Heir of Aurelian

Marcellus descended from the staircase outside his villa after having a conversation with Placidia about their niece Pulcheria. The girl was located outside the palace in the gardens, playing within the large fountain that was more like a pool than anything else.

Upon seeing the girl enjoying herself to such an extant, rather than looking depressed like she had since first coming to Rome, Marcellus smiled, and for the first time in a long time began to strip himself out of his armor, so that he could join Pulcheria in the fountain.

The moment he snuck up behind the girl and splashed her with some water, she looked around with a pouting expression before noticing that rather than one of her siblings; it was the filthy pagan who had splashed her. The moment Pulcheria saw this, her expression turned to one of wrath, which only caused Marcellus to wear a bitter smile as he approached his niece.

"Pulcheria, your aunt wanted me to have a word with you. Do you have a moment to speak?"

The girl gazed around at the yard and noticed that she was completely alone with her uncle and had no excuse to run away from him. Thus, she sighed and sat down at the edge of the fountain, waiting for the man to speak.

Marcellus naturally took this as a cue that she had accepted his request and thus sat down next to her before asking a question.

"So, your aunt tells me that you have been asking about your father and uncle. Is this true?"

Pulcheria bit her lip, stubbornly refusing to reveal that she had indeed been asking her aunt Placidia about this topic. However, Marcellus simply saw this an admission of guilt, and thus he sighed before staring off into the sunset. He quickly began to spin his tale.

"I knew your uncle very well, more so than your aunt. As for your father, I met him on several occasions, and I can say with certainty he was sightly better tan Honorius. I suppose I shall startwith your uncle.

Pulcheria, you deserve to know the truth. Your uncle Honorius was a petty, indolent, vicious, and jealous man who cared only about one thing. Please. For years, he sat idly by and watched the Empire bleed, and on more than one occasion punished those who were loyal to him out of bitter acts of envy.

In the end, after over a decade of allowing Rome to burn in the background, Honorius was swayed by a particularly dreadful individual into killing his protector. Who was a man very important to your aunt and I. After which he had kidnapped my mother in an attempt to force me to willingly present myself for an execution. Why, you might ask? Because he was massacring all those who were still loyal to Stilicho.

I ended up leading a rebellion against him, and in doing so, he had my mother tortured to the point where she eventually died from her mistreatment. That is the kind of man your uncle Honorius was. As for your father, though he did not live long enough to commit any such atrocities, he was by all accounts a feeble, meek man who was completely inept at ruling over the eastern half of the empire.

You wanted to know why I am emperor of Rome, while your family has been the ruling dynasty for the last few decades? Well, it is because I was forced into such a position after being mistreated by your uncle. I had two options: meet an unjust death at the hands of Honorius, and in doing so condemn my love ones to a similar fate. Or rebel against the Emperor, and claim the crown for myself.

I must assure you, I did not wish to be emperor. In fact, I was perfectly happy with my position of being a General; it was a job that I not only enjoyed, but excelled in. Now, I am the Emperor, and it is my job to steer Rome off of its path of destruction, and into a new golden age. As for who my successor is, that all depends on the type of Government I reform the Empire into. For all you know, your brother will succeed me."

Pulcheria sat in silence for several moments, thinking about everything that Marcellus had told her. She barely knew her father, as the man had passed away when she, like the rest of her siblings, was still very young. Nor did she know her uncle well. Despite this, she was not inclined to believe what Marcellus had said. If not for the fact that when she spoke of her father and uncle, her aunt appeared to become deeply distressed, and avoided the topic.

Placidia's reactions to the mention of her brothers was indeed some form of evidence that Marcellus words were true, despite this Pulcheria refused to believe him, because at the end of the day he was a pagan, something she who had an extraordinarily religious upbringing could not find herself to accept. Thus, after thinking in silence for several moments, she stood up from her seat, and glared at Marcellus before cursing him for telling the truth about her father and uncle.

"I do not believe you. My father and uncle were good christian men, and you are a godless heathen! There is no way that men who hold christ in their heart could possibly be so wicked and incompetent as you claim. In fact, I believe that you have brainwashed my aunt with your lies, so that you can paint yourself as a tragic hero, when you are really nothing more than a treacherous villain!"

After saying this, Pulcheria did not wait for a response and quickly rushed off into the palace to get away from Marcellus, who simply sat back on the edge of the fountain and sighed heavily. He knew that by revealing the truth about her family to the girl, that she would react poorly, but still, he did not regret what he had said. For the truth was one of the few things worth being despised for, and for that, he would not apologize.

Thus, after taking in the scenery for a few moments, Marcellus re-adorned his armor before heading back to the palace to get back to his work. Whether Pulcheria would eventually come around to the idea of him being her guardian, he did not know.