I put out his fire

Chapter 62

Since completely tearing his face with Nero, Claudius is more eager to find a new crown prince.

Every day he held a feast of lights, to which all the young nobles were invited.His daughter, Octavia, was in attendance every evening.

Claudius hopes to find the next emperor and his son-in-law through the dinner.

Octavia sits in front of a bronze mirror surrounded by a dozen slave girls who dye her hair, pedicure and make-up.

The slave girl mixed the mashed avocado with pigeon droppings, and used a comb to smear Octavia's hair.Pigeon dung is golden in color and has a very light smell. It is specially used to dye blond hair, and the price is very expensive.Some ladies even keep pigeons just to have enough hair dye.

Agrippina took the small bowl from the slave girl and dyed Octavia's hair herself.The retreating female slave sprays perfume on the head of the master.

"Blonde hair is in fashion these days," said Agrippina dryly and politely. "Blonde hair makes you look very energetic."

Octavia looked at herself in the bronze mirror and said, "I seem to be more beautiful."

Agrippina picked out two strands of hair from her sideburns and twisted them into waves with her fingers, "Beautiful hair is a sign of a woman's health and fertility. You will meet a man with a discerning eye, Octavia."

Octavia leaned forward, hit her hunchback with the back of her hand, and said sadly: "What's the use of having more and more beautiful hair? Men will be interested in me once they see my figure and appearance. none……"

Agrippina moved her hand away. "But you are educated and can read and write Greek and Latin fluently. In Rome, literate women are rarer than shells that can make purple dye."

Octavia peers at her stepmother from the bronze mirror.Agrippina has light makeup, strong and round arms, a thick white skirt reaching her ankles, and a golden waist ring around her plump waist, her temperament is solemn and respectable.

The exact opposite of her mother, Messalina.

Octavia's eyes turned red all of a sudden, "You are so kind, Agrippina, unlike my mother who told me to knit woolen cloth all day long. She likes to deny me and always makes fun of me for my appearance, saying that I Clumsy hands and feet can't work, can't please men, destined to be a waste..."

Agrippina patted her on the shoulder. "A woman's highest achievement is not to please a man."

Octavia opened her eyes wide, "What is that?"

Agrippina put her hands on her shoulders, looked at herself in the bronze mirror, and said softly: "It is to surpass the gender of 'woman', to eliminate the title of 'woman'."

Octavia shrank her neck, looking timid, "Oh...it's impossible. I can be happy enough if I can get a husband who loves me and respects me."

Agrippina wraps her woolen shawl around her.Octavia has a stubby neck, her chin pressed tightly against her shawl.

"It's time for you to choose your future husband, Octavia." Agrippina took her hand, and the surrounding female slaves gathered around, folding Octavia's skirt into beautiful folds, "outside There are many young people at the dinner party. Although some are knights, they only drink wine mixed with water, and they are not upstarts."

Octavia walked behind her.She is short and hunchbacked, like a pet following its master's ass.

She secretly glanced at Agrippina's back, stopped suddenly, and whispered, "Agrippina..."

Her stepmother stopped and looked back at her out of the corners of her piercing eyes.

"Are you really willing? I mean...your son..." Octavia hesitated, "You know what my marriage means."

Agrippina froze for a moment, then twitched the corners of her mouth, and said politely: "Don't think so much, Octavia. Today is your good time, and Nero and I should stand aside."

They walked to the living room, Claudius was lying on the sofa, and there were a dozen young people on the sofa on the side.

The young people are brightly dressed and their hair is combed shiny.They ate quietly, obediently obeying royal rules.They had never even been to the Senate, and they were suddenly invited to the palace. In front of the strange emperor, they ate the meal with trepidation.

Claudius' tableware was all silver.This is a means of preventing poisoning.

"Lie down beside me, my Octavia." Claudius raised his glass to his daughter, and the quick-sighted slave immediately filled the raised silver cup, "The sofa in the seat allows you Everyone can see it.”

The young people raised their faces and looked towards this side in unison, like geese with their necks raised up, waiting to be fed.

Agrippina showed no expression on her face.She turned around and walked towards the kitchen behind the curtain.

"Lie down too, Agrippina." Claudius stopped her, "Today is the most important day in Octavia's life. She needs a mother to be present and give her some pointers..."

"The amount of grilled snails and foie gras is not enough." Agrippina pointed to the dining table and said, "I am the queen and the housewife of this family. I cannot let the guests go hungry."

With light steps, she walked into the kitchen behind the curtain.

They ate quietly and awkwardly in the living room for a while.

Claudius squeezed a slice of garlic-roasted mushroom into his mouth.

"Ace," he called one of the youths, "you have been a judge for three months."

The young man named Asi is the only member of the senior class among this group of young people, and he is the one with the most political prospects.He was only 15 years old, and he inherited his father's career when he was just an adult. His father was a highly respected judge.

Claudius intends to mention him.

The emperor swallowed the mushroom, rolled his eyelids and glanced at Asi, and suddenly froze.Asi's forehead was wrapped with a bandage, and he looked at himself tremblingly, and he didn't even have time to swallow the food in his cheeks.

"What's the matter with your face?" Claudius was surprised, "You don't look like a judge at all, but like a defeated soldier!"

Aspen swallowed the snail meat whole in his mouth, and replied: "It's not a peaceful time, my lord. Every day, civilians gather around the gate of the court, talking about Latium's fire, and throwing bloody glass at us. Scum. To evacuate them, we had to call in the army."

Claudius only felt a headache, "As far as I know, the administrator has allocated funds to civilians."

Asi was embarrassed, and his immature face showed uneasiness, "Actually... what people question is not the fire itself, but the fact that the cause of the fire has not been found out so far, and the chief fire officer has been exempted from punishment."

Claudius seemed to have foreseen it, snorted angrily, and chewed the food in his mouth.

Asi whispered: "We also hire public slaves to clean the streets. From the eaves of the baths to the sewers of the slums, people's jokes are carved on every wall. They curse corruption and use all the words in the world to curse us. "

Claudius couldn't help being shocked, and stopped chewing, "Why is the public opinion among the people so far?!"

Aspen lowered his head, cautiously, not knowing how to answer.

Claudius gradually turned positive, and the blue veins on his forehead slowly bulged like a waking bug.The more he thought about it, the more angry he became, and the spoon in his hand fell on the silver plate.

"I am old and frail, and the time before death is too short, so I dare not give orders easily. I turn a blind eye to the feather-like crimes, because I am afraid that the harsh decision-making will make me lose my life at the end of the day." He said angrily, "But now, people Contempt for the government, spit the law! This is a disgrace to Rome, a disgrace to Augustus! Even an old man like me can’t stand Nero’s unprincipled asylum..."

When Nero was mentioned, he suddenly stopped.

A dark joy dug in him, like the dirty water of a sewer to the sea, mingled with the aboveboard anger he had manifested.

Claudius was excited and clenched his fist secretly.

Agrippina stood behind the curtain, holding a bowl of pepper sauce imported from the East.Her uncle's favorite was served with roasted mushrooms as a dip.

Claudius was emotional, stood up tremblingly, and stretched his raised shoulders to the limit, "I want to punish the dereliction of duty chief in the name of the emperor! According to the law, all dereliction of duty officials must be exiled Go to the Syrian province!"

He hated Nero for a long time, and because of Agrippina's face, he didn't dare to punish him directly, so he planned to take this opportunity to exile his confidant.

This was the emperor's revenge against Nero.

Agrippina emerged, brought the pepper sauce, and, in the exemplary manner of a good wife and mother, poured the sauce over the roasted mushrooms on her husband's plate.

"Pepper is imported from the East." She smiled and said to the cranky emperor, "It is expensive, and you are like eating a piece of silk imported from a silk country."

Claudius suddenly became cowardly and shrank his neck like a turtle that was hit to the head.After Messalina, he was used to groveling to his wife.

The emperor thanked him softly: "Oh...thank you."

He was afraid that Agrippina would hear his complaints about Nero.Claudius, who was in awe of his outstanding elder brother and lived in his shadow since he was a child, has a bloody fear of his elder brother's daughter.

"Agrippina..." he said tentatively, "I plan to exile Nero's personal guard."

Agrippina stopped her movements and listened quietly to him without haste.

"You also know that Nero's huge bail has caused an earthquake. As Nero's stepfather, I wanted to turn a blind eye to it, but I didn't expect the public opinion to deteriorate to this point. But... the bail money I will order the court to return it. Before Nero repaired the house that was destroyed by the flood, he still borrowed money from you to tide over the difficulties. I know he is not rich..."

He glanced furtively at Agrippina.

"You are the emperor, and you have the right to control any life in Rome." Agrippina smiled, "What's more, I'm just a woman, and you don't have to report affairs to a cowardly woman."

She paused, then added with a smile: "From now on, you don't have to do this."

Claudius nodded again and again: "Thank you for your understanding, Agrippina."

He picked up a piece of roasted mushroom, rolled it in the pepper sauce, stretched his neck, and took his favorite mushroom into his mouth like a bird with food.

"Octavia, try it too, this is probably the most delicious pepper juice I've ever eaten." Claudius sent a piece of mushroom to his daughter.

Octavia caught it with her long crab claws and sucked the mushroom into her mouth with a whoosh.

Agrippina turned around, took a plate of fish from the chef, and brought it to Claudius.

"This is fish puree with purslane juice," Agrippina said. "Pursantula can delay aging, and you will surely live a long life."

Octavia, who was lying on the side, stretched out her long handle to share a piece of fish too.

Her spoon reached halfway, but Agrippina stopped her with a knife.

"You can't eat this, Octavia," said Agrippina. "You are about to marry, and now you are trying to conceive. A woman who is trying to conceive cannot eat purslane."

Octavia blushed.Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the young people on the side sofa, and hid her face behind the red crab claws.

……

When Nero learned that Rhodes had been arrested, he was still arguing with more than a dozen white-robed elders in the Senate.

He squeezed his way out of the crowd of senators, and in desperation bought the fastest two-horse carriage at a high price.

Before, the foot of the mountain was flooded.In order to go up the mountain, Nero built a simple wooden bridge on the water, leading to the halfway up the mountain.

Guards in heavy armor and silver helmets stood by the bridge and lined up along the mountainside to the top of the mountain, like black ants lined up in two lines.

Nero jumped out of the carriage, his face pale and grim.He didn't have time to change his clothes, he was still wearing a white senior robe.

A bold guard stopped him, "You can't go up, Lord Domitius. The emperor ordered..."

Nero drew the dagger from his waist, pierced it directly into his throat, and quickly pulled out the knife.

The guard clutched his bleeding neck and knelt down on the wooden bridge with a look of surprise on his face.

Nero wiped the blood off his face with his white sleeve, and walked up the mountain with his bloody dagger in his hand without saying a word.No one dared to stop him anymore.

A mist gathered around him, and the mist wet his forehead hair.Nero walked faster and faster in the white mist, and when he reached the top of the mountain, the fog was the thickest, and he in white robes breathed into the smoke like a mouthful of white smoke.

The surrounding area became thicker and whiter, almost like a pot of boiled fish soup.

"What about Rhodes..." he asked out of breath.

A burst of footsteps came from behind the fog barrier, and a faint black shadow appeared, like black ink piercing through layers of paper, gradually appearing.

Rhodes was surrounded by a group of guards, with black clothes and black hair, and his wrists were tied together.His black eyebrows, as well as his lips outlined like cinnabar, were imprinted in the white mist like a picture drawn out of thin air on paper.

He and Nero looked at each other with a strangely calm expression.

The guard who escorted Rhodes was a bearded guard.

Nero knew the guard.This man has been with the emperor for many years, and he is regarded as his confidant, and his status is equivalent to that of the chief of the Guards.However, the suspicious and timid Claudius did not grant Caligula an official title because of his death.

Nero's hand holding the handle of the knife kept shaking, and so did his chin. He rushed to his beard and said, "Get your hands off his shoulders!"

"This is the emperor's order, Lord Domitius." The bearded man said calmly, "We must send him to Syria..."

"Shut up!" Nero said with red eyes, "He is my personal guard and belongs to my property. No one is allowed to touch him except me!"

"Now he's not your personal guard, my lord. He's Rod Fine." The bearded Hu said, "He's the son of a criminal, and now he caused the fire because of negligence. Exile is already a commutation of sentence."

"I paid bail, and I used my official position and family property as a guarantee." Nero said loudly, "Even the emperor can't go back on his word and exile him!"

"The emperor has the power to dispose of anyone's property at will, my lord." Lu Hu said, "You cannot disobey the emperor's order."

"I will discuss it with the emperor," Nero said with restraint, "he will definitely change his mind."

The bearded man said without expression: "I am a warrior who can only execute orders. It is useless for you to argue with me. We must take him away today."

"You..." Nero pointed the dagger at him, the tip of the knife trembling in the mist.

The fog became thicker and thicker, curling around Nero's ears.The mountain wind was very cold, but he was sweating all over his blood.This weird, hot and cold feeling was like a ghost with a cold body blowing at his ear.

"Stop struggling, Nero." Rhodes said, "Let me go."

Nero clenched the handle of the knife with both hands, his face livid, "No one will take you away! Anyone!"

Rhodes looked at his blue and red face, turned his head and said to the bearded Hu next to him, "I want to talk to my master alone."

The bearded man was silent for a while, then said deeply: "You only have half a small water clock time."

"Just a few words." Rhodes smiled, "That's enough."

So the black guards lined up on both sides, vacating a thin path.Rhodes led Nero to the edge of the empty cliff.

Rhodes stretched out his tied wrist, and grabbed a handful of white mist out of thin air, "Let me go with them, Nero."

Nero took his hand, which was quite cold.They also wore gold rings that had previously been custom-made between their fingers.

"No, no one can separate us." Nero pointed at the sky with the tip of his knife, "Not even God."

Rhodes said with a smile: "It's just exile. Maybe it's to work as a coolie in the mining area, or to guard the crops..."

"No, you have never been to Syria, and you don't understand the conditions there." Nero said solemnly, "None of the prisoners in exile lived a year. There is full of hunger, violence and labor, and the darkness of life will breed corruption." and crime. You, who have always been superior, will definitely become a thorn in the side of the wicked. You can't stand it, Rhodes."

Nero hugged his shoulders and said firmly: "I want to persuade the emperor to withdraw the order."

Rhodes lowered his eyes, looked at the white mist wandering around his feet, and asked him, "Have you ever heard of an emperor taking his life back?"

This question stuck in my heart.Nero seemed to be awake, momentarily at a loss for words.

"He asked the court to return the bail," Rhodes said. "Do you know what this means? It means that he is determined to convict me, and he will not hesitate to spend a lot of time with the court in the name of good judgment."

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, "Admit it, Nero, there is no place for me in Rome. As long as I am still here, I will slowly pull you into the same situation as me."

Nero said decisively, "I don't care."

"But I care." Rhodes said, taking a step towards the side of the mountain, "Besides, I'm tired of living like this."

The clouds and mist on the top of the mountain roll under your feet, like a boiling wok.Looking up to the far distance, a bright golden sun bites the sky, welding the sky like molten metal.

Rhodes stared at the light, and suddenly called out: "Lucius..."

This was Nero's nickname long ago.He reacted for a while and replied, "What's wrong?"

Rhodes didn't seem to hear, and said to himself: "Lucius..."

His eyes were downcast, and his face was stained with the pale gold of the sky.While looking at his amazing temperament, Nero had a strong premonition that a catastrophe was coming.

The premise of tragedy must be beauty, and the essence is that beauty cannot be tolerated in the world.

"Lucius..." Rhodes called again.

Nero felt inexplicably sad, "I'm right here, Rhodes."

Rhodes turned around, looked at him lazily with lowered eyelashes, and those transparent black eyes bumped into him suddenly.

With his eyes of reading everything, he saw that the whole world was nothing but a combination of birth and death and decay.But at this moment, he is trying to forcibly name this moment eternity from the thousands of passages.

He suddenly moved closer, kissed Nero hard, leaned into his ear and said, "It's me this time."

The mountain wind slammed into Nero's ears.He faintly heard this sentence, his scalp went numb.

Just like falling into his arms without hesitation before, Rhodes pushed him away, closed his eyes, and fell straight into the clouds on the side of the mountain.

He disappeared without a sound, just for a moment.

Nero was still in a daze, he didn't realize that Rhodes had jumped off the cliff, just like a saint following a god, following up instinctively, he also stepped into the clouds.The guards behind him rushed up and grabbed him with all their might.

Nero knelt on the side of the mountain in the confusion, with a dazed expression, as if he was stupid, grasping the tumbling white mist back and forth with his hands.

Opening the palm, the white mist evaporated.The corners of Nero's eyes were bright red, staring fixedly at his pale palms.

At this moment, he heard all the pain he had experienced in his life, and laughed at the same time.

With a bang, my mind became noisy, and my spine seemed to be pulled away from my body abruptly.Nero passed out on the edge of the cliff.

The author has something to say: I apologize! HE!Um!