After arranging all the affairs in the camp, Linde went to Moroa's tent and handed her the exquisite box found on the dwarf assassin.
Moroa looked at the box in Linde's hand and chuckled, "Are you planning to give a gift to your lover?"
Linde ignored Moroa's teasing and said, "This was found on the dwarf assassin who just tried to assassinate Velas. I suspect there's a manticore inside the box."
Moroa showed interest, without any fear, and directly took the box, examining it in her hand.
"Why do you think there's a manticore in here?" Moroa asked, puzzled.
Linde told her, "I know there's an ancient assassin organization in Essos called the Sorry men, who are skilled at disguising dwarfs as little girls to elicit sympathy, then taking the opportunity to poison their targets with manticores."
"Sorry men? I think I've read about them in a book in the Citadel; they're a very ancient organization." Moroa asked, puzzled, "Even people in Essos might not know about the Sorry men, yet you recognized them just from one assassination. It seems you have quite a few little secrets." As she spoke, she reached out and pressed on Linde's breastplate, leaning close to Linde's face, and said provocatively, "A man with secrets is the most attractive man. I like you more and more, Linde Terra."
Facing Moroa's provocation, Linde frowned, said nothing, and simply stepped back, creating distance between them.
Moroa pouted, looking bored, then walked to her workbench, placed the box on the table, and asked languidly, "What do you want to do by giving this to me?"
Linde said in a deep voice, "Don't you like studying poisons? I need you to research this manticore's venom and its antidote."
"No need to research anymore." Moroa shook her head, stood up, walked to a nearby apothecary cabinet, opened a drawer, took out two bottles of medicine, placed them on the table, and said, "The square bottle is the antidote, and the round bottle is the poison. The poison is to be applied to a weapon; as long as the weapon scratches the target, even a very small wound is enough to be fatal."
After speaking, she directly reached out and opened the exquisite box on the table. Immediately, a manticore jumped out of the box, raising its venomous stinger.
There was no panic or fear on Moroa's face; instead, she looked like she had seen a beautiful little pet, reaching out to touch the manticore.
"Be careful." Although he felt Moroa wouldn't be in danger, he still couldn't help but warn her.
Moroa smiled, and her hand touched the manticore. The manticore did not attack her; instead, it curled up as if it had encountered some kind of natural predator, letting Moroa hold and play with it.
"This manticore is very well-kept, much better than the manticores I've raised in the past." Moroa held the manticore up to her eyes, examined it carefully, then frowned and said, "Linde, you might have misjudged. This manticore is not from the Sorry men."
Linde asked doubtfully, "How can you tell it's not a manticore from the Sorry men?"
"Although I haven't seen a manticore from the Sorry men, the books I've read have detailed descriptions of their manticore's form," Moroa placed the manticore in her hand in front of Linde, pointing to the carapace on the manticore's back, and said, "The Sorry men use special methods to cultivate the manticore's venom. Manticores cultivated by this method will have a clearer human face on the carapace of their back than ordinary manticores, and the face seen will be different under different lights. This type of manticore is also called a Thousand-Faced Manticore, and it is one of the sacred beasts of the Thousand-Faced God's church, so some people also believe that the Sorry men are actually an assassin organization derived from the Thousand-Faced God's church."
Linde looked at the spot Moroa indicated, then asked, "Can you tell the origin of this manticore?"
Moroa said with considerable pride, "Of course I can; sending the manticore to me was the most correct thing to do."
After speaking, she turned and walked to the workbench, took out a small bottle, collected some of the manticore's venom, then took out several liquid medicines and prepared some unknown substance.
As she prepared the medicine, she explained, "There are thirteen recorded known species of manticores. Each species of manticore also has different venom due to different distribution locations and different feeding methods, plus different feeding methods, which makes the types of manticore venom even more numerous. Each type of manticore venom is like an identity mark, marking their origin."
As she spoke, the liquid medicine in Moroa's hand was already prepared. She then dropped the manticore venom into the liquid medicine, watching the color of the liquid change from turbid brownish-gray to gradually clear and transparent, and then a hint of light purple appeared.
"The Sea King's Palace of Braavos?" Moroa was also stunned when she saw the color change and said, "This manticore comes from the Sea King's Palace of Braavos."
"The Sealord of Braavos?" Linde also looked bewildered and asked, "Why would the Sealord of Braavos send someone to kill the heir of Highgarden?"
"How should I know?" Moroa gave Linde a white eye and said, "I just said this manticore comes from the Sea King's Palace of Braavos, and whether the assassin was sent by the Sealord of Braavos is a completely different matter. As far as I know, the Sea King's Palace in Braavos keeps many manticores. Not only servants can catch them, but even the guards there can catch these manticores. Moreover, these manticores are not fatal, but they cause extreme pain, and this pain will continue until death."
Linde mused, "That is to say, the assassin's goal was to create an heir of Highgarden tormented by pain. Eternal pain will gradually change a person's character. No matter how good Velas's character is now, under long-term torment, he will likely become twisted and mad, just like the Mad King."
Following Linde's line of thought, Moroa also made a conjecture, saying, "At that time, as long as he thinks his pain originates from Godgrace, and that it is eternal pain obtained under House Martell's promise of protection, he will utterly hate Dorne. The conflict between The Reach and Dorne will also become more intense, even escalating into a full-scale war, due to the changing thoughts of him, the Lord of The Reach."
"Is that their goal?" Linde frowned, muttering to himself.
Linde now realized that this assassination attempt against Velas had turned from a simple answer—assassins hired by Dornish lords opposing the peace treaty—into a mystery. Many people could have orchestrated this assassination.
For example, the Iron Throne could have orchestrated this assassination, because although Dorne has submitted to the Iron Throne of House Baratheon, anyone observant knows that their rebellious intentions have never disappeared, and they need a power to counterbalance Dorne.
The Reach is the best choice. The Reach and Dorne already have an ancient feud. Now that the heir of Highgarden has been assassinated in Dorne and is suffering a fate worse than death, The Reach will inevitably target Dorne with all its might, and then the Iron Throne will be safe.
Not only the Iron Throne, but also the nobles of The Reach could have orchestrated this assassination, because Velas's peace treaty plan was opposed by many nobles of The Reach from the beginning. Even if Velas later persuaded these nobles of The Reach to agree to his proposal, it is unknown whether their agreement was merely verbal or truly from the heart.
As long as something happens to Velas in Dorne, the peace treaty will naturally not be implemented. If you add an heir of Highgarden tormented by pain and thus hating Dorne, then those in The Reach who oppose the peace treaty will have a legitimate reason to launch retaliation against Dorne.
Similarly, the Sea King's Palace of Braavos is also a suspect, because as long as a war between Dorne and The Reach is incited, Braavos can reap huge profits from it. What trade can be faster and more lucrative than war profiteering?
Thinking of this, Linde turned and left Moroa's tent, walking towards Velas's camp.
Watching Linde leave, Moroa picked up the manticore from the table, put it into a bottle, then took out a small bottle and dripped a few drops of liquid medicine into it, before capping the bottle.
Immediately, the manticore became incredibly pained, its body trembling violently, emitting extremely mournful hissing sounds, constantly hitting the bottle, trying to escape, while Moroa excitedly watched the suffering manticore in the bottle, a slightly morbid smile on her face.
On the other side, Linde entered Velas's tent and conveyed some of the information he had obtained from Moroa, along with his own conjectures, to Velas.
After listening, Velas was completely stunned. He had not expected this assassination attempt against him to be so complex, which gave him a sense of crisis he had never experienced before.
Linde said very seriously, "There might be other assassination attempts later. During this time, even when meeting Dornish lords and nobles, you must be accompanied by at least ten guards. Furthermore, you cannot participate in the martial arts tournament, because that would allow enemies hiding in the shadows to legitimately make a move against you."
"Understood, Lord Linde. I will follow your arrangements." This time, Velas did not refute Linde's words.
Linde re-arranged the knight guards' duty times, ensuring that Velas was always protected by more than ten knights. All food and drink had to be inspected. In short, he was to be protected rigorously.
The assassination attempt on the heir of Highgarden on his way to meet Lady Delron in the main castle of Godgrace had become the most discussed topic in Godgrace, even overshadowing the upcoming martial arts tournament.
Lady Delron, upon receiving the news, immediately brought her son to the camp of The Reach to meet with Velas. From Lady Delron's expression when she left, it was clear that the two had not become enemies because of this incident.
Afterward, Velas successively visited the lords and nobles from various parts of Dorne outside the city, completely unaffected by the assassination. The grace and demeanor he displayed when meeting the Dornish power players made it hard to believe he was a thirteen or fourteen-year-old youth.
However, observant people still noticed that Velas's protection was even tighter, especially whenever Velas left The Reach camp. The famous Bear Hunter Lind would always be by his side, along with the terrifying giant beast named Glory.
Unlike the Dornish lords and nobles who greatly valued Velas, the heir of Highgarden, the Dornish knights and warriors paid more attention to Linde, the legendary figure.
The hunter of bears song had long since spread to Dorne with ships from King's Landing, and the feat of killing a hundred men in the martial arts tournament was already well-known. But just like others who heard these rumors, the Dornish people did not believe them, thinking they were exaggerations made by bards to enhance the storytelling.
However, now the Dornish knights and warriors began to believe some of these rumors, because from the bodies of the assassins killed by Linde, and the descriptions of surrounding eyewitnesses, they found that more than a dozen powerful assassins were slaughtered by Linde in a very short time. According to eyewitnesses' descriptions, it was as if they blinked, and a dozen assassins were dead by Linde's hand.
Although the Dornish people somewhat believed Linde had the strength to accomplish the feat of killing a hundred men, they did not believe that Linde could truly eliminate a dozen assassins as easily as cutting grass, as the eyewitnesses claimed. So, some people challenged Linde, wanting to prove that Dornish warriors were no weaker than knights from The Reach.
However, Linde had no intention of accepting such challenges. Instead, when the Red Viper heard the challengers belittling Linde with various taunts, calling him an incompetent liar, he stepped forward and accepted those challenges directed at Linde, and directly told everyone that he had been defeated by Linde, and that anyone who wanted to challenge Linde should challenge him first.
Afterward, the Red Viper frantically challenged knights under the lords of camps around Godgrace before the martial arts tournament began, and then announced his participation in the jousting tournament with a perfect record of victories in foot duels.
Observant people noticed that when the Red Viper challenged knights under all the lords, he was ruthless towards the lords from the Red Mountains area. Basically, the knights they sent out all died at the Red Viper's hand, and the Red Viper's explanation was that those knights were so strong that he couldn't hold back.
However, anyone who had witnessed the Red Viper fighting those knights would not believe that the Red Viper, who was toying with them throughout, truly couldn't hold back.
There were some rumors that the Red Viper was so ruthless towards these knights entirely because of the assassination attempt on Velas Tyrell.
Because House Martell had guaranteed Velas Tyrell's safety in Dorne, that assassination was not only targeting the heir of Highgarden but also House Martell. And since the Red Viper couldn't find the mastermind behind the assassin, he simply treated all the lords and nobles from the Red Mountains area who were extremely displeased with Velas's peace treaty as suspects. Being ruthless to their knights was also a form of veiled warning.
Godgrace also intensified security patrols inside and outside the city due to the assassin incident. Not only the City Watch participated, but even the knights of the Count's Guard were dispatched. The once somewhat chaotic Godgrace became much more orderly.
Amidst these commotions, the martial arts tournament in Godgrace officially began.
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