Bet on Him

The first to appear was the Roman Emperor Commodus, also the sponsor of this gladiatorial spectacle. Standing in a chariot, wearing a flower crown and dressed in splendid attire, he circled the arena. Meanwhile, his servants and guards tossed bread and copper coins into the stands on his behalf, and this generous gesture drew thunderous cheers from the crowd.

Commodus's youthful face overflowed with excitement, for at this moment he could directly feel that the people's hearts were with him, that they supported his rule. He repeatedly waved to the spectators in the stands.

His wife Crispina was seated in the lower stands. Seeing this, her eyes too filled with excitement and admiration. No young woman failed to wish for her man to be a peerless hero admired by all, much less when her husband was the emperor of the entire Roman Empire.

However, Lucilla's expression in the box on the other side was rather intriguing.

Though she was smiling as well, the upturned corners of her lips seemed to carry a trace of mockery. "He certainly seems intoxicated with himself, doesn't he?"

"Hm?" The surrounding uproar was too loud, and her husband Pompeianus did not quite catch what she said.

Yet Lucilla did not repeat herself. She yawned and said, "Hasn't the show started yet? I've been waiting for ages."

"Oh, it should be soon. Once His Majesty finishes his procession, the gladiators should enter and present themselves." Pompeianus knew his wife's temperament well and smiled at her words.

Many people envied him for marrying Aurelius's daughter, becoming the former emperor's son-in-law and the current emperor's brother-in-law. Lucilla was also a renowned beauty, young and lovely enough despite this being her second marriage, the sort of wife every man dreamed of.

However, Pompeianus himself knew very well that their