Chapter 9

Marcus Hortalis was awakened by his wife.

“The son has a worse fever, he is calling you.” The wife said with tears in her eyes.

“Well, I’ll go see him, you sleep for a while.” Hortalis got up and walked to the room of little Hortalis with an oil lamp.

Little Hortalis fell down while playing on the farm the day before yesterday, and his thigh was pierced by a wooden stake. The doctor used a fine needle to pick out the splinter in his thigh and used hot ash to burn the wound.

Little Hortalis was very strong and he endured it all. But he started to have a fever yesterday, which is a bad sign, very bad!

“Hey, my baby, father is here.” Hortalis put the oil lamp beside the bed and touched his son’s forehead, which was burning hot.

“Father, will I die?”

“No, no. I won’t let you die!” Hortalis stroked his son, tears oozing from his eyes.

“It hurts so much!”

“Where does it hurt? Is it the wound?”

“My whole body hurts, father, save me.”

“How can I save you? Take you to see a doctor?”

“Okay.”

“Go to see a doctor now?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, father will take you to see a doctor now.”

Hotalis took the money and led the mule out of the animal pen. He took the money, rode on the mule Emmy, took his son from his wife, and held him facing himself. His wife covered his son’s back with sheepskin and tied him in front of Hortalis with a hemp rope.

“You must save him, save him.” His wife begged.

“He will be fine, you go back.”

“Son, father will take you to see a doctor now.” Hortalis said.

“Okay.”

Hortalis drove the mule and ran towards the city of Naples. The city was over there, he could see it, but it would take some time to run there.

“Father, someone is chasing us from behind.” Little Hortalis said in his arms.

Hortalis was startled, he turned his head and looked, the moonlight was shining on the earth clearly, and there was no one. Maybe his son was weak and dazzled.

“No one, don’t be afraid, we will enter the city soon.” Hortalis quickened his horse’s pace.

After turning a corner on the path, we got onto the Domitiana Avenue, which leads directly to Naples.

“Father, he is chasing us.” said the son.

Hotaris turned his head suddenly, but still didn’t see anyone.

“Who is chasing us?” asked Hortaris.

“Him! He is the god of death!” The son’s words became terrified.

Hotaris looked back again, but still didn’t see anything special, but he was also terrified. He waved the whip and slapped Amy’s butt to urge it to run faster.

“Father! He is going to catch up with us.” said the son.

This time, Hortaris didn’t even look back, and urged Amy even harder.

“Father! He caught me! It hurts!” the son suddenly said loudly.

Hortalis looked around in horror, still seeing nothing. He threw away the whip and hugged his son with one hand to protect him.

“Don’t catch my son! No matter which god you are, don’t catch my son! Run! Emi, run!” Hortalis shouted loudly.

The mule Emi ran like crazy, ran into the city of Naples, and ran to the doctor’s apartment.

“Stop, stop.” Hortalis pulled the reins to stop Emi and got off Emi. Emi fell down and lay on the ground twitching.

The son seemed to be asleep. Hortalis touched his forehead with his hand and it became cold.

Tears flowed out of Hortalis’ eyes like a spring. He knelt down gently, fearing that he would disturb his son in his arms. He looked up at the sky, and no star dared to come out to accept his accusation. He raised his hand and pointed at the moon, crying.

At the eleventh hour of the night (5:00), Senna woke up Little Porter.

“Wake up, take me to buy bread.” Senna pushed Little Porter.

Slaves were not entitled to sleep in, Little Porter got up obediently, and the gatekeeper also got up.

After Senna and Little Porter walked out of the door, the gatekeeper closed the door and went to look after the stove.

The bakery was not far away. On the way, Senna saw a man crying loudly. She didn’t dare to approach and walked around.

There were already many female slaves and women queuing in front of the bakery, waiting for the first batch of bread to come out of the oven.

It was very easy to distinguish between female slaves and free women. Female slaves all had short hair, and free women all had long hair. Even poor free women had to at least braid their hair to distinguish them from female slaves. So if the robbers kidnapped a woman, the first thing they did was to cut her hair.

“Oh~ Why haven’t you finished yet? If you don’t go back, the fire will go out.” A slave girl who looked like she had Egyptian descent stamped her feet anxiously.

“I would rather be beaten than go back early. I’ll let you line up in front of me.” A red-haired slave girl who might be of Celtic descent swapped places with an Egyptian descent slave girl. She continued, “The mistress is going to attend a banquet today. She has to perm her hair in the morning. If the copper pipe is heated warmer, it won’t curl her hair. If it is heated hotter, it will burn her hair. I would rather go back late and be beaten than perm the mistress’s hair. Hey~ I haven’t seen you. Which slave girl are you?”

“I can’t say.” Senna said.

“I’m Domita. What’s your name? A slave girl who can’t reveal the master’s name?” Domita asked.

“Senna.”

“I’ll let you line up in front of me. Isn’t this little Potter? You’re the slave girl of Manius’s family. Um ... You’re a pure-blooded Greek, so you’re not of the master’s blood.” Domita walked behind Senna and said.

“I was bought.” Senna said.

“It’s rare that a slave girl who is not of the master’s blood is responsible for purchasing. My mother is the mistress, my father is the coachman, and I was conceived in the carriage on a rainy night. Her father is the master, and her mother is a prostitute.” Domita said.

“Shut up Domita, I wish you were dumb.”

“My mistress, that is, my mother, said that I have the hardest mouth in my body, and my master, he said that I have the softest mouth in my body. Hey~, have you heard? Someone saw Julius crawling on the ground. He has always been domineering, and someone can control him.” Although no one paid attention to her, Domita couldn’t stop talking.

“Little Potter, have you grown hair? Let me touch it, and I’ll let you touch my breasts. My breasts are big, white, and soft. The men in the family like to touch my breasts.”

Little Potter went around Senna and hid again.

Obviously, the female slaves who came out to buy in the morning also had a circle, and most of them were house slaves with the blood of their masters.

“The bread is out, what’s the price today?” Domita asked loudly.

“Two brass coins for three.” The bakery clerk said.

“The price has increased again, so I can’t embezzle it. Damn Sicilian slaves, why do you rebel for no reason.”

Senna felt that Domita’s mistress, in addition to being her mother, should be a very gentle woman who could tolerate her to live until now.

When walking home, the dawn had risen, and Senna saw that the man was still there. He couldn’t cry anymore, and he was holding a child in his arms. She broke off a small piece of bread from the basket and put it on the child.

Back in the kitchen, Senna took out a piece of firewood from the stove and used it to burn off her hair. The ugly look that does not arouse Vicius’s interest is the good look.

“Hahahaha ~” Manya ran naked in the inner courtyard.

Vicius got up early and peed in the pottery pot first. He held the pottery pot to feed her. She ran and he chased her, so happy. She didn’t even put on her clothes. When she ran, the flesh on her chest and buttocks swayed, and Vicius’s erect penis also swayed with her running.

“Hahaha ~” She was caught by him, and the pottery pot was pushed over. But she knelt down and took his penis into her mouth.

“Pee.” Manya looked up at Vicius and said to him.

Vicius was shocked again and asked, “Pee?”

Mania smiled and nodded to him to confirm. She knew it was difficult for men to pee like this, so she waited patiently.

Finally, the warm urine rushed into her mouth, salty.

After holding a mouthful of urine, she stood up and gargled the urine in her mouth until her cheeks were sour. She spit into the pottery jar, then took a linen cloth, wrapped it around her fingers and put it into her mouth to brush her teeth. After rinsing her mouth with clean water, her mouth was refreshed.

Pour the urine in the pottery jar into the washing tub, Manya urinated into the pottery jar, and handed the pottery jar to Vitus.

“Madam, the bread is hot when I bought it.” Senna came in and took clothes to dress Manya.

“Madam, teeth.” Vitus, who was brushing his teeth with linen cloth, shouted.

Mania walked over and opened his mouth to see. Maybe he was knocked out on the battlefield. Vitus originally had half of his teeth missing in his mouth, and now there were teeth coming out of the gums in those places. She put her fingers in to touch, and it was indeed teeth. This is really unheard of, it’s a miracle!

“It’s okay, go to the vestibule to eat bread.” Manya said to Vitus with a smile.

After Vicius left, Manya stopped smiling and looked at Senna.

“Please spare me, mistress. I won’t tell anyone. I swear by the gods of Mount Olympus.” Senna immediately knelt down and begged for mercy.

“Whether this is your good luck or bad luck depends on your choice.” Manya thought for a moment and decided to give Senna a chance. After all, she still had to use a butler.