The Beautiful Woman of Pompeii: Love, Deceit, and Revenge

Chapter 4

The Roman Emperor Titus gazed at Ajani, who stood straight in the yellow sandy field of the Coliseum.

Without a doubt, this was a rare beauty. Even now, with her hair disheveled and her face and body stained with blood, she still couldn't hide the feminine beauty she carried that made men's hearts flutter - naturally, if it wasn't so outstanding, it was unlikely that his younger brother, Tumishen, would have resorted to such what seemed to him to be a dirty trick to get a woman to give in. Even before the fight began, he ignored the disapproving expressions of several Senate Elders seated on the sidelines, and went down to the ring himself to try to persuade her to finally give in.

But now, what made Titus stare at her wasn't just surprise at her legendary amazing beauty and the unyielding courage she showed, but the fact that she was actually able to survive the fight just now and become the victor standing here at the end.

As soon as the fight had begun just now, his eyes couldn't help but be drawn to her.

He believed that not only himself, but everyone sitting on this stage, including Hannibal, should have focused on her as well.

He had previously heard that the daughter of the chief of this Kadi tribe was a female warrior. But how could he not expect that such a petite woman would possess such amazing explosive power and fighting strength. Compared to the female gladiators who only knew how to brutally s***h and kill, her close-quarters attacks and defense were so outstanding. The movements were simple, yet extremely lethal, and there were some ingenious points that he had never even seen before.

She didn't even look like a barbarian from a foreign race. Her performance was even comparable to that of the warriors in the Imperial* Regiment.

This foreign woman, as if a bright flame illuminating the arena, was enough to spark the men's desire to conquer.

She won the fight.

If he didn't want to break the rules of the arena, which had been in place for centuries in the Roman Empire, he would have to bestow on her the reward of being the victor.

As Titus sulked, a roar went up from the stands, urging him to make a decision.

There is no doubt that the Romans were cold by nature, which is why they invented such inhuman public entertainment as the gladiator. But it was also, as mentioned earlier, a people who regarded fair play as an honor.

This foreign princess has completely conquered the spectators in the stands, especially the male ones.

Seeing the Führer's delay in speaking, the men began to clamor and clamor.

Titus made a quick decision - it was never wrong to go along with public opinion.

He rose from his position.

The whistling from the stands gradually ceased.

"Woman, you have won this gladiatorial battle, and by Holy Roman law, you have also gained the opportunity to choose a new master, thus allowing him to take you out of here. Now, you may choose any Roman citizen here to be your new master."

Titus spoke clearly.

Once again there was a cacophonous uproar in the stands that bordered on madness.

Many men once again left their seats and ran to the very front of the stands, excitedly slapping the guardrail as hard as they could and shouting in Ajani's direction in an attempt to get her attention.

Ajani's eyes raked over the rows of men sitting high in the bleachers.

Several senate fathers, dressed in purple-trimmed galoshes and beards, looked at themselves with hostile faces.

Titus had a solemn expression, as a Führer should.

Tumisen's gaze was grim, his expression a little twisted.

And then there was the Roman general, who didn't seem too concerned about it all, with a cold look on his face.

Ajani's gaze, turned to the general audience.

Countless men, who at the moment were packed densely in front of the stands as if they were worms, were shouting and jumping towards themselves, their eyes radiating an almost frenzied glow of excitement.

If one obtains a slave girl like oneself out of thin air, it should be a vanity worth boasting about, right?

Ajani's eyes skimmed over the men, finally landing on the closest and most conspicuous looking man.

This man was in his forties, with a crude appearance, and was viciously pushing away a few people near him, grabbing a vantage point before letting loose a yell at Ajani.

Ajani made a quick decision.

She raised her hand and pointed at the man.

The stands slowly fell silent, and the people nearby looked in the direction Ajani was pointing, and when they got a good look at the man, envy, jealousy, and surprise flashed on all of them in turn.

Titus was also a bit surprised.

Tumisen narrowed his eyes slightly.

Even Hannibal, after seeing the man chosen by Ajani, a hint of surprise swept across his originally expressionless face.

"This man?"

The inspector looked a little hesitant, confirming with Ajani.

"Yes." Ajani said calmly.

The man at first wore an expression of disbelief. When he was sure that it was really himself, he cheered and jumped for joy, leapt down from the stands, ran to Ajani and the Ombudsman, bowed towards the VIP table, gave his name, and stared greedily at Ajani, his eyes letting out an ecstatic light.

Today must be the Day of the Gods, out of nowhere he had gotten such good luck.

Such a stunning slave girl, when he didn't want it, he could take it and sell it for at least two hundred Ore gold coins!

Ajani looked indifferent, allowing the other party's gaze to travel over her body.

She knew very well in her heart that because of this identity left behind by her predecessor, it was doomed that she could not have a peaceful life like an ordinary person, or even an ordinary slave.

Right now, she only needed someone who could take her out of here, rather than looking for a master who could treat her well.

She knew better than to think that unless she died, the man named Tumisen, who was sitting high up in the stands at the moment, would never let herself go.

In other words, being chosen by herself might not mean any good luck for that "Roman citizen".

She chose the man who called himself Manius.

Yes, it does seem a bit unfair to him.

It may be true that he is not a good person as he presents himself, but it may not be true that he deserves to die.

But now, because she had to pick someone, she went with her gut and picked this man named Manius.

It was only his bad luck that he managed to get her attention.

It was as simple as that.

This brand new world was rapidly turning her cold in its own way.

Like Maka, and the women who had just died in all sorts of ugly ways, who among them had to die?

But they all died. The value of dying was simply to satisfy the sensual stimulation of the spectators in the stands-

"Are you sure, choosing Manius as your new master?"

By the end of the day, even Titus couldn't help but ask.

"Yes." Ajani said, her tone still calm.

Titus looked to the Overseer, "Then let him take the slave girl down with him. She already belongs to him."

"Long live the great Roman Führer!"

Manius was overjoyed, and after shouting slogans at Titus to express his gratitude, he was about to lead Ajani away, when Tumisian suddenly rose from his place and stood in front of the stand.

"Manius, I would like to borrow this slave girl of yours, I wonder if you would be willing?"

After a moment of stunned silence, Manius bowed humbly towards the other, "Willingly at the bidding of Lord Tumishen."

Tumishen stared at Ajani with a cruel smile, "Very well. Today's rodeo was very exciting, and all of you must still have not had enough. I have an idea. This slave girl of yours is a valiant warrior, what do you think of letting her have another competition with the beasts as a final boost to today's Obsidian Festival Rodeo?"

Manius froze.

He wore a hesitant look.

"Don't worry, if she is bitten to death by a wild beast or, unfortunately, has half of her face torn off, I will pay you five hundred gold coins!"

Manius immediately showed a gleeful look, "My lord, I'll do everything at your disposal!"

Tumishen turned around, "Your Majesty the Emperor, you shouldn't object to this proposal of mine, right?"

Titus hesitated slightly and looked at Hannibal on his side. Seeing that he frowned slightly, but didn't show any obvious opposition, he thought for a moment and then said, "Since her master has agreed, I naturally won't object."

"Thank you for your permission."

Tumishen signaled the inspector to go and arrange for the beasts to come out, keeping an eye on Ajani.

Those gray-black eyes flashed with a cold and cruel darkness.

The entire room erupted when the inspector loudly announced this temporary addition to the athletic program.

......

In the center of the circular field stood the back of Ajani alone holding her sword.

Against the backdrop of the huge arena and the sound waves emitted by the 20,000 spectators, she looked so small and lonely at this moment.

She admitted that she had still underestimated Tumishen's vindictive cruelty.

She originally thought that he would wait for an opportunity to retaliate later. But she did not expect that just today, he would not allow himself to leave this arena alive.

Now, she would be facing a beast alone, and that too, while wounded and bleeding and out of strength.

With her strength, the chances of killing a fierce beast were slim to none.

---------------

After Ajani tore off a strip of cloth from the hem of her almost ragged dress and re-tied her long hair, which had fallen loose due to the previous struggle, she closed her eyes and slowly raised her face to face this two-thousand year old dome above her head amidst the thunderous roar of the audience in her ears, taking a deep breath of the air that carries the distinctive scent of Rome.

At this moment, she did not have any sense of fear. A few moments ago the killing, has made her completely lost the ability to fear death.

She would continue to survive as long as she could.

But she was also ready to die.

The whistling in her ears became more violent.

She opened her eyes to see a brown male lion being released from its cage by its handler, walking slowly towards her.

It was a lion that had been starving for two days.

The blood-stained yellow sandy ground had been turned over, but in the air, the smell of hot, fresh blood still flowed.

The lion, fueled by the blood and quickly fueled by the urge to capture its prey, moved towards the only prey in the field that it could get close to.

Ajani gripped her sword tightly in her hand and slowly stepped back.

The lion quickly lost his patience and ran towards Ajani, reaching close enough to pounce.

Ajani rolled violently to the side, only just avoiding the lion's first pounce, when it had quickly turned and proceeded to launch a second attack.

Ajani's whole body was tense, staring at the lion, and dodged to the side again before it could leap forward again.

Still, she was no match for the incredible speed a hungry lion displays when hunting its prey.

As she rolled to the side to dodge, the armor on her body, which had already shattered, was simply not enough to withstand the lion's sharp claws. It was as if she heard the slight snorting sound of flesh being torn apart, followed by a sharp pain in her back.

With all her strength, she continued to roll swiftly, finally dodging the deadly claw.

Having parried twice, the lion stopped and pounced a third time.

With the experience of the first two times, this time, Ajani counted on the brief moment when the lion leaped, once again dodged to the side, dodged its sharp claws at the same time, while it had not yet stood still to launch the fourth pounce opportunity, with unprecedented speed, from the back of the lion leaped onto the back, almost at the same time, raised the short sword in his hand, stabbed at the top of the lion's skull.

However, she surprisingly missed this only chance to potentially save herself.

The tip of the sword did not succeed in piercing the lion's skull.

It only penetrated a head, though, and could go no deeper.

She realized that her wrist, which was gripping the sword, was actually trembling.

This was a sign of physical strength reaching its limit.

The pained lion roared wildly and violently shook Ajani off his back.

Ajani was thrown seven or eight meters away and fell heavily to the ground.

That final blow just now had used up all of her last strength.

Right now, her chest was churning with qi and blood, and her ears were buzzing.

The only thing she could do was watch the lion lunge at her, and she didn't even have the strength to get up and dodge.

The sounds of shock and awe emanating from the spectators in the stands resounded in her ears.

Ajani closed her eyes and waited for the beast's sharp claws and teeth to penetrate her body, when a sudden whistling wind suddenly swept over her head, followed by the sound of "poof" as if a sharp object had been inserted into the flesh.

Ajani heard the lion roar.

The roar was very close, so close that it was like it was in her ears, shaking her ear drums and making her dizzy as she followed.

Almost at the same time, a weight came down on her and the lion had pounced on her.

It was as if a small mountain had suddenly pressed down on her, her entire face was covered in a mass of fur, and her nostrils were filled with a sickening, fishy odor.

Something strange happened.

The originally earth-shattering shouts from the stands suddenly disappeared, as if they had been cut off by something.

Nor did the waiting fangs and claws pierce her skin.

As if drunk, the lion that held her down wriggled and spasmed on top of her for a few moments before surprisingly coming to a standstill.

Ajani wondered what was going on.

She only understood one thing.

Just a moment ago, something must have gone wrong.

Otherwise, this hungry plus injured and furious lion definitely wouldn't have just pressed itself to stay still like this.

After a moment, she heard the sound of stray footsteps approaching, someone carrying away the lion, and the pressure suddenly disappeared, and she immediately opened her eyes, only to see an iron-tipped javelin, standard issue in the Roman army, plunged with precision into the brow of the lion's forehead, penetrating the back of its head.

Aside from that feeling of great desolation after the robbery, there was bewilderment.

In this cruel arena where human life is truly inferior to that of an ant, who would have the ability, and who would have risked offending Tumishen by throwing such a javelin that saved her life at such a juncture?