***
I glared down at where the man stood, the crowd cheering for him after he had just killed someone. In a normal situation, I too would have applauded him but on this day, where I so clearly ordered for there to not be a single death, I was a ticking timebomb.
Linus stood beside me as I glared daggers into the crowd, my jaw constantly ticking with anger after Ria ran away to possibly throw up.
The dead man's body still lay there, blood pouring out of him like a fountain, his head still staring at all of us, the last moments of his life recorded in those eyes, even I could clearly see that from this far distance.
This is exactly what I wanted to keep Ria from seeing.
"Explain,"
I seethed, talking to none other than Linus, the man that was supposed to carry out my order to the competitors, telling them to withdraw from killing the opponent.
"What the hell went wrong? Did I not clearly tell you to inform those in charge and the competitors themselves to keep from killing the other? Tell me, and you better have one hell of an excuse to be able to think you can get away with ignoring your Emperor's command,"
"I-I do not understand what went wrong either, your majesty. I am definite that I clearly spoke your orders to the two men and they even agreed-"
"If you are definite then why the hell is there a man with no head over there!" I lost my patience, yelling with a booming voice as I pointed to the dead man, a man that was sure to be the cause of Ria's nightmares for the next few days.
Linus jumped, staring at the ground as he bit into his lip.
"Do not timidly look away like some sort of damsel and explain to me!" I furiously stormed over to him, grabbing him by his lapels as I raised a fist to punch him square in the face and hopefully knock a few teeth out in the process, possibly even see his head roll of his shoulders.
"I- I-"
"Stacius! What are you doing to him!?" I watched as Ria ran over to us, pushing me away from Linus, surprise on her face as she didn't understand what was going on.
"He disobeyed my orders so I'm punishing him. Simple,"
"What orders? And since when have you been the one to punish others. You have an entire Empire filled with soldiers for a reason," I huffed, running a hand through my hair but failed due to the wreath and instead went to sit back down on my chair.
"Someone, get rid of that bastard," I spat and a few soldiers that were standing near the back moved forward to grab him by his forearms, attempting to drag him away if not for Ria who jumped forward, protecting him. Only succeeding in furthering my boiling anger.
"Ria, leave him," I bit out.
"Stacius. I'm sure there is a valid explanation for this, Linus is not the kind of man that would deliberately disobey you. There must have been some sort of miscommunication and even if there wasn't then how important of an 'order' was it?"
I stood back up, walking around my chair to go to her and I stared down at her as she raised her head, tilting it back to keep her sharp gaze connected to mine. And slowly, I raised a hand, placing it on her cheek before moving to wrap it around her neck and pull her body to mine, she hugged me without another thought as I inhaled her calming scent.
"Instead of stuttering, will you tell me what happened?" I told Linus, feeling calmer now thanks to the mere presence of my wife. If he survives this debacle then he owes his life to her.
"That... That is not the same man that I informed. I do not remember seeing this man when I went down. I apologise, I should have been more thorough with your order,"
"If that is not the man you told, then who is this man?" I nudged my head to the gladiator.
"Your majesty," Julius stepped forward and I nodded my head, telling him to continue. "His name is Claudius Benedictus. He used to be a slave and today was his first day as a gladiator, the man that was arranged to fight today is in ill condition so Claudius stepped in,"
"So the man that was supposed to fight today is the one that Linus spoke to," I cleared.
"I would believe so. I just talked to that man and despite his unhealthy condition, he had still wanted to partake in the match but was forced out. I believe that Linus is innocent," I hummed, narrowing my eyes towards my brother-in-law but gave in with a sigh.
"The man that fought today... Claudius Benedictus, was it?" Ria moved away from the hug but I wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her from straying, preferably towards Linus.
"Yes," Julius nodded.
"Have him come work at the palace. People with that much talent will be a help to our army. We'll have him start as a soldier and see where he goes from there. Ah, make sure you do a background check on him too, I do not want anyone suspicious in my palace,"
"Yes, your majesty," He bowed his head.
"Ria, shall we return home? Today was quite an eventful day, wouldn't you say?" She shrugged but nodded her head, going to hug her brother as I spared one last glance to the gladiator on the centre of the stage.
Just as I did that, I watched as he looked up towards us and our eyes met. I didn't react and continued to stare at him and the same could be said about him, at least, for the first few seconds until I swore I saw his lips curve up into a smirk.
But I couldn't confirm anything as he covered it as quick as it came, tilting his head down into a bow and I gritted my teeth, glaring at the nerve of this nameless man.
"Stacius... Stacius- Stacy... Anna-" I snapped my head away to look at my frowning wife and the guards that stood behind her, choking on their laughs at her many nicknames for me, she knew how much I hated the last two.
"Darling, you are making me look like a fool," I complained.
"And you are making me think that you haven't been cleaning your ears. I have been calling you for ages but it seemed like only Jupiter's lightening would snap you back to reality," Crossing her arms, she innocently glared at me.
Chuckling at her words, I moved to kiss her forehead.
"Are you feeling better now?" I asked, leading her by the waist and out of the area as everyone stood up, bowing their heads down in our path.
"Was I ever not feeling well?" She curiously asked, turning to look at her brother, Julius, who stood not far behind us, next to Linus and the man shrugged his shoulders, just as confused as her, if not more.
"Yes, when that man had his head sliced off like a vegetable," I nudged my head back to the arena which we had been watching just a few moments ago.
"Ah, yes. It's true that I wasn't feeling very well but it may have just been due to the humidity and the sun. I was feeling dehydrated so I went to get some water," I paused in my steps at her explanation and she paused with me, raising a brow.
"But you said that you felt as if you were going to be sick and back at the palace you said that you didn't like seeing someone die," I explained, throwing her words back at her.
"Yes, I felt like I was going to be sick because of the dizziness that my dehydration caused. And I also told you that it was years ago when I saw the man get killed in the arena, I was a child so of course, I wouldn't like it,"
"So you like it now?" I pushed.
"No, what sane person would like watching others die? I may have felt uncomfortable if I had a clearer view, but luckily I was all the way back here where I could barely see anything so seeing someone get their head chopped off didn't look as bad as it actually was," She sighed.
Oh.
I see.
So all this drama was for nothing? Based on my misinterpretation of the situation... Linus really did owe her his life, I almost made a mistake. If I really had gone ahead and killed him then she wouldn't have let me sleep with her for weeks on end.
Thank the gods, I dodged a fiery arrow.
...
KEYWORDS:
Wreath- The Roman Wreaths worn by Emperors were called Corona Radiata. They were worn by some Emperors as a token of their own divinity. The likenesses of Roman Emperors wearing Corona Radiata are seen on the coins of Trajan, Caligula and Marcus Aurelius.
Jupiter- Among the many gods of the Romans, Jupiter, the son of Saturn, was the supreme god, associated with thunder, lightning, and storms. He is known as 'Zeus' in Greek mythology.
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