I put out his fire

The two didn't chat for a long time, and the saint wearing a white veil rushed over.

They rang bells and chanted mantras, and poured thickened milk over the head of the god.The slaves slaughtered seven cows and poured their warm blood on the steps.The saints cut the bull's head, cleaned it and placed it neatly on the altar sprinkled with nuts.

Due to the remoteness of the temple and the flood at the foot of the mountain, few people came to visit.

The whole sacrifice ended in a deserted place.

After sending the saint away, the slaves swept up the blood with lime and wiped away the blood that splashed on the pillars and murals.

Rhodes covered the heads of the seven bulls with a long white gauze.The fresh bull's head has been washed in hot water and still steaming in the cold temple.

The bloody smell in the temple was very strong, the blood flowed into the mosaic cracks on the ground, and the air was filled with a fishy smell.

"This temple smells so bad that flies grow out of the air." Nero frowned slightly and muttered.

He grabbed Rhode's arm, leaned half over, and put his side face on Rhode's long hair.The soft silver hair fell to his eyelashes, and there was a hidden, star-like light from the hair.

He blushed and whispered, "Let's go outside..."

Rhodes glanced at him, turned and walked outside.

At this time, a crescent moon hangs in the night, very slender and silvery.The dry mountain forest has the astringent taste of autumn leaves.

Rhodes wore black gloves and stretched out his white fingertips, walking past the broken stone statue in front of the temple.

Golden candlelight swept out from the door, illuminating a small patch of frost-covered lawn.His footsteps stopped here, and his back seemed to be covered with a piece of gold.

Nero put an arm around his waist.In his first love, he was very clingy and wanted to stay with Rhodes all the time.

He sniffed the slightly astringent air, feeling a little intoxicated, and pointed to the crescent moon in the night and said, "Do you think the current moon looks like a magic staff that fell from the sky and hung on the treetops?"

Rhodes glanced lightly, "It also looks like a crack dug out with a fingernail."

Nero was just slightly taken aback, convinced by this rhetoric as if confused.

He tightened his grip on Rhode's waist, and smiled foolishly: "It's better for you to compare..."

Rhodes glanced around.The bitter mountain wind blows the green trees, and the rustling sound is like the gnawing sound of insect teeth.

He raised his eyes slightly, his black and bright eyelashes were silvery white, "Walk a little further up the mountain, and you will arrive at your manor."

Nero nodded, "It's so remote that almost no one bothers you..."

He paused, then suddenly smiled and said, "There are many priceless statues and precious stones in the manor. I mentioned it to you, remember?"

"Yes." Rhodes replied, "I suggested you dig a new cellar to store those things."

Nero said obediently, "I've already done that."

His crouching silkworms plumped up with a smile, "I asked the slaves to dig a new cellar under the manor, and I asked an Egyptian provincial architect to design an impenetrable lock..."

"What lock?" Rhodes squinted.

Nero smiled mysteriously, "The lock requires two keys to be turned at the same time to open it."

There was a trace of surprise in Rhodes' eyes, and his expression froze for a while.

"I'm going to make these two keys into a pair of rings and wear them on our hands." Nero said almost proudly.

Rhodes raised an eyebrow and said with a slight smile, "Sounds good."

His icy front-like leather boots moved, leaving wet footprints one after another.Nero followed closely.

The two walked around the temple.Nero's robe was bulged by the mountain wind, and he stuck to Rhodes as if he couldn't shake it off, as if he was another shadow of him.

Rhodes suddenly stopped and stared at a flat ground behind the temple.

It was covered with dry weeds, and the weeds were blown by the wind like a wheat field, decaying like another world.

In the grass at half a person's height, there are several simple tombs piled up vaguely, with tombstones erected in front of them, which looks very gloomy at night.

Rhodes became alert. "Are those graves?" he asked.

"Yes, every temple has a cemetery." Nero explained, "If young saints die accidentally, they are not eligible to be buried in the square, but can only be buried here."

The mountain wind blows through the cemetery, no doubt tainted with the coldness from the underworld.The shadow of the weeds swayed on Rhodes' face, making his eyebrows stained with a trace of treachery.

"This is an unknown place." Rhodes said coldly.

He took Nero's hand and walked back to the bright temple gate.

In front of the temple stands two rows of dilapidated stone statues.The streamlines of these stone carvings are round and delicate, and the bases have gold-plated edges, but the materials have been eroded by wind and rain and become brittle.

When Nero raised his hand to touch it, pieces mixed with lime fell down.

"This temple was renovated once by my uncle Caligula." Nero patted the lime off his hands, "That's why it became so extravagant."

Rhode wondered: "Why did he renovate this remote temple?"

"Who knows..." Nero sighed softly, "He is always stupid and unexpected in his actions, and he is addicted to gambling. He even forgets where the most important heralds are."

After a while, Rodden raised some questions between his sharp brows.He thought for a long time without saying a word, and after a long time he said coldly: "Could this be one of the reasons why he was assassinated?"

Nero looked at him, his expression gradually becoming serious, "That incident is very strange, because it is said that he and his personal guard...that is, your father, have always been getting along well on the surface."

Rhode's expression froze, a trace of sarcasm rose to the corner of his lips, and then slowly faded away, his indifference gave him some arrogance.

He said in a steady tone: "I have a father who is like a mystery, and a mother who will never be known..."

Nero was stunned for a while, then suddenly took his hand, and said solemnly: "I will investigate, your life experience, even your biological mother you have never met, I will help you find out."

Nero's curly hair was blown by the wind, revealing a clean forehead.The moonlight shines on his face from top to bottom, his brows are high, and there are two faint shadows under the bulging silkworms, and the thin cheeks are slightly sunken, showing the light and shadow of the cheekbones and jaw , has a full sense of art, coupled with the melancholy temperament exuding in his bones, there is a tragic beauty in the Greek era.

Rhodes was touched by such Nero.He reached out to caress Nero's face, then slipped it back into his curls.

He leaned closer to his dazed face and whispered, "I'll teach you..."

Nero tightened his arms around his leaning waist, feeling a trembling premonition in his heart.He didn't speak, and led Rhodes into the thick woods beside him.

In this lush, shy mountain forest, most of the moonlight is blocked outside, making it difficult to see everything clearly.

Rhodes leaned against the tree trunk with his back, his arms wrapped around Nero's neck.

Nero groped in the dark, clinging to him tightly.Out of the instinct of seeking, at this moment he especially wanted to touch Rhodes, and it was Rhodes' bare skin; but when he touched it, it was the cold sword handle and thick leather.

"Don't worry." Rhodes' comforting words sounded in the darkness.

Rhodes pushed him away a little, and only his outline could be seen clearly in the dark.He followed the direction of Nero's hot breath, and pressed against his trembling and hot lips.

Nero hugged him tightly as if he was about to explode.

It turns out that life is such a beautiful thing.Nero thought in frenzy.

This consciousness almost subverted all his pessimistic prejudices in his life, and he was the one who was reborn.

They kissed for not too long, and at the end, they were still unsatisfied, and they touched Rhodes' face in the darkness.Rhodes' cheeks were hot, as was the hot breath he exhaled.

He touched and suddenly smiled, and said incoherently: "I want to give you everything... Rhodes, you make me live like a complete person. I really wish I could give you my life and soul... "

Rhodes leaned into his arms, buried into his hot neck as usual.

"Pretentious again," he said with a laugh, "but I like it."

At this time, the voices of slaves calling came from outside the woods.

Rod tried to push Nero away by pressing on Nero's front shoulder, but failed because Nero was too tight.

"They've finished cleaning." Rhode touched his curly hair from behind, and reminded him close to his ear, "We should go."

Nero turned away sullenly and pecked his lips hard to end the sticky hug.

……

It was late at night when we returned home from the temple.

Rhodes and Nero walked into the house and put on soft shoes.The slave held a copper basin and a towel on his shoulders, asking the two to wash their hands.

Nero handed the soap to Rhodes, and after Rhodes had washed, he washed with the remaining soap and water.

At this moment, the domestic servant who was in charge of the news rushed up to meet them and knelt down in front of them.

Nero sighed impatiently, "What's the matter this time? Is it my mother's or the Senate's?"

"...Neither of them." The house slave looked at Rhodes in a panic, "It was a villa in Latham District that caught fire..."

Nero was stunned, and the movement of wiping his hands with a towel slowed down.Unlike his astonishment, Rhodes just paused for a moment, and asked calmly, "Whose villa?"

"It was the villa of the former magistrate... that is, Julius." said the servant. "He was slightly injured in the fire."

Rhodes hung the towel on the shoulder of the slave, and changed back to the leather boots he wore when he went out.

While squatting and fastening his straps, he said to Nero calmly, "I probably won't be back until tomorrow morning."

Nero changed his shoes with him, put on the cloak he had just taken off, and said earnestly, "I want to go with you..."

Rhode pressed his restless shoulders and said calmly: "A small fire does not require the administrator to be present in person. You must maintain a proper majesty in front of the public."

He didn't give Nero time to refute. The black figure disappeared outside the dark door like an arrow flying from the string.

……

The fire had been brought under control by the fire alarm when it arrived in the Latam district.

The marble columns of the villa were cracked by the fire, and the carved faces of the gods were blackened by the smoke.This is an eye-catching fire, billowing thick smoke emerges from the top of the hall, and the beating flames are like bulging red envelopes, bursting into a corner of the sky.

The owner of the villa was Julius, the father of the former Queen Messalina.After Quentin and Messalina died, he was so depressed that he stayed behind closed doors, drinking all day long, and having fun with his eunuchs.

Rhodes asked his firemen to evacuate the lively citizens who were watching, and found the slaves in the villa to inquire about the cause of the fire.

It turned out that when Julius and the eunuchs were having fun in the bath, they accidentally knocked over the candle and ignited the oil barrel storing olive oil.

It is said that his eunuch was so frightened that he pushed him away and ran away.The elderly Julius was unable to move. During the pushing and shoving, his foot slipped and hit the corner of the pool, causing a not-so-shallow wound on his forehead.

The firefighters connected the water pumps and sprayed water on the villa where the fire was reduced.The dark gray smoke was getting heavier and hung in the air like a rag.

Julius was supported by a slave, his head wrapped in bloody gauze, and he sat disheveled on the steps soaked in water.

After losing his daughter and grandson, he was as decadent as a puddle of shapeless mud.

Rhodes took the wax plate and metal engraving pen, and walked in front of him.He needs to make a record of this fire.

Julius' face was flushed from drinking, his beard was raised in a mess, his robe was stained with wine and oil, and his whole body reeked of alcohol.

He kicked his legs unreasonably, cursing the eunuchs who abandoned him: "Those ungrateful whores...I'm going to stick a red-hot iron rod into their eyes..."

The slave who supported him patted him on the shoulder, reminding the master to look up.

Julius slowly raised his eyes, and first saw Rhodes' iron boots and long sword, sweeping along the leather-wrapped legs and feet, and finally fixed on his black-eyed black hair.

With blurred vision, he was in a daze as if from a lifetime ago.

"Tales..." Julius' eyes were fascinated, and his plump lips moved ridiculously.

Drunk, he thought for a long time, blinked more and more slowly, and said in a daze: "Caligula is finally willing to release your hands from the bed..."

Rhodes' heart tightened, and he said sharply, "What did you say?!"

Julius hiccupped and lay on the stone steps with a beer belly like a rubber ball.

"He executed your parents and sister..." He squinted his eyes drunkenly, as if he was talking in his sleep: "It must be very painful to live beside the enemy..."

Rhodes was startled, and his nails suddenly sank into the wax layer of the board.