Chapter 576 The Heirs

"Get out, you traitor!"

"Get out! I'm going to kill you right here!"

After Valentinian's outburst, somehow, the courtiers under Valentinian's command were like angry volcanoes, exploding one after another. They suddenly stood up and pointed at Oedites in front of them, blaming him for thinking that the Romans should not serve the barbarians.

Oedites stood among them, standing still in the face of public criticism. The Hun guards beside him were like his shield, guarding him around and preventing court officials from being unable to suppress their inner excitement and rushing to hurt Oedites at any time.

"Enough! Enough!"

At this time, Aetius, who had been silent for a long time, finally stood up. He raised his right hand high and shouted loudly to everyone present, stopping the courtiers from doing anything more impulsive.

"Now, Master Oedites," Aetius lowered his hand and said to Oedites, "I'm afraid we'll have to talk somewhere else."

"That suits my purpose, Master Aetius." Oedites bowed slightly. "Then I shall obey your command!"

The brief meeting ended in a bad mood due to Valentinian's rage, and Aetius took Oedites out of the palace and got into Aetius's carriage.

Here, Aetius breathed a sigh of relief and said to Oedites: "Sir, what are you doing? Why are you doing this, this..."

"Such an uneducated act!" Oedites said, and could not help but snorted. Then he looked at Aetius and said, "Isn't this the performance of the barbarians they want to see?"

"But your Excellency is different!"

"No, it's the same, Lord Aetius!" Oedites said. It was not difficult to see that his words at this moment were not only filled with anger, but more with resentment. He must be complaining about something.

"Oh, listen, listen, sir, I know this is not what you meant."

Aetius tried to comfort Oedites, but Oedites didn't seem to appreciate it. He snorted coldly, and his anger didn't dissipate at all because of Aetius's persuasion. He just sighed and said in a heavy and weak voice: "It is the correct decision of you civilized people that made me stand on the opposite side of civilization. You are all enemies."

"I'm not here to listen to your complaints." Aetius didn't seem to be interested in Oedites' recollections. He kept avoiding Oedites' gazes while taking off the golden crown on his head and wiping it in his hands. All these actions were to hide his inner uneasiness. Yes, how could he let Oedites know the truth?

Concealment seemed to have become a tacit understanding between Aetius and Attila.

"This is a matter between you and Flavius. It has nothing to do with me." Aetius seemed to be prepared to deal with these questioning eyes. He raised his head and said, "Tell me, did Attila really send you here for the almost impossible wedding with Hedolia?"

"If not this, then what is it, Lord Aetius?" Oedites sneered, as if he would never be in a good temper as long as he stood on Roman soil.

"Impossible! Attila can't be so stupid as to take this childish joke seriously."

"My king believed it, Lord Aetius. He did not take this as a joke. Especially, after receiving the ring from Hedolia, you should understand what it means."

"Attila is really crazy!" Aetius stroked his head. It seemed that Attila's chattering really gave this old friend a headache.

"He is not crazy, but you, Lord Aetius, should also explain the disagreement between you and my king."

"You mean the prince of the Franks." Aetius knew about this.

"Because of the Franks, you chose to stand against Attila. This is your choice, and you broke your old friend's heart."

"That's enough, Oedites. You can't fool me about this. Attila's ideas are very dangerous. Even if we were once best friends, we can't easily make concessions and compromises for this."

"Even if Attila meant no harm?"

"He knows exactly what he wants to do. Frank will always be the most unstable factor in the Rhine defense line." Aetius seemed to be the right person.

"Of course, this also means that you will lose Attila's trust. From now on, you will no longer receive any help from Attila."

"That's better than my so-called loyal friends spying on my land and invading it." Aetius spread his hands. "Land, wealth, and women, these are the things that barbarians love. What else do they care about? A seat in the Senate?"

"Of course, Attila's vision is not limited to this." Oedites leaned over and got as close to Aetius' ear as possible, and said to Aetius in a very low voice: "What he wants is the same as you, Rome. Yes, he just wants Rome, as the heir, to become the master of Rome."

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Aetius's face turned livid in an instant. He glared at Oedites and said to him in a low voice: "It seems that Caesar's decision to be furious because of your rudeness and want to teach you a lesson is absolutely correct. You and your master's ambitions are so dangerous. You are both robbers, bastards who want to rob everything and are unsatisfied!"

"Haha, yes, yes, you are right, we are robbers, we do not deny it and we are proud of it." Oedites shook his head gently, "I find that it is much better to hang out with barbarians than with you so-called civilized people. At least I am honest with them, and I am not as scheming as you are."

"Remember this, Oedites!" Aetius pointed directly at Oedites in front of him, his words mixed with considerable threats: "Barbarians are barbarians. Even if you wear a toga that symbolizes civilization, it is impossible to change your barbaric nature. You are a bunch of rude beasts who deserve to be cut into pieces!"

"Whatever you say, Master Aetius." Oedites took a half step back, looked out the window, and continued, "I think you shouldn't keep me in your carriage any longer, or your courtiers will see me and wonder if you are plotting some unspeakable secret with me. You are not afraid of such consequences, but I am. After all, reputation is something that is extremely important to everyone, except the Romans."

After saying this, Oedites bowed slightly to Aetius and then exited the carriage, leaving Aetius, whose face was ashen and he was taking a long time to recover.

"Go away, go back to your dirty cave. This is not a place for a barbarian like you to stand and walk. Turn back. You won't get any results here. No one will give you the answer you want because they all want to kill you, including me!"

The carriage started moving slowly, and Aetius's roar came from the carriage.

"Thanks to you, I will try my best to stay alive!" Oedites remained calm in the face of Aetius' insult. He saluted slightly towards the receding carriage. This was probably the last time he saluted. It was hard to tell how it felt.

(End of this chapter)