I put out his fire

The moon is solidified in the night sky, like a bright nail painted with silver powder.There was no wind on this midsummer night, and the dense stars hung in the sky, as if they were frozen; it seemed that as long as the night swayed slightly, the stars would fall like raindrops.

At this moment, Nero seemed to escape into peace.

He rubbed his pinched arm, walked to the pool where the fish were raised, and stared into it for a while.

The colored fish are like colored ink swimming one by one.Nero rolled up his cuffs, stretched out his hand to fish in the pond, and caught a fresh golden fish.

He spread the little fish in his palm and looked at it quietly.

The gills of the fish flapped faster and faster.The small fish gradually dried up, flipping non-stop on the palm of his hand as if being fried in a frying pan.

Nero's eyes darkened, like the shadow formed when the beheading knife and ax fell.He clenched his fist violently and grabbed the little fish in his palm.

Fish heads and tails protruded from both sides of the fist, writhing violently.The moving fish scales scratched Nero's palm, and he didn't intend to let go.

"It's dying!" A voice came suddenly, like a dart that could sting people.

Nero was startled, and his palms loosened because of the sudden movement.The little fish who had escaped death took the opportunity to slip into the water.

He raised his head in shock.A guard stood in front of him.

The bright silver moonlight poured down from Rhodes' helmet, rolled down to his shoulders, and finally fell to his feet in fine pieces.

Nero seemed confused, "You...what did you say?"

"You're killing a fish." Rhodes said what he saw without concealment.

When Nero came back to his senses, he realized that the little fish was gone.He shook off the drops of water from his hand, and said slowly: "But this interest is still extinguished by you..."

He looked back at Rhodes, his slender eyelashes fluttered a few times like a thick needle.He thought for a while, and an expression that seemed to be suddenly enlightened covered his face like ice crystals.

"I know you..." he recalled, "you were the victor that day, and you stabbed the Thracian in the neck with bronze."

Rhodes defaults.He put his right hand on his chest and saluted Nero very lightly.He straightened up and stood still for a long time without moving his footsteps.

"You came prepared." Nero thought thoughtfully, "What do you want me for?"

The lights in the distance swayed in his light brown eyes, like two leaves frozen in amber.

It made his gaze very clean. At the age of 14, he has a pair of innocent eyes that have not been washed by the cold and warm blood of the world.

Rhode looked down at him with his chin raised high, his lowered eyelids covering most of the black pupils.His voice came from behind the cold iron helmet, and it naturally had some metallic strongness.

"I'm here to save you." He said bluntly.

"Save me..." Nero was stunned, as if he was chewing on this unreasonable request.

Rhodes nodded, "In other words, I want to be your personal bodyguard!"

"I have hundreds of guards, why should I choose you?" Nero said, "Give me a reason that can convince me."

Rhodes lowered his head a little, his delicate skin was faintly pearly, and a thin fold was embedded like a curved needle into his beautifully shaped double eyelids.

He stepped closer and said, "Because I'm the only one who won't throw my back at you."

This sentence grew in Nero's ears like a bud, and his vision flickered for a while.The pain was pierced accurately, as if a sharp claw penetrated into his chest, pulling out a piece of bloody apex.

"You..." He sighed involuntarily, stood up in a trance, and pointed at Rhode tremblingly.

Rhodes grabbed his hand, and his calloused fingertips caressed his blackened nails.

Nero's heart itch lightly like a feather sweeping.

"Your nails are black, which means you have been poisoned." Rhodes said.

Nero was so dazed that he didn't listen to what he said.

"Your eyes are beautiful, like art," he said ecstatically, "take off your helmet, I want to see what you look like."

Rhodes paused, raised his hand and took off the helmet.

Nero saw his lips, the bridge of his nose, and his eyes in turn.His black hair hung down like silk, and his black eyelashes shone silver in the moonlight, and seemed to fall off with a slight shake;

His beauty possesses a kind of deterrence, which is overwhelming, like an avalanche or a solar eclipse, and any attempt to resist is futile.

Nero stiffened.

This kind of beauty is beyond his usual cognition.

He even had a kind of epiphany that regenerated a kind of spiritual consciousness in addition to his spiritual consciousness.

"Yes..." Nero said blankly, "I allow you to move into my palace."

……

On the other side, the restaurant has always been lively and noisy.

Slaves sweep the fishbones from the ground and spray rosewater into the air.The slave girl brings out the dessert, cuts a bagel decorated with dates and pine nuts, and distributes it to each guest.Skilled cooks grilled sows' udders into fish shapes, hams into turtledoves, and oyster meat into pigeons.This is a popular dining taste among nobles.

Agrippina ate up the oysters on the silver plate, wiped off the lipstick on her lips, picked up the wine glass, and walked to the main seat.

"My dear uncle..." She walked behind Claudius and called him softly with a voice as thin as a gossamer.

Claudius turned his face away.His hunched back is difficult to hide even under the robe, and his physical deformity makes it impossible for him to be called handsome.

Seeing her eyes flushed with grief, he said with compassion: "My Agrippina, your lips are as pale as withered leaves! It's too much for you to be wandering about on the deserted islands of Greece all these years." Makes me sad!"

"It was my elder brother who exiled our mother and child..." Agrippina's voice trembled, "This makes me more heartbroken than the exile itself..."

Messalina looked over and sneered contemptuously from her nostrils.

"Your sadness is too absurd, Agrippina..." she teased, "It's been known for a long time that your brothers and sisters are at odds!"

Agrippina looked puzzled.Her eyes were light brown like a well, and tears were streaming out at the right time, like well water overflowing from the mouth of a well, looking very pitiful.

"Oh! My brother makes my heart ache!" She covered her eyes in pain, "His remains are still in the pit in the wilderness! I hope, uncle, you can bury him in the mausoleum..."

"Of course! He is my nephew! He has a noble blood, and he will sleep in a noble place!" Claudius said, "You are such a kind and tolerant child, Agrippina... "

Messalina took a sip of the wine, made a loud voice, and sneered with a dark face: "Yes! Your good niece sent more than 20 letters from Greece, and each of them expresses her thoughts..."

Her tone turned fierce: "But when you were still your damn tribune in the Senate, she never called you uncle!"

"That's because of my brother's restraint!" Agrippina argued loudly, "He is a man with a strong desire to control. If you don't do what he wants, he will inflict harm..."

She wiped her tears and glanced at Claudius aggrievedly: "I believe my uncle will understand me...right?"

"I believe in my Agrippina." Claudius nodded, "When I went to her seventh birthday party, she gave me the first piece of fish in the silver plate when she was still young Eat. This shows that she has respected me since she was a child..."

"Hmph!" Messalina snorted ferociously, with a look of snort.

Claudius stopped talking, fearing his wife's power, he didn't dare to make mistakes.

He patted the empty seat beside him, and said to Agrippina: "Come here and lie down for a while, my child. The food in the main seat is much richer than that in the side seat. You can eat imported lobster, and Mullet grilled with rosemary..."

"It's a pity." Agrippina hesitated, "I can't share the sofa with a man without hesitation, even if you are my most respected uncle..."

She stared at Messalina, her eyes brightened immediately, and said with a smile: "As a woman in Rome, you must let the name of chastity and virtuousness accompany you for a lifetime!"

Messalina gave her a savage look.

"Oh! My good boy!" Claudius exclaimed.He got down with difficulty, looked at Agrippina and said, "You can use my seat, Agrippina. I'm just going to the theater!"

He wiped his hands clean, leaned on crutches with one hand, and helped the slave with the other to the hall next door.

There are theater and dance performances, and a comedy scene from the Greek era is being staged.

Seeing him walking away, Agrippina put away her smile, and the corners of her mouth were always tense.Her expression changed so quickly, it was as if a layer of mask had been torn off.

"Get off that cute skin of yours!" Messalina said mockingly, shaking her wine glass, "Your respected uncle has gone far. You successfully tricked him into bringing you back, and now you have successfully tricked him into taking you back." His sympathy!"

Agrippina lay down unceremoniously, her movements were quite strong.She snapped off the claws of the lobster neatly, dipped in some fish sauce and started to eat.

"Tsk..." Messalina drank the wine, "You are still as sinister as before, my friend."

Agrippina retorted: "Then how should I describe you... Are you still as ridiculously stupid as before?"

Messalina chuckled twice, and there was a sharp determination in her eyes that trembled rapidly, like arrows shaking when the bowstring was stretched to the maximum.

"Don't think I don't know what you're up to, Agrippina..." she said, "You want a piece of the throne! But I'm the queen now! And I have a son old enough to take the throne !"

Agrippina calmed down, "Your nonsense really confuses me..."

"Oh!" Messalina blushed and yelled angrily, "I hate you for pretending to be a sheep! Ever since I was a child, every time I see you like this, I don't even have to sweep my throat. Could spit dinner in your face!"

Agrippina unhurriedly peeled off the lobster's shell, sighed and said: "You are still so childish, Messalina. From childhood to now, you who were born in a hostile family have always compared me, compared Toys, jewels, husbands, children...you win and you lose. But in terms of blood and brains, you are destined to always be the loser!"

Messalina clenched her fists, her shoulders trembling with anger.She stared at Agrippina, the blood vessels on her forehead protruded ferociously, and the red threads in the whites of her eyes almost congealed and bleed.

Gradually, her expression relaxed again, and her breathing gradually stabilized.She gritted her teeth and grinned in a low voice, and the laughter overflowed from between her teeth, which was as ugly as sawing wood.

"Bloodline? Haha..." Messalina laughed, "Augustus?! Oh, this is indeed a glorious bloodline."

She paused, and growled angrily: "But Octavian died a long time ago, and dead people don't have any power! What you rely on is nothing but the yearning of those lowly pariahs for a mysterious dead person! And you also know that you only have eyes for the villains in bathhouses and brothels, and they are best at forgetting the glory of great men!"

Agrippina tossed the lobster meat in the pepper sauce, ate it leisurely, and licked the sauce off her fingers.

"Instead of talking about this, you might as well discipline and discipline your own son."

She pointed to Quentin not far away, "His little finger and ring finger are covered with meat sauce, he doesn't look like a child from the royal family!"

Messalina was choked.Her lips quivered in exasperation, and her jaw twitched comically, as if a fish were scurrying about inside.

Agrippina poured a glass of goat's milk, scooped half a teaspoon of herbal powder into it, and said calmly, "I'm hungry and need a good meal. I don't have time to chat with a short-sighted little woman like you!"

She took a sip of the goat's milk and turned away.

Messalina blushed, and her red nails made scratches on the sofa.

The slave refilled her glass with wine and was kicked by her as if venting her anger.

"Change the cup for me!" She gritted her teeth, "I want goat's milk too! I need to add two spoonfuls of herbal powder! Damn it!"

The slave panicked and poured her the drink tremblingly.

Messalina picked up the cup and walked straight to the side.Her son Quentin lay there.

Messalina bore Claudius two children, a son and a daughter.The daughter is called Octavia, and the son is called Quentin.

Quentin's mouth was full of greasy food, and the tablecloth and robe were all stained with sauce.

He inherited his mother's red hair, and his gray eyes are like sticky toads, which will suck up any food he sees.Because of his gluttony, he was astonishingly fat, his eyes were sunken in the swaying fat, and his cheeks seemed to be stuffed with cotton.Only the collapsed little nose moves flexibly when it smells the aroma of delicious food.

Quentin just vomited for a while, ready to start the next round of gluttonous feast.

He inserted four fingers into the meat sauce, and put them all together in his mouth to suck them clean.Unlike ordinary nobles using a small hammer, he directly smashed the head of the pheasant with his fist, took out the brain of the chicken with his fingers and put it in his mouth. He even licked the pepper juice from the chicken bones, and finally smacked his lips loudly.

Messalina looked at Quentin's eating and became more and more angry.

She picked up Quentin's hair, ignored the eyes of the surrounding guests, and cursed loudly: "You are useless like a pig!"

Quentin wailed in fright, and he didn't forget to lick his fingers when his head was pulled up.

"Mother!" He rubbed his head aggrievedly, "My scalp is going to be pulled off by you!"

"You don't have such a thick neck for swallowing chicken brains," Messalina said angrily, "but for speech and debate!"

The guests around looked over one after another, with mocking expressions on their faces.

At this time, Anthony smiled with his mouth crooked, and walked over with a wine glass.

"What's the matter? My honorable queen?" He pulled Messalina aside, "If you don't want the future emperor to be a laughing stock now, you'd better let him go."

Messalina glared at Quentin, and followed Anthony to a relatively quiet corner.

"Agrippina has cultivated her own power in the Senate!" She said angrily, "Her sons are her greatest weapon! They still have unquestionable blood... Oh! Thinking of this, I can't help thinking I can't sleep because of the headache!"

Anthony smiled easily: "But she is just a declining nobleman, and you are the center of authority!"

"That's a disaster too!" Messalina bit her lip, heaving violently with excitement.

"You don't have to worry." Anthony smiled slickly, "I hold military power; and my brother is a general, holding more important military power than me. Claudius trusted him enough to even let him preside over the Guards celebration; and you, with us. This is what Agrippina has not."

Messalina did not calm down, and said viciously: "I wish I could poison her son to death now, so that she will never try to be a tyrant in front of me!"

"You are too impatient..." Anthony approached her and whispered to her, "The medicine has been added to his daily bath water, sooner or later he will become the second Claudius, and he can't even make a sound... ..."

"Hmph..." Messalina smiled sullenly, "I want to see her in pain! The final winner will definitely be me!"

"Glory will always shine on you, my respected queen." Anthony saluted her respectfully.

Messalina brought the rim of the cup to her lips.She imagined that one day in the future, Agrippina would be in a good mood when she lowered her eyebrows and timidly looked at her.

She raised her neck and poured a mouthful of goat's milk down her throat.

The bitter smell rushed into her nostrils instantly, rushing into her brain like the claws of a giant beast.

"Bah!" She vomited out in disgust.

"I remember that you hate goat's milk the most." Anthony chuckled, "It seems that you have changed your taste."

Messalina stared at the goat milk in the cup, and thought of Agrippina's proud expression just now.

She pursed her lips, holding her breath as if angry, and drank the goat milk in one gulp...