"..."
"What... what weird things are you saying?"
Boudica looked at Ian, her expression a little awkward.
"What do you mean by 'finding that time again on the streets of Rome'—it sounds like you've mastered some kind of magical spell."
"I certainly don't have any magical spells," Ian said, shaking his head. "But I think this might be something more useful than magic."
"..."
Boudica looked Ian up and down.
She couldn't sense that he was lying. His words seemed incredibly sincere, and he looked very confident in his promise.
Should she agree?
The Queen of Britannia remained silent and didn't make a decision for a long time.
Seeing her like this, Ian continued.
"Boudica, I'm not trying to trick you."
"This is truly just a compensation for your past—if I had to say, I just want you to see what the real Rome is like under His Majesty's rule."
"If you feel uncomfortable at any point, you can stop at any time."
"..."
If she only felt a surface-level sincerity before, Boudica now believed that he was being completely truthful.
After all—
He mentioned the Roman emperor, the young woman named Nero.
Surely he wouldn't dare use his emperor's name to fool people, right?
Thinking of this, Boudica finally nodded.
"I understand."
"Seneca, since you're so persistent—then I'll leave it to you."
"Okay," Ian nodded.
"I'll be back in two days."
[You left the cell.]
[You were going to see Nero—after all, taking Boudica out of the prison to tour the streets of Rome was a bit beyond the line.]
[Even though you knew that you could have secretly taken Boudica out using Nero's name, and no one would report it to Nero.]
[But you still insisted on telling her about it.]
[Because you knew she was both your emperor and your lover.]
[In that case, you should share this decision with her.]
Late at night.
As usual, Ian and Nero met again.
While they weren't officially a married couple, they had already tried many things that were only suitable for a married couple.
Right now, Ian and Nero were lying on the same bed.
The young woman's beautiful green eyes were filled with the joy of playing with her lover, a look that would be absolutely impossible to see when she was handling political matters.
"Hmm~ The teacher who is so impressive in front of others has become my personal slave," Nero said, gently holding the man's hand.
"I have a feeling that one day, my teacher will become a useless person who can't live without me."
The words themselves were quite taboo, but coming from Nero's mouth, they had a cute twist to them.
Ian looked at her like this and couldn't help but feel a little more love for her.
However—
The man also knew that he wasn't just here to play games with her.
Although he really enjoyed the flirting, he knew he had to talk to Nero about Boudica.
"Nero," the man called out.
"Hmm?"
Nero looked up at the person she deeply loved.
"Teacher, are you calling for mercy right now—hmm... it's not impossible for me to let you go. You just have to call me 'my love'~"
"Hmm, you can't, can you?"
"My love," Ian replied to Nero's request without a second thought.
"Eh?!"
Nero's fair face, which had been full of the confidence of a winner, suddenly turned a bright red, symbolizing a complete defeat.
"You... what did you just call me?! Do you dare to say it again?"
"My love," Ian replied again, cleanly. "Did you hear me? If you didn't, Teacher can say it until you understand."
"That's, that's enough!"
Nero stopped the verbal attack from Ian.
This request was something the young woman had heard from lovers joking around, and she had only asked for it just now with the thought of teasing him.
She never expected... that he would just say it without even thinking.
It was too embarrassing!
Looking at Nero's cute, blushing face that she couldn't hide, Ian felt his heart beating wildly.
He held the hand she had reached out to him, as if he had just grabbed a precious treasure.
"Then let Teacher add one more thing—Teacher has indeed become a useless person who can't live without Nero."
"So, I can only come to see you every night."
"..."
A hint of joy was added to Nero's blushing face.
"Teacher is a big pervert," she said, sounding disgusted, but her tone was happier than usual.
A cold breeze blew in from the window, made a turn in the silent night, and then went back outside.
Everything was the same as usual.
Nero lay in front of him, incredibly well-behaved.
After finishing all of this, she showed off her achievements like a victor.
"It seems Teacher can only be my slave forever~"
"Hmm, what a delightful and great success."
Nero's visible happiness gave Ian a little more confidence.
After thinking it over, he said, "Nero, there's something about Boudica that I want to talk to you about."
"..."
When Boudica's name was mentioned, Nero's face immediately darkened a little.
Just as the Queen of Britannia disliked this Roman emperor, the Roman emperor also disliked the Queen of Britannia.
The reason was simple.
Ever since she started her rebellion, her teacher always mentioned her, either intentionally or unintentionally.
Even though she knew he couldn't have feelings for her, Nero still really disliked the feeling of hearing another girl's name from his mouth.
Her possessiveness over him was just like her possessiveness over Rome.
"Why bring her up again? Haven't we already captured her five times? I even defeated her with my own hands in the arena!"
"What else do you want to do now, Teacher?"
Nero's tone was not very friendly, and Ian completely understood why she had this attitude.
After all, the two of them were enemies. It would be strange if Nero didn't get angry hearing him bring her up all the time.
But—
The more this happened, the more Ian knew how important it was to clear up the misunderstanding.
"Nero, here's what happened."
[You told Nero the truth about the Britannia uprising, from start to finish.]
[All the problems actually stemmed from her wicked mother—without her ambition, there would have been no rebellion from Boudica today.]
[Nero's expression became surprised in an instant.]
[It was clear that she hadn't expected the truth to be this way.]
"This?!"
Nero shook her head in disbelief.
She had imagined many reasons for Boudica's uprising, but she never expected that the one who started it all would be her own vicious mother.
"Teacher, you're not trying to fool me, are you?"
"Are you weaving this lie to achieve the goal of saving her?"
"Nero, how could you see me as that kind of person?"
Ian looked at the young woman in front of him.
"Would Teacher lie about something like this, just to be exposed by you later—Britannia will return to Rome sooner or later. When that happens, the truth will be crystal clear to you, won't it?"
"..."
Nero did not refute Ian's words.
She truly didn't believe that her teacher would lie about something like this, nor did she believe that he would really join forces with her to create a lie just to save Boudica.
And—
Nero looked at her teacher's hand, which was still in hers.
It didn't move at all when he was saying those things.
The body's instincts couldn't be hidden—this meant that her teacher was telling the truth.
Ian didn't know about Nero's hand-based lie-detector method. He quickly continued.
"Nero... do you still not believe what Teacher said?"
"No, I believe you," Nero said, denying Ian's statement. "I just want to know how Teacher found out about this."
"You... should be the same as me and have never personally been to that place called Britannia, have you?"
"Then where did Teacher's information come from?"
"..."
As soon as he mentioned this, Ian subconsciously thought of the moment he and Boudica kissed in the prison.
He froze for a moment.
Immediately, the hand that Nero was holding reacted accordingly.
"Hmm?"
Nero frowned—she believed that her special lie-detector method was very effective.
"Teacher, why aren't you answering me? Is there something you can't tell me?"
"No, there isn't," Ian waved his hand. "Because Boudica told me herself."
No reaction.
It seemed that the big-chested woman had indeed said it herself.
Although this problem was solved, Nero realized a new problem at the same time.
"Then this doesn't make sense."
"I remember that woman named Boudica clearly hated my Rome, and Teacher and I are the ones who led the Roman army."
"Logically, shouldn't she hate Teacher? So how could she tell Teacher something like that?"
This wasn't a question that Nero thought of out of jealousy.
You had to remember that during the first battle, Boudica had openly called Nero a tyrant and a demon who oppressed Britannia. Her words were full of endless anger.
Not to mention she had been captured five times now!
"..."
Nero felt a more obvious tremor from Ian's hand.
There was something wrong, after all!
"Teacher! Are you lying to me?!"
Knowing that if this continued, let alone getting Nero to agree to the plan, Boudica's survival for the night would be a question.
"Okay, Nero, I'll be honest with you."
[You confessed to Nero about your private friendship with Boudica.]
[Of course, you selectively ignored the kiss you two shared and also ignored the fact that Boudica didn't have a husband and was still single.]
[On one hand, you knew Nero would definitely be angry about it, and on the other hand, you didn't want her to know about your illness.]
[If a lie could bring pain, then the truth would only make things worse.]
[This kind of insignificant disguise would bring more happiness.]
"..."
Nero looked at the man in front of her, and her eyes were filled with complex emotions.
"So—Teacher, you went to her willingly to make her completely surrender to my Rome?"
"Yes, that's exactly right," Ian nodded. "Nero, Britannia is a very sensitive place, and I can't let it affect your position."
This was not an exaggeration by Ian.
After all, Nero's third adoptive father, Claudius, had made a vow of gold on this land. If it wasn't handled well, it would likely cause a lot of trouble within Rome again.
"I see." Nero's tone softened a little.
"Then why isn't it me who is with her?"
"That's not suitable, Nero," Ian explained. "You are the emperor of Rome, and Boudica is just a defeated general."
"If you were to take her out to do something like this, wouldn't it be no different from a public display?"
"Also—"
Ian took a deep breath.
"I think if Boudica isn't lying, Rome is, to some extent, the culprit that led to her downfall today."
"Nero, I think this is the compensation she deserves. What do you think?"
"..."
Nero didn't directly answer Ian's words but fell into a long period of thought.
It was clear that she didn't really agree with Ian's idea, but she also felt that there was a little truth to it.
In the end, the young emperor of Rome chose to side with her teacher.
"I understand."
"In that case, I will personally grant Teacher permission to carry out this compensation."
"Okay." Ian breathed a sigh of relief.
"I will definitely do a good job of this—Nero, you can rest assured."
"..."
What Ian didn't know was that Nero felt her lover's hand in hers still trembling slightly, and she had a lot of doubts in her heart.
Now that she thought about it—
Ever since he confessed that he had a private friendship with Boudica, his hand had been trembling slightly.
Could it be... that there was something she didn't know about?
Nero sat up slightly and looked at the man she deeply loved.
No.
If she didn't figure it out, she would always feel a sense of lying when she looked at him.
She would have to secretly follow them—and in a way that they wouldn't find out.
Yes, that's the plan!
Nero thought this and secretly made up her mind. But at this moment, she felt a hand on her head.
She looked up and saw Ian's slightly complicated expression. He quickly said:
"Nero, I love you no matter what."
"Hmm?!" This confession made Nero freeze for a moment, but she quickly responded: "Hmm~ Me too!"