His sworn brothers together, four at once, could not take Red Viper down — but that did not include Barristan.
However, just as he was preparing to act, he was stopped again by Kal.
Barristan now indeed felt strange. He looked at Kal with some confusion, not knowing why the King would stop him repeatedly.
But Kal did not pay attention to him, instead looking Red Viper Oberyn Martell up and down with deep eyes.
As for these provocative words from Red Viper, Kal's expression still did not change at all, and then he asked again: "Then do you know how King Robert died?"
Noticing Kal stopping Barristan from stepping forward, confusion in Oberyn's eyes deepened, and upon hearing Kal's words, he felt even more baffled.
"How did Robert die? Died on top of woman?"
"Wait— do not tell me you suspect I killed Robert Baratheon?!"
With these words said, Oberyn now understood why, while he had been enjoying himself, suddenly group of Gold Cloaks and Kingsguards had rushed in wanting to take him down.
Seeing his puzzled expression, Kal's brow moved slightly, and he continued: "He was killed by one wild boar."
Kal was still observing him.
Hearing this, Oberyn first showed slight surprise, then immediately laughed mockingly: "Ridiculous. Wild boar? Hahahahaha."
Facing his mockery, Kal still did not react.
With cold expression he continued narrating his story, and his eyes remained fixed on Oberyn.
"Before this wild boar killed him, his wine server gave him alcohol strengthened in proof, three bags."
"Do you want to know what happened to this wine server afterward?"
Hearing Kal's question, how could Oberyn not understand his current situation.
Kal was doing this merely to let him die knowing why, not confused about reason.
So he let out two cold laughs and said: "Do not tell me he died. Otherwise I cannot think of a reason why you all would come trouble me. And, Kal El, I must admit I indeed am a very convenient excuse."
"Perhaps in all King's Landing, you cannot find one person more suitable than me to be 'culprit.'"
Oberyn knew he would not live today. If it were only Barristan Selmy coming to trouble him, he might be confident he could leave.
But with Kal El added, he knew it was impossible.
How strong Kal El was had already been proven to Seven Kingdoms at final spear contest of Tournament.
He had been only star that day.
So he knew that even if he used poison, in this surrounded situation he was destined to die here.
As for his own head, it indeed was best reward for this bastard boy before him.
One excuse, plus his head, would certainly let his throne sit even more steadily.
Now he understood why Kal would come to trouble him: because he wanted to borrow his head for use.
So when he said these words, Oberyn's face was full of mockery and bleakness.
But he promised he would not let Kal El so easily take his head like this.
But he hoped that after he died, Doran would not continue choosing to endure.
If enduring continued like this, facing this clever and venomous boy, Dorne would never again have chance for revenge.
Thoughts flashed quickly through his mind. Oberyn gripped spear in his hand tightly, mind highly focused, ready at any time to launch most deadly counterattack at Kal.
And Kal had been staring at him continuously, watching his eyes and expression on his face.
Regarding Oberyn's guard, Kal still stood loosely in place.
Barristan at side noticed Red Viper's movement and likewise tightened grip on longsword, gaze vigilant.
But after confronting each other for long while like this, Oberyn's sweat slid down from brow, while Kal still did not move and did not speak again.
"What, still not making move?" Oberyn instead grew impatient, unable to hold back mocking, "Boy, I do not have time to play with you here!"
But at his provocation and forcing, spear in Kal's hand suddenly struck ground, spear butt directly piercing through carpet and stabbing into wooden floor beneath.
Letting go of spear, Kal advanced with empty hands right before Oberyn.
"My maester told me this wine server died from one kind of poison. Perhaps you have heard this name."
"What is it?"
For some reason, facing empty-handed Kal El, Oberyn felt more pressure than when he had been holding spear.
"Strangler!"
"The Strangler?!"
As a master hand in the craft of poisons, Red Viper could not possibly be unaware of this thing.
Yet when he heard this thing's name, he still could not help being startled.
Because unlike the common poisons such as nightshade, greycap powder, and others extracted from plants and various poisonous fungi, or unlike the common things he himself most often used, such as manticore venom extracted from the venom of animals and insects, the Strangler was extremely special and extremely rare.
Looking at Oberyn Martell, who was staring at him with a guarded face yet had, at the instant he heard the name "Strangler," shown that moment of surprise, Kal already had an understanding in his heart.
Kal said, "You know this thing?"
"Of course. Just like the Maester who told you about this thing… it seems his pharmaceutical skills are not bad." Oberyn showed an expression of disdain.
"Then let us talk."
After Kal finished speaking, he pulled over a stool and sat down, looking straight at Oberyn, who was holding a spear and staring at him in full vigilance.
Seeing Kal El, who acted calmly as if he did not put him in his eyes at all, Oberyn let out a cold laugh.
"What could we possibly have to talk about? If you want my head, you will have to rely on your own ability!"
Facing Red Viper, who already looked as if he had placed life and death outside himself, Kal only smiled.
"But I believe King Robert's death should have nothing to do with you." Saying this, he turned his head toward Barristan and the others blocking the room with drawn blades and wary expressions, and said, "Ser Barristan, you all go out first. I have some words I want to speak with Prince Oberyn alone."
Hearing Kal's words, Barristan showed a look of difficulty, but faced with the command of the King, he could not refuse.
He could only sheathe his sword, lift Ser Arys Oakheart—whose complexion already looked much better, and the purple-black color that had followed along his blood vessels had already receded—and take him out.
With their movements, Oberyn then noticed that the poison on the man who had first rushed up but had been stabbed by him in the thigh seemed already to have been cured.
Noticing this scene, the expression on Oberyn's originally still cold face collapsed for an instant.
But fortunately he quickly gathered himself, not showing it immediately.
Kal, who had been watching him the whole time, noticed this and the corner of his mouth faintly curled in a hidden smile.
Afterward, when all people had gone out, in the room there remained only Kal El, with the long spear he had brought thrust into the floorboard and standing upright.
And Prince Oberyn Martell, who also slowly put down his weapon along with the goodwill Kal released toward him.
After first calming his lover Ellaria Sand, Oberyn also sat down before Kal, his gaze fixed on him with seriousness.
"Poison is feared and despised among knights and nobles in the Seven Kingdoms. Many people even regard it as an insidious hidden weapon used only by the degenerate drunkards of the Free Cities, and at the same time it is considered the weapon of cowards, eunuchs, bastards, and women."
"So in this place the news I can obtain is very limited. I think perhaps you can tell me what I want to know."
Kal's expression was calm. When Oberyn sat before him, he opened with his own request.
However, facing Kal's words, Oberyn directly let out a mocking cold laugh. "I do not think using such a tool is something base and shameful. Compared with the things they do in secret, the evil poison can account for is not even one ten-thousandth."
"So, Kal El, why should I tell you these things?"
Kal did not care at all about Oberyn's direct and unblinking mockery. Instead, he suddenly shifted the topic. "It seems you did not collude with Stannis Baratheon."
Oberyn frowned, tasting the meaning within.
"You suspect Stannis Baratheon murdered Robert Baratheon, and then you suspect me? Just because of poison?"
Facing his question, Kal only said lightly, "King Robert died. Who would be the greatest beneficiary?"
"—It is Stannis," Oberyn pondered for a moment. "But what does that have to do with us? Dorne would not be foolish enough to get mixed into your family affairs."
After all, what we have in mind is not like this, Oberyn thought in his heart.
But to Oberyn's words, Kal merely raised his brows and said with meaningful depth, "But I do not think House Martell would so easily put down its hatred, and you do not look like such people."
"I gifted you all a present because I wanted to exchange for your friendship, but after you arrived in King's Landing, those inexplicable actions in a row, and your alliance with Stannis on Narrow Sea, all had no choice but to make me suspicious."
Kal did not beat around the bush at all. As he spoke, he stared straight into Red Viper's eyes.
Yet at Kal's words, Oberyn instead showed a bewildered expression. "But Arianne and I came precisely to show a response to the friendship you extended toward House Martell!"
"What do you mean?" Kal also felt somewhat at a loss.
Seeing Kal's blank face, Oberyn was somewhat dumbfounded.
"Because my thought was to have Arianne Martell make contact with you, to see if she could match with you and join with you. I even had my bastard daughters make contact with the Stark bastard who brought us the noble gift."
"Otherwise, what did you think my repeated invitations for you to attend banquets were for?"
"Before this you were not any Warden of the West, Lord of Casterly Rock. For Dorne's Princess to be able to marry you, such a bastard knight, would be your honor!"
Had he not said these words it would have been fine, but when he said them, even a trace of grievance appeared in Oberyn's expression, making him unable to hold back and he raised his voice quite a bit.
Hearing his words, Kal instantly realized he seemed to have misunderstood something, and at once could not help widening his eyes.
Then the two of them silently looked around at the corpses lying all over the floor, facing each other without words.
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