They had a house of their own now. Or more accurately, Julia had a house and Marcellus lived in it. That wasn't how it was described on paper though, and she chafed every hour of every day whenever she was reminded afresh of this inconvenient fact every time she stopped to admire the architecture of the beautiful villa. Because legally speaking, both she and this entire place 'belonged' to Marcellus. Because somehow, Rome considered her property just as any other 'thing' that he 'owned.'
Like hell. If she ever got within arm's reach of the so-called contract and could get away with it, she would tear it into microscopic pieces and make him eat it. Luckily for him as well as her future as a law-abiding, non-murdering citizen, he never gloated about his legal authority over her very life, a
