At the same time, the same dazzling sunlight shone into the eyes of Emperor Honorius, who stood proudly on a golden chariot, drawn by two white war horses, and had come to the gate next to the camp of the Guards.

Nearly noon, the sun was hovering over the majestic city gates, and in the golden light, there was a black figure, as if it was about to split the celestial body that dominated the universe in two.

Honorius kept his head tilted back and met the woman standing high above the city gate.

She was breathtakingly beautiful, her long black curly hair falling down to her waist, her ash-like face without a single line worth finding fault with, her deep eyes as black as those of a hot one buried deep in the ground. The volcanic rocks illuminated by the red light were mysterious and eerie, enchanting and dissolute, her nose was high above the protruding cheekbones, but it was only a thin one, so there was no blood, and her lips were always pursed and lost their sensual contours, which showed that she was always at work, ready to spew out that poisonous tongue that could kill by surprise.

Today, she is wearing a long black gauze dress embroidered with gold, and a complete set of gold belts carved with mysterious totems are tied around her waist, arms and wrists.

"She's finally showing up—" muttered the already faceless Emperor, "why did she show up today?"

The great general Stirico standing behind him could barely suppress the shock in his heart, as the emperor's "father-in-law", the other protagonist of today's ceremony, he could not lose his composure no matter what, because this would only make the emperor even more confused.

"You should get out of the car, Your Majesty!" he put his mouth to the Emperor's ear and reminded him in a low voice, "She is your queen mother after all, and deserves your greetings and greetings!"

The Emperor continued to groan as if he had not heard, "I heard a month ago that she had returned from Constantinople, and I was so frightened that I hid in the Imperial Palace in Milan and did not dare to come out—I had said that I would accompany Andy to the countryside to paint a picture of a young girl shepherding sheep!But then she never showed up, and I thought that she had gotten what she wanted, and had gone back to Byzantium! I had known that I would meet her here, and I would not have come to say anything!" on the shoulder, the whole face is hidden.

"Don't say childish stupid things, she's your mother, how can she leave without seeing you?I think—I think she must be worried about you, too!"

"What are you worried about me? Worried that I'm still alive? Worried that although I'm an adult, I haven't become an emperor who can take charge of my own affairs? I'm worried that I've handed over all the power to govern the country and the army, and she, the queen mother, will not be as stable as when my father was alive?" he grabbed the metal shoulder pad on the shoulders of his "father-in-law" with both hands, until his fingernails were about to break. "She's here to ask for my life, I don't want to see her, don't see her!" said the emperor, and the emperor began to cry.

"Your Majesty, your subjects are all looking at you! They are all on their knees, for they have recognized your mother, and they are all saluting her, but you-"

"I don't want to! Since I was a child, I would tremble with fear when I saw the python on her shoulder, do you dare to say that she is not the incarnation of the Medusa witch in the world? I only think that she is a thousand times more vicious than the witch, and I even suspect that her father's violent death was her——"

"Shut up!" shouted the general. But he immediately realized his gaffe, and it seemed too much to talk to the emperor in such a tone, even if he was the other party's "father-in-law".

The frightened boy was also taken aback, and he suddenly straightened up, staring at Stirico in a daze, as if he couldn't believe his ears.

"I—I mean, Your Majesty, stop there! How can you say that? How much she loves your father, and how much she has brought up three beautiful and intelligent children for her?"

"I-I-" The Emperor blinked helplessly, and strings of panicked, hot tears flowed down his cheeks.

Without waiting for him to say more, the general turned his body around with his big strong hands, and then stretched out again, holding the cold little hands tightly: "Don't be afraid, I'm here! Say hello to your queen mother, and invite her down from the city gate!"

At this point, the general tugged his hand down, and the emperor had to raise his head to face the black and sinister figure: "She was standing on it on purpose," and when he said this, Honorius was already gritting his teeth. "So that all the subjects can only prostrate themselves at her feet when they salute her—what a vain woman!"

The general nudged him lightly behind him, and the emperor slipped under his feet and reluctantly jumped off the golden chariot.

The crown on his head pressed down, and the precious stones that adorned it made it as heavy as a mountain, and the emperor felt the pressure it exerted on him more clearly: "It's terrible!" he said, not knowing whether he was talking about the weight of the crown or what he was going to do next.

The gates were lined with costumed subjects, and the cavalry and guards who had poured out to maintain order were also kneeling on one knee on the inner side of the passage, and the intoxicating smell of precious Arabian spices permeated the surroundings, and the subjects pressed their heads to the lowest level, and could not touch the ground, but the various offerings in their hands were held high, and the Emperor glanced slightly, and saw several lambs and calves that had just been slaughtered—lifted by a group of newly freed slaves— When the blood-stained body was stained, he hurriedly turned his head.

The thick red woolen cloak draped behind him was falling down his body, and the emperor knelt down on one knee, lowered his head to his chest, and stroked his chest with his right hand, he knew what he should say, but his stubborn character made him bite his lips tightly, and he just refused to swallow a word.

When the great general Stiricus saw this, he could only sigh helplessly, then cleared his throat, coughed heavily, and then said loudly: "The Supreme Virgin Mary, in the name of the splendor of heaven and earth, and the glory of Rome, welcomes the Empress Dowager to the imperial capital, and it is really a great honor for me to be able to attend today's triumphal ceremony, which makes your subjects grateful, but cannot repay your affection and love——" So saying, he stepped out of his chariot and took a few more steps forward before he fell to his knees in the middle of the city gate.

The Queen Mother Arya lowered her gaze, tilted her head slightly, and looked at her son coldly for a long time with a subtle gaze that could not tell whether it was disdain or harshness.

She also knew how much her son hated her and didn't want to see her.

From the day she learned that she was pregnant with this child, she had been raising him in a "masterpiece" way, and for nineteen years, she had never shown a trace of a mother's warmth and softness in front of her son, but instead a domineering, strong, and blunt that would always leave a painful mark on the child's heart.

And the most unbearable thing for her son is her "coldness", which is not only an attitude, but also a kind of temperament, her temperament itself, and the essence of her life.

She's like a piece of ice that has been sealed for thousands of years, and if you get close to her, you will feel a cold to the bone, and this cold will make your heart be torn all the time, ravaged, and destroyed—so it will hurt and tear your heart out.

Therefore, in the memory of the son, his mother can only be equated with one word for himself, and it is downright, that is, - harm!

The Emperor wanted to meet the gaze too, but he couldn't—he didn't even dare touch it. So, he had to bury his head so deep that he couldn't go any deeper, and in the end he couldn't even breathe.

"What a spectacle this is!" he heard the Queen's voice like an icicle approaching, and she was supposed to be walking down the gates, along the golden ladder that the slaves had erected for her. "My great general, who is as brave and valiant as Mars, you seem to be the glorious son of Jupiter and Juno, Stiricus who is admired and loved by all the people, tell me how to decorate your triumphal ceremony, all the temples and temples on the seven sacred mountains of Rome have been emptied by you? And these warriors of extraordinary fitness, tall and strong dead soldiers, there are thirty or forty thousand people, right? How did you get there? All the gladiatorial schools all over the empire have poured out for you, right?"

The general hurriedly explained in a sincere panic: "I have made you smile, beautiful and noble queen mother, most of them are barbarians who invaded the border and were captured alive by your warriors. Of course, to your delight and delight you, there are also 5,000 elite gladiators carefully selected from gladiatorial schools around the world—"

"Are they just elites? They should all be battle-hardened gods of hell, right?"

"If you say that, you're really lifting them up to the clouds! But barely count, the most inexperienced gladiator among them has been killed for nearly five years, to say the least!"

"Five years, to survive, to be unscathed -- oh my God, it's a miracle! Every single one of them is a miracle!"

"That's why they're worthy to put on a show for you," the general continued, and these words sounded like compliments, but in the Roman Empire in ancient times, it would be a great sin of disrespect for a courtier not to speak to a king or concubine in such tone and language. "If you can please be a little happy, and after the fierce gladiatorial battle, they will be able to spare a cheap life of their own, then—then please give them a gift!"

"Well, I am afraid that all the poets, lawyers, senators, and orators in the Imperial Palace together will not be able to match your eloquence! Even though you are the great general of Western Rome, I always feel that you are still condescending!" At this time, the "beautiful and noble queen mother" had come to the great general, and she stretched out her hands, palms facing up, and grasped the ends of the two metal shoulder pads, and then gently lifted them up, and Stirili stood up. When his eyebrows rose to the same height as the Queen Mother's tender red lips, the hard eyebrows suddenly received a cold kiss.

Stillico shuddered imperceptibly, but he immediately raised his eyes and looked passionately and obsessively at Arya's delicate face—despite his age, the heavens seemed to be very fond of this frosty stunner. Perhaps it is precisely because she is "cold as frost" that she does not age like frost.

She was his childhood lover, and the two lived next to each other, and the two had no guesses. Later, fearing Stilicko's "unclean" Vandal bloodline, and coincidentally encountering an opportunity to cling to the Emperor's grace, Arya's father forcibly pushed his only daughter onto the bed of the former Emperor Theodosius.

This marriage seems to be happy and impeccable, and Arya has given birth to two princes and a princess.

Theodosius had been on a long expedition abroad, and Stiricus was always at his side as a great general and the most favored courtier. The deep love at the beginning was suppressed in my heart, and it must not be revealed in the slightest. In the endless days and nights of fighting on the frontier field, Stirico could only rely on drinking spirits to relieve the pain in his heart. Many years later, according to the emperor's instructions, he married a noble woman who could only preserve the royal wealth and military strength by relying on the power of his family, and gave birth to two beautiful daughters. Today, the eldest daughter has married far away to Byzantium and became the empress of the Eastern Roman Emperor Arcadius. The second daughter is also approaching adulthood, and Stirico is planning to find an appropriate time to marry her to the Western Roman Emperor Hono.

Ten years ago, the first emperor Theodosius died suddenly, and on his deathbed entrusted his two young sons to Stilicus. Another widow who was never entrusted was his empress Arya, the general's earlier beloved lover.

Over the years, Stilico has taken great care of her.

It's just that the resurgent love can't be shown either—in the next 3,000 days and nights, they really did it.

At this moment, the hundreds of thousands of subjects who were kneeling on the ground near the city gate would certainly not see the scene that had just happened, and no one dared to raise their heads, including the emperor. But they are also wondering, why did the queen mother and the general greet each other for so long, but they didn't let everyone calm down?

After kneeling for a quarter of an hour, hasn't the vanity of the "Queen of the Iceberg" been satisfied?

"Y-how can you-" Styrico said almost in a breathless voice, his mouth complaining, but his eyes full of joy.

"I just kissed your brow like a mother, my eternal little boy—it's been nearly two years since I went to Constantinople to pray for the Eastern and Western Empires, and we've only seen you there in a hurry, and you—don't you miss you as much as I do?" Arya clenched her lover's fingers tightly, twisting them around as if she couldn't break them. Tears welled up in her cold eyes for a while, and it was like suddenly seeing a gorgeous rose that had been sealed for thousands of years from a piece of commonplace ice, so fanatical and bewitching, that kind of desperate tenderness, it almost knocked Stirico down.