Theodosius's coup d'état was kept secretive so well that no outsiders received any news except for him and a few henchmen, and even the nobles in the opposition were shocked and surprised when the army stormed the La Maniol palace when they learned that Theodosius had made such a decision a long time ago.

However, Theodosius also made enough preparations before the coup, after controlling the situation and killing Foris by Cherno, which shocked the situation, Theodosius immediately came forward to appease the nobles present, especially several of the powerful archdukes, all of whom were promised heavy benefits by him, and other nobles also received more or less benefits, which made the nobles present although they did not express their support for his accession to the throne on the spot, but they did not strongly oppose the coup.

Theodosius was a very smart man, although he knew that the lives of these nobles were in his own hands, so he could threaten the lives of these nobles and ask them to support him, so that he could achieve his goal of ascending the throne and becoming emperor in the shortest possible time. But Theodosius did not do so, because by doing so, he would offend most of the Roman aristocracy, which would make him unable to govern the country after he ascended the throne, and might even be forced from the throne again by the alliance of these nobles in the near future.

It is precisely because of this that Theodosius, after giving his benefits, released most of the nobles very generously, but there are still a small number of nobles who are hardcore supporters of Constants II, and these people are temporarily detained. As for Constans himself, he was forced by Theodosius to write a warrant, and Theodosius' men began to take over the defense of Constantinople with it.

Originally, some nobles who were more inclined to Constans II returned home. He is still considering whether to rescue His Majesty the Emperor, which is a great achievement. But the next morning. However, the news of the death of Constantus II came, and Theodosius explained that he had committed suicide. The reason is that after the death of Foris yesterday, Constans II could not stand the death of his lover, so he committed suicide.

Although this explanation seems very reasonable, no one in the whole of Rome believes it, and according to some people who have seen the body of Constans II, the two arms, thighs, chest and other parts of the corpse all have knife wounds, and there are at least a dozen knives in total, how can a person who commits suicide cut himself more than a dozen times in a row. This is simply an insult to the intelligence of mankind!

But politics is politics, and no matter what the facts are, Theodosius insisted that Constans II committed suicide in martyrdom, and no one else could do anything about it. And after the death of Constans II, those nobles who wanted to rescue him had to give up their previous ideas.

However, although Theodosius imprisoned most of the hardcore supporters of Constans II, there were still some nobles who did not attend the conference for some reason, and a considerable number of these nobles were deeply trusted by Constans II and held important positions. Usually they can't leave at all, so they didn't attend the conference, which also allowed them to escape. Among these nobles was a veteran with a lot of power. That was Forris's father, Mutan.

Like Irina's father, Ofron, he was a veteran of the navy, and he was trusted by two generations of Roman emperors. The Roman Navy, which had been in charge of commanding the entire Black Sea strait, was responsible for the security of the entire strait. Forries also followed his father from an early age. With extensive experience in naval management and warfare, he served as consul of the Roman navy. In addition to his special relationship with Constans II, he did have real talents.

When Mutan learned of his son's death, he was immediately furious, Foris was his most valued son, he became the consul of the navy at a young age, shouldering the heavy responsibility of the prosperity of the family, but now he was killed, which made his hopes dashed, so for the usurper Theodosius, his heart was full of hatred and anger, so he immediately ordered his navy to block the entire strait, especially in the direction of Asia Minor, and strictly forbade anyone to come to Constantinople through the strait.

Theodosius had already anticipated Metan's reaction. In fact, when he was originally planned, he didn't want to kill Forris, mainly because Metan's navy controlled the Black Sea Straits, but Foris was not only the closest person to Constans II, but also his right-hand man, most of the generals in Constantinople's army were controlled by Foris, if this person did not die, then he could not really control Constantinople, so after weighing, Theodosius still chose to kill Forris.

In fact, it is true that as Theodosius expected, after the death of Foris, he easily controlled Constantinople, although Metan blocked the Black Sea Strait, which temporarily cut off his contact with Asia Minor, but Metan did not dare to attack Constantinople easily, after all, this is the capital of Rome, there are countless nobles living in the city, and even Metan's family is here, if he dares to force an attack, it will not be beneficial to both sides.

However, it was Metan's blockade of the strait that made the nobles of Constantinople hesitate, they did not rush to support Theodosius to ascend the throne as emperor, but chose a wait-and-see attitude to see how Theodosius dealt with this matter, if the other party can solve Metan, it means that Theodosius is indeed very powerful, and it is not too late to support him, if he can't even solve Metan, then his ability will also be questioned by the nobles, let alone be the emperor, I'm afraid he won't even be able to save his life.

Theodosius was also well aware of his situation, so at the beginning, he also actively approached Mutan and promised heavy benefits, hoping to gain his understanding. But Mutan is a very old-fashioned person, especially after experiencing the pain of losing his son, he can't wait to kill Theodosius with his own hands, so it is naturally impossible to reconcile with him, plus Theodosius can't be the emperor for the time being, and he has no power to order him at all, so Mutan is determined to fight Theodosius to the end.

In addition, Mutan is not a brave and unscrupulous person, he knows that Constans II has no son, so after his death, among the people who are eligible to inherit the throne, the first person is Queen Irina, so he sent someone to inform Irina as soon as he received Theodosius's coup d'état, hoping that she can come as soon as possible, and then with her prestige, Theodosius has no chance to be emperor at all.

Irina who is far away in the Iberian Peninsula is helping Li Ke to stabilize the people in the country, and is also responsible for taking care of Li Ke's diet and daily life.

But when Theodosius launched a coup d'état and the news of the death of her husband Constans II came, Irina was shocked, and even she couldn't believe that the news was true, but after several confirmations, she finally believed the cruel news, and fell into Li Ke's arms on the spot and cried bitterly.

Although she and Constans II do not have much affection, but the two are husband and wife after all, and Irina is not the kind of heartless person, so she naturally feels very sad and sad about her husband's death, but she is not an ordinary woman after all, after grief, there are two paths in front of her that she needs to choose.

The first way is to never be in Rome again, just stay and fly with Li Ke in Wu Kingdom, and be a real husband and wife, although the queen of Wu is not her, but she believes that Li Ke will definitely treat her well, and a happy life in the future will be at your fingertips.

The second way is to return to Rome at the risk of danger, and then unite with Meitan to capture Theodosius, so that he can avenge Constants II, and she will probably become the next emperor of Rome, after all, Roman law stipulates that women can also become emperors.

According to Irina's heart, the first path is undoubtedly the most suitable for her, after all, she has long been tired of complicated political life, and just wants to stay by Li Ke's side every day like now, and simply live the life she wants.

However, after two days of careful consideration, Irina chose the second path against her will, which meant that she would not only have to risk returning to Constantinople, but also that she might fall into the kind of life she was tired of in the future.

Even her father, Offron, was a little disapproving of Irina's choice, although Offron knew that if his daughter returned to Rome, she would likely become the next emperor, which would have a huge impact on his family, and even the entire family could become a real royal family. But as a father who loves his daughter, he has seen with his own eyes during this time that Irina who stays by Li Ke's side is extremely happy, especially the heartfelt smile on her face, which Offron has not seen on his daughter's face for many years.

In addition, Offron also knew that Theodosius would definitely not let Irina return to Rome smoothly, so they would definitely encounter some dangers along the way, as a father, he didn't want his daughter to be in danger, so he tried his best to block Irina's choice to return to Rome.

It's a pity that Irina is a soft and rigid character, and after identifying a way, no one can make her change her mind, and in the end, Offron had no choice but to tell Li Ke, who was temporarily hidden by Irina, about this matter.

Originally, Li Ke was really happy for a while after knowing the death of Constans II, because in his opinion, Irina never had to go back to Rome and would not have to be separated from him again, but he didn't expect Irina to make such a choice, which made him very surprised.

In addition, Li Ke still had a little misunderstanding about Irina, thinking that the reason why Irina wanted to go back was nothing more than two reasons, the first was to avenge Constans II, and the second was to become the Roman emperor. Whatever reason Irina went back, it wouldn't be a good thing for him. However, after Li Ke calmed down, he soon found that things were definitely not as simple as he thought, and Irina chose to go back, which must have a deeper meaning. (To be continued......)