Heir of Aurelian

The following morning Marcellus was hard at work. If not for his dream the night before, he may have taken the night off. However, after having such an epiphany, he could not help but get to work. During the previous night, the man had dreamt about a critical piece of technology that would revolutionize society.

At the moment, the man was drafting blueprint designs for what was essentially the world's first printing Press. With this technology, books no longer need to be written by hand. Not only would this cause their price to decrease, but would also increase the amount of literacy.

It was difficult to overhaul the education system overnight, especially when books needed to be manufactured, read, and understood by the instructors so that they could appropriately teach its contents to the youth of Rome.

With the printing press, his problems regarding the manufacture of books were solved. Thus, he hurriedly jotted away at the designs of such an astonishing device before the images faded from his mind.

There was another use of the printing press that Marcellus had thought of as he wrote away on the sheet of papyrus: Propaganda. He could manufacture leaflets and distribute them across the empire, where the literate portion of the population could understand his intent.

This would be an effective means of dispelling many of the nasty rumors which surrounded his rule. Such as the one that claimed he was a wife beater, who had forced the roman princess to marry him out of a lust for power.

Thus, the man was rather excited as he finished his draft, and sent it off for manufacture. He wanted entire manufactorums set up with printing presses, so that he could mass produce books and propaganda for all kinds. It was only after he had completed designing this newest invention did the man sigh and collapse in the back of his seat.

Two days ago, he had stayed up all night overhauling Rome's education system, and today he had spent many hours of the day slaving away at inventing the printing press. As a result, he was well and truly exhausted. It was with this in mind that he dragged himself to his feet and found his way to the bath-house that existed within the Royal Palace.

After tossing his clothes aside, and opening the door which led to the pool, Marcellus noticed he wasn't alone. Currently both Placidia, and Sigefrida were within the bath, washing each other's backs. He was slightly confused by the sight, as the two of them barely managed to get along most of the time.

Yet here they were bathing together as if it were the most common thing in the world. As a result, he could not help but scoff at witnessing such a pleasant scene.

"And here I thought you two were mortal enemies who barely got along for my sake. What made you change your mind?"

It was only now that the two women realized that their man had entered the room. Placidia was quick to reject the man's silly notions before wrapping her hands around Sigefrida's substantial bosom.

"What are you talking about? Sigefrida's a sweetheart! You must be careful, or I might just steal her away from you!"

There was an obvious look of discomfort on the barbarian beauty's face as she glared towards her roman counterpart with a look that said 'take them off before I break them off'. Placidia merely responded with a flash of her tongue before withdrawing her hands. It was only after she had let go that Sigefrida sighed in relief.

As for Marcellus, he was just glad to see that his two women were getting along, and as a result he happily sat down in the pool of warm water, and began to soak away his stress. The man remained utterly silent as Placidia approached him and began to apply soap to his body.

Normally Marcellus would have the slaves bathe him, but for whatever reason the two women appeared to be competing for his affection, and at this moment it gave Placidia an opportunity to advance ahead of her rival.

However, the moment after Sigefrida saw Placidia steal the lead, she followed up, and washed his front side. Thus, the two women were fiercely engaged in a battle of who could clean their man the best. Marcellus was honestly astonished by how far these two women would go, but said nothing of it and waited until they were finished.

Once they were done, he exited the bath, where Sigefrida rushed ahead of her rival, and dressed her man in his clothes, before Placidia could get ahead, instantly negating the minute advantage Placidia had just moments before.

In the eyes of the Roman Emperor, it was simply adorable how competitive the two women were to win his love. Thus, he responded to the barbarian beauty's gesture by kissing her on the forehead. Which caused her to blush, while at the same time eying her young rival with a hint of superiority in her ice-blue eyes.

This immediately sparked envy in Placida's hazel eyes, which caused her to rush over to her husband and pout.

"Me too..."

Marcellus chuckled when he heard this and responded with the same gesture that immediately caused Sigefrida to scoff and look away in disdain. No matter what Marcellus did, he could not win. Thus he simply smiled, and led the girls out of the bathroom, with a simple question that he posed.

"What's for lunch?"

The two women looked at each other in confusion. They had not planned for anything special for today. But the way it sounded, Marcellus was already done with his work for the day. Thus, they had to think of something special to eat. Which they quickly ran off and created. Meanwhile, Marcellus watched their two behinds and shook his head before making a comment to himself.

"Those two girls are going to be the death of me one day..."