This was an unexpected situation for Boudica.
She never thought that the man who was just now praising the tyrant Nero would suddenly become like this.
His face was pale, his expression was pained, and his body was constantly trembling, as if he would die at any moment.
What in the world was going on?
While Boudica was still thinking about the reason for all of this, the corner of her eye caught something—the prison cell door was open.
If she wanted to run, now was the best time!
Maybe she could even organize another wave of attack.
Thinking of this, Boudica stood up, ready to make her escape.
However—
When she got to the cell door, she stopped there.
The Queen of Britannia turned her head back to look at the man who was still struggling on the ground. A hint of hesitation appeared in her emerald green eyes.
Should she really just leave like this?
This guy... he's going to die here.
Boudica didn't know why she was having such a thought at this moment, but she found that her legs were like sandbags she wore during training. She couldn't move even a single step.
Just then, Ian grabbed the haystack next to him and, with all his strength, cried out the truest desire from the depths of his heart.
"Save me... I don't want to die yet."
"..."
With just that one short sentence, Boudica felt as if her heart had been struck by something.
"Good grief... why would I want to save him?"
The Queen of Britannia gave up the idea of escaping at this moment. She went back to Ian's side, knelt down, and asked softly:
"What's wrong with you?"
"My heart hurts so much... it feels like it's going to split open."
Listening to the man's words, Boudica felt her own heart clenching. It was a very contradictory feeling, but at this moment, it felt so normal.
"Will this help?"
While saying this, Boudica picked Ian up off the ground, allowing him to lie on her lap.
Then, she reached out and gently pressed the area where his heart was.
This was not a random act by Boudica—having personally trained Britannia's warriors, she naturally had a lot of experience in dealing with emergencies.
She didn't know the reason behind it. She just knew that "doing this works."
And it was true. With each of Boudica's presses, the originally pale Ian slowly recovered.
However, his breathing was still very difficult, and it was clear that he was still in a state of extreme pain.
Faced with this situation, Boudica looked around and, after confirming that it was just the two of them, did something she shouldn't have done at this moment.
She took a deep breath, lowered her head, and gently kissed the man.
This was not an exchange of lust, nor was it a sudden romance. It was just a kind queen doing her best to help a person in suffering.
[This was Boudica's all-out rescue.]
[The power of the goddess Andraste took effect at this moment.]
[The magic within Boudica's body was transferred to you at an unimaginable speed.]
[This allowed you, who was deep in Agrippina's curse, to temporarily recover.]
"..."
When Ian opened his eyes, he saw Boudica, who was still covering her chest with her eyes closed, kissing him in the most shy and pure way.
The man was stunned.
He never thought that something like this would happen—after all, he believed that the loyalty to Nero within his body could never be changed.
But now... it seemed to have been broken by some clever method.
Boudica also felt Ian's gaze. She opened her eyes and, after finding that he was awake, immediately ended the kiss.
Then, with an unimaginable speed, she retreated to the haystack next to her and stammered out an explanation.
"You, don't misunderstand!"
"I wasn't kissing you just now. I was just..."
Boudica couldn't bring herself to continue. After all, for her, kissing was embarrassing, but saving her enemy wasn't much better.
Ultimately... she should have just left in the first place!
Why did she have the thought to save him?!
While Boudica was still struggling with her internal choice, Ian's voice came through.
It was a sincere thank you: "Queen Boudica, thank you."
"You are indeed very kind."
He was as polite and as well-behaved as ever, making her feel like he was a cloud floating in the sky—desirable but unattainable.
This quickly calmed Boudica down.
"This isn't kindness, and it doesn't count as saving you. I just did something I shouldn't have done."
"No." Ian shook his head and then got up and sat on the haystack across from Boudica.
"I've always felt that you, Queen Boudica, are a kind person—even if you hadn't saved me just now, I would still think so."
"After all, even after you were betrayed by the people of Britannia, you still chose to take up arms and fight for them, didn't you?"
"..."
[Your words hit Boudica's heart.]
[The Queen of Britannia, who had always been cold as ice toward you and Nero, changed her attitude a little.]
[You realized this was a good time to talk.]
"Can we talk, Queen Boudica?" Ian made the most sincere invitation.
He had come to Boudica at this moment precisely to resolve the conflict between Britannia and Rome.
"..."
After a long silence, Boudica finally nodded.
"Fine, let's talk—but you don't have to call me 'queen' anymore. I feel like that's a mockery."
"Seneca, just call me by my name."
"Alright, Boudica."
The atmosphere between the two of them was more harmonious than before, and Boudica's way of speaking was also different.
She looked at the black blood that Ian had just coughed up after the kiss and asked with a slight frown:
"What in the world is wrong with you?"
"..."
Ian felt that this was not something to bring up at this moment, so he quickly forced an awkward smile and replied.
"It's nothing, just an old ailment—but it was a little more serious this time, Boudica. Thank you for being here."
"..."
Boudica didn't feel happy about this. Instead, she asked a very serious question.
"Does that tyrant know?"
Ian knew that the tyrant Boudica was referring to was Nero, the person he loved most in his life.
It was a title the queen had given her in anger, and it was not a name that could be changed anytime soon.
"His Majesty doesn't know," Ian replied. "And what emperor should worry about a subject's illness?"
"But you're clearly her minister—" Boudica sat a little closer to the man. A hint of confusion appeared in her emerald green eyes.
"If she doesn't even know about something like this, isn't that a dereliction of duty for an emperor?"
"Boudica, you're wrong to say that."
Ian did not hesitate to deny her statement.
"You have to understand that for His Majesty, the scene she sees is the entire Rome."
"And within that, there are so many things that she needs to make decisions about—that is already a huge burden."
"As her subject, how can I add to her troubles at a time like this? That would be a rebellious act."
"..."
"..."
Neither Boudica nor Ian continued to talk about this issue—they both knew that if they continued, it would definitely turn into a hopeless argument.
There was no meaning to it.
Sensing this, Ian quickly changed the subject and began to praise Boudica's virtues.
"Boudica, I didn't expect you to choose to stay over escaping, and I didn't expect you to lend me a hand."
"This is indeed a beautiful quality that a queen should have. I admire you for it."
Hearing this, Boudica's expression became incredibly complicated, as if it was caused by some kind of extremely conflicted emotion.
Ian knew that this was not the time for him to speak—that would only make the other person feel that he was being aggressive, and it would make communication incredibly difficult.
After a long silence, Boudica finally said the next sentence.
It was a reason she had seriously thought about after calming down. Perhaps it could perfectly explain everything that was happening now.
"I wanted to escape... but where could I escape to?"
"Britannia no longer needs me, and Rome can't tolerate someone like me."
"Even if I escaped from this prison cell, I would just be walking into a bigger prison."
"In comparison—"
Boudica looked at the man in front of her. A forced smile appeared in her emerald green eyes.
"I think it's better to repay the kindness you showed me when you untied my ropes."
"We Britannia people never want to be indebted to others."
It made sense.
It could even be said to be a very real psychological portrayal of Boudica.
Having experienced five failures, she had now lost all her reputation.
Britannia, which she had always protected, had become a sharp blade pointed at her.
Everything was just as Boudica had said—she had nowhere to go.
"You are a noble warrior." Ian expressed his thoughts at this moment very directly. "Even as an enemy, I sincerely admire you."
"But what's the use of that?" Boudica laughed at herself. "The way I am now, there's no meaning to my life, is there?"
"Give me a quick death, Seneca."
"..."
"I can't do that, Boudica." Ian shook his head. "Your life belongs to you. I have no right to take it away."
"Just—"
Ian wiped the black blood from his lips.
"I want to know what Britannia means to you, that you were willing to risk your life to fight this war against Rome, a war you had no chance of winning."
[This was the core of the Britannia problem.]
[What was it that was supporting Boudica to rebel again and again?]
[You had to know that this was an extremely risky act—one small mistake and she would end up in a situation like this.]
[You believed that Boudica couldn't have failed to think about this.]
[After all, her actions were completely worthy of the title of Queen of Britannia.]
[There must be a deeper reason behind it.]
Perhaps it was because she realized that her cause was lost and that saying anything or not would not change anything, or perhaps it was because of the conversation she had just had with Ian, which gave Boudica a new idea.
The former Queen of Britannia let out a long sigh and then began to state her reason:
"Seneca, do you know Prasutagus?"
"I do." Ian quickly responded. "He was a friend of the late emperor. They had a friendly relationship of support."
"Britannia, with the help of Rome, got through a terrible economic crisis."
"And it was because of this that Prasutagus was willing to offer half of his territory to our empress, wasn't it?"
"That's not how it was!"
Boudica suddenly became more agitated.
"It was a scam—a scam set up by you Romans!"
"You said you would treat our Britannia people well at first, right? Why did it turn into that kind of oppression later on?!"
"Food was taxed, water was taxed, and we had to support so many Roman soldiers—wasn't that just forcing us into a dead end?!"
"No, wait a minute."
Ian stopped Boudica in front of him.
"But the policy that His Majesty implemented in Britannia was a low-tax policy, and the Roman army's support was also to be taken care of by us."
"The things you're talking about shouldn't be happening at all."
"..."
Boudica looked at Ian and realized that something seemed a little off.
"Then why did our lives become like this—no, you're lying to me. The policy that Agrippina implemented wasn't like that at all!"
"..."
Ian finally understood now.
This was a lingering effect of Agrippina's rebellion—the Britannia region, which had just been incorporated into Rome, was still carrying out the forged policies that the wicked woman had put in place to create chaos.
Because the handover process was too slow, it ultimately led to a communication breakdown, which in turn caused this rebellion to happen.
After explaining everything to Boudica, the queen's eyes widened.
"How could this be... then Prasutagus died for nothing, didn't he?"
"He was your husband, right?" Ian sighed. "I apologize to you for Rome's dereliction of duty."
"Who said he was my husband?"
Boudica turned her blushing face away.
"I just inherited his name—Britannia always needs someone to guard it, right?"
"But between us, there was absolutely no relationship like that."
"Boudica, you mean... you're still single?"
"That's right!"
"..."
"..."
The atmosphere became silent for a moment.
Neither Ian nor Boudica expected that the actual situation would be this way—he had taken her first kiss.
"It seems we had a lot of misunderstandings between us." Ian took the initiative to break the silence.
"Miss Boudica, please allow me, on behalf of Rome, to give you the compensation you deserve for all you've been through."
"Compensation?"
"Yes." Ian nodded.
"Please let me take you to the streets of Rome to help you find the wonderful time you should have had."