Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 88 Will
Neither of them was very surprised, it was only a matter of time.

When Tia was in Egypt trying to persuade the Egyptian governor, she knew that the king was in poor health and might not live for many years. Now it seems that the time is almost up.

Orville even knew the approximate contents of the king's will. This event was quite important in history and indirectly led to the fall of Ptolemaic Egypt, so he had a very clear memory of it.

Orville asked Tia without even raising his head: "Then let's calculate the time. They will be able to enter Rome the day after tomorrow. Do you want to go and greet them?"

Tia simply refused, and focused all her attention on the geography book in front of her: "No, I'm not interested."

Vespa gave Tia a lot of autonomy in welcoming foreign guests. She could go or not, but due to her undisguised hostility towards the Ptolemaic royal family, she had no interest in joining in the fun.

She thought that there was still a lot of important things to be done, so who would have the time to care about the trivial matters of the Ptolemy royal family.

Orville understood so he didn’t force it: “Okay, but I’ll let you know in advance. Domitia and I might go over to join in the fun. I have something to confirm.”

In fact, he himself needed to go, but since it was a public place after all, it would inevitably be interpreted by people with ulterior motives as "Orville is ambitious and wants to get involved in Roman politics", so he had to bring Domitia with him and turn the nature of this matter into an event attended by the entire royal family, except that Tia was absent due to something, so that those people would shut up and not think too much.

"Domitia?" Tia frowned but soon relaxed. "Well, although I think she is still a little young, it is almost time for her to participate in family activities if she wants to be a citizen like me."

This time it was Orville's turn to frown: "You want her to go into politics, is that appropriate?"

"In the end it all depends on her personal choice, but I don't want her to become a vase in a political marriage, so we have to prepare for it based on this premise." Tia couldn't give a direct answer, in fact she was also worried.

Only a very small number of women with talent have citizenship. Domitia has not yet shown any talent that can be directly observed, but even if she has no talent, it is not impossible to work. Find a character like a literary giant to buy some poems and dramas of outstanding quality, and then let the Senate claim that Domitia is a gifted person chosen by Apollo and the Muses. This is not impossible.

But no matter what, if you want to participate in slightly more advanced political activities in Rome, you have to join the army and serve. Only after you are released can you participate in core politics. Even the children of the Senate are no exception to this. So far, the only emperor who has no experience of leading troops in battle is Nero, and he is not very popular.

Tiya was completely selfless in battle and her military discipline was relatively strict. It is hard to say that she was not affected by this. After all, the ancient times were a completely patriarchal society. If a woman wanted to be respected and recognized, she had to make enough efforts. Fortunately, the final result was relatively good.

These things have a prerequisite - Tia is really a gifted person. She can push open a heavy door that requires twenty people to operate freely by herself, she can carry an adult bull on her shoulders, and she can use brute force to cut a heavily armored warrior wearing full body armor in half. She is a person who can really adapt to the high-intensity environment of the battlefield.

If Domitia had no talent, she would most likely not be able to adapt to the high-pressure life of a professional army. All that equipment is not something an ordinary woman can carry. Even if Orville or Tia kept her by their side as an aide for a few years, would the result really be good?
After returning to Rome and entering the political world, other people would not have a positive evaluation of her. They would only think that she was a vase that relied on her father and brother for support. She had always lacked self-esteem and self-confidence. Facing these rumors every day, Orville felt that it would cause big problems. Seeing Tia's tangled expression, Orville sighed: "Forget it, let's talk about it later. We still have five or six years to think about this matter, which should be enough time to make a decision."

…………

Orville and Tia are both somewhat worried about Domitia's future, but she herself doesn't seem to be aware of it yet and is still at that carefree and innocent age.

Hearing that she could attend "adult occasions", she was naturally very excited, thinking that this was a sign of her being recognized. Orville did not refute him, but asked the servants to help Domitia prepare clothes, jewelry and other things, ready to attend the event later.

Egypt was called an ally of Rome but was actually a vassal state of Rome. When the envoys of this country came to meet the emperor, Vespa gave them a welcome ceremony and a full set of etiquette out of respect, but that was all he did and he would not disturb the people of Rome and do anything else.

The other party was also very clear about this and behaved respectfully throughout, for fear of angering the emperor and leaving a negative impression on him.

The chief representative of the delegation was a eunuch named Berdinos. Although he had lost Gil, he was still very powerful and had long held a position similar to that of the Secretary of State. He could be said to be the most powerful figure in Egypt, second only to the emperor. Now that that man was dead, Berdinos was actually the supreme ruler of Egypt.

The supreme ruler's behavior in Rome was humble. As soon as they met, he used all kinds of exaggerated words to flatter Rome and the Flavian royal family. Vespa smiled and acted like he enjoyed it very much and was not in a hurry, waiting for the other party to talk about serious matters.

They boasted for almost two hours. Orville was amazed at the other party's accumulated vocabulary. He was able to praise people in Latin, his non-native language, for two hours almost without repeating himself. One could imagine how much homework the other party had done and how many words and sentences he had memorized while traveling on the ship.

In the end, perhaps there was really nothing left to say, so Berdinus announced the will of the former king of Egypt.

It was exactly the same as what Orwell had said before - Cleopatra, the oldest living royal princess, married her brother and became the new king and queen of Egypt, and they jointly ruled the land of Egypt. In order to make his position clear, the King of Egypt solemnly handed over the execution of his will and the guardianship of his children to Vespa in the form of a document. In fact, neither the prince nor the princess came with the envoys this time, and Vespa could only guard the air.

This was an act of usurping power. Berdinus did not hide his little thoughts. No matter whether it was a princess or a prince, with the protection of the Romans, they could smoothly inherit the throne after they came of age and become the legitimate rulers of Egypt.

It is obvious that this eunuch in his forties does not want to hand over power to the royal family too early. Even though the princess is now fifteen years old and the prince is only six years old, he still wants to delay the handover of regency, so he did not bring the royal family with him.

He would only feel satisfied and at ease if he had the royal family in his own hands. If he left them under the guardianship of the Romans, he would lose power sooner or later.

(End of this chapter)