“CHARGE!!!” The young boys shouted.

With their wooden sword, they hit the dummy. They were training on the field. At their age as young as 8 years old, children from the noble Romans family had started their daily trainings to wield the sword.

Sporus gazed out to the field from the emperor’s bedroom. She took a deep breath. Her mind was troubled.

“Dear…” Nero hugged her from her back and kissed her neck.

“Look at those boys, adorable, aren’t they?” He asked.

“Yes, my lord… they are…” Sporus lightly whispered, pulling Nero’s arm so that he would hug her tighter.

“Soon, we’ll have our son…” Nero replied with a smile.

“But the Teleios of Eretria, it could be just a rumour. She might not exist at all! She could have already died!” Sporus replied in a slightly skittish manner.

“At least we still have the Teleios of Syracuse.” Nero replied.

Sporus turned worried and grabbed Nero’s hand tightly.

“But she’s too skinny, and wasn’t she supposed to be drowned when she was an infant? How could she be the Teleios?”

“My dear, she won three battles in a year. I, myself, wasn’t that capable at her age. Those are the signs of the Goddess of War and Wisdom. She had become Athena,” Nero replied.

Sporus turned slightly frantic. That was the reason why she chased after Arete on the day when they took down Amiran.

“But you have thousands of pregnant women in the temple of Zeus, fathered by the greatest warriors from different city-states! They will give birth to your greatest eugenes! Surely you can adopt one or two of them…”

Nero kissed her lip, stopping her from adding any more words, and he whispered.

“My dear, how could I take away the child of my officials and claim them as my own? They are different. They do not inherit my blood.”

“I wish for a child of our own, a precious one between you and me.” he continued.

“Whenever they present the newborn to me and ask for my blessings, I look at the babies. They are all bringing me joy, and hope. Hope for the future of our empire, the perfect empire!”

“When I look at the eyes of their parents, I can sense that their joy is beyond mine.”

“I want to feel that joy… it is pure, it is sacred…” Nero said, with a proud virtuous smile on his face. But tears came out of Sporus’ eyes. She was heartbroken but she tried to hide it.

“My Lord, what if… what if he is greater than you, what if he disobeys you? … what if he… plans to kill you!” she reprimanded.

And Nero kissed her cheek and gently licked away her tears.

“Oh dear, my father, he is an idiot. He wasn’t a well-born Eugene. I am way better than him, I am different, I am the father of this great empire! Surely I can be the father of the next great leader.” Nero tried to explain himself.

“I long for a perfect family. So dear Sporus, I know you weren’t perfect, but I love you, for who you are. Please, trust me! We will be happy with our very own child.”

Sporus knew that she did not have a womb to carry a child for Nero. She was castrated and unable to impregnate a woman. She hid her sadness and jealousy. Deep in her mind, she was afraid. She feared that one day Nero might abandon her for a real woman. Her position as the most loved empress might fall. She gazed to the other side, and there was a statue, the Goddess Hera.

Goddess of marriage, the Queen of all Gods, what should I do to keep my marriage safe?

She cried.

“By the order of the emperor, this is priority one mission!” Chlorus shouted to a group of soldiers.

“Each of you will lead your troops and will be appointed to different zones, to search for two fugitive. One an average size servant with dark hair, another a skinny, blond noblewoman.”

“If you find them, separate them! The blondie is extremely skilful in long-medium range attacks and the servant is fierce at short range.”

“Capture the blonde girl alive and unharmed! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”

“Yes, general!” The soldiers replied.

A messenger ran towards Chlorus.

“General Chlorus! The empress has an urgent mission for you!”

“Who do you think you are! I am the General, I only take orders from the emperor!” Chlorus replied in an annoyed manner, trying to show his authority.

“It is an urgent mission!” The messenger shouted, and then he bent his body… and said with a tremble in his voice… “Please… General, it’s… urgent…”

Chlorus looked up to the palace and noticed that Sporus and her waiting maids were watching him from the third level walkway. He knew that he could not reject her request at all. He held his sword tight, and slowly put it into the scabbard, and tied it safely.

"I mustn’t risk it all, I am the last man remaining within the palace. Sir Seneca, Sir Apollodorus, Lord Amiran… I must survive!"

Arete laid on her kline bed, exhausted after reading the scrolls in her room. Her mind was troubled by all the things she just learnt. The bed was extremely comfortable, covered by luxurious linen with beautiful embroidery. The faint scent of burning storax gum from the incense burner lingering in the room. But such a cozy environment causes her to feel troubled.

“I may choose to stay in Thebes, and continue to live comfortably as a lady and forget about everything…”

Knock knock knock…

“Oh my dear Arete! It’s time for your dinner! I’ve ordered a fat calf for you! Let’s celebrate your return to Thebes!” The servants opened the door and they brought in various beautifully garnished dishes. Vitellus came into the room with them.

“Have a good nap? Dear. Oh you gonna love this! The grand chef had worked so hard on this special dish! I can’t wait to dig in.” Vitellus was full of excitement on his face. He walked straight to the table and the servants immediately placed the plates in front of him.

But Arete was looking for someone else. Matea, she was not around. She was supposed to be with the servants in the kitchen and report to her at dinner time.

“Where’s Matea?”

“Where’s who? Nom… nom… nommm…” Vitellus was not aware of anything other than the gourmet on table, gorging on the half done steak.

“The hoplite who came to Thebes with me.”

“Lady Agave accused her of stealing a loaf of bread and took her away.” a servant said.

“What?! What happened?!” Arete furiously grabbed the collar of his tunic. Stealing of bread? It sounded ridiculous as breads were available for free in most city-states of the Greco-Roman world.

“Emmm… we… we don't know about it. We thought it was an accident the bread was on Lady Agave's table.” one of the servants answered. He was the one who handed Matea the food.

"Well, I am the one who ordered them to gave her some nice food… there must be a miss-communication here." Vitellus added.

"Where are they now?!" Arete shouted in anger. Although she was shorter and skinnier than the stout servant, her demanding cadence would urge him to respond.

"The… they headed straight to the east gate…" he answered with tremble.

Arete rushed out of her room. There was a reason for her to be worried. That day in Syracuse, while she could have escaped all by herself after encountering Chlorus. She had a reason to turn back for Matea.

“What a ridiculous accusation. Agave? She better not make her lose her mind!”

“Servants! Go search for Agave and that woman with dark hair!” Vitellus ordered. His expression turned as serious as Arete's, and he probably understood her frustration.

Arete rode to the east gates and the servants organized themselves to search the surrounding area. They searched the oak forest outside of the city wall and she heard a servant shouting.

“Lady Agave, what… what are you… eating?!” In no time, they found Matea and Agave, on a low branch of an old oak tree, chewing on the acorn nuts.

“Oh biscuit! We are busted! Quick! Let’s go!” Agave jumped down from the tree. Despite her chubby size, her movement was fast. She tried to run away from those servants who found them. But Matea fell down from the branch.

“Ouch! You two-pot dreamer! Weeeeeeak!” Agave continued to run away, she had to leave her behind. That surprised Arete. When she got close to Matea to check her out, she found that Matea fell drunken unconscious.

Agave bumped onto a large man standing right in front of her. Her face turned gray when she saw the man. Vitellus pinched her cheeks and the acorn crumbs fell from her mouth.

“Oh dear! Why! Aren’t our kitchens serving you the best food in Thebes? Why my dear? Why? Acorns are poisonous!” He was disappointed. Seeing his adopted granddaughter chewing on the fruits from the oak trees.

“It wasn’t tasty but she told me it wasn’t poisonous!” Agave mumbled with her mouth full of nuts.

“What are you doing? You failed to report yourself on time!” Arete spoke with a stern voice to Matea, but she could barely open her eyes.

"It's… it's all her fault!" Agave tried to divert Vitellus by pointing at Arete. "I never had a young lamb slaughtered for me even on my birthdays! But she got a fat calf! It's not fair!"

"Oh my dear!" Vitellus held his head and continued "You had been in Thebes all the while! You can order all the fancy steaks you want anytime! But Arete just arrived!"

"How naive! Are you assuming I am here just for a piece of steak?" Arete was deeply annoyed. She was appalled by Agave's childish behaviour. Staring at her in a discerning manner, she could not believe that they were both peers. Perhaps that was how a Theban lived.

"This isn't the life I wanted! The decision…"

"Granpa…" Arete walked toward Vitellus.

"I've made my decision. I will leave Thebes tomorrow."

"Wha… what? But, where do you want to go?" He turned anxious.

"I've decided to continue my father's mission. I will travel to Eretria to find their Teleios before the Romans found her!"

Vitellus did not say a word, he knew her too well. He let out a big sigh.

"What do you mean by that?" Agave questioned.

Arete pretended not to hear her question, she turned away after giving Agave a disdain expression.

The life in Thebes was too ideal that it made Arete felt uncomfortable. She could not simply forget about what had happened in Syracuse. Although she knew she was given the freedom to choose an easier life. Perhaps she could live a luxurious life in Thebes for the rest of her life, avoiding the Romans.

But life is not all about happiness. To be truly happy, depression, anger and suffering are all part of us. It might be easy to simply indulge ourselves in the Epicurean ways. But that is not I want my life to be. I always wanted to succeed my father's position, and I will choose to continue his mission!

To be continued…