Chapter 144: The Dornish Princess's Meeting Gift

Guards led the guests from Dorne into the great tent.

Even with his high standards, Arthur had to admit that these young women were all quite attractive, and the one in the lead was a rare beauty.

"Welcome, friends from afar. Please, sit and speak." The Riverlands King gestured toward the chairs to the side.

Arianne and the other three women nodded slightly and sat down to observe the "Dragonrider," while their Personal Guards stood behind them, eyes fixed forward, motionless.

According to years of experience with Targaryen intermarriage, the firstborn child often lacks traits like platinum hair or violet eyes, but they will invariably possess the beauty of the Targaryens, which far exceeds that of ordinary people.

And the Riverlands King's peerlessly handsome features and tall, sturdy build matched those of the "House Targaryen" members.

Arianne brazenly shifted her gaze from the Dragonrider's face to his body, then greedily lingered for a few moments on Arthur's slender fingers.

A king with looks like this is the only one worthy of me.

"What a handsome man!" Tyene, at her side, whispered in admiration.

Although she had seen many young Dornish nobles, among whom there was no lack of striking individuals, this Sand Snake had to admit that the Riverlands King was likely the best-looking man she had ever seen.

Perhaps even the best-looking person.

Arianne turned her head with a smile and raised an eyebrow at her cousin, "This trip wasn't in vain, was it!"

"Just seeing this face makes it worth it, not to mention what might happen later," Tyene whispered in her cousin's ear.

Arianne quietly reached out to her cousin's waist, gave a hard pinch, and whispered, "He is mine; you are not allowed to snatch him."

Tyene's face flushed red, but not daring to make a scene in front of the Riverlands King, she could only grit her teeth and pull Arianne's hand away.

The other two women were also observing the Riverlands King closely, though they had no such designs.

Although Dorne does not despise Bastards, as Sand Snakes, they understood that a high-quality man like the Riverlands King had to be picked by Arianne before it would be their turn.

Arthur was also observing these guests.

Compared to top-tier beauties like Sansa and Margaery, Arianne's appearance was not in the least inferior, and she even possessed a touch of exotic charm due to her deep-set eyes.

In terms of figure, this Martell Princess had much more of an advantage.

To put it this way, if she were to have children, not only would the child not go hungry, but the adult would also...

"Dornish Princesses coming to my camp—is there something the matter? With the frequent wars these days, it is not easy for delicate women to be out traveling." Sensing the awkward silence, Arthur spoke.

"The 'delicate woman' in your mouth has accomplished what hundreds of strong soldiers could not," Arianne snorted coldly, seemingly protesting the Riverlands King's dismissal of them.

The three Sand Snakes also let out a dainty huff along with their cousin.

"What matter?" Arthur asked curiously.

The Dornish Princess looked smug, lifting her chin to look at the Riverlands King through her nostrils, "Found and killed Tommen."

Arthur blinked, "By you... where is the body? Do you have proof?"

For him, who had declared himself king, this was definitely a major boon, but it was also possible these young girls were bluffing.

One of the Sand Snakes answered quickly: "The body was left at Duskendale; it's been quite lively there lately. The crown is the proof."

Obara reached out, and a Personal Guard took a box from the pack on their back; upon opening it, it was indeed a Golden Crown.

Arianne lifted her chin, and Tyene, at her side, took the box, walked forward, and handed it to the Riverlands King with both hands.

Of course, during the handover, this Sand Snake took the opportunity to stroke Arthur's hand.

Such long fingers!

The Riverlands King ignored the fact that someone was taking advantage of him and picked up the 24k pure gold crown to examine it closely.

The crowns of House Baratheon were basically circular, with a Leaping Stag on each side.

It would be impossible for the Dornish to produce such a piece of pure gold in a short time; it must be Tommen's.

"Clever and capable Dornish women." Arthur gave the four women a thumbs-up.

Since he had led his troops to Sow's Horn, this Reach Army commanded by Mace Tyrell had been in a standoff with him and had not initiated any attacks.

Although the strategy to sow discord between the Rowan family and the "Puffy Fish" lord had been ongoing, because there had been no major changes in the situation, it had been difficult to provoke anything.

"Is this gift from us in Dorne to the Riverlands King satisfactory to you?" Arianne asked with a flushed face and a smile.

"Satisfactory, very satisfactory. Military affairs are pressing; you all should settle in first, and when I have time, I will properly entertain you."

Arthur waved his hand, letting the guards take the guests away. Rosso was in charge of logistics and supplies, and he would arrange for these Dornish noblewomen and the spearmen they brought.

The news of Tommen's death should not have spread yet; this was the perfect time to sow discord. He had to figure out how to make Mace Tyrell completely misunderstand Mathis Rowan, so as to cause the Goldengrove forces to defect to his side.

Seeing the Dragonrider ignore her after accepting the gift, Arianne's pretty face turned slightly angry, but she could not act out; she cursed "fool" under her breath and turned to leave.

The three Sand Snakes and the Dornish Personal Guards followed.

The Riverlands King ordered for Tristan Rivers, Karyl Vance, Innes Frey, and other heavyweight vassals to be summoned, along with the reserve Commander Dickon Tarly, to begin discussing the feasibility of the plan.

Although the great lords had received proper training as lords, they were not very familiar with schemes like counter-espionage that toyed with human hearts.

Arthur recalled relevant events from his past life and set down these steps.

"We have already had two or three exchanges with Mathis, and Mace knows of this, but because there is insufficient evidence, he has not acted. This time, we will use the timing of Tommen's death to pretend to negotiate peace with the Lion-Flower Alliance first, and then..."

He whispered his plan to these commanding lords.

After Tommen's death, the Cersei line had no more male heirs to inherit the Iron Throne, and Stannis was notoriously stingy and ungrateful; he would certainly not easily forgive the Reachmen for repeatedly supporting a false king. Therefore, the Jiaodu of the Reach would inevitably be restless, and seeking a way out was a certainty.

When disaster strikes, everyone flies their own way!

But because Mace Tyrell's two sons, Garlan and Loras, as well as Margaery and others, were all outside King's Landing, and most of the troops of his vassals were also there, the "Puffy Fish" lord could not change sides in the short term.

This provided the basis for mutual suspicion between Mace and the Reach nobles at Hafo.

According to Arthur's plan, he would send someone to negotiate peace with the "Puffy Fish" lord tomorrow, specifically requesting Count Mathis Rowan to come to Sow's Horn for negotiations.

Mace would certainly not be at ease and would definitely send a few trusted confidants to follow and observe.

The Riverlands King would take the opportunity to catch up with Mathis, chat about irrelevant matters, and make it look like he was very close with Rowan for Mace's confidants to see.

Once Count Rowan took his men back, he would send a letter under the cover of night. The letter would still be about building relations, but he would smudge the key parts, erasing words like time and location.

Of course, he would ensure that the scouts of House Tyrell noticed the delivery of the letter.

Next, he would just quietly wait for the Reachmen to bicker, try to prove their innocence, or even engage in infighting.

The Rowan family has four or five thousand troops, and the Oakheart family, who are on good terms with them, also has two thousand men; combined, the two families already account for half of the soldiers in this Reach Army.

If Duke Mace Tyrell truly wanted to do something to Lord Mathis Rowan, the military camp near Hafo would inevitably fall into chaos, and the Riverlands Army would seize the opportunity to launch an attack.

After hearing the Riverlands King's vision, the group discussed it among themselves and concluded that the plan was feasible.

"I actually didn't notice you could devise such a complex conspiracy," Dickon praised from the bottom of his heart.

He felt he was becoming increasingly unable to see through the Riverlands King.

The bald Innes nodded in agreement, his heart filled with even more mixed feelings.

He had thought he was following a brute and could take the opportunity to scrape together some benefits, but he never expected him to be a schemer who loved playing tricks.

"Then it's settled. Tristan will go tomorrow as well. The rest of you go back and manage your own soldiers; let them sleep and rest more. The Reachmen might fall into chaos at any time. Over the next day or two, we must be ready to strike at any moment," Arthur ordered.

The group murmured their assent and turned to leave.

It was already evening, and the scent of food began to drift throughout the entire camp.

After Arthur finished the dinner brought by Podrick, he took a few of his Personal Guard and, as per his custom, began patrolling the camp.

This was a gesture that great nobles disdained to perform, but the Riverlands King took pleasure in it.

Getting to know different soldiers was a very interesting thing; for example, there was a young soldier from the Haigh family who secretly told Arthur that the thing he wanted to do most was to flick the bald head of his lord's lord, Marquess Innes, to see if it would echo like water.

The Haigh family were vassals to the Frey family, and the status of the young soldier and Innes was several levels apart, but he had been obsessed with flicking that bald head.

Arthur remembered him and told the young soldier that he also occasionally flicked Innes's bald head, and that he would flick it a few more times for the soldier in the future.

Another example was a cook from the Yalan Cheng territory, who spent most of his time every day carving wooden paddles, flails, and other farm toys for his son; he hoped his four-year-old son would fall in love with farming and never follow his lord out to be a soldier and fight wars.

To him, Arthur promised that there would be far fewer wars for this generation onwards.

Because the Riverlands King was preparing to create a super-large Crownlands, using the Dragon and a massive Royal Army to suppress the seven great lords and prevent them from even harboring thoughts of rebellion.

There were dozens of other impressive soldiers, many of whom wanted to end the war and go home to renovate and reinforce their houses in preparation for surviving the Long Winter.

Arthur mainly pacified these people and indicated that he would reward soldiers who fought with Brave, and those with particularly outstanding performance could receive sufficiently generous monetary rewards and fertile farmland, reaching up to the rank of Landed Knight.

In any case, the Riverlands had already been battered; there were dozens of Viscountcies and Baronies without lords, not to mention the Landed Knights who only managed a small village.

Arthur estimated that two or three hundred villages without masters and not under the jurisdiction of any level of nobility could still be found, which was enough to reward soldiers who had rendered distinguished service in several great battles.

The many days of patrolling the camp caused the rank-and-file soldiers' recognition and support for the Riverlands King to rise rapidly, and the morale of this army also slowly climbed.

An 11,500-man camp was neither big nor small, and by the time Arthur finished one round of patrolling, it was already late at night.

To avoid potential assassination, the Riverlands King's sleeping tent was hidden among the tents of the New Army soldiers, but when Arthur returned, his servant Meidan, who was responsible for managing the tent, was standing in front of it with a somewhat strange expression.

"What's going on?"

Facing his master's questioning, the honest servant explained: "There is a woman inside, and I cannot drive her away."

Arthur waved his hand, signaling Meidan and the Personal Guard following him to leave.

It was likely Princess Arianne of Dorne inside; the servant truly could not drive her away.

Not knowing what Arianne wanted to do, he walked inside with that thought in mind.

The tent was furnished quite simply; apart from a bed, a table, a chair, and a candlestick, there was almost no clutter.

But Arthur's bed had been occupied by someone.

Arianne, wearing a light, thin nightgown, sat on the edge of the bed, her large black waves of hair cascading behind her, her face bright and charming, her two bare feet swinging at the edge of the bed.

Seeing the Dragonrider enter, Arianne gave a flirtatious wink, smiled faintly, and fell straight backward, lying on the bed.

"I'm already asleep!"

Although he was standing, from Arthur's angle, the Dornish Princess's figure was still undulating and graceful.

After slowly taking off his Plate Armor, the Riverlands King sat on the chair.

"Although you are beautiful and have a good figure, I am not a casual person."

Arianne, who had not waited for the Dragonrider to make a move on her, opened her eyes and sat up.

"Do you want to lie there and let me do the work? Are all men in the North this lazy?"

Arthur shook his slender fingers and said, "Not at all. As far as I know, Dornishmen have somewhat different views in some aspects compared to the other six kingdoms. I certainly want to elevate our friendship, but some things must be made clear in advance, such as what our relationship status is, whether we will be lovers or are preparing for a marriage alliance, and whether certain behaviors of yours will be restricted after you have a relationship with me."

It was not just about concepts; more importantly, some things had to be agreed upon.

The entire Usurper's War was caused by Rhaegar abducting Robert's fiancée, Lyanna.

Therefore, matters between men and women must indeed be handled with care.

Furthermore, the Martell family's reputation in matters between men and women was not very good, with the representative figure being Oberyn Martell, who was indiscriminate and took all.

"The little Dragon is quite calculating," Arianne said, putting her right index finger into her mouth. "Consider this a meeting gift for now. As for marriage alliances and such, my father, Doran Martell, has the final say; I can at most put in a good word for you."

Arthur shook his head and said, "That won't do. I am a man of principle. A woman who has a relationship with me must be loyal to me alone in the future; I won't have you acting recklessly."

The Dornish Princess puffed out her chest, making her figure even more prominent. "You still want to eat it and not spit it out."

She looked Arthur's handsome face and tall figure up and down again, focusing particularly on the Riverlands King's slender and fair fingers.

"It depends on whether you are a big man or a small man. If you are big enough, I will definitely be loyal to you and only have a relationship with you in the future."

Arthur shook his head and chuckled, "Don't worry, we'll see the truth on the battlefield. I want to let you know what is called combat power that goes straight to the stomach."

He stepped forward and threw himself onto her.

The situation inside the tent was unknown, but outside the tent, it was much more boring.

This was a very ordinary night, but it would be one that the Princess of Dorne would remember for the rest of her life.

PS: Please vote for recommendations and monthly tickets.

(End of chapter)