My XX deal with Sister Nero

"Yes... yes." Tony nodded awkwardly and replied.

"But... if that's the case, why would Your Highness let people spread these rumors? Spreading gossip about the elders and your past achievements." Jie Luo asked with a frown.

Although Jie Luo was also very smart, due to the lack of information, she really didn't understand why His Highness did this.

"It's actually very simple. Although I don't know why Isis's followers would promote holy marriages, the Senate would definitely not agree to such a thing happening. Once a holy marriage happens, it means that the Senate will continue to be marginalized for the next hundred years and will not be able to intervene in the internal affairs of the empire. And they can't forcibly ban such topics in the name of the Senate, so they can only use speech in secret to disrupt public opinion in Rome, and at the same time, try to target the speech about holy marriages as much as possible."

Tony paused before continuing, "I am just using their gossip to keep them busy. It is a great shame for a man to be unable to satisfy his wife. If this matter is exposed and known to the whole city, it will be even more terrible. Now that the Senate is already busy, all that is left is for me to improve my reputation and influence to pave the way for the next step."

Chapter 333: Shouldn't Your Majesty marry Your Highness?

What's next?

Although she had already guessed that Tony would have a new round of actions, but...Zero was still a little curious about what this new round of actions would be.

And Tony's new round of actions is very straightforward.

After nearly a month of brewing, a new rumor suddenly spread in Rome in early December.

"Come to think of it, Your Majesty, it's time to get married, right?" In a bathhouse, a sturdy Roman citizen lay comfortably in the tub and said to his friend.

"Your Majesty will soon be eighteen years old, and it's almost time for you to get married." His companion was also lying in the bathtub in a very comfortable posture, looking up at the ceiling.

"Yes, yes, Your Majesty is so beautiful, there must be many people who like Your Majesty, right? But... who will Your Majesty marry in the end?" The Roman citizen slowly closed his eyes, and said while enjoying the comfortable hot water: "No matter who it is, I think Your Majesty's man... must learn a skill, that is, to be able to live after listening to Your Majesty's singing."

"Hush!" Hearing his companion's words, another Roman citizen subconsciously sat up straight and covered his friend's mouth, lowering his voice and saying, "Don't you want to live? How can you say that your Majesty's singing... what? And according to your request, I'm afraid only General Vespasianus can do it?"

Emmm, thinking about it carefully, it seems... that's the case?

It seems that so far, General Vespasianus is the only one who has been able to fall asleep during His Majesty's solo concert, while most of the others are foaming at the mouth?

"Alright, alright, it's okay, no one heard it." The young man impatiently pulled his companion's claws away, and after enjoying the warm bath water comfortably for a while, he suddenly said, "Come to think of it, isn't there a rumor about holy blood marriage in Rome recently? It's what those Isis believers said, about brothers and sisters getting married to each other."

"Oh yes, that's right. What's wrong?" his companion asked with his eyes closed, enjoying the bath water comfortably.

"What do you think if His Majesty and His Highness were together?" The Roman citizen suddenly sat up straight and said, "Hey, think about it. Although His Majesty is not very willing to manage the empire, she is also a very smart person. Otherwise, she would not have made so many new laws for us. And His Highness is also very talented. The titles of Protector of Britain and Conqueror of Armenia and Parthia are enough to show that His Majesty is good at domestic affairs and His Highness is good at fighting. If the two are combined, it can be said that they are a perfect complement. In addition, their marriage can also ensure the purity of their bloodline."

At this point, the Roman citizen lowered his voice and leaned close to his companion and whispered, "I heard from a friend of mine who serves in the Guards that the Senate originally wanted Your Highness to inherit the throne, but Your Highness refused. And Your Majesty is a girl anyway, and her descendants are outsiders to some extent, so the throne eventually fell back to Your Highness, but Your Highness didn't want to inherit the throne, so... what do you think? If they get married and have children, then Your Highness can continue to be his own prince, and the throne will still belong to the direct descendants of the Claudius family?"

"You..." His companion looked at his friend with some strangeness and said, "I didn't expect you to have such talent. Why don't you just become a clerk?"

"No, I'm not interested." The Roman citizen shook his head.

This Roman citizen was not the first to suggest that His Majesty should marry His Highness. Similar remarks spread rapidly in the city of Rome like a plague.

"So... there should be another group of people in the city, another group of people who hope that I can marry my younger brother." Inside the palace, Nero sat in front of the desk and said with a frown.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Evebia nodded.

"That's strange..." Nero frowned. "The followers of Isis do this because of their religious beliefs, but what is the reason for the other group of people?"

Nero thought about it for a long time, but she didn't think about her brother.

Because in her subconscious, Tony seemed to be somewhat disgusted with things like holy marriages between blood relatives, and her brother... was far away in Britain, how could he possibly spread such news in Rome?

"A-choo!" Tony, who was far away in the British province, sneezed subconsciously. He rubbed his nose and said to Varro, who was not far away, with some discomfort: "Vitellius and his men have just arrived. You should arrange their accommodation first, and then give them two days to adjust and get familiar with the affairs of the British province. Then, you can gradually hand over the situation here to them. After that, you can also go back to Odeni. I should be able to get back to Rome before the New Year."

"Your Highness, are you going back to Rome?" Varro was stunned for a moment and then came to his senses: "Yes, although I can't make it in time for His Majesty's birthday, but... His Majesty should be very happy that you can make it back."

"...Yeah." Tony originally wanted to say that he was not going back simply to celebrate the New Year, but after thinking about it, he decided to give up. After all, not everyone knew about his plan to marry Nero, especially a traditional Roman like Varro. Who knew how he would react when he knew that he wanted to marry Nero through the Egyptian holy marriage.

But then again, what should we do with Princess Ryan?

Boudica's Rebellion ended with Tony becoming the ultimate winner. As for the five rebellious countries, Tony's method of dealing with them was to temporarily not hold the Kingdom of Clovis responsible, because the Kingdom of Clovis was not a vassal state of the Roman Empire. Among the remaining four countries, half of the territory of the Kingdom of Iceni was returned, and the remaining half was ceded to the Roman Empire in accordance with the agreement of that year. As for the other three countries... of course they were completely annexed.

In other words, Tony has represented the Roman Empire in no longer pursuing the Iceni Kingdom's rebellious behavior, and all previous treaties between the Roman Empire and the Iceni Kingdom will continue to be maintained.

Including marriage.

So, if he really was with Nero through the means of a holy marriage, then... how should he deal with Princess Ryan, with whom he was about to marry?

"Your Majesty, this is the report from the envoy of the Iceni Kingdom about the dowry of Princess Ryan of the Iceni Kingdom." In the study of the imperial palace, the second elder Vanore stood in front of Nero with his head lowered, and handed a piece of cloth to the desk in front of Nero in a proper manner.

PS: I have some things to deal with tomorrow. After a quick calculation, I only have about two hours to write. I will try to write three chapters today, and the extra chapter will be posted tomorrow. If I really don’t have time... there will only be one update tomorrow, and I will try to make it up the day after tomorrow.

Honestly, starting from today, my schedule will be very irregular because I have a lot of chores to do. After all, I have to travel back and forth between two cities, so the corresponding update time will be a bit unstable. I can only try my best to ensure that there are two updates every day. Other things... I really can't guarantee them. Sorry.

Chapter 334: I almost forgot about my brother’s marriage!

Dowry? Nero was stunned when he heard this term.

Shit! I almost forgot about Princess Ryan!

Of course Nero knew about Boudica's rebellion. He also knew that it was secretly promoted by Decianus, and he also knew that his brother had gone back to pick peaches.

Since my brother is in charge, there is no need for me to focus on that.

So Nero did not pay much attention to the situation in the British province.

Then came the problem.

Tony... didn't annex the Iceni Kingdom?!

Because he trusted Tony more, Nero did not pay attention to the situation in the British province. This led to Nero always thinking that after Decianus annexed several rebellious countries, his brother would at most go to appease the people. Unexpectedly, his brother would actually... actually spit out the country that he had already eaten!

It also continued to recognize the previous treaties between the Iceni Kingdom and the Roman Empire.

This means that the marriage between Tony and Princess Ryan does exist and has not been cancelled due to the rebellion of the Iceni Kingdom.

This is a bit embarrassing.

"I understand. You may leave first." Nero glanced down at the list of betrothal gifts and waved at Vanore, signaling him to leave.

"There are quite a lot of things." Nero lowered his head and looked carefully at the items on the list and sighed.

Since my younger brother has acknowledged the existence of the Iceni Kingdom and acknowledged that the previous treaties between the Roman Empire and the Iceni Kingdom are still valid, then... I can't slap my younger brother in the face and deny the marriage, right?

Besides, if the marriage is really denied, it would simply be a slap in the face to my brother. Who knows what kind of extreme reaction the Iceni Kingdom will have at that time.

"My younger brother is really giving me problems." Nero shook his head. It seems that the first thing to be solved is the issue of marriage.

The marriage between Tony and Princess Ryan was essentially a political marriage to ensure peace on the border of the British province. If the Roman Empire unilaterally broke up the marriage, it would mean that the border situation would be unstable. Therefore, Nero could not suddenly announce the cancellation of the marriage. The Iceni Kingdom, which had suffered heavy losses after a war, currently continued to have a reliable thigh to ensure its external peace. That was why Boudica handed the list of betrothal gifts to the Roman Empire in such a panic.

"Tsk, this is a bit troublesome." Nero scratched his head.

In Nero's original plan, she would first push the empire to amend the law to allow polygamy, and then use the border issue to win over the Iceni Kingdom and promote the marriage between Princess Ryan and her brother, because this would divert everyone's attention and prevent everyone's attention from being focused on herself, causing some unnecessary trouble.

Finally, after everyone has accepted polygamy, she will marry her younger brother.

However, if you want to promote polygamy, first you have to get the nobles to recognize this system. After all, if even the nobles do not recognize it, then the Senate, which represents the aristocratic class, will definitely not recognize it.

If the Senate, which holds the legislative power, refuses to approve it, then there is basically no way this bill can be implemented.

However, because of the concessions on Roman customs, the Senate acquiesced to the passage of this bill. But considering that directly passing and promoting this bill would easily cause civil unrest, before thoroughly promoting this bill, according to Nero's plan, this bill needs to be trial-run among the nobles for a period of time.

After Nero learned that he could marry his younger brother through a sacred marriage, he basically gave up the relatively complicated polygamy. However, because he had already agreed to his brother's marriage with Princess Ryan, Nero was still a little conflicted and was considering whether to tear up the marriage agreement.

Then, because of Decianus, Boudica chose to rebel.

Nero, who just learned the news at that time, almost woke up laughing in his dream. Decianus's move not only gave Nero a reasonable reason to tear up the marriage agreement, but also allowed him to naturally put the blame on Decianus.

However...Tony released the annexed Iceni Kingdom.

What is this? Reducing overexpansion?

Forget it. No matter what policy my brother implemented, no matter what his plan was, I, as his elder sister, could not possibly slap him in the face, right? Well, at worst, I could just speed up the promotion of polygamy.

Thus, under Nero's secret promotion, the news that the empire was about to promote polygamy nationwide spread quickly in Rome.

"Hey! This is just something the nobles have nothing better to do!" A small vendor selling apples on a commercial street said to a customer, "Polygamy? How can ordinary people like us have the time to marry multiple wives? I think it must be that the nobles have too much money and want to marry more wives, so your Majesty issued this decree. After all, your Majesty is a woman, how could she take the initiative to propose polygamy? Judging from your Majesty's gender, polyandry is possible!"

"Come on, stop talking!" The male customer said to the stall owner while paying, "Don't attract the guards or the sheriff here, or you'll be in big trouble."

"Tsk." The vendor shook his head and said, "I said it again. These nobles are just idle. I heard that they have been secretly opposing Your Highness and His Majesty. It seems that Your Majesty and Your Highness are using the benefits that should belong to the nobles to bribe us commoners? Forget it, forget it... Come on, you are also an old customer, today I will give you an extra apple!"

"Hey! Thank you." The customer took the apple and put it into his cloth bag. He waved at the stall owner and said, "In my opinion, it would be better for Your Highness and His Majesty to get married. They are siblings after all. Plus, Your Highness and His Majesty are both dedicated to serving the people. With Your Highness's external support, it should be easier for His Majesty."

"Alright, alright, enough talking. It's getting late, you should go home and have dinner." Although there was no such thing as a crime for speech in the Roman Empire, the stall owner still subconsciously looked around and made sure that there were no guards around before he quickly spoke to the customer.

"Oh, oh, okay. I'll come back to buy them next time." The customer realized that what he said was a little out of line, so he nodded quickly to the stall owner, took his newly bought apples and quickly left the commercial street.

"Alas, if His Highness could be with His Majesty, life for us ordinary citizens... would be a little better, right?" The small vendor looked up at the sky and muttered to himself.

Although the citizens in Rome were generally not very poor, they were not rich either. Besides, no one would complain about having too much money, right?

Chapter 335: It’s time to express my feelings to my sister!

After speaking to Vitellius and the others for a few words and handing the newly prepared personnel appointment letter to Vitellius, Tony tiptoed and patted him on the shoulder and said, "From now on, I'll have to trouble you to take care of the British Province."

"Ah...Your Highness, you are too polite." Vitellius lowered his head somewhat flattered and said to Tony: "But...Your Highness, are you going back to Rome?"

"Yes, what's wrong?" Tony nodded.

"Ah...it's okay." Vitellius shook his head.

As far as he knew, because he arrived in the British province around the beginning of December, taking into account the handover and personnel arrangements, His Highness... would not be able to make it back to Rome in time to celebrate His Majesty's birthday.

His Majesty certainly knows this, so this time he did not ask Your Highness to rush back to Rome like he did last year.

Then the problem is coming.

Since His Majesty did not ask Your Highness to rush back to Rome...what does Your Highness plan to do this time?

Of course Tony had something to do when he went back this time.

Since Tony has put the matter of marrying Nero on the agenda, he will have to confront Nero sooner or later. And now, taking advantage of the influence of public opinion, it is the perfect time to confront Nero!

"Huh... finally... is the final battle here?" Tony breathed a sigh of relief in the carriage.

On the other side, inside the city of Rome.

"I have seen your country's betrothal gift and am very satisfied with it." Inside the main hall of the imperial palace, Nero sat on a heart-shaped throne, looking down at the envoy of the Iceni Kingdom who was kneeling not far in front of him, and said.

"Then..." The envoy looked up at Nero with hopeful eyes and opened his mouth.

"Go back and tell Queen Boudica that I will select a few auspicious dates in a few days. You can also pick a few suitable auspicious dates according to your religious beliefs. Then we can find a common day to hold the engagement ceremony for Her Royal Highness the Princess and my brother."

"Ah? This, this, this... Thank you very much, Your Majesty!" The envoy was stunned for a moment, then kowtowed in surprise to express his gratitude.

The envoy naturally knew about the Boudicca Rebellion in Britain. Although it was caused by the coercion of Decianus, the rebellion was ultimately launched by Boudicca. Although Tony had returned the territory of the Iceni Kingdom and acknowledged that the treaty signed with it was still valid, but... according to normal logic, Your Majesty should have some difficulties, right?

For example, the bride price is not enough.

But what I didn’t expect was that His Majesty agreed so quickly!

"Well, go down." Nero waved his hand tiredly and said.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The envoy also saw the fatigue on His Majesty's face, so he stood up tactfully and slowly left the main hall.

The reason why Nero was tired was because the public opinion in the city made her a little exhausted.

At present, the city of Rome is simply a super-large melon field, with all kinds of melons, and every force distributing melons... has its own purpose.

The followers of Isis wanted to spread the teachings of the god they worshipped and attract more people to their religion, while the believers of other Egyptian gods were relatively simple. They really just wanted to spread their religious beliefs, so they promoted Egyptian mythology in the city.

To be honest, these two groups of people did not create much gossip. Isis's was a little better, after all, they had the benefit of group sex, and some gimmicks that were enough to attract men, while the other Egyptian gods were a bit embarrassing, because not only did they not have enough gimmicks, but in the current environment, few people were willing to listen to their religious stories.

No matter how interesting your religious stories are, they are just legends. They are not like other stories which are all real facts!

But for Nero, the mysterious third-party force... is really a headache.

Because Nero knew nothing about the background of this third-party force, she had no idea what the other party was planning, nor why they were working so hard to promote the holy marriage of blood relatives. So she was very worried. What if the other party planned to push this topic to the top and then make a Jedi reversal? That would be really funny.

Therefore, the only way is to arrange everything before this Jedi reversal happens, such as the marriage between Princess Ryan and her brother, and... the engagement between herself and her brother.

"Ephbia." Nero sighed, then suddenly stood up and spoke loudly to the captain of the guards outside the gate with a solemn expression.

"Your Majesty." Hearing the voice of her own majesty, Evebia hurriedly walked in from outside the hall and knelt on one knee in front of Nero.

"Ephbia, please go and make the arrangements. I want to hear the following rumors in the city. First, His Royal Highness will marry Princess Ryan of the Iceni Kingdom soon. Second... I have arranged another partner for my brother."

"Your Majesty..." Ifubia looked up in surprise. She knew that His Majesty liked His Royal Highness, and that He had been worried about the previous marriage in the past few days. But no matter how worried he was, the marriage problem had to be solved, right? So it was not surprising that His Majesty reached a consensus on the marriage with the envoy of the Iceni Kingdom this time. The key point was... the other person?

Your Majesty... Is it finally time to show your cards?

Your Majesty wants to marry His Royal Highness, so this must be announced to the public, right? It seems that... Your Majesty is already planning to announce this?

But will His Highness agree?

Will Your Highness agree?

Of course Your Highness will agree!