I put out his fire

In Cyprus, Nero performed much worse than Quentin.

He took longer, bought fewer olives, and spent a lot of money.Rumors about his embezzlement of money circulated among the nobles.

The olives bought by Quentin have already been taken away by several olive oil merchants for oil extraction.Olive oil was in short supply in Rome.

In the room, Rhodes was sharpening his sword.

He was wearing black leather gloves, showing half of his white fingers.His nails froze on his fingertips like ice caps.

He pressed the blade of the sword against the rock, and sharpened it a few times, making a harsh sound from friction.He glanced at the blade indifferently, and with a backhand move, the cold light of the sword jumped onto his eyebrows, and a beam of sword light happened to illuminate his black eyes.

Nero was holding the milk and stopped at the door.He stared so dazedly that the milk in the glass swung out and spilled his hand.

"The milk has been spilled." Rhodes glanced at him, then put the sharpened sword back into the scabbard.

Nero panicked.He stepped in embarrassedly, his toes curled up unnaturally in his sandals.The insteps of his feet were very delicate, and now there was a layer of crimson.

Rhode's hawk-like eyes stared at his slightly trembling hands, without saying anything, he turned around and sat on the windowsill.

He pushed open the shutter with his elbow.

Rome at noon in midsummer is covered with golden dust, poured on it like a pool of molten gold.

Rhodes leaned against the window frame, drooping his eyelids lazily, and stroking the hilt of the sword with his hand.His hair was blown up, and he let it fly, with a stubborn and willful look.

"What's the matter?" He asked with his face tilted, his black eyelashes sparkling with a layer of lustrous color.

Nero's eyes were as bright as sun halos.That should have squinted uncomfortably from the strong midday sun, but it didn't.

"Tomorrow is Caligula's funeral," he said. "I will carry his coffin and give a funeral speech to the people."

Rhode's squinted eyes opened suddenly, and then slowly closed again in an instant.An extremely sharp dark light shot out from his eyes, like some insidious and nameless hidden weapon.

"A belated funeral," he said gravely.

"His funeral was eight years late," continued Nero. "He was stabbed to death by his bodyguards, and his body was half-burned before being buried. My mother took his body again so that I could be seen in public. It was dug out and re-burned for all to see."

Rhodes had a thoughtful expression on his face.His fingers trembled slightly, and he stroked the blade slowly, as if he was suppressing something.

That year, Thales was sentenced to death for assassinating the emperor.As his son, Rhodes should have been executed as well, but Mars used a lot of connections and financial resources to save Rhodes.

From then on, Rhodes had to conceal his surname from the outside world.

"Sorrowful emperor!" he said icily.His tone was sharp and hard, as if there was a sword hidden in it.

"No one will mourn for him. He is addicted to gambling, and he is extremely incompetent!" Nero said coldly, "He is a foolish emperor with no political achievements."

Rhodes scratched at his messy hair.The glare of the sun has made him impatient, and his laziness looks like a leopard crawling and resting.

He drew out his sharp sword and twirled it in his palm as if playing with it, "In short, he is a tragedy!" He said arrogantly.His black silhouette is like a stroke of black ink in the golden Rome.

The bright white sword light swept across like a dragon, and it hurt Nero's eyes.However, he endured the pain and was reluctant to close his eyes.

The human heart is a greedy and tolerant thing, chasing pleasure is more important than enduring pain.

Nero took a sip of the milk lightly, and the white milk stains remained on the unremoved fluff of his lips.

……

Caligula's funeral was a grand one.

The funeral directors were dressed in gaudy clothes. They wore the clothes that Caligula had worn before his death, and wore the masks of Hades, and they poured into the street carrying black wooden coffins.The actor standing in front covered his body and face with white | powder, and danced a rather funny dance all the way.Women in black wailed loudly at the back of the procession.People stood on the street and threw flower petals on the coffin.

Nero, dressed in black mourning and holding a plaster statue of Caligula in his arms, walked in the middle of the procession.

He wears heavy makeup.The silver hair was sprinkled with gold powder, and the thick ink lines tightly bound his young eyes like hoops.His lips were purple and covered with lipstick made from crushed red seaweed.

His childish facial features have already shown the profundity and maturity of an adult because of this thick makeup.

Rhodes was walking behind him, dressed in black all the time, following him like a ghost with bones, holding his long sword in his hand as usual.

His steady black figure, like the dark light of an epee cutting through the noise all the way.

Nero walked all the way with a heavy load in his hands.He was sweating profusely, his breathing was a little disturbed, and a few strands of sweaty hair stuck to his forehead.A few mosquitoes screamed around him, but he drove them away impatiently.

"I'm dying of thirst..." he whispered to Rhodes, "These mosquitoes that may be carrying malaria are always around me!"

"Patience." Rhodes glanced at him calmly, "You have no other choice."

Nero felt aggrieved immediately, the spotlight in his eyes was dangling, like the trembling waves when the ripples in the summer pool swayed, it was even pitiful.

"Wipe my sweat for me, Rhodes..." He deliberately moved closer to Rhodes, and rubbed his arm regardless of others.His childishness seemed to leak out from under that whitewashed mask.

"My eyes hurt like they've been pickled by salt!" he said with an aggrieved expression.

After finishing speaking, he raised his head expectantly, motioning for Rhodes to wipe his face, like a kitten waiting for its owner to scratch its head.

His silver hair was as shiny as if carved from ivory.His yellow tourmaline eyes are concealed in the deep eyeliner.

Rhodes took out the silk cloth and wiped away the sweat from his forehead.The silk cloth moved slightly from his forehead to his eyes, and suddenly stopped.

"What's the matter?" Nero raised his eyes and asked, his voice contained some humbleness that did not conform to the identity of the master.

Rhodes wiped it calmly, his sword-like brows were very aggressive, approaching Nero's eyes.He gave Nero a small smile, a smile as sharp as a saw.

"You're pretty handsome!" he exclaimed.

Nero was stunned for a moment, and then his heart felt like a gnat squirming, and there was a slightly itchy movement.His heart beat involuntarily.

The blush gradually seeped into his cheeks like oil dripping on paper.He lowered his head, and the roots of his ears were as red as bloodshot.

"Why are you ashamed?!" Rhodes joked.He pinched Nero's chin with two fingers, forcefully raised his blushing face, and forcedly wiped off his sweat, the action was quite domineering.

Nero mumbled, his fingers tightly gripping the plaster statue.

The team walked all the way with joy, and finally arrived at the square for cremation.

The firewood branches have been set up, a layer of petals is laid on the ground, and the musician beats the sheepskin drum and blows a mournful melody.The weeping female slave knelt in front of the coffin and spread black gauze on the coffin cover.Several slaves set up Caligula's tombstone, which still bears the epitaph.

Nero lifted the plaster figure and fitted it into the groove at the top of the headstone.

He didn't have time to drink water, and immediately went to the podium to prepare for the funeral speech.

There are already many people gathered in the square.Most of them are nobles, their manners are very elegant, and their expressions maintain a moderate solemnity.

Rhodes was in the audience, walking around the crowd and patrolling.His slender figure swept back and forth like a shadow, with a ferocious aura of an evil spirit.

Suddenly, someone gently tapped him on the shoulder.

Rhodes, who has always been vigilant, is on the verge of firing.He turned his hand and drew the sword, the blade stopped suddenly when it was drawn halfway, and was pressed down by him like a trapped animal.

He gasped slightly, and said with a complicated expression: "Mars, your body does not allow you to participate in this!"

Mars was supported by his slave, his face as gray as faded parchment.His body exuded a strong smell of medicinal herbs, a kind of light that was barely supported by will flickered on his weakened eyebrows, and it was about to burst out of his eyes.

"My body has recovered a little..." Mars said breathlessly, "I don't want to be trapped in bed like a waste..."

"He was stabbed to death by Thales after all. I am a friend of Thales, I should come and see him..."

Rhode's face was sullen, his brows and eyes were full of darkness.Anyone who sees his face will be tired by his heavy features.

At this time, Nero walked to the tombstone, cleared his throat, and held a few speeches in his slender hands.

Myers looked at him from a distance with his fading green eyes. "He looks serious and difficult..." he said.

"No!" Rhodes shook his head, "In fact, he is very cute and a very interesting kid."

Mars smiled: "It seems that you have a very happy relationship."

Nero stood before the crowd and began his speech:

"My uncle's soul was broken by a knife. The God of the Underworld recognized the dignity of his blood, and it was only after eight years that he recognized his death. It must be remembered that his silver hair once carried a laurel wreath, and his hands once held a scepter. His eyes have read the dossiers! His body is gone, but his lineage will not fade away; he will be reduced to powder, but his throne will not be denied; his soul will wither, but his throne will not be weakened..."

Mars listened for a while, a relieved smile painted the corner of his mouth.He said to Rhodes: "This kid is proficient in rhetoric... It seems that he is very talented in politics, much better than Quentin..."

"Of course!" Rhodes was sure, "He will definitely be the emperor!"

"I hope he is the emperor more than you..." Mars said in a long tone, with nostalgia in his eyes, like bright green crystals gradually condensing into crystals.

He paused, and said with some concern: "However... It is said that he embezzled the money for buying olives a while ago. The nobles are talking about it..."

Rhodes snorted coldly.He clenched his fist like a hook, and the leather gloves creaked against the knuckles.A ferocious look flashed into his eyes, and he retorted in a bad tone: "That's a bunch of rubbish that confuses black and white!"

Nero changed a speech.He has the experience of speaking, his movements are calm, and he doesn't panic at all in front of the crowd.

"...like my uncle, I have always received extra, loving attention, not because of me, but because I have the blood of great men running in my veins! It is like heavy gold at the bottom of the Tiber River Something that is unwavering, or something that sweeps the gloom like the sun at noon! It is my golden fleece, no doubt, but it is more the sword of Damocles that hangs over my head..."

There was a faint evil spirit in Rhodes' eyes.He raised his head to stare at Nero in front of the tombstone, and swept across the tombstone inadvertently.

There are several rows of very strange Latin inscribed on the tombstone.

These lines of Latin were like blood-sucking leeches, and they stuck to his eyes in an instant.

Rhodes' cold eyes fixed on the tombstone, and he read the first line casually:

"I will hide all my life in a place, a mysterious place..."

Mars understood clearly, pointed to the tombstone twice and said, "Caligula made no achievements as emperor. Apart from this mystery, he left nothing for Rome..."

Rhodes paused for a while, then read on:

"It is in the myth of nothingness, but also in real life;

It is in pure faith, and in the sin of fools;

It is in the tender hands of a beautiful woman, but also in the hard cement;

In short, it is in your field of vision, but out of your eyes. 』

"No one knows what this place is, I only tell my beloved. 』

This is extremely puzzling.Rhodes was a little confused.

"This is the 'Caligula riddle'..." Mars sighed, "I didn't expect it to be engraved as an epitaph by later generations. He has no political achievements worth bragging about, only this is worth mentioning..."

Rhodes thought for a while, but to no avail.He hastily glanced at the epitaph, and sharp words came out of his stubborn lips: "It's outrageous!"

The author has something to say:

The three-dimensional is too busy to blow up, it's even later!