***
"Please, Stacius! I'll do anything! Anything!... Stacius!"
I paused in my actions just as the sword was about to cleanly slice through his neck and silently stared at him, who was too relieved to even be able to react.
Dropping the sword, I turned around and went over to Ria who was crouching on the ground, Claud standing beside her as she cried, her tear-stained face leaving a weird throbbing feeling in my chest.
Squatting down in front of her, I stared at her, waiting for her to raise her head to meet mine and when she did, I gently wiped her tears away, leaning down to lightly peck her lips before pulling away and gifting her with a small smile.
I wonder if that was enough of a lesson?
"Undo his restraints," I nudged my head towards Linus and the guard didn't think twice to do as I had ordered.
"But... Why?" Claud was the only one brave enough to ask.
"Did you not hear my wife's plea?" I asked and they shut up and continued to do as told.
"From tomorrow onwards, Claud will be Ria's new personal bodyguard. Linus will continue as he was before Ria came to the palace. Am I understood?" A series of ′Yes, your imperial Majesty's′ was heard after that.
"Did you learn your lesson?" I asked Ria, ignoring the rest of the people in the room and only concentrating my attention on her.
She blinked, brows furrowing in confusion.
"My lesson? What are you-" She cut herself off, eyes slightly widening as if she didn't want to accept the fact that this was all part of my plan to teach her a lesson, I never planned on killing Linus, I just needed to scare both him and my wife a little bit.
It seemed to have worked.
At least, just for that short amount of time.
"This was all part of your plan? You never intended on hurting him?..." She breathed out, doubt clouding her gaze as she turned to look back at me and answering her question, I innocently nodded my head.
"Yes, I had to teach you a lesson, after all... I told you, flower, that as Emperor, I need to make decisions that I see are best for this Empire and it seemed like both you and Linus needed to be taught a lesson. I could have killed him but that would do me no good as, I hate to admit it, but he is a decent soldier," I grumbled the last part.
In the next moment, within the blink of an eye, a sharp stinging pain jolted through my cheek and my head even rang a little due to the angry force.
Shakily, stuck in a shocked trance, I turned to look at my wife who was glaring at me with such rage that it would have been enough to put the great fire of Rome to shame. I almost flinched back but I realised what the cause of pain on my cheek was.
"You..." I started, doubting what she had just done.
Placing a hand on my cheek, I massaged the area, the pain making it obvious that it wasn't just my imagination that was getting the better of me.
"You slapped me," I mumbled. And quite hard as well.
"Was this fun for you?" She spat out, ignoring my words as I slowly began feeling myself tremble, trying my best to keep from bursting, to keep my temper from rising over the top but it was already obvious... This wasn't going to end well.
"Is it fun...? To watch me cry and beg? To mess with an innocent person's life? To get your satisfaction from the pain you inflict on others?... Is it fun!? You treat me like a fool, like a possession you can control at your will! But how many times will you make me remind you that I'm a human too!?" She screamed, so loudly that her voice cracked.
She trembled, body shaking, voice shaking, eyes shaking, she shook in both fear of the consequences of her current actions and she shook with rage. The rage directed at me, her husband who only ever just wanted her to love him and only him.
Was that so wrong of me?
I know that I loved her more than she loved me. I know that I loved her more than a normal person could ever comprehend, but the least she could do is try to love me back at least half that amount.
No, this won't do... I've been letting her off too easy, haven't I?
"How dare-"
She cut me off.
She dared to cut me off.
"I am not going to stay silent so that you can remain comfortable, no more. No matter how scared I am of you, Stacius, you need to know that it is wrong to play with people as if they're puppets... You say that you are an Emperor, but why don't you act like it?"
My jaw ticked.
"That's enough!" I raged, screaming so loudly, the vibration rang through my ears and head but surprisingly, Ria didn't even flinch. As if she were expecting it.
"Darling," I breathed out, outstretching a hand to cup her cheek but she growled, slapping my hand away and this time, instead of being frozen in shock, I grabbed hold of her hand and forcefully placed my hand on her chin, turning her head to face me.
"You have made me angry,"
"You have made me angrier!" She yelled right back.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I counted to three, massaging the place between my brows while waiting for the anger in me to subside, at least even a little bit.
"I went through all this trouble to teach you a lesson but it seems that you do not want to be taught today," I talked to her as if I were talking to a child having a tantrum and I might as well have been doing that since Ria didn't look like she wanted to listen to me today.
Oh well. I guess we'll have to move on to plan B.
"Claud..." I called, moving to pick Ria up in my arms. She struggled but her attempt to get free of me was as useless as an injured deer running from a lion.
"Yes, your majesty," He called as I finally succeeded in picking her up bridal style, ignoring her punches to my chest and holding back a laugh at her adorable self.
"The Empress will not be leaving our chambers for the next week. See to it that enough guards are spread around the area and everything she needs will be brought to her before she even gets the chance to ask for them. As her new personal bodyguard, you will be expected to guard her with your life, there is no room for mistakes," I moved to go to the door.
"What?..." Ria breathed out, halting in her punches as she listened to me, shocked.
"Understood, your majesty," Claud nodded. The doors were pulled open and I left the room with a still, frozen in shock, wife in my arms, not sparing another person a single glance.
"You-You can't be serious-"
"I'm serious," I cut her off, tilting my head down to meet her wavering gaze and smiled at her. "You claim that you do not have freedom but you will understand what freedom is once you are forbidden from leaving our chambers for a week,"
"No, you can't do that! What about Evan-"
"I will see to it that Evander is with you throughout the day, in our chambers. It is just for a week, flower. Since you did not learn your lesson with Linus just now,"
"No, I've learnt my lesson. Please, do not confine me even more," She almost wept, clutching onto the fabric of my clothes, begging me with her eyes but I will not waver. Just as she didn't when she chose to slap me in front of everyone.
I paused in my strides for a moment and after a short staring contest, I broke it by leaning in and kissing her eyelid as she squeezed her eyes shut. Chuckling, I kissed her nose and she flinched back this time.
"My mind will not be changed."
And then I continued on my way.
"But-"
"It is just for a week, flower. Do not be so dramatic unless you want me to change it to a month..." She bit her lip after hearing that, holding back any more rude words. Good.
"And do not worry..." I kissed the top of her head. "I will be with you whenever I can," Unlike me, who loved that idea, she probably didn't. But that will soon change, she just has to learn to love me more than she already does.
And maybe one day, she'll love me more than I do. But I highly doubt that.
...
KEYWORDS:
The Great Fire of Rome- The Great Fire of Rome (incendium magnum Romae), was an urban fire that occurred in July, 64 AD.
History has blamed Emperor Nero for the disaster, implying that he started the fire so that he could bypass the senate and rebuild Rome to his liking. Much of what is known about the great fire of Rome comes from the aristocrat and historian Tacitus, who claimed that Nero watched Rome burn while merrily playing his fiddle.
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