horse towards Red Viper's contingent. Seeing this, Lord Linde had Gals and Jon take the guards to protect Velas, while he himself went to a middle-aged knight in the crowd.
"Ser Rossos," Lord Linde greeted the middle-aged knight proactively.
The middle-aged knight was also somewhat surprised that Lord Linde, Velas's guard captain, suddenly greeted him. He hesitated, then returned the bow to Lord Linde, saying, "Lord Linde, is there something you need?"
Lord Linde asked, "When I was in The Reach, I heard that there's an exceptionally magnificent Wild Horse King wandering outside Godgrace, and it hasn't been tamed by anyone to this day. Is that true?"
The middle-aged knight Lord Linde sought out was a sworn knight of the Allyrion Family of Godgrace. This time, Godgrace was hosting a martial arts tournament, and he was originally only responsible for delivering letters to Sunspear. However, due to a sudden injury and illness, he had to recuperate in Sunspear until he recovered just two days ago, conveniently returning to Godgrace with Sunspear's contingent.
Lord Linde always remembered his main purpose for coming to Godgrace, so after knowing there was a knight from Godgrace in the contingent, he wanted to learn something about the Wild Horse King from him in advance.
Upon hearing Lord Linde's words, the Allyrion Family knight abruptly unbuckled the leather armor on his chest, then pulled open the clothes underneath, exposing his chest.
On Ser Rossos's chest was a horseshoe print that almost covered his entire chest. The area covered by the horseshoe print was slightly concave, and on the surface, some misaligned bones could be seen after healing.
After showing the wound on his body, the knight re-adjusted his clothes while explaining, "At that time, I was wearing a breastplate, made of wrought iron. It kicked me once, and the breastplate was completely shattered, and the bones in my chest were shattered. I thought I was dead for sure, but Mother Rhoyne's blessing allowed me to survive."
"Mother Rhoyne?" Lord Linde was startled and asked, "Lord Rossos, are you a Greenblood River Orphan?"
"Yes," Ser Rossos nodded, then looked at Lord Linde and asked in return, "Lord Linde, do you also think we are unclean?"
"No," Lord Linde shook his head and said, "I just find it a coincidence. On the ship to Dorne, I read a book describing Nameria's thousand ships crossing, and it mentioned your branch of Greenblood River Orphans who still maintain the ancient Loisne traditions."
The Greenblood River Orphans are a very special group within Dorne. Neither the Dornish nor the Greenblood River Orphans consider themselves Dornish.
This group is descended from the first Loisne warriors who followed the warrior queen Nameria across the sea. They revere their ancient traditions, worship Mother Rhoyne, and are unwilling to integrate into Dornish culture, so they have always been ostracized by the Dornish and have no fixed abode.
Later, they built rafts on the Greenblood River, constructed houses on the rafts, and have lived on the Greenblood River ever since, making a living by selling various goods.
They refer to their own group as orphans, while the term Greenblood River Orphans is a derogatory term used by the Dornish for them, just like the world of Lord Linde's previous life used the term Gypsy to refer to Romani people.
Lord Linde asked doubtfully, "I thought you always adhered to ancient traditions and wouldn't…"
"Wouldn't leave the rafts and become knights, right?" Ser Rossos habitually sneered, but suddenly felt it was a bit rude and quickly regained his composure, saying with a hint of deeper meaning, "Meat attracts wild dogs, and weapons are the only way to deal with wild dogs."
Although Ser Rossos spoke very vaguely, Lord Linde still understood his meaning.
Although to the outside world, Greenblood River Orphans are almost synonymous with poverty, intelligent people know very well that the Greenblood River Orphans, who account for almost eighty percent or more of the Greenblood River's water trade, are absolutely unrelated to poverty. Under the disguise of their old clothes and simple rafts, these Greenblood River Orphans possess an astonishing amount of wealth, enough to bring them disaster.
The elders of the Greenblood River Orphans were also well aware of this, so they did not hesitate to change a tradition that had lasted for thousands of years, spending heavily to send the children of their group to different knights to serve as squires, and then become knights, joining different Dornish lord families, thereby gaining a certain influence and secretly protecting the Greenblood River Orphans.
The matter of the Greenblood River Orphans was somewhat heavy, so Lord Linde did not continue the topic, but instead brought the conversation back, saying, "Are many people in Godgrace trying to capture that Wild Horse King?"
Ser Rossos nodded and replied, "Yes, there are many people, but they are not trying to capture one, but two."
"Two?" Lord Linde was startled.
"Yes, two," Rossos was silent for a moment, then asked, "Lord Linde, are you interested in the Wild Horse King?"
"Yes," Lord Linde admitted.
Ser Rossos looked at Lord Linde meaningfully and said, "You might have a chance to catch them, but it might be difficult for you to take them away."
"What does that mean?" Lord Linde asked, puzzled.
"You'll know what's going on when you get to Godgrace," Ser Rossos did not explain further.
The contingent departing from Sunspear did not travel very fast; rather than rushing, it was more like touring. They traveled west along the Greenblood River's riverside road, setting off at mid-morning and stopping to set up camp in the afternoon while the sun was still overhead. The accompanying prostitutes, acrobatic troupes, and various merchants then entered the military camp, while some Dornish knights also ran to the Greenblood River Orphans' raft brothels moored by the shore to enjoy themselves.
Looking at the lively scene on the Dornish side, the camp on The Reach side was deserted. It wasn't that they didn't want to enjoy themselves like the people on the Dornish side, but that they didn't dare.
Every day, after the contingent stopped and set up camp, Lord Linde would arrange it as a proper defensive camp, strictly enforcing every defensive rule. Not to mention prostitutes and merchants entering the camp, even Red Viper needed Lord Linde's approval to enter the camp. All knights had to bear guard duties, patrolling in shifts every night, closely protecting Velas, and at the same time, openly telling the Dornish that they didn't trust them to protect Velas well.
The Dornish were angry, but there was nothing they could say. Red Viper, however, was unaffected, playing and drinking as usual. One night, he even deliberately hired an acrobatic troupe to perform outside The Reach's camp, and in the latter half of the night, he even sent some prostitutes to tempt the soldiers outside the camp.
Facing such temptation, the soldiers endured, but one knight on patrol couldn't resist. He found a prostitute and quickly had a tryst in a nearby soldier's tent.
When Lord Linde learned of this, he did not immediately punish the knight. The other knights in the camp subconsciously thought that Lord Linde intended to turn a blind eye.
Only Jon and others who knew Lord Linde understood that those knights had all misunderstood. If Lord Linde did not punish immediately, it meant that the subsequent punishment would be even more severe.
Sure enough, on the second night, Lord Linde paid to rent all the prostitutes following the contingent, then found the apothecary in the Greenblood River Orphans' boat-house.
However, this knight did get a good nickname: Robert Flower, the One-Man Army.
Undoubtedly, after this unconventional public punishment, the restless mood within The Reach contingent stabilized, and Lord Linde's notoriety became even more deeply ingrained in everyone's minds.
Not only did the people of The Reach shudder when Lord Linde was mentioned, but even the Dornish people shivered involuntarily after hearing how Lord Linde punished the knight who violated camp rules in such a bizarre way.
After that night, Red Viper also reined himself in considerably, because he was also worried that Lord Linde might suddenly become irrational and use such methods against him, especially since Lord Linde's martial prowess was evident. If he really intended to do something, would he and the surrounding Dornish knights be able to resist?
Thus, the contingent traveled for thirteen days and arrived in Godgrace.
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