Spartacus : Vance Legacy

Author's Thoughts: This is chapter 1 of Arc 2. Actually, I was supposed to send it when all 3 chapters were finished, but I thought there might be a new solution for this, so I'm sending 1 chapter first.

The night was cold. Ulysses pushed open his door, then quickly pulled Ilithyia, Licinia, and Aemilia inside before closing and locking it behind him. The distant screams and roars of fire now faded, muffled by the thick walls.

Inside, silence felt deafening. The three noblewomen leaned against the wall, their bodies trembling violently, their expensive gowns now stained with blood and soot. Their faces were pale with shock. Aemilia whimpered softly, her hands covering her mouth, her eyes staring blankly ahead.

Ulysses said nothing. He walked to the table, poured four goblets of wine with a steady hand, then handed them one by one. His own hand did not tremble. The adrenaline from the fight still burned within him.

Licinia was the first to take the goblet, downing it quickly as if it were water. Ilithyia accepted hers with a brief nod, her sharp eyes scanning every corner of the room, her political mind already at work. Aemilia only stared at the goblet, her sobs intensifying.

"Sextus... he..." Aemilia could not finish her sentence, her voice breaking.

"He is gone," Ilithyia said, her voice sharp and utterly devoid of sympathy. "Now is not the time for tears. Now is the time to think."

Ilithyia stared intently at Aemilia. "You are now a widow, Aemilia. A wealthy widow. And a wealthy widow without a male protector is easy prey in this city. Sextus's relatives will descend like vultures to seize your inheritance."

Ilithyia's cruel words struck Aemilia like a slap. Her sobs ceased, replaced by a new, deeper expression of fear. She understood. Her husband's death was not just a grief. It was a political and financial crisis for her.

Aemilia looked at the two noblewomen before her, then her gaze shifted to Ulysses. He was the man who had saved her life. Amidst her panic and fear, a realization began to form in her eyes. In this room, among the four of them, there was one person who held the power to change everything.

She did not just need a protector. She needed an ally. She needed a husband.

A tense silence filled the room. Aemilia looked at Ulysses, her eyes filled with fear now also showing a glimmer of desperate hope. Licinia paced restlessly, while Ilithyia merely observed, her expression as still and unreadable as carved marble.

Ulysses knew this was his moment. He broke all protocol, approaching Aemilia who was still seated. He knelt before her, a gesture that made Ilithyia and Licinia freeze.

"Domina Aemilia," Ulysses said, his voice soft yet firm, cutting through the silence. "What Domina Ilithyia says is true. You need a protector. A husband to be the head of your household in the eyes of the law."

He looked directly into Aemilia's eyes. He could sense the woman's fear. He made a decision. Burn ten Essence. Activate Subtle Influence.

Cold energy flowed from him. His voice now sounded deeper, more convincing. "You need someone who can guard your assets, someone who will not betray you, and someone who owes you their life. Someone like me."

The proposal hung in the air. A mad proposal. A former slave proposing to an honorable noble widow.

Ilithyia stared at him with undisguised shock. Licinia stopped pacing, her eyes wide.

But Aemilia, under the influence of Subtle Influence, did not see it as madness. She saw it as the only way out. She saw a strong man who had saved her, offering protection. The logic and security of the proposal overshadowed all social rules in her mind.

Slowly, Aemilia nodded. "Yes," she whispered. "Yes."

"NO!"

The shout came from Licinia. Her face, which had been merely agitated, now flushed with anger. She walked closer, looking at Ulysses with a betrayed glare.

"You can't!" she hissed. "You... you are mine!"

"Calm yourself, Licinia," Ilithyia said with a bored tone. "This is a clever political move."

"This isn't about politics!" Licinia retorted, her eyes now tearing up with anger and something else. Her hand unconsciously moved to her belly. "I... I won't let the father of my child marry another woman."

The new silence was now far heavier than before. Ilithyia, for the first time, lost her composure. Her eyes widened, staring at Licinia's belly, then at Ulysses.

Aemilia, who had just felt a glimmer of hope, now looked shattered again.

Ulysses stood silently in the middle of the storm he had just created.

Licinia's words hung in the tense air, sharper than any sword. Pregnancy. A child. Its father a former slave. This scandal was enough to destroy not just one, but three noble families at once.

Aemilia stared at Licinia in horror. Ilithyia, after her initial shock, showed a different expression. Her eyes, moments before filled with shock, now narrowed and gleamed with a familiar, sharp calculation. She did not see a problem. She saw an opportunity to bind everyone in the room to her.

"Sit," Ilithyia said, her voice calm but full of authority. For the first time, she took command. "Everyone. We will discuss this like Romans."

They all sat, the tension between them almost palpable. "The problem is clear," Ilithyia continued, looking at Licinia, then Aemilia. "You," she said to Licinia, "need a husband to give the child a name. And you," she said to Aemilia, "need a husband to protect your assets." She then turned to Ulysses. "And you, gladiator, are caught in the middle."

"There's only one solution," Licinia said stubbornly. "He must marry me."

"And leave Aemilia to be prey for her relatives?" Ilithyia countered. "No. That is foolish."

The discussion was fierce. Full of arguments about law, family honor, and inheritance. Ulysses remained silent, listening, letting them realize for themselves how complicated the problem they faced was. He waited for the right moment.

Finally, as they reached an impasse, he spoke. "There are two problems," Ulysses said, his calm voice immediately drawing their attention. "First is the mark on my shoulder. Second is my background."

He looked at them one by one. "I have a solution for both."

He reached for a small knife on the table, the same knife he had used to kill Ashur. He rolled up his tunic, revealing the blistered slave mark on his shoulder. Before anyone could stop him, he heated the tip of the knife over the oil lamp flame.

"What are you doing?!" Licinia shrieked.

Ulysses did not answer. With a hardened jaw, he pressed the hot iron tip onto the slave mark on his own shoulder.

SSSSHHH!

The smell of burning flesh filled the air. He did not scream, only a suppressed growl escaped through his clenched teeth. He scraped the hot knife, destroying the mark's shape into a new, irregular, and horrific burn.

He then dropped the knife. "The first problem," he said, panting from the pain. "Will heal into a battle scar." He knew Minor Healing would accelerate it.

The three women stared at him with a mixture of horror and awe.

"And for the second problem," Ulysses continued, looking directly at Ilithyia. "My name is not Vance. It was a name I took to survive. My family descends from a respected legion commander, who lost everything due to political betrayal generations ago. I am the last of my line, kidnapped by bandits when young and sold into slavery. My knowledge of military tactics is no coincidence. It is my inheritance."

A perfect lie. A story that could not be proven or disproven. A story that offered them all a way out.

Ilithyia looked at him for a long time, analyzing. Then, a cunning smile slowly formed on her face. She saw the solution. "You will marry Licinia," she said to Ulysses. "The child will be born into a legitimate family. And you, with your 'newly discovered' background, will have a claim."

She then turned to Aemilia. "And for you, we will find another husband. An honorable man from a family we can control. A puppet husband who will protect your name on paper." She looked at Ulysses again. "And you, as an ally of this house, will be her unofficial protector."

The agreement had been made. A dangerous alliance born of slaughter, desire, and lies, had now formed.