Chapter 168: Egypt’s Choice
< 168. Egypt’s Choice >
The word pride was inseparable from the Egyptians.
The Egyptians, not only the royal family but also the common citizens, were united by their pride in being different from the people of other countries.
They thought that Egypt was the origin and foundation of all civilizations, and that other countries were all derived from Egypt.
Even Rome, the strongest country in the present age, was nothing but a new and powerful country with a shallow history in their eyes.
In fact, it was not unreasonable for the Egyptians to think so.
Upper and Lower Egypt had existed since 3,000 years before Rome was founded.
Although Egypt was not as glorious as it used to be, they had dominated human civilization for more than a thousand years.
The moon waxes and wanes, and so does the fortune of a nation.
The Egyptians believed that it was inevitable that they would become the center of the world again.
It was not a baseless belief, but history told them so.
This was not the first time that Egypt had fallen into a slump.
After Upper and Lower Egypt were unified, there was a great turmoil inside and outside the country when the Old Kingdom era ended a thousand years later.
Then they revived again and prospered for more than 300 years, only to be occupied by the Hyksos.
But Egypt recovered its strength again and enjoyed prosperity for nearly a thousand years.
With such a long tradition and history, it was no wonder that the Egyptians’ confidence reached the sky.
Having ruled over the peak of human civilization for thousands of years, it was not unreasonable to call their king a god.
The pharaoh, who was the incarnation of Horus, descended to the lower world and ruled over Egypt, which was the land chosen by the gods.
And when his promised time was over, his soul would leave his flesh and stay in the world of spirits for a while, and then he would resurrect when the time came.
For them, death was not the end of life, but only a process that they had to go through to prepare for resurrection.
But no matter how much they thought so, resurrection was far away.
They could not see the person whose flesh had left his soul again while they were alive.
Cleopatra was sick of hearing the priests who brainwashed her that she did not need to be sad.
“How can you say that I don’t need to be sad when my family is dead? Don’t you think it’s stupid no matter how you think about it?”
She muttered with an indifferent expression as she turned over the papyrus scroll.
A boy who was sitting slantingly on a large chair next to her caught Cleopatra’s words.
“Do you want me to answer, or is it just a rhetorical question?”
“You can interpret it however you want.”
“Then I’ll answer. I don’t think it’s stupid. Rather, I find it interesting. The definition of death varies from culture to culture, so I don’t have any intention of saying which one is right. No matter what method you use, isn’t it enough to pay respect to the deceased with sincerity?”
“That’s a wise answer for a foolish question.”
“By the way, Alexandria is a very interesting city. There are so many books on topics that I wanted to read. I’m glad I followed you.”
The boy who still did not take his eyes off the papyrus was none other than Octavius.
He became close with the princesses of Egypt and accompanied them to Alexandria under the pretext of assisting them.
The place he was most interested in was of course the Alexandria Library.
With the help of Cleopatra and Arsinoe, he borrowed a lot of books and spent happy days immersed in reading.
He felt sorry for the princesses who had lost their father, but Octavius was very satisfied with this trip to Alexandria.
In fact, he had anticipated this situation to some extent when he received a letter saying that Pharaoh was in critical condition.
Considering Auletes’ health and age, it would not have been strange if he died at any time.
“I heard that your father’s mummy has been completed and his funeral will be held soon. You’re going to attend as a guest, right?”
“Since I’m here, it’s only polite and proper to attend.”
“Then I’ll tell them that.”
Cleopatra lay down on her bed with a complicated face.
Next to her, Apollodorus, one of her eunuchs, stood silently without saying anything.
Originally, Egyptian female royals could not be alone with men who were not their family members without their eunuchs’ accompaniment.
She had easily ignored such customs outside Egypt, but she had to follow the law until she ascended as Pharaoh after returning home.
She glanced at Octavius, who was reading books all day long, and asked.
“Don’t you get bored of reading and writing all day long? If you’re going to do that, why don’t you stay in your room instead of coming here?”
“Do I bother you by being here?”
“I can’t tell him to get out if you’re here.”
Cleopatra pointed at Apollodorus with an annoyed voice.
Due to the trouble caused by Gnaeus, the power of the eunuchs was virtually gone, but the system of eunuchs still remained.
Cleopatra, who had been living comfortably in Syria and Rome, was very uncomfortable with the eunuchs who stuck to her.
She could not believe how she had lived in this environment without any problem before.
No, actually it was not without any problem.
Cleopatra had never been on good terms with the eunuchs.
She felt the hint of annoyance in his voice and Octavius smirked as he lifted his eyes from the book.
“I would love to stay in my room all day, but there are too many people bothering me. If I come here, no one will look for me…”
“Bothering you? Who? Why?”
“There are too many to name one by one. It’s not surprising that they are interested in me, since I came with you and we look close. I expected this.”
“I can’t believe there are still so many people in the palace who are out of their minds.”
She could guess why they approached the young Octavius.
It was not uncommon for the princesses of Egypt to enjoy relations with young boys by their side.
And Octavius’ appearance was pretty enough to say the least.
It didn’t matter whether it was Cleopatra or Arsinoe who became the next pharaoh.
The nobles thought it was beneficial to make connections with the princess who would sleep with the pharaoh.
Of course, it was a ridiculous and unpleasant misunderstanding from Octavius’ point of view.
But he was also annoyed to explain and deny it to everyone who came to him.
So he just spent his time in Cleopatra’s palace where no one bothered him.
Of course, there were quite a few nobles who came to flatter Cleopatra, but they did not dare to offend her.
“Still, I shouldn’t bother you all the time. I’ll go to Arsinoe’s palace from tomorrow.”
“You don’t have to do that… Do you want me to order them harshly?”
“No, thank you. Princess Arsinoe must be troubled too, so I think it would be nice to be her companion.”
“True, I haven’t seen her face since we arrived here.”
Cleopatra had been busy with preparations for Pharaoh’s funeral and the subsequent coronation, and with the priests and nobles who came every day.
She had hardly any free time lately, so she couldn’t even play cards and chess that she used to enjoy every day.
She belatedly realized that Arsinoe must have been as busy as herself.
Come to think of it, when she was young, Arsinoe was the one who had a lot of eunuchs around her.
She was also the one who showed off her authority by bringing a lot of flattering nobles with her.
She was curious how much she had changed from the typical Egyptian royal.
She wanted to see how she accepted the current situation.
She spoke behind Octavius’ back as he packed his books.
“Tell me how much she’s suffering when you come back.”
He stopped at the door and turned around without looking back.
“Do I hear a hint of pleasure in your voice? Do you want to see your sister suffer?”
“Of course not. I just want to see how much my cute sister has changed.”
Octavius slowly turned his head and looked into Cleopatra’s eyes.
She avoided his gaze slightly as she felt that he could see through her mind with just a glance.
‘How can a fifteen-year-old boy have such eyes…’
Cleopatra sometimes felt startled when she looked at Octavius, even though they had become quite close.
He smiled innocently and nodded his head.
“As you wish. Your Majesty, the future Pharaoh.”
※※※
“The coronation will be held soon. Princess Arsinoe, is Marcus Mesopotamius really unable to attend this coronation?”
“I’m afraid so. He must be fighting fiercely in the war right now.”
“I see. It would have been nice if he could attend. It would have boosted your authority. Well, I don’t think anyone else will have a different mind now.”
Arsinoe looked at Ganymedes, her exclusive eunuch and former tutor, with an emotionless gaze.
“Really? There shouldn’t be any disloyal people who have a different mind. For example, those who try to restore their fallen authority by riding on Pharaoh’s authority.”
Ganymedes’ body stiffened for a moment as he felt stabbed by her words.
“Princess…I never had such a thought…”
“I didn’t mention you. Are you feeling guilty?”
“No. How can I have such a disloyal thought? I have always been and will always be Princess Arsinoe’s faithful servant.”
“You better be. You should know your place and not make a fuss. You know how ruthless I am. Even when Pharaoh ruled, there were several bloodbaths. I hope there won’t be any more foolish people who think they are special.”
Ganymedes sweated profusely at Arsinoe’s cold words.
‘Damn it. What happened in Rome that made her so sharp…’
He had felt it when the princesses returned to Egypt for a while, but Arsinoe’s change was especially surprising.
She used to trust and believe everything Ganymedes said, but everything changed after Marcus visited Egypt.
She began to doubt and ignore the eunuchs’ words, and finally insisted on going to study in Rome.
‘Looking back, I should have stopped her from going.’
At that time, the power of the eunuch faction was still intact, so he could have made a reason to cancel the princess’s study abroad.
But it was too late to regret it now.
As a result of trying to use Pompey’s eldest son to check Marcus’ power, the eunuchs’ power base was completely uprooted.
They had nothing they could do now.
But when the old power holders disappeared, new ones filled their place.
The current royal family of Egypt was replaced by the nobles who supported Auletes.
No one wanted to let go of the power they had once obtained.
Auletes’ cronies hoped that their position would not be shaken even when the next generation of pharaohs took over.
To do that, they needed to support the pharaoh, who was the core of power, and reaffirm their position.
The problem was that unlike Auletes, who ruled alone in fact, this time two pharaohs would rule together according to tradition.
There can’t be two suns in one sky.
Even if there were two pharaohs, the power was not exactly split in half.
The balance of power always tilted to one side, and the one who led the state affairs was the pharaoh who had the power.
To stay in the center of power, they needed to remain as the cronies of the pharaoh who became the real power.
The nobles visited Arsinoe and Cleopatra incessantly for this reason.
They tried to gauge who would be better to support among the two.
Even the eunuchs who had lost their power, such as Ganymedes, were planning to parasitize on the pharaoh and revive their fortunes.
Cleopatra knew this well, and Arsinoe was also able to grasp the situation secretly from Octavius.
Thanks to that, the nobles and eunuchs were embarrassed to find that Arsinoe was not as easy as they thought.
Octavius, who had moved his reading place to Arsinoe’s palace since yesterday, chimed in from beside her.
“Princess, this Egypt belongs only to Pharaoh. The mountains and rivers, the sea and land, and even the lives of all people and slaves are attributed to Pharaoh. So you shouldn’t be swayed by the voices around you.”
“That’s right?”
“Of course. Pharaoh is a living god. The only one who can speak against Pharaoh in this world is Rome.”
“What do you think, Ganymedes?”
What could Ganymedes say in this situation?
He bit his lips and bowed his head meekly.
“You are right, sir. All power in Egypt should be concentrated on Pharaoh.”
The pharaoh of Egypt had exercised absolute power as an absolute monarch.
But after the Ptolemaic dynasty weakened and Pharaoh’s authority declined, the nobles gained a lot of power.
Pharaoh was nominally an absolute monarch, but he couldn’t wield everything by himself as before.
Even Auletes, the previous pharaoh, had to watch out for the Alexandrian nobles until he got Rome’s power behind him.
But that situation changed when Marcus took Egypt under his control completely.
Octavius advised him to firmly establish this fact externally with the coronation of the new pharaohs.
Of course, unlike before, the basis of the current pharaohs’ absolute power would come from Rome’s support.
Arsinoe didn’t mind this at all.
She made it clear to the nobles who tried to flatter her with this intention.
She even went a step further and issued an official statement in her name.
“Hear me, people and nobles of Alexandria. I, Arsinoe, declare firmly as the successor of the great Pharaoh Auletes.
Recently, there are some reckless people who try to secure their interests by taking advantage of the royal family’s intentions. This is intolerable when Pharaoh’s funeral is not even over yet.
All nobles must devote themselves to the funeral process with zeal and sincerity until Pharaoh’s funeral is over. Those who show their wicked desires until the coronation of the new pharaohs will be considered traitors who hinder the resurrection of Horus’ incarnation and will be severely punished.”
Needless to say, Octavius’ breath was also in Arsinoe’s announcement.
The people thought that Princess’ declaration was very reasonable.
They strongly criticized the nobles who were only interested in their own interests when Pharaoh’s funeral was not even over yet.
The high-ranking nobles were quite embarrassed.
They had not yet decided on their position clearly.
The only thing they were worried about was one thing.
Who would be the core of power between Arsinoe and Cleopatra?
It was more so because both of them seemed close to Marcus.
Both princesses had such beauty that they deserved to be called jewels of Alexandria.
Marcus was a man after all, and he must have had feelings for someone among them.
Maybe he had already taken both of them.
Then who would get the power?
No matter how hard they thought, they couldn’t find a clear answer.
“If only one of the princesses had Marcus’ child, it would have been much easier to decide…”
Some nobles even uttered such disloyal words.
But this was what the nobles had in their minds.
If Marcus had attended the coronation of Pharaoh, he could have known who he favored more.
But that was not possible because of the Arabian expedition.
They couldn’t just wait and risk being overtaken by others.
Some nobles decided to trust their instincts and make a choice early.
Anyway, both princesses had Marcus’ favor, so even if they lost in the power struggle, they wouldn’t be completely ruined.
That’s how Egypt’s political situation was shaking under the surface as the coronation of the new pharaohs approached.
And the only person who could easily solve this situation was on his way back from finishing the Arabian expedition.
In Marcus’ absence, everyone’s eyes were only on the two princesses.
Not many people paid attention to the young boy they brought with them.
< 168. Egypt’s Choice > End
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