Chapter 108 Dying
The star curtain hangs low, and the silver moon is like a knife.
Pale moonlight shrouded the cold courtyard. The tall oak trees in the courtyard swayed their branches in the wind, like ghosts with teeth and claws, and summer insects whispered in the dark corners, as if they were weaving one conspiracy after another.
"Sam..." From the shocking scene in the banquet hall to now, Natalie has been holding Samwell's hand tightly, refusing to let go, "Master Jon... will you be all right?"
Samwell patted the little girl's hand and comforted him: "Don't worry. There are three silver links on Maester Gilmore's necklace. With his medical knowledge, he will surely heal Lord Jon."
Having said that, in fact, Samwell knew very well that Jon Arryn might not be able to save him.
Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish will not give the old duke a chance to live.
Yes, from the moment Jon Arryn vomited blood and fell to the ground, Samwell had already identified Petyr as the real culprit behind this conspiracy.
Instead of Prince Oberyn, who was the most suspected in everyone's eyes.
In the original novel, Petyr Baelish, "Littlefinger", instigated his secret lover, the Duchess, Lysa Tully, to poison and assassinate her husband.
However, that happened almost a year later, when Duke Jon found the real evidence of Queen Cersei Lannister's derailment from the book "The Genealogy and History of the Major Nobles of the Seven Kingdoms", "Littlefinger" I just moved my hand.
And took advantage of the situation to plant the crime on the Lannister family, thus detonating the conflict between the western border and the northern border, and disrupting the situation in the Seven Kingdoms.
The current situation, except that the time is advanced, the situation is so similar.
It's just the one who is responsible, from the Lannister family to the Martell family.
In fact, even without Prince Oberyn's show, he would be the number one suspect. After all, he is the "Red Viper", with a bad reputation, and he happens to have an old grudge with Duke Jon, so he is simply an excellent scapegoat.
Now, he himself was playing tricks to negotiate for the sake of negotiating, coupled with Mrs. Lysa's angry accusation at Prince Oberyn at the banquet, it directly made everyone believe that he was the murderer.
Prince Oberyn couldn't get rid of this pot.
It is estimated that only Samwell knows his innocence.
But Samwell couldn't help him.
Because there is no evidence.
And "Littlefinger" is so well hidden that no one will suspect him at all.
Since he came to Yingzui Islet in the name of the Minister of Finance to explore silver mines, he probably has already started casting the stage for the ending of today's scene.
The first character on stage is of course Samwell.
In order to hide his true purpose, Petyr also deliberately used coins to fake accounts to cover it up.
Although Samwell knew the true face of this person, he had already guessed that Petyr had bad intentions, and also guessed that he was trying to stir up disputes between Riverbend and Dorne, but even so, Samwell still couldn't get rid of this conspirator. Calculation and control, step by step into the center of the stage he set up.
There are also Uric Shad, Arianne Martell, Randyll Tarly, Aleken Florent...these people are not the same.
When the stage is set up, it's the turn of the real protagonist, Jon Arryn.
And the final "big villain" Oberyn Martell.
Of course, Littlefinger is not a god, he cannot control everything precisely.
But he doesn't need to be precise.
The process of the story may deviate, but the ending is doomed.
With Lysa Tully as a pawn, Jon Arryn must die.
Petyr was just setting the stage for his death.
A stage where he can remove his suspicion of murder and maximize the impact of Jon's death.
I have to say, he did succeed.
Now that Oberyn Martell is the murderer, and with the death of Jon Arryn, the tension between the Reach and Dorne is immediately fueled and exacerbated.
Even the stability of the entire seven countries may be shaky because of this.
"Sam." Earl Landau came over and interrupted Samwell's thoughts.
Earl Randall took a step closer and said in a low voice:
"In this case, I must be with the army of Horn Hill. And your uncle must also go to gather the army of Brightwater City. After we leave, you are here to keep an eye on Oberyn Martell. Don't let He's out of your sight, you know?"
Samwell understood that his father was worried that the Martell family would have another move.
But he knew that Oberyn had a fart trick, and this "Red Viper" was the most confused one right now.
However, Samwell really couldn't explain it to his father, so he could only nod silently.
Noticing the departure of Earl Randall and his party, Prince Oberyn couldn't help casting his gaze.
"Red Viper" has been completely disarmed at this moment, its armor has been stripped off, and its spear has been taken away. It is surrounded by more than a dozen bodyguards of the Ayrin family alone with bare hands.
However, he had no fear on his face, and shouted at the top of his voice:
"Hey, people from the River Bend, you don't need to mobilize the army. I really came to Starfall City alone with a single spear. At most, there was a foolish attendant. I left him in the tavern. Also, Duke Jon coughed suddenly I am also very sorry for the blood, but this matter really has no honor for me, I dare to swear in the name of the Lieyang, the long halberd, and the seven gods."
"Shut up! The Red Viper!" A knight of the Arryn family said angrily, "You'd better pray to the Seven Gods that the Duke is safe, otherwise, we will definitely let you be buried with him!"
"Then you won't be able to catch the real culprit who poisoned Duke Jon."
"The real culprit is not you!"
"I said, I didn't..."
"Uncle!" Princess Arianne couldn't help but persuade, "Stop talking."
Prince Oberyn couldn't believe it: "Even you think it's me?"
"No." Princess Arianne shook her head, but her tone was not so firm, "I just think we should wait for news from the bachelor first, maybe the Duke is just... coughing up blood because he is too tired from traveling all the way."
"Lord Jon has never coughed up blood before!" the knight of the Arryn family retorted, "There is nothing wrong with his body!"
Prince Oberyn reminded: "But he is over seventy years old after all."
"Uncle!" Princess Arianne really wanted to seal her uncle's mouth at this moment.
Prince Oberyn sighed helplessly, and had no choice but to shut up.
He didn't expect that the performance that he deliberately put on in order to appear tougher at the negotiating table turned out to be like this.
Gods! He couldn't help thinking to himself, do you really like to tease the world so much?
I don’t know if they heard Prince Oberyn’s defamation, but the gods finally gave their verdict.
The closed door opened, and Maester Gilmore walked out with a heavy face.
"How is the Duke?"
Facing the tense gazes, Maester Gilmore sighed and shook his head:
"The time the gods are willing to leave for the Duke...is running out..."
"What!"
There was an uproar at the scene.
Bachelor Gilmore had no choice but to try his best to calm everyone down, saying:
"My lords, please enter the house, the Duke still has something to explain."
"Okay!" The river bend nobles entered the house one after another.
Princess Arianne also walked in after asking the guards for permission.
And just as Prince Oberyn was about to step forward, he was stopped by the knights of the river.
Bachelor Gilmore said: "The Duke specifically said that Prince Oberyn should also come in."
Hearing the bachelor's words, all the knights were puzzled.
But they didn't dare to go against the Duke's wishes, so they had to get out of the way.
"It seems that his mind is still clear..." Prince Oberyn muttered in a low voice. Seeing that the knights of the Arryn family were about to go mad again, he quickly shut his mouth and strode into the room.
(end of this chapter)