I warmed his cold blood

Chapter 27 The Oedipus Complex

Lucas put away his sword, jumped onto the stage vigorously, and came to Heron's side.

His sweat was gleaming, beads of sweat dripped from the tip of his chin, and his temple hair was wet and stuck to his temples, like the bronzing on the cover of a parchment scroll.The heat from his whole body radiated out, flying around like short arrows, there was an indescribable sunshine, and the rough black short robe couldn't hide his light.

He wiped his chin, shook off the sweat, and grinned, his chest heaving slightly due to vigorous exercise.

Helen looked at him for a while, then took out a handkerchief and threw it to him, "Wipe off your sweat, you look like you just got out of the water."

Lucas wiped his sweat and his face was a little cleaner.The white veil was wet with sweat, stained with smoky marl, crumpled, and the clean white cloth was stained.

He took off the veil, feeling sorry for himself.The hand holding the handkerchief froze in the air, in a dilemma.

Helen glanced at it, and wanted to give him the handkerchief directly, or throw it into the trash basket.To him, it was just a cheap, ordinary handkerchief, and its value was by no means higher than a piece of cheese.

He has already organized his speech, and even the tone of the order.

However, when he met Lucas' embarrassing eyes, Heron had a strange psychology, and the prepared order changed mysteriously.He had the thoughts of a child, and the corners of his lips curled up maliciously, like a naive child trying to play a prank.

He wants to bully Lucas.

"I only have this veil." He pouted, "Your sweat stained it."

Lucas looked up and saw Heron's eyes slightly curved up.

With just one glance, he has seen through his mind.

He deliberately frowned, shrank his neck, and made an embarrassing look.He clenched the veil tightly and lowered his hands limply, like a child waiting for an adult to speak to him.

He is cooperating with Herron.He wants to make him happy.

"I'm such a useless slave." He sighed softly, "I actually defiled the master's belongings..."

Helen froze for a moment, and the mischievous psychology disappeared.He was a little irritable, his brows trembled a few times, his eyes blinked quickly, and he was evasive, not daring to look at such a depressed Lucas.

Especially, the person who made him so depressed was himself.

"Forget it." He turned his face away awkwardly, "Wash it clean, scent it, and then go to the study to find me."

After finishing speaking, he turned around and went to the study, his footsteps were a little messy.

Lucas watched his back and smiled slightly.

He held up the wrinkled handkerchief, recorded Heron's back in his eyelids, closed his eyes, and kissed the handkerchief.

……

The study room is filled with incense, which has a refreshing effect.The autumn wind is very cold, blowing broken leaves into the window, and yellow dust clings to the parchment under the window.Herron went to the window, closed the shutters, and held a cup of warm milk in his hand.

The room suddenly went dark.He sat on the table, bent his body down and lit the candle. The faint yellow light filled the study room like water mist, giving off an old atmosphere.

Lucas walks in with wet hands, as does his face.

He washed his handkerchief and, by the way, his face.

Helen stood up, the robe was pressed under him, and fell down along the edge of the table.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time, Lucas." He shook the milk in his hand, "Let me see how your literacy skills are."

He took out a volume, blew off the dust from the cover, and placed it horizontally on the table.

Luka paused, and walked over to pick up the scroll.

"Medea by Euripides, can you read it?" Helen asked lightly.

Lucas scratched his head, "I've read it a few times..."

"Its words and sentences are not difficult." Heron pushed the parchment over, "Don't let me down."

Lucas cleared his throat, faced the candlelight, and stuttered to read:

"Medea was soaked in the sorrow of hell...Husband Jason abandoned her and her two sons to marry a princess from another country, and caressed her new lover's body on the bed. Her eyes were dark, and the rice porridge became poisonous. Her son’s laughter turned into torture like a knife and saw. Whenever she saw the phantom in the mirror, she would caress her beautiful face, turn her exquisite white neck, and moan in pain..."

Herron nodded approvingly, "Very good. Continue."

"The lovely son walked into the house. Medea's dim eyes locked on them, her vision was like the sky covered with dark clouds, and a furious electric fire would burst out at some point! She let go of her tightly clenched red lips, and cursed viciously:' Fools born of hateful mothers, die with your fathers, and suffer endless torment in the fire!' The thunder of hatred exploded in her heart, scorching what little sanity she had left. She had Terrible thoughts..."

Lucas paused uncomfortably, and continued to read:

"Using magic, she made a splendid dress and gave it to her husband's new love. The princess put it on happily, and suddenly screamed and fell to the ground. She foamed at the mouth, her eyelids rolled up, and the fire from the silk thread engulfed her Delicate skin. She screamed and rolled all over the floor, and the flames burned more and more intensely. In the end, she was burned to the point of disfiguring her face, and her muscles were dripping oil like a pine tree. It was really horrible..."

Heron listened intently, and Lucas' stumbled reading didn't spoil his interest.

"Medea broke into the back room... the hand holding the sword kept shaking. Her lips moved convulsively, her beautiful features were distorted like a devil, and her heart seemed to be torn in two. Hatred forced her to be brave. She thought of Yi Ah Song's determination, she vowed to kill the child to take revenge on that evildoer! She closed her eyes tightly, ignoring her son's screams..."

Lucas choked.He really didn't want to read any more.

"Why don't you read it?" Herron turned around and asked, "This is the most exciting place!"

"This is not a pleasant story." Lucas closed the parchment. "I have to say, Medea is a stupid woman. This is a real tragedy."

"Lucas..." Herron laughed twice, "It's just a story, there's no need to take it seriously. It's the imagination of Euripides, it's as illusory as a bubble, it doesn't exist!"

"But it also carries a lot of emotions, doesn't it?" Lucas said, "At least I can feel the pain of Medea's love and hatred..."

"Oh, listen to the hypocritical words of a heroic gladiator..." Helen was very interested. "Will you hate the person you love before, like Medea?"

Lucas looked over, the light shadow of the shutter appeared on his face, and the water droplets on his cheeks were shining with his eyes.The corners of the sharp lips were slightly curved when they caught a glimpse of Heron, making him appear soft.

"Absolutely not!" he said, "Love that will turn into hatred is not real love, it is just loving yourself and grieving and indignant over your loss."

"Oh! The great philosopher of love Lucas! I don't have such a deep understanding of love as you!" Heron smiled, "Do you want to hear my humble opinion?"

Lucas nodded, "Please tell me."

Helen took a sip of milk and looked serious: "Hatred can blind people's eyes and make people lose the ability to think calmly. Just like Medea who killed her son."

……

In the courtyard of Brutus, the weeds have not been taken care of for a long time.The courtyard was covered with a layer of greasy moss, desolate and dilapidated.Without the sweeping of the slaves, the marble mansion resembles a gigantic tomb where the ghosts of the past are buried.

There was the sound of the rattling loom in the house.

Forced by life, Gnaia tried many unpleasant new things.She began to learn to cook, her delicate hands were often scalded, and the smoke always choked her to tears; she also had to learn how to spin cloth, which was the job she hated the most, but now she had to do it to make ends meet.

The experience of being demoted from noble to commoner is not pleasant.Her temperament was vulgar, her face was wrinkled, and her silk robe was replaced by coarse linen. She had no money to buy cosmetics, and her beauty was no longer.

It was as if she had shed a layer of gorgeous skin, revealing her ugly inner core.

Brutus looked for business everywhere, but hit a wall everywhere, so he had to sell all the slaves for money.

He can't do big orders, he can only buy some small commodities and sell them at a stall, and he can only earn a fraction of his previous income in a day.

And that's not what hurts him the most.

He was even more afraid of going home and facing Gnaia's questioning.

Seeing him coming home, Gnaia stopped on the weaving board, "How much did you earn today?"

Brutus' heart sank, and he poured the silver coins in the purse onto the table without making much noise.

"Forty dinars," he said sullenly, "a little more than yesterday."

"Hmph." Gnaiya pushed the loom up, "If you remove the meat money of the two lions in the backyard, we can only eat cabbage."

Brutus put away the money in silence, took out two cakes from his pocket, and handed them to her.

Gnaia didn't take it, and spun the cloth on her own, "Don't do these useless things, can I forgive you with two cakes?"

"I didn't want you to forgive me, mother..." He withdrew his hand embarrassingly.

"I didn't want you to be so eager for quick success! You're too impatient, Brutus!" Gnaia snapped down the comb board, "You seem to have been lured into your mind by a stupid ghost!"

Brutus lowered his head and said with a gloomy face, "Are you going to speak for that cunning Heron? He killed me..."

"Why haven't you realized your mistake yet?!" Gnaia said angrily, "You are too impatient, you have ruined all the family property of the Delete family! That gladiator also ran away, and you actually gave up earning the gladiatorial bonus What a foolish overqualification!"

She gritted her teeth, "I really regret that I adopted you back then!"

Brutus clenched his fists, nails digging into flesh.

He was dull for a long time, and he waited until Gnaia's annoyed panting subsided before speaking again: "I hate that Herren...he looks too much like Pliny. That's the one who hurt you!"

"Shut up!" Gnaia glanced at him, "You have no right to say that."

Brutus observed the situation and tried to please her, "Didn't you say that? He still has the blood of that bitch Fanny..."

"Then there's no need to do it now!" Gnaia's expression slowed down, "When Polio gets it, we'll slowly poison him to death!"

Brutus ruffled his hair and propped his arms on the table to get his footing.He shook his head nervously and said tremblingly, "Why did you insist on Polio?! We could have avoided that risk..."

"Brutus! I don't allow you to change your mind!" Gnaia slammed the comb on the ground. "As I said, I want everything from Pliny! Including his family!"

Brutus had a painful face, his eyebrows hung upside down sadly, like a clown on a caricatured mural.

He was stunned for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing.The laughter was a little crazy, with the temperament of a madman or a pervert.He just smiled so weirdly, as if the whole person was living in an unnecessary joke.

"Don't laugh like that, Brutus!" Gnaia couldn't bear it any longer, "I warned you, keep your aristocratic temperament, be as elegant as Pliny!"

The laughter stopped abruptly, as if frozen.

Brutus regained his gloomy expression, without saying a word, as if he had changed himself.

"I've always done what you want..." he said in a tearful tone.

"I am pleasing others with purpose, and hurting others with malice... It's all for you! My mother! Pliny is dead and still loved by you, but who will love me alive... "

Gnaia sighed and didn't hear his complaint.She half-closed her eyelids, smiled obsessively at the old image of Pliny in her memory, and fell into a kind of bewildered imagination.

"You will be mine after all..." she said softly.

Brutus bowed his head and buried his face in his palms.

The author has something to say:

Regarding "Medea", I was looking for a rewritten version by Hu Xingliang, which uses a few sentences.