The Journey from Constantinople to Rome was a long one. However, by the time Marcellus entered the entrance of his villa, two beautiful young women were quick to greet him. It was evident by the roundness of their bellies that they were entering the later stages of pregnancy. When Placidia saw the children which surrounded her man, she was shaken with excitement. It took only a few seconds for her to rush over to her nephew and nieces, where she showered them with love.

“Theodosius, Pulcheria, Arcadia, Flacilla! I’m so happy that you are all alright. I was so worried about your safety for these past few years!”

The four children gazed upon their aunt with varying expressions. They had heard rumors that Placidia was forced to marry Marcellus and that he treated her poorly. However, the woman appeared to be in good health, and judging by the affection in the man’s eyes as he gazed upon his wife, they had clearly misjudged Marcellus.

Marcellus walked over to Placidia and picked her up, twirling the young woman around and kissing her on the lips in a display of passion before gently placing her feet on the ground.

“Placidia, words can not express how my heart ached just from being away from your love for so long!”

The young empress blushed as she heard these words and looked away. Sigefrida, who scaled down from the steps and greeted her lover with a sullen expression observed this entire reaction.

“Oh? and what about me?”

This perturbed tone immediately caused Marcellus’ skin to crawl as he gazed up at the suebi beauty and approached her with loving arms. He had a wry smirk on his face as he greeted the woman.

“How could I possibly forget about my darling Sigefrida? Come here, love!”

Sigefrida did not bother correcting her lover’s shameless behavior, and instead wrapped her arms around his neck before kissing him on the lips. The sight of two women loving the same man was shocking for Theodosius and his sisters, who were used to a monogamous family.

Polygamy had never been a roman concept, and though Sigefrida was just a concubine, the fact that she so equally stood with Placidia was stunning to the innocent children. Among them, Pulcheria was pouting. She felt as if she had been tricked. Marcellus made no mention of having another woman in the house. It was simply sinful.

Despite the girl’s thoughts, Marcellus went on to introduce her and her siblings to Sigefrida.

“This is Pulcheria. She is Placidia’s niece. These are her sisters, Arcadia, and Flacilla, and this is her brother Theodosius. They will be living with us from now on, so please treat them well.”

Sigefrida merely rolled her eyes before commenting on the whole ordeal as if it were tiresome.

“If I had known you were going to be bringing back four children, I would have scolded the foreman daily for taking so long in building your palace. Luckily for us, your family was quite wealthy, and so there are enough rooms to go around.”

Marcellus made no comment. Instead, he passed off the little ones to their aunt, before consulting Sigefrida on important matters of state.

“Placidia, why don’t you get the kids settled in while I talking to Sigefrida about some rather serious matters?”

Placidia merely nodded her head silently before leading the children away. After doing so, Sigefrida’s expression turned grave.

“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you let Yazdegerd escape?”

Marcellus shook his head in denial as he led Sigefrida further into the palace while informing her of what had happened.

“No, he’s dead. In fact, you could say he’s missing his head entirely… However, I fear that with his death, the Sassanids will be back soon enough with a vengeance. Though they suffered some losses in this war, they were merely acting in support of Constantinople, and thus did not pool as much troops into the campaign as I had hoped.

I need you to dispatch the frumentarii further east so they can investigate who will succeed Yazdegerd, and whether or not they are planning an invasion of our newly conquered lands.”

A slight sigh escaped from Sigefrida’s pink lips as she nodded her head in agreement. However the look in her eye was fierce as she lectured Marcellus on his uncanny ability of making enemies.

“Why is it every time we defeat one enemy, two more takes its place? I feel as if you are destined to make the entire world hostile against you… Very well, I will look into the matter. Though don’t expect results anytime soon. It will take some effort to infiltrate the Sassanid Empire, especially when we have yet to fully incorporate the eastern half of Rome into our Empire. Make no mistake, if you try to force your dictatorship over the east, there will be resistance to the changes, just like there was in the west.”

Marcellus merely nodded his head in understanding of Sigefrida’s words. He knew better than anyone just how many enemies he would make by trying to incorporate the eastern half of the empire into his military dictatorship.

Nonetheless, so long as he drew breath, it was the most stable form of government he could create. It was also a temporary means to an end. Once he fixed the problems which ailed Rome, he would transition to a more legitimate form of government.

“Thanks, Sigefrida, and make sure to get some rest. Stress is not good for the baby’s health…”

In response to this, the barbarian beauty merely scoffed before flicking her man across the nose. She could hardly believe that he would say such a thing after giving her such a stressful task.

“You don’t get to say such things to me…”

In the end, the couple laughed off their problems before settling into the villa. For the time being, Marcellus would have to get acquainted with family life. Not only for his nephew and nieces but also for his own children that were on the way. He would have to worry about the consequences of Yazdegerd’s death some other time.