' Eagles are from Sicily ? '

And that's when it struck him! He should have known it because it was impossible for neighboruring kingdom to trespass in palace without anyone noticing them. When Valentina came to palace of Florence, there were few noblemen and maids who accompanied her.

He was in his thoughts when Aurelius spoke in shocked, " Oh my Good Lord!

Now I know how the map got stolen! "

Augustus turned towards him with a raised brow and asked, " how? "

Aurelius bit his lips and hesitated before speaking as he didn't know whether Augustus would believe him or not but he was damn sure about his theory. He stared deeply in Augustus's eyes before speaking in one go, " It was only Valentina with whom I shared about the place where we had hidden the map. She was sad and worn out with all the happenings in palace. One day, she visited me and I tried to distract her by talking about our strategies and army. Unfortunately, words slipped out of my mouth and I ended up telling her about map. She looked quite interested in it and since she was your wife, I had no reason to doubt on her and I ended up telling her ...."

He couldn't speak when Augustus screamed, " Enough! Are you by any means blaming Valentina to steal it? I know that Eagles belong to her kingdom but she's a departed soul. Have some respect for her."

Aurelius sighed as he knew that Augustus won't believe him. He wanted to speak something but the spy who was still there, dropped another shock on Augustus, " Your highness! Majesty Valentina is alive."

Augustus's body shook with rage when he heard nonsense of the spy. Firstly, Aurelius and now he, agitated Augustus. In the next moment, he held spy's neck in his death grip, " Watch your words before you speak. "

Aurelius was appalled with Augustus's actions which was totally opposite to his nature. Though he was also shocked with this unusual news still, he groped Augustus's biceps to pull him away from the spy who was struggling to breath due to air cut. " Your highness! Listen to him at once. "

After lot of his persuasion, Augustus left spy who fell on the ground with a thud. Augustus so wanted to kick him but refrained himself by looking in other direction.

The spy coughed out loudly as his throat tried to grasp fresh air. Aurelius went near him and patted on his back and asked in stiff tone , " What made you say so? "

Spy was still trying to breathe but mustered up to speak, " We recieved a news that around fifteen days back, a ship was standing on the port which had no flag on it. Since it was the time when Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica were fighting for sea dominance, nobody paid much heed to it . Our spies went deeper into the matter by capturing captain of the ship. He told us that they came from Sicily and after few tortures, he opened up to us that they were assigned the duty to escort Lady Valentina in Florence. "

" What do you mean? Is it..... true? " Aurelius inquired meanwhile Augustus was too numb to utter something. They were talking about a dead being alive and that dead was his first wife, mother of his son.

' What nonsense are they talking? '

The spy nodded leaving Aurelius stunned. He looked towards Augustus who was rubbing his temples. At this point, nothing in the world made sense to him. He tried remembering the day of Valentina's death and all the heartbreaking vivid painting boiled in his mind.

' He was stressed over Valentina's health before she went in labour pain and she brushed it off with a chuckle. She said that her motherly instincts told her that it was going to be a boy and then she made him promise to give best to their son. After few hours, heart shattering news of Valentina's death was given to him but his son made it into the world. He broke down in tears and started sobbing while his father held him. He saw her lifeless form and marched inside the room to embrace her for last time. '

And now it struck him, he never held her dead body! He wasn't allowed to! His body dropped down on the ground when slowly and gradually the sense of whole facade started to sink in. The battleground, phalanx, Rome, everything had evaporated and now he was alone in the war zone, realising how big of a fool he was made.

Aurelius got scared when large trumpets blew up indicating that their enemy, Sicily was there while his friend was in such a broken state.

It was not the time to panic. He went near Augustus and made him stand up by holding his shoulders. He braced Augustus with his words, " Amiga, forget what happened and what will happen. Just remember that you're about to change history by hosting Flag of Florence all across the vast empire. Don't let anything stop you from doing so. You're here for Florence and if you'll break down now, it'll be the biggest betrayal Florence would ever recieve. No matter how many traitors try to submerge our Florence, they'll not succeed because it's a castle built on strength of loyal men like you. Don't betray Florence by doing this. "

Augustus flared his nostrils while nodding his head. His face was rigid with anger when he thought about the betrayals his land has recieved and no way in a hell will he let anyone crush Florence, be it Valentina or anyone else. He cranked his neck sidewise and spoke with authority in his deep voice, " For Florence. "

💖💖💖💖💖💖

Marcus gulped down the lump in his throat before reciting the incidents which happened on the day Justus was born, " Well, Valentina never wanted to give birth to a child but Justus was destined to born. She was stressed with the news of her pregnancy because it messed up her plan which was to go back to Sicily after stealing the map. When King Cassius came to know about it, he was dissapointed but came up with an idea. He arrived in Florence saying that he wanted to be there with her daughter while she would give birth to his grandchild. He asked Valentina to fake her death after childbirth and rest, he assured.

He made sure that only maids of Sicily would assist Valentina during her labour pain. After Justus was born, maids informed Augustus that she died while giving birth and even before he could go and look at her, King Cassius started howling and shouting like a mad person. He started cursing Justus and didn't allow Augustus to go in the room. He blamed him and said that since she was his only daughter, her last rituals would be performed in Sicily. He put Valentina's body in a wooden casket which had few holes to let air pass in and that's how they escaped from here leaving behind Aelia, Balbina, Luca Steohano and few other members. "

Rithambara's mind shook up with the level of planning thry did but she still wanted to know about the scene of his mother so he asked him about her.

Marcus couldn't contain his tears while listening to it, " She heard once Valentina talking to Aelia about some conspiracy and tried to make everyone aware of her but nobody believed her. Everyone thought that she was making up things to break Valentina and Augustus apart. "

Ritha's brows creased and she couldn't help but ask, " she planned to kill Father, didn't she? "