Chapter 113 Blood Orange
Sunspear City is always sunny.
Today is an exception.
The dark clouds covered the sun, and the salty sea breeze couldn't blow away the heat in the air, making it almost suffocating.
Princess Arianne hid in the cool spring water, holding red wine in one hand and "A Tale of Ten Thousand Ships of Voyage" in the other.
However, her eyes were out of focus, obviously her attention was not on the book.
The sound of light footsteps awakened the princess from her contemplation. She turned her head and saw a blond girl walking towards her.
"Trenee!" Princess Arianne stood up from the water in surprise, and opened her arms enthusiastically to those who came.
Trenee Sand is one of the many illegitimate daughters of Prince Oberyn, the "Red Viper", and the one closest to Princess Arianne.
She has a sweet appearance, like a summer strawberry, because her mother is a nun, so she has a purity that does not belong to the world, but in fact, anyone who is familiar with Tyene knows that her innocence and sweetness It's all a disguise, and what's hidden inside is actually a dangerous and rebellious girl.
Moreover, Tyene's attainments in poisons are not inferior to her father in the slightest.
"Your Royal Highness." Triene smiled and saluted, then hugged the naked and wet princess.
The princess kissed her best childhood playmate and rubbed her delicate face: "Where have you been? Why did you come to see me now?"
"I went to sea before, and I only found out about you when I came back... Well, well, I will tell you about this later, get dressed now, His Royal Highness wants to see you."
"My father? Humph, is he finally willing to see me? I thought he had forgotten that he had me as a daughter." Princess Arianne was reluctantly pulled out of the pool by Tyene.
After drying her body, she deliberately picked out the most revealing silk dress, but was snatched away by Tyene when she was about to put it on:
"Your Highness, you can no longer be so self-willed. You must know that being well-behaved is the best armor for us women."
Speaking, Tyene chose a simple ivory-colored cloth robe to put on the princess, and deliberately did not give her any fancy jewelry. She only took a seven-pointed star pendant that symbolized the belief of the Seven Gods and hung it on the princess's chest.
"So I must crawl at my father's feet and beg his forgiveness?" Princess Arianne muttered a few words, but still accepted her cousin's arrangement.
After tidying up, Princess Arianne came to the Garden of Flowing Water.
The flowers and plants in the garden are fragrant, but she has no heart to appreciate them.
Following the guards to a pavilion, Princess Arianne discovered that her uncle, Prince Oberyn, was also standing outside the pavilion looking at the blood orange tree in the garden in a daze.
Princess remembers that when she was young, her favorite game with her cousins was to smash oranges off the tree with a meteor hammer.
But I don't know when, my father no longer allowed them to enter the flowing water garden casually.
He monopolized this place and turned it into his own castle, or in other words, a cage?
Princess Arianne withdrew her thoughts, and saw her father, Prince Doran, sitting in the pavilion, staring at a cyvasse chessboard in front of her, lost in thought.
Pale and swollen, the ruler of Dorne, with his legs almost paralyzed by severe gout resting on a padded footstool, played with his red and swollen hands a chess piece carved from onyx. Couldn't stop trembling slightly.
Princess Arianne looked at her father who was tormented by illness, and suddenly felt a little sad, and the resentment and dissatisfaction in her heart also eased a lot.
"Father."
Prince Doran came back to his senses and looked at his daughter fixedly.
Prince Oberyn also came over at this time, stood beside his niece, and said:
"We messed up this time. But brother, don't worry, I will find a way to make up for everything."
"It's none of your business." Princess Arianne said, "It's my willful behavior that caused Dorne such a big loss."
Prince Doran spoke, his voice was weak, like a piece of fragile parchment:
"Tell me, Arianne, why? Why start a war?"
"For the glory!"
Prince Doran chuckled: "Do you know what glory is?"
"The people of the River Bend are fighting on the land of Dorne! Isn't it an honor for me to lead an army to fight back?"
"For your glory, thousands of Dorne warriors sacrificed their lives, Starfall City and High Hidden City will no longer obey our orders, and your uncle fell into the trap because of this, and has poisoned the king's hand on his back." suspicion. Tell me, Arianne, is this really the glory you want?"
Princess Arianne muttered for a while, but she was still unconvinced and said:
"That's because we lost the battle of Starfall City, if we win..."
"Even if you win that battle, you can't win anything." Prince Doran interrupted coldly, "In the Game of Thrones, the first to be out is always the idiot who can't control his ambition and bet first. You know I don't know, because of your impulsiveness, we have become a wounded prey, and the blood flowing from the wound will surely attract countless greedy vultures, who will take this opportunity to tear us apart and share the food!"
Princess Arianne wanted to refute, but Prince Oberyn spoke first:
"Don't worry, brother, I won't let the vultures succeed. This time I go to King's Landing, I will do everything possible to remove the suspicion and never let the war flare up again."
Speaking of this, Prince Oberyn couldn't help but think of the old man's murmur before he died.
So he added: "At any cost!"
Prince Doran sighed, rubbed the center of his eyebrows tiredly, and said after a while:
"Oberon, remember our longing?"
"Of course I remember." Prince Oberyn paused, "We want to avenge Elia who died tragically in King's Landing that year!"
"Ilya...Ilya..." Prince Doran murmured, with a painful expression on his face, "For so many years, I can see her bleeding face almost every day before going to bed, and I can hear her when I wake up countless times in the middle of the night. And the whining of her children... Oberyn, my brother, I really don't want another face of yours..."
"Don't worry, brother." Prince Oberyn pretended to be relaxed. "There were countless people who wanted to take my life, but they were the ones who went to meet the Stranger in the end."
"It's different. Brother, your halberd and poison may not be able to help you this time..."
"I don't just rely on these two things, brother, please trust your brother."
Prince Doran and his younger brother looked at each other for a long time, and finally looked away, holding the chess piece that symbolized the dragon tightly in his hand, so hard that he kept trembling:
"Oberon, you know, I've been planning for so long, I've been planning for so long, and I'm about to succeed. Really, that girl has already had her period..."
Princess Arianne was confused and couldn't help asking: "Father, what are you planning?"
"Sorry, Arianne, I can't tell you yet." Prince Doran sighed and shook his head, "Because I know you too well, the secret is just a wonderful story to you, and you can whisper it to Tyene when you sleep at night. And Trieni never hides Obara, and Obara is an alcoholic, who will she tell when she drinks too much? I can't take risks, and the Martell family can't afford to take risks."
Princess Arianne's mouth moved, but she didn't speak any more after all.
"Brother, please trust me this time." Prince Oberyn looked into his brother's eyes with piercing eyes, "I will remove the suspicion! I will never delay our plan! Elia's revenge will definitely be avenged!"
Prince Doran struggled for a while, and finally heaved a long sigh: "Okay."
Afterwards, he turned to his daughter again, with both helplessness and disappointment in his eyes: "Arianne, this time I go to King's Landing, everything will be subject to your uncle's arrangement, and you must no longer make up your own mind."
Princess Arianne met her father's gaze, wondering if she remembered her cousin's advice when she came here, she finally lowered her head and said obediently:
"Yes, Father."
Prince Doran waved his hand wearily, indicating that the two can leave.
The garden became quiet again.
The sky became more and more gloomy, and the wind became stronger and stronger. Finally, the long-standing dullness was finally broken, and the heavy rain also fell down.
"Your Highness, Your Highness, come in quickly."
The servant's shout came from the ear, but Prince Doran ignored it. He just stared blankly at the messy garden in front of him, and remained silent for a long time.
Under the ravages of the violent wind and rain, countless blood oranges that were about to ripen, before they had time to pick them, all fell to the ground and smashed to pieces.
(end of this chapter)