Heir of Aurelian

After coming to terms with the Goths, Marcellus had honored his agreements. In the following days, the Gothic tribes flooded into Noricum, providing the Western Roman Army with tens of thousands of new soldiers in the form of foederati. Without Roman resistance, they were given free rein over the lands.

As for Illyricum, that would have to wait until it could be reclaimed from the East. In the meantime, Marcellus returned to Ravenna, which was the seat of his power. Before setting out on his journey to Ravenna, Sigefrida had instructed him to patch things up with Placidia.

Of course, Marcellus had in actuality completely neglected to visit Placidia during that time. There were two reasons for this. One was he wanted to give the girl some breathing space. After seeing her so heated, he knew she was angry at him for not responding to her feelings. Because of this, she would need some time to calm down into a rational state.

The second reason was he feared the girl hated him after so ruthlessly rejecting her. Luckily for him, that did not seem to be the case. The moment Marcellus arrived at the Palace, Placidia was waiting for him, beside his lover Sigefrida. She had a heartfelt smile on her face as she witnessed the Marcellus return from a dangerous negotiation.

Upon seeing that she was not the slightest bit angry with him, Marcellus took advantage of this opportunity to discuss with Placidia the matters he had thought deeply upon during the past few weeks. He started by addressing Sigefrida, who was the elephant in the room._.

“Sigefrida, do you mind if I have a moment alone with Placidia?”

Sigefrida could take a hint, and immediately retreated further into the Palace. It surprised Placidia to see Marcellus willing to speak with her. He did not even tell her he was going to go negotiate with Alaric. She was practically pouting as she scolded the man for making her worry.

“I had to hear that you had gone to negotiate with the Goths from Sigefrida? Really, Marcellus? Do I mean so little to you that you won’t even tell me when you’re departing on a dangerous journey?”

Marcellus had a wry smile on his handsome face as he tried to deflect from the issue, without directly apologizing.

“I didn’t want to worry you about such petty matters…”

Such a comment only caused the young woman to pout even more. She practically snubbed the man as she walked past him with an indifferent expression on her lips. Marcellus laughed when he saw this, calling out to the girl as she walked by, enticing her with a question she could not so easily ignore.

“Did you not want to hear my answer?”

Placidia froze on the spot as she heard these words before turning around and witnessing the smile on Marcellus’ lips. Her heart pounded heavily within her chest as she wondered what the man was going to say to her. She dreaded the idea that he would bring this matter up, only to reject her again. However, she did not flee, instead she stayed put, not daring to take another step.  Upon seeing the girl behaving so docilely, Marcellus chuckled before making a long-winded speech on how he felt about Placidia.

“You know how I lost my father as a young child. As a result, Stilicho was the man to raise me as if I were his own son. I believe it was a similar case for you, was it not? I remember the first time we met, you were no older than five, and Stilicho had taken me along on another one of his errands. Gods, I must have still been a youth, but even then, that man was grooming me to take over his position one day.

He took me everywhere with him; I aided him in all of his responsibilities, and yet there was always a certain time and place that he forbade me from accompanying him. Until that day, the day I found out, I had a little sister. Not by blood, but by virtue of being raised by the same man. You may not remember, but when you first laid eyes on me, you hid behind the legs of your maid, and were too frightened to even look me in the eye.

You were such a cute little girl. I wanted nothing more than to protect you and make you happy. It was after that first encounter that Stilicho instructed me to spend time with you. Believing that it would be important for us to grow close, since your actual brother Honorius was such a rotten bastard. Since that day I looked after you, as if you were my own sister, and I had no complaints.

When you confessed your feelings for me, even if it was inadvertent, it did not even register in my mind. I was so grief stricken that I couldn’t even fathom the idea that the girl I thought of as a sister had looked at me as if I were a man. In a year you will be old enough to wed, and despite my age, I have not found a suitable wife. After thinking about the issue for some time, I realized the perfect candidate had been around me since I was still a boy.

Placidia, if you have no complaints, then on the day you turn of age, I would be happy to marry you. My mother is gone, and I know that Sigefrida can never be anything more than my concubine. The only woman I have in my life is you. So I guess what I’m trying to ask is, will you marry me?”

It shocked Placidia to hear this long-winded response from Marcellus. She never expected him to return her feelings with a marriage proposal. However, she couldn’t be happier. She instantly smiled and ran over to Marcellus, where she kissed him on the cheek, before responding to his question.

“Yes! Absolutely!’

Marcellus smiled as he heard this. He had dreaded the prospect of losing Placidia these past few days on his journey home from the Italian border. Luckily, she wasn’t so angry with him that she had given up.

Unbeknownst to Marcellus and Placidia, Sigefrida gazed upon the heartwarming sight of the proposal with a broken heart. She knew that even if her master freed her from her bondage and granted her Roman citizenship, she could not marry the man. The difference in their status was simply too great. At most, she could be a concubine.

Still, it filled her eyes with tears seeing the man she loved ask another woman to marry him. Had she been born in a position similar to Placidia, it would be her accepting Marcellus’ proposal, instead she was just the side chick, and nothing would ever change that. The barbarian beauty grasped hold of her collar and regretted being born a Suebi, and lamented the fact that she was nothing more than a slave.

It took several moments for her to calm herself down, and get over the grief of realizing she would never have the life she desired. She was mature enough not to hold a grudge against Placidia for being born with a golden spoon in her mouth. Still, it was difficult for her to accept her lot in life.

Sigefrida knew she was the one to encourage Marcellus into marrying the girl, but it still stung her heart like a hive of wasps to actually witness him propose. Ultimately, she decided to let the happy new couple be at peace. She was sure that Placidia would not want to see her around so soon after being proposed to by the man they both loved.

As a result, the Suebi beauty fled to the inner sanctum of the palace, where she washed her sorrows away with copious quantities of wine. As for Marcellus, he was quickly dragged away by an over-eager Placidia who wanted to discuss the details of their wedding. Despite it being a year away, she wanted everything to be perfect, and spared no time for organizing the event.

By engaging himself to Placidia, Marcellus achieved two major political goals. Firstly, the fact that Marcellus’ heir would have Theodosian blood in his veins may very well be enough to appease the Theodosian Loyalists in Hispania who were currently rebelling against Constantine. If that were the case, he could rope them into his side in the conflict.

Secondly, this union would also force the Eastern Roman Empire into a tough decision. As far as anyone was concerned, Honorius had died at the hands of his Magister Militum, Olympius, who sought to negotiate with the rebels to spare his own life. The fool had left no heirs. The closest male relative to him was the young boy, Theodosius II, who now ruled the eastern half of the empire.

By marrying Honorius’ sister, Marcellus was forcing the Eastern Roman Empire to choose between pressing Theodosius II’s claim to the Western throne, or recognize Marcellus’ right to rule over the Western half of the Empire. Either way, Marcellus’ claim was strengthened by having Placidia as a wife.