Asistes looked at his aunt, who was a dozen years younger than himself and spoke with an apologetic expression. Despite his animosity with Ladician, he still felt that Antonios chose a good wife. Thus he said politely to her, “How could I be angry with my uncle? It's just that it's already a little late, and we need to go home; we'll come back another day.”
After that, he discreetly said to Antonios, “Uncle, think about what I said just now.”
Antonios snorted, which caused Doreen to pinch him again and caused Antonios to swallow all the words he wanted to say.
After sending off Asistes, Doreen said angrily to Antonios, “What happened that made you throw such a big tantrum?”
“This is an official matter, so don't ask anymore.” Said Antonios unhappily.
“Alright, I won't ask anymore! But don't talk to me in the future!” Doreen pouted angrily.
“Okay, okay, I am the one in the wrong…” Antonios, who was the chief of the military of the kingdom and in his 50s, hurriedly hugged Doreen in his arms and repeatedly apologised, “It's just that Asistes didn't agree with me in electing him as the praetor of Naxos, and as a result…we had a quarrel.”
“Why? Isn't being the praetor of Naxos good?” Doreen wondered.
“Who knows what he is thinking? Asi‘s wing has hardened that he wouldn't even listen to his uncle anymore!” Antonios still said angrily.
“Anyway, he is your only nephew.” Doreen stroked Antonios' beaded face and kissed him gently. Then with her charming eyes, she said, “Antidorus had played so hard tonight that Una could easily put him to sleep in a moment. I'll first take a bath and wait for you in the room…”
“Okay, okay…” With his wife's seduction, the fire in Antonios' heart became more intense.
Doreen married Antonios at 17, more than 20 years younger than him. Not only was she beautiful and virtuous, but she bore him a son so that Antonios, who always felt that he was too old, could be extremely fond of her and therefore care for her father, Ladician, and his family much more.
As he watched his wife's slim figure walk toward the main building, he could no longer endure it.
“Antonios! Antonios! Something big has happened! Something big has happened!…” Suddenly, Ladician shouted anxiously at the hallway.
Ladician could always go in and out of Antonios' residence as freely as his own home. Although he interrupted Antonios' mood, Antonios couldn't easily get angry at Doreen's father. Thus he said to Ladician, who had rushed in, “What is it again?!”
But Ladician's anxiety made him unable to notice that something was wrong with Antonios, and he shouted, “Phragres is locked up in Naxos! And Stromboli won't release him!”
“What has Phragres gotten himself into again?!” Antonios immediately frowned as he asked impatiently. Amongst Doreen's family, he had the least affection for Phragres, especially after this rogue tried to harass Alexius' daughter, Gedia, which caused a big commotion when he was in Thurii. Antonios even need to use their many years of camaraderie and beg Alexius for his understanding so he won’t pursue this matter. Apart from that, he also asked Kapus and their other comrades to plead for him. It was only after all of that did Phragres narrowly escaped with a light sentence of four months of imprisonment and a fine.
‘What did this bastard do this time that made Stromboli hold on to him?!’ Antonios began to feel uneasy.
“What happened to Phragres?” Doreen's voice sounded from behind Antonios.
When Ladician saw his daughter, he immediately changed his target to plead, “Doreen, they wrongly accused your brother and locked him in jail. His life is in danger!…”
Ladician began telling his daughter what had happened, but he naturally made it so that it was the slave who killed the slave girls and the freeman's daughter, not Phragres.
“A slave would dare kill its master's slave girl so often?! Do you really think everyone is a fool?!!” Antonios shouted at Ladician, “You should've listened to what I said before! If you had locked him up for two to three years to make him learn his lesson, he wouldn't be in this situation today!”
Ladician had never seen Antonios so angry that it made him subconsciously avert his gaze and say to Doreen, “I wasn't in Naxos, so I don't know the specific situation, and I only found out from the letters of Anteros. However, even if Phragres was the one who killed them, but with the slave voluntarily confessing and the ones dying are only females, there is no need for Stromboli to take it so seriously! Is it really enough to sentence Phragres to death because of this?!”
After speaking those words but seeing Antonios was still cold and serious, Ladician began to cry, “I know Phragres isn't a good man, but he is the only son I have. In addition, he hasn't gotten married, let alone had children… If they sentence him to death, our family’s bloodline will end! Doreen, can you bear to see me die unable to face your grandfather in the underworld?!…”
Doreen was horrified that her brother had killed so many people viciously. Still, her father's bitter pleading made her uncomfortable that she didn't know what to do besides look at Antonios.
After seeing his beloved wife's eyes, Antonios' heart couldn't help but soften. He then kicked a fragment of the clay jar from the ground into the pool in the middle of the courtyard, crossed his arms and said to Ladician, “I don't understand the details of the law, so tell me how you want to save that bastard?!”
When Ladician saw the softened expression of Antonios, he hurriedly said, “There is no provision in the Theonian Code that says that a citizen who kills his slave would be punishable by death. Besides, with the freeman withdrawing his report and a slave confessing to the crime, the case could reasonably be closed. However, the constable of Naxos kept delaying transferring the case to the court and holding Phragres in custody for longer than the time limit, which is against the law! Antonios, you only need to speak to the supreme judge Tritodemos and ask him to put in a word for Stromboli and transfer this case to the court sooner…as it is illegal for the praetor to interfere in court matters!”
Why haven't Ladician gone straight to Tritodemos? Although he was making friends in Thurii with his financial strength, several circles didn't pay much attention to him.
The statesmen from Amendolara were famous for their conservatism and arrogance as they would often take pride as the earlier statesmen of the union and disdain the latecomer, Ladician's, shrewdness.
On the other hand, most of the Lucanian statesmen only concerned themselves with Lucanian matters. However, they had close relationships with the statesmen who were former mercenaries and disliked interacting with the statesmen from other regions, especially the statesmen from Sicily, because they could get no interest as one belonging to the south while the other to the north of the kingdom. The only exception was Hemon, but this statesman who was famous for marrying out his daughter had fallen out with Ladician over the fact that Phragres tried to pursue his youngest daughter.
There were also the statesmen from Thurii, born in the kingdom's centre and known for their nobility. But the case of Pollux had resulted in most of the statesmen from Thurii going into prison. In addition, the remaining and later statesmen acted more cautiously, not only toward the statesmen from Sicily but also towards the statesmen from other regions.
While the statesmen who were former mercenaries, as the saviour of Amendolara, had spent the longest time with the statesmen from Amendolara. In addition, the large-scale marriage back then had made both sides have a tighter relationship. Hence Ladician hoped that Antonios would come forward and persuade Tritodemos to contact Stromboli. With both coming from Amendolara, Stromboli would definitely give him this favour…that was Ladician's beautiful idea.
“Tritodemos…” muttered Antonios while deep in his thoughts. Indeed, compared with the more conservative and stubborn Stromboli, it would be much easier to speak with Tritodemos, who was the first to take the initiative to get close with the mercenaries along with Protesilaus.
The reason Tritodemos could hold on to the supreme judge position for over ten years wasn’t because of his trial of Pollux but because of an act proposed by King Davos and passed by the Senate nine years ago: Positions such as Judges and Taxation Officials that required a high degree of professional knowledge, couldn’t be appointed to this position but must be held by specially trained citizens and have been promoted over time.
Thus it was then decided that Tritodemos would remain in this position until his retirement because the Laws of Theonia state: Citizens would not be allowed to hold any specific public office in the kingdom after the age of 65 because of old age and frailty. However, a statesman would still remain as a statesman. And after Davos first proposed this bill, it was passed without much opposition as there were not many people who could have lived to the age of 60 in this era.
Since the only other position besides the ‘Supreme Judge’ is the ‘Justice’, which the king of Theomia holds, there was a proposal in the Senate some time ago as to whether to add several more posts of ‘Supreme Judge’. After all, the expansion of the kingdom's territory and the sharp increase of the population naturally led to a rise in the number of crimes and offences that required immediate judgment by Tritodemos, which overwhelmed him. Hence even Tritodemos himself agreed to it, but the matter is still in planning.
