Chapter 107: The Princess’s Choice
After reaching a rough agreement, Auletes dismissed everyone around him.
Marcus also ordered his soldiers to wait outside.
Only the two of them were left in the spacious hall.
A secret topic that Auletes could never say in front of his servants came out of his mouth.
“You did a great job, thanks to you. Not only did you sweep away the opposition, but you also pinned all my faults on them. It was a brilliant idea.”
“It’s good for Rome as well if your royal authority stands on solid ground. There won’t be any problems with the food supply then.”
“Let’s continue this mutually beneficial relationship. Of course, I’ll pay back the debt I owe you with interest. You said you wanted military supplies for your expedition, right?”
“Yes. Most of the grain produced in Asia Minor has to be sent to Rome anyway. If the grain supply decreases because of the war, it will only anger the citizens. They’ll praise me if I achieve results, but I won’t give them any chance to criticize me. So I hope you can help me out.”
Auletes had no choice but to accept Marcus’s request.
Since he had borrowed Rome’s power to regain his throne, Auletes was now nothing more than Marcus’s client.
According to the traditional Roman clientela system, Patronus had to do his best to solve the problems of his clients.
At the same time, the clients also had the duty to support Patronus in every way.
Auletes had unofficially acknowledged that he was Marcus’s client, even though he was the pharaoh of Egypt.
In other words, Berenice, who tried to preserve her pride as a pharaoh until the end, had no chance of being chosen by Marcus from the beginning.
“Don’t worry about the military support. But I need to prepare for this side as well, so can you tell me your expedition plan? I heard that Parthia is very noisy right now. Are you planning to invade them as soon as next year? It seems to me that you have to move as fast as possible to seize the opportunity…”
“No, I won’t move next year. It will be at least the year after next, or maybe even later.”
“Why? From what I heard, Parthia is on the verge of civil war. If you’re going to wage war on Parthia, you should take advantage of that gap and enter, shouldn’t you?”
Even Auletes, who was not very good at military affairs, knew the basic fact that he had to strike when the enemy was weakest.
Marcus shook his head slightly and answered.
“Please keep this between us. Actually, one of my subordinates has been trading with Mithridates, one of the factions in Parthia’s power struggle, for a long time. We’ve been exchanging sugar and silk and making quite a profit.”
“Then why don’t you take Mithridates’s side and intervene in the civil war? If Mithridates pushes Orodus out and becomes king, he won’t be able to ignore the debt he owes you. Or you could even ask for some territory as a reward and send troops.”
“Who do you think will be more grateful when you save them? Someone who is on a sinking ship or someone who is already drowning in the sea?”
“I see, so you’re not going to intervene until Mithridates is in a desperate situation. That makes sense. That way, Rome will have more influence over Parthia. By the way, you’ve already made a connection with Mithridates. I have to bow my head to your foresight.”
Auletes’s face showed a considerable surprise.
Marcus acted as if he had anticipated this situation long ago.
“Mithridates is a cruel and vicious person. There’s no point in helping him. He’ll probably stab Rome in the back once he becomes king. People tend to have different feelings when they are in trouble and when they get out of it.”
“So you don’t intend to help Mithridates?”
“What I need is Parthia’s royal bloodline. To put it bluntly, it doesn’t matter whether Mithridates lives or dies. I’ll tell you more details later, but for now just know that I have no plans to raise an army.”
Auletes nodded with a bewildered face.
Marcus saw the suspicion that Auletes had not erased from his eyes.
He wondered if Egypt was also being played as part of some grand scheme like Parthia.
Marcus tried to soothe Auletes’s anxiety with a gentle voice.
“Parthia and Egypt are different cases. Egypt is an important ally that Rome can’t do without, but Parthia is a potential threat that is only an enemy. Besides, there is no mutual trust between them, so I have to show them Rome’s power first. Well, Parthia is nothing more than a country of that significance.”
In other words, he meant that he had to teach them a lesson because they were not obedient like Egypt.
Auletes took this as a guarantee that there would be no problem as long as he knew his place.
In fact, Parthia was also a land that would be of great help to Rome if it could be conquered.
The fertile crescent of Mesopotamia had always boasted a tremendous agricultural productivity.
If Parthia’s interference was gone, Rome would have a direct trade route with China.
If he could successfully finish the Parthian expedition, it would bring immeasurable benefits to Rome.
But Marcus did not tell Auletes the true value of Parthia.
He thought that it would only make him think more, and there was no benefit for Marcus.
The meeting with Olympos ended like that.
While the two of them were exchanging secret words, outside the hall, the three sisters who had reversed their situations faced each other.
“My dear Ptolemy… oh, not anymore. You were so confident, but it seems things didn’t go as well as you expected, did they?”
The first one to open the door was Arsinoe.
Berenice glared at her younger sister, who looked like she was having the time of her life.
“You, no, not just you, but Cleopatra too. You both knew everything and pushed me to the end, didn’t you?”
“Hey, I told you from the beginning. He’s not as easy as you think. But what did you say then? That only applies to kids, right? Well, then you’re a kid too, according to your own words.”
Berenice couldn’t attack her sisters, even though she was stung by their sharp sarcasm.
Their positions had completely changed from before.
Berenice had no foundation in Alexandria anymore, like a kite with a broken string.
All of her supporters had been sentenced to death by beheading.
To be honest, it was a miracle that she had saved her own life.
In Egypt, there was only death for the losers in the power struggle.
This obvious fact was well known to Berenice as well.
“Don’t look at it so badly, sister.”
Cleopatra, who had been smiling softly all along, joined the conversation with a subtle voice.
“What? You want me to not look badly at you two for making me humiliate myself?”
“It’s because we did that that your head is still on your neck. I’m actually surprised to see you again. How did you manage to make Marcus spare your life?”
“Well, I don’t know?”
“Did you seduce him with your body as you said? Did you really sleep with him?”
Arsinoe jumped up and shouted before Berenice could.
“What? Don’t talk nonsense! Why would Marcus sleep with someone like Berenice?”
“Well, even if he didn’t fall for her seduction, he could still sleep with her. She’s objectively beautiful, so maybe he found some value in that.”
Arsinoe’s face turned red at Cleopatra’s blatant words.
“Yo, you’re joking, right? Marcus is not like that!”
“But if that’s not the case, then there’s no reason to spare her life.”
“Th, that’s true, but… there could be another reason.”
Arsinoe pouted her lips and whined, unable to refute.
Berenice raised her eyebrows and snorted, feeling the curious gazes of the two.
“Ha! He’s impotent! He’s definitely disabled in the lower half. There’s no other way he could act like that.”
Berenice wanted to crawl into a mouse hole and hide, remembering what happened last night.
It was the first time in her life that she had done all kinds of things in front of a man, and even pressed her naked body against him.
But all she heard was ‘You’re not my type, so try harder and come back’.
Berenice’s pride, which had been absolute in her beauty, was shattered.
Cleopatra and Arsinoe, who had guessed the situation from her reaction, smiled smugly.
“Hmm, so you threw yourself at him and got rejected?”
“Not rejected! He’s the weird one. He must have a problem… it doesn’t make sense otherwise.”
Cleopatra nodded her head with a cheerful smile.
“I see. So he’s impotent, but he still has a wife and two children. That’s amazing.”
Berenice was speechless at the killing remark and closed her mouth.
Arsinoe shook her head and snapped her fingers.
“You should be thankful that you still have your life. Don’t go there and cause trouble and waste your precious life.”
“…I will. Just wait and see. I’ll acquire such a level of culture that you and Cleopatra won’t be able to match.”
“What are you talking about out of the blue?”
“I just have something like that!”
The two sisters looked at Berenice with suspicion as she hastily changed the topic.
Cleopatra had a faint idea of what it was, but she didn’t bother to say it out loud.
Arsinoe felt something was off for a different reason.
“Berenice is going to Rome…”
“What? Do you have a problem with that? Honestly, Rome is not bad. We may be the living gods and kings of Egypt, but we’re nothing but vassals of Rome. The real center of the world is Rome now. I’ll seize my second chance there. It’s not over yet.”
“Did you hear that after making a fool of yourself in front of Marcus yesterday?”
“Wh, what are you talking about?”
“It’s obvious that you can’t make such a cold judgment. I can picture it clearly. You threw yourself at him and got rejected, and you acted like a pharaoh and only embarrassed yourself. Ugh… I would have died of shame on the spot if I were you.”
Berenice’s face turned as red as possible, as she was completely exposed.
She couldn’t even scream sharply as usual, and just turned around and went back to her room.
The two sisters laughed at her tragic appearance.
Arsinoe held her stomach and laughed.
Even Cleopatra couldn’t hold back her laughter that escaped from her mouth.
The feeling of something that had been weighing on her until now suddenly lifted.
The two of them exchanged a laugh and then looked at each other.
Arsinoe was the first to calm down and asked.
“Is Rome really such a developed city?”
“It must be. It’s undeniable that Rome is the strongest nation in the world right now. The capital of such a place can’t be a mediocre city.”
“That makes sense. I want to see it. Marcus was born and raised there, right?”
Cleopatra’s body flinched at her sister’s casual remark.
‘Going to Rome?’
She suddenly turned her head toward the direction of the hall where Marcus and Olympos were.
They were still not coming out, talking about something.
The clear difference in power between Rome and Egypt tightened her chest.
Cleopatra was different from the other royals, as she understood the lives and culture of the native Egyptians.
That’s why she was confident that only she was qualified to be the true pharaoh.
The true pharaoh who connected the Ptolemaic dynasty and the indigenous people of Egypt.
The incarnation of the living god, and the true ruler of Egypt who everyone had to respect.
That was her lifelong goal.
But to become such a being, she had to know more than just the language and culture of the native Egyptians.
Rather, she had neglected one of the most important things until now.
A light of determination that could not be erased by anything flashed in Cleopatra’s clever eyes.
※※※※
Marcus, who had finished all the agreements with Olympos, was finally able to meet Arsinoe and Cleopatra happily.
They ran to him as soon as they heard his call, without any hesitation.
Especially Arsinoe’s reaction was dramatic.
“Marcus!”
She ignored Cleopatra’s restraint behind her and ran to him and hugged him.
Cleopatra raised her voice in surprise, trying to pull her off.
“What are you doing, acting so shamelessly? Get off him and apologize, won’t you?”
“So what? There’s no one else watching us.”
Arsinoe snorted and pressed her cheek against Marcus’s chest defiantly.
Cleopatra stomped her feet impatiently.
“Don’t you know how diplomatically rude you are? If you don’t want to get off, should I make you?”
“Hmph! Try it if you can.”
They were about to start a fight at any moment.
Marcus stepped forward and stopped them.
“It’s okay. I think this is a sign of friendship that shows how much the princesses welcome me.”
“Thank you for saying that. But it’s still inappropriate for a royal to cling to a foreign man like that…”
“Hmph! If you’re jealous, why don’t you do the same?”
“What? Do you really have no shame? Do you have any sense of being a royal?”
“I’ll behave properly in public. And if Marcus is okay with it, what do you care?”
They argued as much as they used to.
But Marcus noticed that the atmosphere between them was softer than before.
If they had fought with hostility and anger before, now they were more like ordinary sisters who bickered over trivial things.
“Come on, princesses. Calm down and talk with a smile. It’s been a long time since we met. I’m glad to see that you’re both healthy.”
“Thank you. I’m glad to see that you’re healthy too. You said you fought fiercely in Gaul, the land of barbarians. You look even more brave because of that.”
“Thank you. You’ve become more beautiful since I last saw you. In a few years, all the men in Alexandria will be captivated by your beauty.”
“Hehe, really? I’m almost old enough to get married now.”
Cleopatra teased him with a giggle.
“That means you’re still a kid until then.”
“What did you say?”
Arsinoe glared at Cleopatra with angry eyes.
Marcus stroked her head gently, as if to calm her down.
She immediately smiled sweetly and fluttered her eyelashes.
Cleopatra sighed and put her finger on her temple, watching her.
“Don’t spoil her too much. That’s why she acts like that.”
“I think there’s no need to be too formal in private. I hope you don’t feel too constrained by etiquette here either.”
“Uh… okay. If you say so.”
Cleopatra took a few more steps closer and took a seat next to Marcus.
But she couldn’t be as reckless as Arsinoe and cling to his side.
And for some reason, she found it hard to look him in the eye.
Her heart beat faster than usual.
She concluded that it was because she still felt some fear from being in the hall.
She felt something that had been oppressing her until now suddenly disappear.
The two of them shared a laugh and then looked at each other.
‘She shouldn’t be like this. If he finds out that she’s scared, he might get suspicious. She should look him in the eye and smile…’
She lifted her head slightly and looked at Marcus, but as soon as their eyes met, she quickly looked away.
Her body felt strange, as if she was sick.
Unlike Cleopatra, Arsinoe brought out a deck of cards that she had made with great effort and proudly spread them out in front of Marcus.
“This is the game you taught us before. My sister and I worked hard to make it this good.”
“Wow, you must have had a lot of fun. You went through so much trouble to make it.”
“Of course. The number of people who know the rules is increasing in the palace. My sister and I almost play every day. I have a slightly lower win rate, though.”
Marcus was interested and touched the cards that Arsinoe had brought, lost in thought.
He didn’t expect the card game he made for fun to be so popular.
But on second thought, it was natural.
In this era where there was no computer and no systematic entertainment, chess or card games were addictive enough.
If he spread this well among the nobles, he could make a lot of money.
‘But the cards made of papyrus are too weak. But it’s too wasteful to draw pictures on parchment… Maybe it’s time to make paper?’
He was already thinking of developing papermaking after finishing the military and agricultural fields.
Papyrus and parchment had fatal weaknesses as writing materials.
If he developed paper and a simple printing technology, he could cause a revolution in society by himself.
In that sense, he needed to analyze the expected changes thoroughly in advance and control any possible variables.
It might be better to take it more slowly than to rush into development.
He was immersed in his thoughts when Cleopatra’s cautious voice woke him up.
“Um, Marcus.”
“…Yes?”
“I have a favor to ask you.”
“Yes, tell me. I’ll do anything I can for you.”
Cleopatra took a deep breath and trembled her lips.
She had made up her mind, but when she faced the moment of decision, she couldn’t say it easily.
When Arsinoe tried to say something, Cleopatra closed her eyes and shouted.
“I, I want to go to Rome with you this time!”
“What?”
Marcus’s eyes widened at the unexpected proposal.
< 107. The Princess’s Choice > End
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel