章節 130: New Mansion Of Mega Doux
"What are you doing here?"
Here came a unique voice that is like an icy bucket of cold water down poured onto the head of Antonius making him awake enough to let him realise what a commotion he has just caused in the crowd.
Yes, Abdullah is right, he knows too, that they are in a very hideous position inside the city right now, and the most logical thing they can do is to avoid attention.
But he just cannot get the string through his head. Why, why is the emperor turning a blind eye on the crowd of reinforcements who went through the same hardship together for the past almost half a year, fighting wars and battle for no one but the emperor himself. But why did it become like this? Which step did they walk wrongly to have an end outcome like this? Why is this the circumstances for battling valorously against the foes of the emperor himself? Even a tutor knows that he needs to award his princeps to keep the morale super charged, Antonius is pretty sure that Constantine knows this too.
With all of this in mind, he stopped making a fuss around, turned and looked at the incoming woman under the hood with a complicated pair of eyes that should not appear for a general who went through countless life and death situation, but that of a kid who got blamed for the wrong reason.
"I don't understand…. I just don't understand…"
The woman, which turns out to be Anna Notaras, nodded and replied dragging Antonius away. "I understand that it is a bit difficult for a man who just picked up a quill not long ago like you to understand, but I can only tell you that plots and schemes…. Embarrassing to say, is a culture of Roman courts…"
Abdullah briskly followed behind hugging the beakers of mead and cheese with him in his chest, while apologising incessantly to the surrounding crowd in Greek.
"Where are you bringing me to?" Antonius found it funny that this tiny lady in front of him whose hand palm is only roughly around three quarters of his trying to drag him away, but he still followed obediently and asked out of nature habit.
"To a place where I can clean the remains of those stinky remnants out of your alcohol soaked head." The cultured lady in front retorted in a freezing tone.
Antonius uttered no more words; he knows that this is a sign that the lady before him is feeling unpleasant today.
Abdullah continued following behind while trying to replenish all the fats he has lost during the imprisonment with all the sweet cheese rolls and mead.
After a while Antonius and Abdullah arrived at the Mega Doux's new mansion just by the harbour of Theodosius. Entering through the back door, they were successfully hidden into the void of darkness and secrecy which ultimately block all those irritating followers who started tailing them since just now.
"This is a hell of a place to hide in, with great military significance…" Antonius remarked while passing by holding an oil lamp with one hand and another hand holding Anna's palm.
"Indeed… This passage allows espionage personals to stealthily travel out of the walls into the Harbour of Theodosius…" Abdullah saw the other strategic value of the passage.
"…" Anna remained quiet leading the way in front.
They went through the passage and turned into a basement like area where all the stores and warehouse are located. To Antonius' surprise, it seems like the house of Notaras have stored a surplus amount of grains, dried vegetables and oats which ought to be abundant for five hundred people to last around three month.
By this time Antonius has already been fully drained of the alcohol through his head, with the poison that affects thinking and ideas gone, Antonius immediately realised that something is amiss. His basic sense of logic tells him that the Mega Doux is planning something extraordinary with all these supplies inside here. And judging by the size of this place, he is pretty sure that behind these walls there are perhaps, just perhaps, a storage for weapons as while.
"Perhaps I led the two of you to a place which made you saw something you should not see… my apologies" Anna whispered as she opened a grandly decorated door, and led the two men into the guests room. It turned out to be even more eye catching than all these passages of secrecy they went through just now. Loukas Notaras is truly a man of standards being on the honorary board of the richest in the entire city, the entire interior outshines even the emperor's palace itself with all those exquisitely silver and jewelry plating, ancient Roman statues that ought too be banned by the chantry, and Christian Orthodox Iconography hung everywhere.
"We should have some peaceful quiet time now… There are no one else behind."
Antonius gulped wandering to la-la land thinking he might get some reward from the humble lady in front for all these times of hardship.
"I want to ask the two of you…." Anna hesitated for a while but still asked determined to know the answer. "Where is my father?"
"Your father…" Antonius seems baffled. "I never saw him almost since the start of the siege… Did you see him?" Antonius kicked the question to Abdullah.
Abdullah, equally as baffled, replied after taking off his boots which is stained with dirt from the mud just now. "I don't know. There is no chance that I will see him in the Ottoman camps, right?"
Anna seems disappointed. "Alright… Thanks for the help, I thought that he is serving in the army fulfilling his oath as the Mega Doux of the Romans…"
"Do you need me to help you ask round in the court?"
"Oh no, please don't!... Please don't…" Anna hastily tried to blow this idea off Antonius.
"Anyways…. Antonius, no, Lord De'Ricci…"
"Pardon?" It is the first time that Antonius s hearing this lady speaking in a pitiful, hesitating, and amiable tone like this, that he almost thought that he is having some auditory hallucinations.
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