I haven't finished writing today, and I will change it tomorrow. The replacement chapter will be given two thousand words.

———

Nero

Marcus remembers he was dead.

In the thirty days after his grandfather Ruzius Annaius Seneca died tragically, the Roman emperor Nero suspected that the old man who had educated him for five years and had served him for ten years was related to the plot to overthrow his tyranny, so he let his centurion go to the village where Seneca and his family lived in seclusion and ordered him to commit suicide immediately. Marcus's grandfather accepted the order calmly. When his relatives and friends cried for him, he shouted loudly and said, "Where is your philosophy? Are you not surprised?" He finally hugged his wife, Marcus's grandmother Paulina. When Paulina intended to go to the underworld with him, he did not refuse, but said, "We die as strong as we die, but your death is more noble than me."

Unfortunately, Nero's centurion refused this request, so Ruzius cut his wrist first, but he was already a sixty-year-old man. His blood was almost dry and could not flow out. His friend helped him cut the blood vessels behind his knees and ankles, but the blood still flowed very slowly. Ruzius had no choice but to ask a friend who was a doctor to ask for a cup of celery juice, which was the kind used by the sage Socrates to choose to end his life. But whether it was luck or misfortune, his breathing became extremely difficult, but he still did not die. In the end, people had to carry him to the steam room, close the doors and windows until he suffocated to death.

The emperor's centurion prevented Paulina from following Ruzius to death, but this was not the emperor's kindness. His vicious heart and cowardly temperament meant that he would not let anyone go who might be unfavorable to him. After Ruzius's death, his descendants, relatives and friends were also imprisoned and monitored. As Ruzius's beloved grandson, Marcus was one of the first people to die.

He remembered that the one who came to execute was a young soldier. His face was still childish. When he saw him, Marcus remembered his younger brother. He begged the soldiers to let him see the sunshine outside. He had been imprisoned in the dark cellar for more than twenty days. The soldiers hesitated for a while and agreed. At the moment he walked out of the room, Marcus thought of resisting and escaping, but in the end he still allowed the soldiers to cut his throat.

His last memory is the too dazzling golden light in late summer and early autumn.

———————————————————————————————————————————

Marcus woke up on his grandfather's couch. He fell to the ground and knocked over the candlestick on one side and the marble statue on the table. Terry, who was riding a dolphin, broke it in half from his neck. This was Ruzius' favorite statue. If it were normal, Marcus would definitely go to his mother first and ask her to help him cover it up. But at this time, all Marcus thought of his grandfather Ruzius.

He stumbled toward the study and reception room where his grandfather often lived. His pale face and fanatical eyes made many people scream. The familiar face kept passing by Marcus, but he couldn't find the one he longed for the most. He stood in front of the marble table in the vestibule for a while, and suddenly turned and ran to the courtyard. He had woken up from the dining room behind the courtyard, but he neglected it because of the established impression in his mind. He ran quickly to the wooded courtyard, and bypassed the fountain standing in the center and a fruitful pomegranate tree, and came to the wall on the south side.

His grandfather Ruzius was indeed there. He bent over and was supervising a craftsman to paint on the wall. Ruzius did not choose the flowers, birds, still lifes or portraits that people often used at this time, but chose the scenery he saw when he was exiled to Corsica. It was a vast ocean. Dolphins followed the ships, seabirds hovered in the sky, and the green islands were like gems embedded on the sea.

Marcus remembered this mural, but it was completed when Marcus was eighteen years old. It was 800 years after the founding of the city. Emperor Claudius, the adoptive father of Nero Claudius, Germanicus, died of poisoning the previous year. As his nominal eldest son, Nero inherited his position. Shortly after the completion of this mural, Brittanicus's son was poisoned to death by Nero at a dinner party, because Nero's mother intimidated his son and said that if he was disobedient, she would change Brittanicus to the Roman emperor. Perhaps this was just a false intimidation of a woman, but for Nero, this could be said to have hit the most vulnerable part of his heart, and his counterattack was quick and fierce.

Marcus also attended the dinner. He remembered that they drank very salty soup first, which made people wonder if anyone was going to murder Nero. Inevitably, they all asked for water afterwards. The spring water itself was very cold and ice cubes were added. They had nothing but felt a little uncomfortable. Only Britanicus fell down. He pressed his throat in pain and reached out to them for help. But the guards behind them immediately drew their swords. Marcus had to watch Britanicus being carried away by several slaves. The emperor claimed that Britanicus had committed epilepsy. Marcus did not know what kind of epilepsy looked like he was poisoned-Brittanicus died the next day.

"Marcus?" Ruzius was surprised when he saw him: "Why are you here? Why haven't you dressed? Have you forgotten that I will take you to the Dibi Palace to meet the emperor today?"

Marcus then noticed that although Ruzius was concerned about the progress of the courtyard murals, he was far away from the walls so that pigments and dust would contaminate his clothes. He wore a fine linen Chunica (a collarless pullover gown) and a Greek cloak. His lace toga would not be replaced before leaving the door, as was Marcus' Baitoga, but he did not even change to Chunica, but was naked and a piece of cotton wrapped around his waist. No wonder he heard the screams of the women when he ran into the room just now.

As soon as he heard the emperor or Nero's name, Marcus's anger was hard to suppress. He clenched his fists and lowered his head and said, "Sorry, grandfather, I'll go and change it right away."

It was impossible for Ruzius to not notice the abnormality of his grandson. When he and Marcus went to Mount Paladin with him, he let him sit in a sedan chair with him, "What's wrong, my grandson," he asked, "Why are you in a trance and in a sad look? What hurts you? It makes you so desperate?"

Marcus looked up, almost trying to pour his heart out of his beloved grandfather, but the moment he opened his lips, a terrible thought grabbed him-his grandfather might think he was crazy, so he just said, "I had a nightmare."

"A nightmare?" Ruzius couldn't help but frown. If Marcus really encountered something unsolvable, as the emperor's teacher, he could seek his understanding in front of the emperor because of Marcus' absence, but a nightmare?

"What did you dream of?"

I dreamed of a bloodthirsty monster swallowing the entire Rome in the blazing fire, and Marcus said in his heart, "I forgot." He said.

Ruzius hesitated for a while. This was Marcus's first visit to the emperor. The emperor was the same age as Marcus. If possible, he hoped that Marcus would become Nero's companion or guard. The friendships formed by young people were more solid and reliable than the covenant planned by the elderly. He had to waste it for nearly twenty years when he was young because of illness. When his students became emperor, he was already old. Compared to his stupid son, Marcus was his heir.

"If you are still uncomfortable..." You should go back first, but before this sentence was said, Marcus immediately interrupted his grandfather.

"No," he said: "Grandfather, I really want to, really want to-see the Emperor!"

———————————————————————————————————————————

There are three palace groups in Rome, the palace group on the Palatinate Mountain in the center of Rome, the Adelian Palace on the east side of the city of Rome, and the Diocletian Palace in the old capital of Rome. Nero did not like any of these, because for him, these palaces could not match his greatness at all. He always wanted to build the palace group in the center of Rome, but because the civilian houses near the palace were too dense to succeed. The Roman fire fourteen years later made him vanity

The heart was satisfied - after thousands of people went to the underworld and tens of thousands were displaced, he built his "Golden Palace" on a ruin, extending from Kerianchurch to Augustine Square, and from the complex of Palatine to the Mizenat Gardens, bronze statues, fountains, artificial rivers, lakes, marble domes and gold inlays... At that time, someone mocked him, how can he be a good Roman citizen? - Leave Rome.

Along the way, Marcus's mind was in chaos. What made him return to the past? Back to... When he could almost save everything, he held his grandfather's hand and his heart trembled. At this time, Nero had not yet exposed his violent nature. On the surface, he was a gentle and somewhat cowardly child. In order to show respect, at such a banquet, Ruzius's couch was not far from the emperor's couch. He could hold a dagger cutting pieces of flesh and stab Nero's heart with a knife, and then all the tragedies would not happen again.

This thought excited his heart, and the young Marcus was even a little dazzled. He didn't know when they arrived at the Dibiliu Palace. This palace was not as beautiful as the other two palaces. Nero rarely chose this place. At least Marcus was very unfamiliar with it. He and his father cleaned their feet under the service of slaves, changed into comfortable robes, and came to the rectangular dining room called Triklinium by the Romans. The other two guests arrived earlier than them. They were Pallas (he also worked for Nero's adoptive father), Syxtus Bruce, the commander of the guard, and they were surrounded by several young men, who were similar to Marcus. Marcus suddenly

I recognized that several of them became Nero's playmates afterwards. They had studied together, swim together, rode together, wandered together in the Roman city in the dark, and... doing some bad things, such as stealing, fighting, molesting women. At that time, they were young and arrogant, and even meant that they were committing crimes. No, it should be said that since then, Nero was smiling and watching them fall unconsciously. It has been so long since, Marcus still remembers that when he was flipping through the files related to him, his grandfather's sad and desperate expression, this noble and pitiful old man, he failed to get a good student or a good grandson.

Empress Dowager Agripina, the youngest, arrived before the emperor. Marcus raised his head. It is said that Nero killed her because her mother intervened too much in state affairs. Some of them were once close relationships with Nero beyond mother and son. Both of them were right. If they were not related by blood, they were really a pair made of heaven.

Perhaps because Marcus had been watching her for too long, little Agripina immediately noticed the boy. Not only did she not offend her, she also blinked gracefully at the boy. Even though she knew that little Agripina was a colorful poisonous snake, Marcus had to admit that she did have beauty that ordinary women could not reach. This beauty would almost suffocate a healthy person to death. She is about to be forty this year, and it is a rose that blooms to the extreme. All the colors and fragrances have settled down, making her like a glass of fine wine that had been stored for a long time, and she is drunk.

Little Agripina just came to see these young people who were about to become emperor friends. She did not stay in the dining room for too long. When she walked out, the guard chief Sextus followed him out. When Marcus saw it, he immediately found an excuse to follow him. He saw the Queen Mother answering a kiss with his lover in front of a bush of roses, and then the breeze brought the breath of roses and the messy words at the same time - Marcus only heard two keywords, the Emperor and Brittanicus.

Brittanicus was Claudius's biological son, the real emperor of Rome. His inheritance was taken away when Agripina Little tempted Claudius to adopt Nero as his adopted son. Even so, Agripina Little still regarded Brittanic as the most dangerous enemy. After Brittanic died, people were not surprised at all. Wasn't this what should have happened long ago? They said so.

Marcus's heart jumped violently. Could it be that Brittany's death was ahead of his rebirth? Or was this the task given to him by the gods? If he could try to save Brittany, it was the assassination of Nero, could Rome's future change?

"By the way," Ruzius suddenly leaned over to his grandson's ear and whispered: "When the emperor comes later, don't say that he looks similar to the Empress Dowager."

Marcus nodded subconsciously, and then he looked at his grandfather strangely. What made him think so. Although Nero was the son of the beautiful little Agripina, he was a mediocre person with a flat forehead, a short chin, a big nose, and a rough skin. It is precisely because of this that he often imagined that he was as handsome as Apollo and as charming as Venus' perfect person, thinking that everyone longed for his favor.

"Why?" he asked in a low voice.

Ruzius was reluctant to tell him at this time, but it was his negligence: "Because he didn't like the face of little Agripina."
Chapter completed!