I put out his fire

Chapter 22 Birthday by the Sea

Anthony came to his elder brother's house on horseback, holding a pair of military boots embroidered with purple silk thread in his hand.

Creamy white robes covered him like foam.His calf was wrapped in iron armor, and he hit the horse like an iron rod.

He jumped off the horse, sighed helplessly, his face was as heavy as rust.

Before that, he and his elder brother broke up unhappy.Taking the family into consideration, he took the initiative to show his favor to Menxi.

When Mengxi heard the report, he stepped out like jellyfish fluttering, so his eyes on Anthony also appeared to be erratic.

He was clad in armor, and each piece of armor was woven on his body like fish scales, and the sunlight reflected silver scales of light.

His light eyes fell on Anthony, and words flashed from his mouth: "You are still a knight, and you can't wear the white robes that only veterans can wear..."

Anthony's brother's admonition made Anthony happy, and the light jumped up in his sea-blue eyes like a white shark.

"It's all the fault of those pirates who are more disgusting than mud!" Anthony jumped to his side like a flying fish, "They messed up my plan to make it to the top!"

He held Menche's arm intimately, with an aggrieved expression: "In order to make the property reach the senior level as soon as possible, I have to negotiate with a group of uneducated businessmen every day. It is a nightmare!"

Menxi's face was sullen, and his skin oozes like mucus. "It's too slow to get money from business. You might as well make political achievements. A piece of rewarded land can be worth the price of two boats of silk."

Anthony's cunning eyes rolled twice, and he clung to Munch's arm.A flattering smile spread across his lips like a gutter.

"Sure enough, you are the only one who treats me best in this world..." He said in a coquettish tone that didn't match his age.

He looked at Menxi's face, and said cautiously, "That day...it was because of my bad attitude. At that time, my mind was so hot that it was like being enchanted by a witch..."

Menxi shook his head twice, a faint sharpness flashed in his eyes.He pouted and said, "...forget it."

Anthony breathed a sigh of relief, his tense shoulders feeling relieved.

"I'm not as smart as you, brother. I don't have much knowledge, I can only make money through business..." There was a hint of envy in his brows and eyes.

"I dream of becoming a veteran in a white robe..." He lowered his voice as he spoke, his inferiority complex carved into his tone like a long knife, "but now I only have that little military power, even a commander Don't listen to my orders..."

"Don't worry." Menci said calmly, "I will open up a seat for you in the Senate."

The slave came up with a copper basin, washed Anthony's hands as a guest, and dutifully applied a layer of lanolin to him.

The slave's silver hair fell like sparks into his eyes.

The sullen red rose on Anthony's face, which was desperately suppressed by his rationality, like a trapped animal in a net.

"Now you even buy silver-haired slaves?" He said in a bad tone.

Menxi was stunned for a moment, and words of nostalgia came through his lips tactfully: "I'm just remembering him."

Anthony's dissatisfaction bubbled up like boiling water.He couldn't suppress this long-accumulated anger, and the corners of his eyes were slightly red.

"He's not worth it." He murmured, "I heard...you're going to ask Julius for the position of Chief of the Guards..."

Stuffed words popped out from between his lips and teeth, "It's absurd for a general who has made great achievements in battle to be a bodyguard..."

"However, this does not shake my power." Menci quickly argued.

He lowered his jaw, and a shadow buried his mouth like dark water.His drooping eyelids quivered slightly, a twisted attachment.

"What I want is just a title that should belong to me..." he whispered.

"But Caligula only wants his Thales." After all, Anthony couldn't help it, and muttered in a low voice.

Menxi's slack cheeks twitched, and his dark blue eyes were like sinking into the sea at night.A long-lasting pain occupied his mind, gnawing at his skull like a flesh-eating worm.His body seemed to be shocked by electricity, and his face turned ashen in an instant.

"I don't want to quarrel with you over the same thing again! Anthony." Menci said displeased.

Anthony paused, and shut his mouth wisely.

The slave put away the suet, kissed the master's heel, and retreated quietly.

Around his neck was a necklace of precious gemstones, and Munch was not mean to him.

Anthony rubbed his nose twice, and said calmly, "The situation in Rome is settled now. Messalina is the emperor's wife, and she will become the emperor's mother in the future..."

Proudness throbbed faintly in the depths of his tone: "I have already taken a huge advantage!"

Menxi thought for a while, then said with a worried look: "Maybe he will have a fresher boy to satisfy her. You know, she is a famous slut with insatiable desires!"

"Then let her go!" Anthony dismissively said, "That empty-headed bitch can only rely on her father to do her best! If it wasn't for that hapless little Nero who got malaria, she must not be Agri Pina's opponent!"

Meng Xi stood upright, with a trace of wariness tightened between his brows.The furrows between his brows were like ravines.

He said with lingering fear: "Agrippina has won over the court with the blood of Augustus. Those old stubborn people in the court are clinging to her like leeches clinging to flesh and blood!"

"She's just a fly in winter, she won't fly for long!" Anthony teased, "Once Nero dies, she will be exiled to the province by Messalina. As far as I know, she has malaria." most of them will not survive."

Munch defaults.His shoulder armor was blown by the cool wind, like a piece of dry poppy husk.

……

The smell of herbs in the bedroom was so strong that it was a bit pungent, like inhaling dense soot.

It was late at night, and the moon was already on the branches.

Nero curled up in the bed like a dead grass, his breath was as weak as a silk thread.His cheeks were sunken, and his cheekbones stood out proudly.He had reached the point where he was skinny.

The slave was busy and sprinkled the medicinal herb water on his bed.Nero opened his eyes, and the eyeballs seemed to be frozen into cement.

He just woke up from a lethargy, as if climbing out of an abyss.

Rhodes walked into the bedroom, walking quickly, and came to the sick bed like a gust of wind.

A thin layer of sweat covered his face like a diamond-encrusted mask in the candlelight.

His long hair was curled, stuck to his neck with sweat, and his black clothes were covered with plaster, exuding a sea-like dampness.

Nero's cement-like eyeballs moved, and a sharp black shadow reflected in his pale yellow eyes.

He opened his mouth, words drifted out of his parched throat like grains of dust: "...where have you been all day today?"

Rhodes smiled and ignored his question.

He sat on the table, crossed his straight legs casually, and took out an apple from the fruit bowl.He wiped off the dust with his sand-stained sleeve, and took a loud bite.

Nero, who is pessimistic, feels desperate at the moment.He fell into illness, more sensitive than usual, and even developed a kind of disappointment in human nature.

"Even you... also..." He couldn't continue.

The sourness rose from the bottom of his heart, eroding his blood vessels bit by bit.There was mist in his eye sockets, and his withered purple lips vibrated secretly.The sourness is like a moth struggling in the chrysalis shell, about to burst out from the eyelids.

Rhodes approached the bed slowly, and bent down like a dark cloud.

He touched Nero's cool forehead, "The fever is gone," he said.

Nero covered his eyes with the back of his hand, his pale face flushed like blood dripping into water.

Rhodes patted his face, smiled and said, "What's negative?"

He moved closer to his temples, his hot lips were moving.His steady breath crawled into Nero's ears like a reptile.

The young and delicate Nero shrank his neck, showing a shyness of refusal and welcome.

"Get dressed, I'm going to take you somewhere..." Rhodes said in a low voice.

So Nero, bundled up like a bear, followed him lumberingly into the carriage.

The two came to the beach rumbling.

The sky and the sea are both dark, blending without boundaries, so the sea is just a wrinkled sky.A full moon is far away, like a candle hanging upside down.

Nero huddled in his cloak, his too thin face made him look sullen.His eye sockets were sunken and cast a thick black shadow.The silver hair is like transparent spider silk by the moonlight.His bright red robe is like a hard cinnabar, piercing into this overly peaceful night sea.

The slightly fishy sea breeze hit his face with a low fever, and he felt extremely comfortable.

Rhodes walked to the beach, and the cotton-like waves flowed over his body.

He was busy, setting up a ring there, and tied a circle of black cloth around the ring.

In Nero's field of vision, the moon was caught exactly by the ring.

Occasionally, waves rolled over from the sea, and the sound of the waves surged in the dark like insects squirming.

Rhodes walked back to Nero, walking lightly like black silk, and a long series of beautiful footprints were stepped on the beach.

Nero was taken aback.There was a trace of fire in his eyes, which was caught between the thick eyelashes.

"What is this?" He raised his finger to the ring.

"You'll know in a while." Rhode's eyes were shining like broken stars, "It took me a whole day to make this!"

He smiled mysteriously at Nero, then lit the torch, took aim and threw it at the ring.

The torch rolled through the air like a wheel, and the flame at one end drew continuous circles in the dark night.

There was a sound of breaking wind a few times, and the flames brushed across the ring like a dragonfly on water, and the black cloth was instantly ignited.

The golden flame ran around the ring, drawing a shining circle.

The light spots reflected in Nero's golden-brown eyes also turned around, like tiny flying insects swimming in the milky yellow resin.

"The black cloth above is soaked in oil." Rhodes said softly, the sound of burning mixed in his words.

Visually, the moon just grows a circle of erratic and jumping flames.It was burning, like a ball of fire spit out from the mouth of Vulcan, the god of fire, and it was about to fall into the sea.And that's exactly where the time is.

Nero was stunned.His cloak cap was blown off by the sea wind, and he didn't notice it either.

"That's the mourning dress from Quentin..." Rhodes hung his messy temple hair behind his ears, and it bloomed at the corners of his curled lips. "I want to burn it."

Nero was stunned.He had never had such a treacherous vision.This stirring and subverting common sense picture opened another pair of eyes for him to observe the world.He has an impulse that is about to burst.

As soon as Nero's honey-colored eyes moved, he embraced Rhodes' profile in them.

The firelight stuck to his black eyes like gold leaf, and his facial features were indescribably handsome.Rhodes' charm came spontaneously from the depths of his soul; and this charm was so strong that it finally overflowed from his skin.

Things that are too beautiful always contain some philosophy.

Nero felt a kind of faith-like admiration.

Rhodes hugged Nero's shoulders, and his flowing hair brushed against his ears.

"Do you like it?" Rhodes whispered.His slightly lazy voice was like an oracle.

"En!" Nero nodded vigorously, his cheeks covered with long-lost innocence.He clasped Rhodes' hand excitedly, and his sickly face seemed to come back to life.

Rhodes smiled slyly, hugged Nero suddenly, and put his chin on his thin shoulders.

His smile is very gentle, it turns out that his heart is tender meat in a strong shell.

His voice was very gentle, round and clean like a pearl shell: "Happy birthday, Nero."

Nero felt dizzy for a while.

Rhodes stood up straight, with that overriding tough temperament again.He can maintain an impeccable posture at all times.

"Today is your birthday..." His casual voice was fluctuated by the sea breeze, "What wish do you have?"

Nero stared at Rhode's beautiful eyes obsessively.Amid the dizziness, he instinctively almost blurted out: "I want to grow up."