I put out his fire

News about Rhodes' life experience spread like wildfire.

The boy who was supposed to be crucified with Thales back then is now facing the world again as the personal guard of the future emperor.

The news was almost sensational, like a devastating tsunami, it quickly swept across Rome.

In the eyes of outsiders, Thales and Rhodes are a pair of father and son. The father committed a heinous crime and stabbed the emperor to death, but the son who inherited the blood of the crime stayed with the next emperor with the same position as his father.

This has become a hot topic of discussion in the streets.

It was night, Nero was sitting on the ground, his hair was messed up like a tangle of twine.He wrapped his cold feet in fox fur and sat by the fireplace to warm himself.The sparks that popped out of the fireplace splashed onto the smooth and thick fox fur from time to time, scalding black spots here and there.

As long as Rhodes was away from home, Nero hadn't combed his hair or shaved for a long time.He was always sluggish, extremely sleepy when he hadn't done anything.This sluggish state made him feel like he was stuck in the swamp all the time, from his limbs to the top of his head being submerged in sticky and dirty muddy water.

There was a sound of urgent footsteps in the corridor.It was the sound of silver shoes that rich people could afford hitting the marble floor.

The footsteps are getting faster and faster, a little aggressive.Just by this step, Nero knew his mother was coming.

Agrippina pushed the door open without even knocking.

She was wearing an orange gauze hood, a ruby ​​on her forehead, and dark red ocher powder around her eyes.Her beautiful eyebrows were exquisitely drawn, and they were tightly furrowed at this moment, looking like she was ready to go.

Nero hugged his knees, raised his head and looked at her, then hummed softly, and turned his head away awkwardly.

"You should have heard the public opinion in the market now?" Agrippina asked knowingly.

Nero lazily continued: "I heard."

Agrippina tried her best to keep a calm tone, and asked: "Then what are you going to do with your personal guard? I heard from the house slave that he is currently mourning for his adoptive father..."

"What else can I do?" Nero said calmly, "Of course we will bring him back as soon as the mourning period is over. He must be having a hard time now."

Agrippina was shocked and said sternly: "Do you know that this incident has already spread in Rome?! Political enemies are all watching your joke!"

Nero slowly threw a piece of charcoal into the fireplace, looking a little sluggish, "Then let them watch."

"It seems that you haven't realized the seriousness of this matter, Nero." Agrippina said solemnly, "You have offended Claudius if you don't marry Octavia. Now all The only thing we can rely on is the goodwill and support from the people.”

She frowned and said with worry on her face: "But you exposed a stain to them, Nero. Your personal guard is the stain that made you fall into the trap."

Nero lifted off the fox fur that bound his feet and stood up, "That's a stain that belongs to his father and has nothing to do with Rhodes."

Agrippina's eyes widened.

"Whimsical!" she reprimanded, "You are praised with the blood of Augustus, so he can also be cast aside with the blood of sinners."

Nero looked solemn and pursed his lips tightly.

"Those old judges in the court are supporters of Augustus. If it weren't for your face, your bodyguard has been arrested by the court!" Agrippina said loudly.

Nero's eyes lit up when he heard this, and his gloomy complexion lit up like fireworks.His silkworms have gradually plumped up, and a small piece of light brown freckles has completely disappeared, which makes him more or less innocent.

"So..." Nero smirked, "I protected him."

Agrippina was thoroughly irritated by his indifferent attitude.She shouted loudly: "How can you keep a person with an unclean background? What does this mean to a successor to the throne?! Do you understand?"

Nero suppressed his smile silently, lowered his head and said nothing.

Agrippina glared at him, and continued: "Either dismiss him as soon as possible and exile him to the province; or..."

There was a hint of viciousness between her calm eyebrows, "Or order him to commit suicide in the name of maintaining the reputation of the master, so as to save some face for his surname."

"It's impossible!" Nero flatly denied.He reacted fiercely, and his dark golden eyes had some dangerous meanings, "You forgot that Rhodes saved you! When Messalina stabbed you with a dagger, he blocked it for you, and he suffered for it." hurt."

Agrippina sneered.

"I'd rather he didn't save me then, and let me die under Messalina's dagger..." she said stubbornly, "...as long as you can ascend the throne smoothly."

Nero picked up the tongs by the fireplace, turned over the coals in the stove, and said sarcastically, "As expected of my mother. I'm not surprised that you can say such a thing."

Agrippina raised her hand, put on the golden net covering her hair tightly, and said calmly, "I hope I can see a new face standing next to you when I come back next time."

"Then you should never come again." Nero stared heavily at the swaying flames.

He clenched the tongs tightly and said firmly, "I will never replace him."

A trace of surprise swept across Agrippina's face.Having seen countless people, she didn't immediately scold Nero, but stared fixedly at his face, her eyes looking back and forth for a long time like a sword light.With a thoughtful look on her face, she almost wanted to see through Nero's skin.

After a long time, she narrowed her eyes and said meaningfully: "Listen, I don't care what's going on between you. If you get even a little bit of hindrance because of him, don't blame me for attacking him myself!"

Nero's heart tightened, his body trembled involuntarily, and a cool numbness came from his back.

He buried his head so low that his face could hardly be seen.Agrippina could vaguely see his reddened ears through the silver curls at his temples.

"You'd better not do that..." Nero's voice sounded dark.

Agrippina glanced at him. "Then you'd better take care of yourself."

Wearing the precious accessories exclusive to the queen, she left with a bang.

Nero stood by the fireplace, staring at his mother's back.He was still holding the iron tongs in his hand, and the mouth of the tongs was stuck in the charcoal fire, and half of the tongs were burned red.

It wasn't until Agrippina's figure completely disappeared in the corridor that Nero withdrew his gaze that could be called hatred.

At this moment, there was a sudden sharp pain in the palm of his hand.Nero hastily threw away the burning tongs and opened his hands to have a look.

It turned out that his hand had already been burned.

……

The funeral has not yet passed, and Mars's house still maintains the funeral arrangements.

It had just rained in Rome, and the wet concrete floor was a cold gray-black.Rhodes was in the middle of the courtyard, pinching off the fallen leaves on the plaster statue.

Munch not only revealed Rhode's identity, but also revealed the news that he succeeded the head of the family.

This caused Rhodes' residence to be exposed, and people often sneaked to the door or climbed the wall to peek at the appearance of the offspring of the regicide; some even threw crosses, twisted ropes, or bloody daggers into the wall.

The neighbors around the house chose to move in order to avoid suffering; some vendors selling funeral supplies would rather tear up the contract and pay high liquidated damages, and cut off contact with him, who had an ominous background, so as not to cause trouble in the future.

So although Rhodes stayed at home, he was very clear about what was going on outside.

He stretched out half of his plain white fingers from the leather glove, and at this moment he was pinching a bright yellow wet leaf.The eaves were still dripping after the rain, and his body was filled with the sound of dripping water.

The domestic slave came out of the hall, leaned over to Rhodes and said, "Master, the cemetery and the ashes have been placed. Do you want to purchase the tombstone yourself?"

"No." Rhode raised his eyes slowly, and said flatly, "The merchants are not willing to sell me anything now."

The house slave sighed silently, pointed to the weapon rack placed in the corner of the courtyard and said, "Those weapons...how are you going to deal with them?"

The weapon rack is a copper rack used by Mars to store swords during his lifetime.He is the commander of the army, and he has confiscated many weapons with strange shapes or abnormal sharpness during his battles all year round.

Rhodes looked at the shelf.Maces, tridents, and iron nets are neatly arranged, and raindrops roll down along the thorn-like blades, and the iron objects look colder because of the rain.

"Of course it is preserved." Rhodes said, "Wipe the iron blade dry and oil it, and then buy some animal skins to wrap it in."

The house slave was a little puzzled: "But according to the usual practice... the new house owners will re-engrave their names on the old things of the original owners."

Rhodes smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if I don't engrave my name."

The house slave understood, and nodded heavily.

At this time, there was a rattling sound outside the courtyard, very rhythmic, and the ground trembled slightly.

Rhodes sniffed the leaves lightly, lowered his eyes slightly and said, "Go and open the door, someone is coming."

The house slave asked suspiciously, "Who is here?"

"Your master's master." Rhodes didn't change his face. "I nailed the iron hoof of the horse he was riding on one by one. No one knows better than me the sound that the iron hoof makes when it runs."

The house slave was stunned, and hurried over to open the door.

As the door opened, Nero's slender figure appeared from the crack of the door, his clean golden brown eyes were half covered by his silver bangs.His slender feet thumped as he stepped up the stone steps, and his protruding bones were outlined by the wind-blown clothes.

Agrippina's menace lingered like a vulture smelling carrion.While Nero was extremely anxious, he felt a sense of pride—Rhode needed himself now, and he needed his own protection.

The possessive thought made his eyes red.He is as addicted as a drug addict who inhales marijuana smoke.

So Nero staggered into the courtyard as if drunk.

The two who hadn't seen each other for many days looked at each other at this moment.

In the field of vision, Rhodes leaned against the plaster statue, his complexion was a little pale, behind him were rows of gray-black tiles and cold iron gleaming with cold light, the only color was the yellow leaf he was holding in his hand.In the rain and fog, his plain face and the bright yellow fallen leaves were hazy.

This scene fell before Nero like an apocalypse.

Rhodes looked at him calmly, and the first thing he said was: "You've lost weight."

Nero felt sour when he heard this sentence.The soreness ran down his throat, making him feel like choking.

His throat was sore, and a cloud of mist floated in front of his eyes.The original full of thoughts disappeared like a bubble when he actually saw Rhodes.He wanted to say something to analyze the situation or to comfort Rhodes, but as soon as those words came to his lips, they all became one sentence:

"I miss you..." He pouted and said.

Rhodes' calm expression flickered slightly.He shook the hand holding the leaf, bringing out a few cool raindrops.

Nero stepped on the rainwater and stood in front of Rhodes, with a hint of urgency in his eyes, "Come back with me, Rhodes. I really can't stand the life these days..."

Rhodes stared into his slightly anxious eyes, "Are you going to take trouble and go back?"

Nero's expression was a little stiff.

"You'd better cut off contact with me during this time, if you don't want all your previous efforts to be in vain." Rhodes threw away the leaves in his hand and said, "You also don't want all the military and political achievements you have worked so hard to destroy. once."

"No...you are in danger now." Nero held his hands, the ring on his fingers was shining, "You need me... Rhodes, you need me!"

When Rhodes heard this, Vermillion's lips curled up into a sharp smile.His eyes, stained with moisture from the autumn rain, drooped slightly at this time, and the two layers of thick eyelashes were very close together, and inside were dense, spring-like black pupils.

Even in the abyss, Nero can blindly believe that life is happy because of these eyes.

"I can protect myself and don't need your protection." Rhodes said, "In fact, I'm planning to leave Rome these days..."

Nero panicked, "Leaving Rome? Where are you going?"

"I didn't think about it, but it's a place far enough away from you. As far as I know, Sicily is pretty good," Rhodes said, "It's far away from Rome, and it has the sea."

Nero was stunned for a moment, without blinking his eyes.Like swallowing a hard fishbone, he digested Rhodes' words with all his senses and will.

"Is there a sea..." He said to himself in a daze.

Rhode turned his face away in silence, and walked to the copper stand full of gray iron weapons.The cold light reflected by various swords was reflected between his eyebrows.

"You have been on the battlefield, you have received special training, and you have held almost all kinds of weapons." He stretched out his hand to touch the hilt of the sword that was drenched in the rain, "With your current force, it is no longer possible to have personal guards." So important..."

Nero took a sharp step, and hugged Rhodes from behind before he finished speaking.His overly protruding collarbone due to thinness hit Rhode's shoulder blades, making a dull impact sound.

This dull pain penetrated from Rhodes' shoulder blades, slowly eroding his bones like acid water that erodes everything.

Nero buried his chin deeply into Rhodes' shoulder and neck, leaned close to his ear, and said with a wry smile: "After telling me love words, you will stay away from me in a blink of an eye. This is too cruel..."

Rhodes turned his head slightly, his dark pupils moved, and he looked slantingly from the corner of his eyes.He noticed that Nero's eyelids trembled more violently, and the breath from the tip of his nose was unstable.

He hesitated, and said, "You are blinded by love now, and you don't want to think about what my identity means to you."

Nero opened his eyes wide, and the blood faded from his face as if it had been sucked out.He tensed up in an instant, feeling that his internal organs were contracting crazily, which was a pain similar to being strangled by the throat.

He sniffed, his sore throat squirmed, and begged with sobs: "I just want you not to go... Please don't go, Rhodes..."

Rhodes frowned, moved his shoulders skillfully, and easily broke away from Nero's embrace.

He took out two daggers from the brass stand and threw one to Nero.Gasping for breath from a choke, Nero staggered like a toddler to catch the sword.

"You're too sentimental, Nero. I don't like you at all!" Rhodes raised the corners of his mouth slightly, looking a little sneering.

Neluxu held the hilt of the sword, his face flushed, and he swallowed his sore throat one by one.

Rhodes moved the blade closer to his lips, and the vermilion lips were reflected on the silver-white sword, like a pool of blood dipped on the blade.He blew away the rain that drenched the sword, and the rain fell like beads.

Nero stared straight at him.

Rhodes flipped his hands, and the bright white blade light swept across his face.He said solemnly: "A man's weapon is the sword, not tears."

Nero was fascinated by his temperament like a thorny rose.Since falling in love with Rhodes, he has pinned all his faith and affection on him.So every time he met those deep black eyes, Nero felt that he was very close to the soul, or some truth that ruled everything.

He suddenly said, "Do you still remember what you said to me when we first met?"

Rhodes was slightly taken aback, "What did I say?"

Nero clenched the hilt of his sword tightly, "You said you came to save me..."

Rhodes smiled, "Who will remember such a long time ago."

Before he could finish speaking, Nero approached him with his sword in hand.

Rhodes' forehead hair was blown by the sword wind.He was surprised for a moment and quickly raised his sword to resist.The raw iron blades collided, and several white sparks flew out.

Across the two sword blades that are offset by a cross, Nero's serious face is close in front of him.Rhodes could smell the fresh scent of almond oil that he smeared on his face every day.

Rhodes waved his attack and said coldly, "Why are you so mad?"

Nero blushed, pursed his lips tightly, his pointed chin shrunk into the appearance of walnut skin.He didn't say anything, grabbed the sword, and swung it at Rhodes as if angry.

Facing Nero, Rhodes did not use advanced and complicated sword techniques, but used the simplest defense.

Nero approached again and again, stepping on it all the way, splashing water everywhere.

Knowing that Rhodes wouldn't attack, he made his shots harder and harder, pressing harder and harder, pushing Rhodes into a tight corner.

Rhode's back hit the hard concrete, and there was nowhere to escape.

"Nero!" Rhodes fended off the sword he was attacking, and shouted sharply, "Why are you suddenly crazy?!"

Nero leaned forward and pinned Rhode's legs with the skills he learned on the battlefield.

The two of them were tightly pressed together, and the leather armor around Rhodes' waist made Nero's ribs ache, but he just didn't let go.He could hear Rhodes' slightly disordered breathing in his ears, and the heat coiled around him like a thousand tangled silk.

Nero raised his sword and made a gesture to stab him.

Forced by the situation, Rhodes had no choice but to block it with a dagger.

The two played a game with pure strength, and the two swords moved back and forth under the strength.There was a sharp sound as the blade was sharpened, and some silvery powder rustled down.

Rhodes gritted his teeth and said, "Have you had enough trouble?!"

Nero pursed his mouth, and there were tears in his bloodshot eyes.He refused to let go, and slowly brought the two blades to the middle of each other's throats in a stalemate.

Rhodes took a breath and was about to stop him.

At the critical moment, Nero chuckled and let go of the sword suddenly.

Rhode's heart trembled, and he immediately realized what he was going to do, and the blood all over his body flowed backwards to the top of his head.At this moment, it was too late to withdraw the sword, and a split second was only enough to deflect the blade away from Nero's neck.

So the dagger just pierced through Nero's thin shoulder.

Nero let out a muffled grunt, grinned bitterly, and said with trembling white lips, "I'm in so much pain, Rhodes..."

Rhodes' face was pale, with a few drops of hot blood splashed on his cheeks.

At this moment, he couldn't hear anything as if his ears were ringing. The screams of the slaves and the sound of the carriage outside the courtyard were all blurred into the background; only Nero's small groans due to pain echoed in the sky like bells and drums. ear side.

Nero's two rows of teeth chattered in pain.His eyes turned black, and finally he couldn't hold on anymore, and squatted weakly | body.

Rhodes didn't pull out his sword rashly, but supported him to squat down too.In the severe pain, Nero still did not forget to hug his waist, and pressed his limp silver hair to his chest.

His hands and feet were so painful that his hands and feet were cold, and the tip of his nose twitched twice, and he cried out aggrievedly: "I love you... Rhodes... I love you... I love you..."

Rhodes hugged him into his arms, covered his bleeding wound, and was so angry that he wanted to punch him, "Still thinking about saying this now?!"

The corners of Nero's eyes slowly turned crimson, and his expression was crying and laughing, extremely contradictory.He tilted his head, buried his face in Rhode's clothes, sniffed the unique bitterness of saponins and autumn leaves on his body, and let out a satisfied and long sigh.

He said tearfully, "I've always loved you...it started very early...so early that I thought I loved you from birth..."

"I know! I knew it a long time ago!" Rhodes tied his shoulders tightly with his sleeves to temporarily stop the bleeding, and said distressed and annoyed, "Damn...Damn! Why did you leave me in this way... You bloody bastard!"

Nero clenched his clothes tightly, hissing in pain, "So... please don't leave me... really please..."

Rhodes still hesitated, and the bandaging action paused for a while.

Nero arched into his arms, begging in a fragile voice: "Please... Are you here to redeem me, or to punish me..."

At this moment, Rhodes realized that Nero had never grown up.