My XX deal with Sister Nero

Amid the discussions and attention of the Roman citizens, February 15th finally arrived.

"Your Highness." It was still dark in the day. Tony, who had just been awakened, stretched lazily helplessly at the sound of Ola's soft voice, and let his maids manipulate him like a puppet.

"Your Highness, today is your engagement day, please be happy." Seeing Tony's sad face, Ola reminded him while helping him put on the cumbersome toga.

"Haha." Tony pulled the corners of his mouth, revealing a very ugly smile, and then said: "Tell me, who would be in a good mood so early in the morning?"

Ola lowered his head and didn't dare to answer.

This kind of words... I guess only a noble like Your Highness would dare to say it?

For people like Aola, who can almost be called the bottom of society, who doesn't get up early in the morning to work in order to make money? Who would have trouble with money?

Only this little prince has no worries about food and clothing, and just wants to live the life he wants every day.

Forget it, forget it. Looking at the four or five girls of different ages surrounding him, Tony sighed. Well, it was a political marriage. No matter how much he resisted, it was the trend of the times that His Royal Highness the Prince could not resist. At least... my sister liked me, and the fiancée she prepared for me was a cute loli princess, not a burly barbarian from the grassland or a black man from the Kingdom of Aksum.

"Your Highness, you have finally grown up." Just when Tony was silent, Tita, who was standing not far away preparing some accessories for Tony, suddenly spoke and sighed like an old father.

...I've grown up a long time ago, okay! Tony looked at Tita helplessly. Although he already knew that Tita really regarded herself as Tony's sister, but...what's wrong with your fatherly tone, Fatty?

Forget it, as long as you are happy.

Togas are very troublesome to wear, especially those worn to important ceremonies.

After about an hour of busy work, with the help of several maids, Tony finally put on this intricate and gorgeous toga.

"Brother, are you ready?" Just when Tony had just put on his clothes, the door was suddenly pushed open, and our Majesty walked in from outside with an excited look on his face. He looked at Tony in a gorgeous toga and nodded, saying, "Not bad, not bad, my brother looks a lot more handsome~"

"Hehe, your brother has always been handsome, okay~" Tony coughed lightly and said shamelessly.

"Yes, yes, my brother has always been handsome~" Nero laughed, came to Tony and helped him tidy up his clothes, looking at Tony with a puzzled expression: "Brother, you have grown up."

???

What happened today?! Why do people say this?!

Tony subconsciously looked down between his legs. His pants were on! You guys shouldn't be able to see it!

Nero didn't notice Tony's little action. Wearing a mythical dress, she had only one thought in her mind, which was to make this engagement ceremony as grand as possible.

As mentioned before, Roman marriage mainly consists of three steps. The first step is engagement. For common people, this step is very simple. They go to the girl's house early in the morning, swear an oath in front of the neighbors, and then put a ring on their fiancée.

After the engagement ceremony, the man and woman will go to the temple to find a priest, who will determine an auspicious day for the wedding. Then, when the time comes, they will get married.

Generally speaking, the period from engagement to marriage is neither long nor short, and most of the time it is maintained within a year, but Tony, the interval between engagement and marriage is... a bit long.

Nero and Boudica had already decided on the engagement date, which Tony could not change, but as for marriage... Tony was holding on to his last line of defense, which was to do it after they grew up.

It was for this reason that Nero planned to compensate the Iceni Kingdom, for example... holding the engagement ceremony in a grand manner.

Starting from last night, Nero mobilized thousands of slaves to decorate the road from the imperial palace to the Iceni Kingdom's residence. The purpose was to let Boudica know that the Roman Empire would not neglect the Iceni Kingdom because of the new wedding system or because her brother wanted to get married later.

"Then let's go, brother~" Nero took his brother's hand, and with the help of several maids, got on the carriage outside the bedroom door.

"This..." Tony couldn't help but be dazed as he looked at the carriage that looked almost brand new.

This carriage, if I remember correctly, was Nero's personal carriage.

As the current emperor of the Roman Empire, Nero is well-known for his love of luxury. This carriage, from the horse to the carriage, exudes the word luxury without exception.

The horses were top-grade war horses. In the army, these horses used to pull carriages were mostly ridden by generals. As for the carriage... it was made of the finest golden sandalwood, and a standard Roman Empire flag was painted on the outside with red lacquer and gold foil. The interior of the carriage was filled with all kinds of gems, and even the cushion under Tony's butt was woven with the finest silk.

???

Okay, you have money and you are great.

However, what Tony didn't expect was that as soon as he left the palace, he was shocked by the scene in front of him.

The red carpet, the red carpet that seemed to have no end, stretched along the avenue outside the palace from the palace gate to beyond his sight. Tony initially estimated that this red carpet... might be laid from here all the way to the inn of the Iceni Kingdom?

In addition, Nero mobilized five hundred guards, wearing shiny armor, holding spears or the imperial eagle flag, and lined up on both sides of the carriage. On both sides of the red carpet were the guards wearing bright armor and the city defense militia responsible for maintaining law and order. They stood on both sides of the red carpet with weapons in their hands. The guards were responsible for serving as ceremonial guards, while the militia was responsible for maintaining law and order on both sides of the road.

After all, His Highness' engagement was something worthy of celebration for the citizens of Rome. Many people brought flower baskets to both sides of the road, wanting to send their blessings to His Highness in their own way.

"Wow... I'm just getting engaged, not getting married, is it that serious..." Tony couldn't help but be moved as he watched the people on both sides of the road and in the houses next to him sprinkle flowers all over the sky towards him.

To be honest, he did not feel that he had made any contribution to Rome. After all, whether he was conquering Parthia or asking His Majesty to implement benevolent policies at home, his fundamental purpose was to marry his sister. The former was just to enhance his fame, and the latter was just a means to win over the people.

Tony is not a good man, nor a politician, he is just a "despicable foreigner" who wants to marry Nero.

Chapter 354 Engagement Ceremony (Part 2)

Looking through the window at the excited Roman citizens on both sides of the road, Tony sighed with relief, which reminded him of the mayor of his hometown when he was a child in his previous life.

Tony's hometown was in chaos. The inaction of the police led to the growth of evil forces. Later, the first thing the new mayor did after taking office was to crack down on evil forces. At the same time, he formulated a number of livelihood policies, which led to a continuous improvement in the city's public security and other aspects. It was precisely because this mayor really brought benefits to the people that when it was later reported that the mayor was dismissed for corruption, many citizens said that corruption was a small matter. As long as he did practical things for the people, it didn't matter how much he embezzled! As for the fine, at most, we, the whole city, will pay it for him!

Tony is in a similar situation now.

He did do a lot of practical things for the Roman people, but the fundamental purpose of doing these practical things was actually to win over the grassroots people and use them to fight against the Senate.

For example, Tony started planning something new two days ago.

As we all know, the city of Rome has four aldermen, and each of them has several deputies. These aldermen and their deputies form the administrative body of the city of Rome.

But the city of Rome is so big after all, can they manage it?

Of course it’s impossible to control it.

For convenience, the four aldermen divided the city of Rome into several districts, each of which was divided into several visii (streets). They hoped to manage the entire city more conveniently through this method.

But the problem is that the Vesi and the District are merely administrative divisions in name only, and they do not have their own administrative units. Tony plans to first build the administrative agencies of the Vesi and the District in Rome, and then on this basis, imitate the new government structure currently being promoted in the British province to refine the functions of officials in Rome.

After all... Although the city of Rome is bright and beautiful today, the vague functions and unclear division of labor of government agencies have led to filth and dirty environment in many alleys.

Of course, the reason why Tony wanted to refine these official positions was not simply to make the city of Rome more glamorous. After all, the work of these street office aunties was looked down upon by the nobles, but for ordinary citizens, they were more or less public officials and could hold their heads high and brag to others.

Forget it, let’s not think about these things for now on the engagement day, let’s just get the engagement first.

Amid the cheers of the citizens, in the rain of flowers, and under the eagle flag of the Royal Guard, Tony's carriage finally arrived at the gate of the Iceni Kingdom's inn.

"Your Highness, Your Majesty." Outside the gate, Seneca, who acted as a witness, bowed slightly to Tony and Nero who slowly walked out of the carriage.

"Thank you for your hard work, Teacher Seneca." Tony nodded to Seneca somewhat embarrassedly and reached out to pull Nero's sleeve.

Seneca has been having a headache lately.

The reason is simple, his student Nero... is not very worrying.

It is generally acknowledged that Nero is an all-round genius who can learn anything, but there is a problem.

That's Nero... She's now interested in art.

There were no public schools in that era, and wealthy people would hire various scholars to teach their children, such as Seneca, who was Nero's private tutor.

Of course, now he is also occasionally responsible for Tony's teaching.

But Seneca didn't teach these things! He taught philosophy, culture, and governance skills, which were the skills that Emperor Nero should learn, not these things that would make him lose his ambition!

It is also for this reason that the conflict between Nero and Seneca is becoming increasingly intensified. In contrast, Tony is relatively supportive of Nero in this regard.

After all, Nero is just eighteen years old now. In two thousand years, she will have just graduated from high school. She is still a child. Why can't she be allowed to do what she likes and wants to do?

"Teacher Seneca." After looking at his younger brother, Nero finally nodded to Seneca.

It's an engagement ceremony, and Teacher Seneca is a witness, so it's better not to make things too awkward at this time.

Nero thought so.

"Your Highness, Your Majesty... please." Seeing the reluctant look on his student's face, Seneca sighed, slightly turned sideways, and signaled that the two could go in.

The first step of the engagement ceremony was boring, or had nothing to do with Tony.

"Your Majesty, as Tony's sister and guardian, I now hope that Your Majesty can marry Princess Ryan to my brother."

After a long and meaningless chatter, Nero finally got to the point.

There was no way around it. To Tony, these dialogues written by the ceremonial officers themselves were simply padding the word count.

Maybe they would be suitable to be a writer in their next life.

"I have the same idea." Queen Boudica smiled slightly, called Princess Ryan, who was standing not far away in a gorgeous dress, and said, "Then I will entrust my daughter to Your Highness."

Finally it was his turn! Tony took a deep breath, then took out a silver ring from his bosom, held Princess Ryan's left hand and promised: "I can swear here that I will take good care of Her Royal Highness, will not let her suffer the slightest injustice, will not let her go hungry, will not abuse her, will let her enjoy the treatment that matches her status, will take care of her, and will love her forever."

As he spoke, Tony held the ring in his right hand and slowly put it on the middle finger of Princess Ryan's left hand.

"Woo..." Although she already knew that this was a rehearsed line, when Princess Ryan heard Tony say that he would love her forever, she was so excited that she almost cried on the spot.

"Ahem." Seeing Princess Ryan standing there in a daze, Tony coughed twice gently to remind Princess Ryan that it was her turn to speak next.

"Ah..." Princess Ryan came back to her senses after hearing Tony's cough, "Ah, I will listen to your Highness in the future, stay in the palace, don't go out casually, won't betray your Highness, won't bring shame to your Highness, and will always love your Highness deeply."

After saying this, Princess Ryan subconsciously turned her head away and quickly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

Emmmm, Tony naturally saw Princess Ryan’s actions, but he didn’t expect... that her Highness the Princess was moved to tears just like that?

Okay, okay.

"Well, both of you, please go to the Pantheon next." Seneca stood not far away, smiled at the two little princes, and said.

PS: I was supposed to update three more times, but... it thundered, so goodbye

Chapter 355 Engagement Ceremony (Part 2)

The first step of the engagement ceremony has been completed, and now it’s time to proceed to the second step.

That is to say, go to the Pantheon and announce the engagement to the gods and ancestors.

"Princess Ryan..." Tony sighed suddenly as he looked at the excited Princess Ryan. He reached out and gently held the Princess's soft hand. "Princess, there is still some distance from here to the Pantheon. Next... please join me, hand in hand, and walk this distance carefully."

Although he didn't have any strong feelings for this Lolita princess, since it was a political marriage and there were already rumors among the people that he and the princess loved each other, then... he would just act out a love drama for the people to see.

"Yeah!" After hearing Tony's words, Princess Ryan felt that she was about to faint with happiness. She subconsciously stuck close to Tony and looked at him with an obsessive look on her face, just like those little fans looking at their idols two thousand years later.

snort!

Looking at Princess Ryan clinging tightly to her brother, Nero suddenly snorted.

Although she was the one who arranged this marriage, and although she also knew that her brother had no feelings for Princess Ryan, but... this did not stop the nine-year-old Princess Ryan from having a good impression of her brother!

Humph! This little princess, it seems I have to find a way to punish her in the future!

Tony didn't know what was in his sister's mind as she walked behind him. He just simply felt that he needed to act out a love scene to tell the people and the Kingdom of Iceni that he, Tony, loved the princess very much.

Just like the road from the palace to the inn, Nero also arranged for people to lay a red carpet early on for the road from the inn to the Pantheon. At the same time, on both sides of the road, guards wearing brand new armor stood upright on the red carpet. Behind the guards were Roman citizens who were stopped outside by the militia and wanted to offer their blessings to His Royal Highness the Prince.

Holding Princess Ryan's hand, Tony smiled and waved his other hand while walking on the red carpet, waving to the Roman citizens who were showering flowers on him on both sides of the road.

Your Highness... is he so popular? Looking at the lively crowd around her and the rain of flowers in the sky, Princess Rui An became more and more obsessed with her fiancé holding her hand.

This is His Royal Highness the Prince of the Roman Empire, this is... my fiancé!

Inadvertently seeing the obsession on Princess Ryan's face, Tony sighed in his heart, perhaps... this little princess did not realize that she was just a pawn?

Although it is not known why Nero allowed Tony to marry Princess Ryan, one thing is certain, that is, Nero did not have any good plans for this marriage. She was simply using the little princess to achieve her own goals.

What about Boudica? Obviously, at the ceremony just now, Boudica had already vaguely revealed that she knew that the Roman Empire was now promoting polygamy among the nobility, but her daughter didn't know it yet. She might have meant to remind Tony to be nicer to her daughter, but from another perspective, when a mother knew that her daughter's fiancé would marry another girl in the future but still didn't refuse the marriage, it was destined. Compared with Princess Ryan, it was more important to hold on to the thigh of the Roman Empire through marriage.

Boudica...was planning to sacrifice the happiness of her eldest daughter in exchange for an alliance with the Roman Empire.

And what about our Prince?

From the first time he met Nero in Thessalonica, he had already planned to marry Nero. If it was a girl like Tita or Ola who had been with Tony for a little longer, it would be understandable for you to say that Tony had some feelings for them. After all, not only did these two spend a long time with Tony, but more importantly, these two could almost be said to take care of Tony personally. If you say that Tony had no feelings for these two girls who had taken care of him for more than a year, then you would be too cold-blooded.

But as for Princess Ryan... I still say the same thing. Tony only feels strange towards this princess whom he has never met or talked to many times. Let alone good feelings towards her. It is clear that he has no feelings at all.

Forget it, forget it, think about it carefully... this little princess is still quite pitiful. Although I don’t like her, it’s better not to make things too difficult for her.

Thinking of this, Tony subconsciously squeezed Princess Ryan's little hand.

"Your Highness?" Feeling the strength from her fiancé's hand, Princess Ryan was stunned for a moment and looked at Tony with some confusion.

"Ah...it's okay." Smiling at Princess Ryan, Tony cheered up again and waved to the Roman citizens around him.

With the blessings of the Roman citizens, Tony and his party finally arrived at the entrance of the Pantheon, which was a little distance away from the inn.

To be honest, Tony's engagement may be the most impressive engagement ceremony in the entire Julia Claudian dynasty since its inception.

Because of his doting on his younger brother and his desire to compensate the princess, as well as the fact that this marriage had certain political factors involved, Nero could be said to have put in a lot of effort to make the engagement ceremony the same as a wedding ceremony. In addition, there was also a living god in the Pantheon who was a fixture in the hearts of the Romans.

The ancestor of gods, Romulus!

That's right. Generally speaking, when nobles or royal families get engaged, they will invite a priest from the Pantheon to preside over the subsequent sacrificial ceremony. Small nobles can only invite any priest at random, while great nobles or royal families will naturally invite some well-known high priests.