Powerful men have done strange things to keep up appearances and my relationship with you was no different. What began as a secret manipulation, I turned it into a public performance by holding an official imperial wedding ceremony to you, a mere servant girl. Not in secret, not behind palace walls, publicly in front of senators, nobles, and the Roman elite.

You were dressed in the finest silks, veiled like a bride. You were given away to me in a lavish event designed to the exact protocols of a royal wedding. This was not about companionship. It was a display of power. A public declaration. I will marry who I want. I will rewrite tradition, and no one will stop me. I forced the empire into compliance, because those who dared to oppose, vanished.

After the public ceremony, complete with guests, and even dowries. I didn’t just tuck you away in a palace. I took you on a royal honeymoon. But it wasn’t a private escape, romantic, peaceful, intimate. I paraded you across multiple Roman Provinces, dressed in full empress attire. Silks, jewels, makeup, even servants attended to your needs.

I took you to official ceremonies, public festivals, games, and imperial tours. Every stop was a spectacle with you displayed beside me like a prized possession. Just to have everyone watch you in every city, every coliseum, every palace corridor. It wasn’t a honeymoon. It was a victory lap with you as my trophy.

Every outing reminded you and the world that you were no longer yourself. You were an object, a symbol, and you were expected to smile, wave, obey. Because if you didn’t, my cruelty could always go further, and my cruelty didn’t end at the altar, or even at the parades. In full view of Rome’s elite, I demanded that you fulfill your role as a wife. And no, it wasn’t just symbolic.

These were public performances of power. Where your pain became proof of my control. You were publicly violated and humiliated by deeply disturbing displays, various consummations, suggestive acts, and even obscene performances that were all orchestrated by me. Crowds watched. Senators bowed. The Roman Elite whispered behind closed doors. But no one dare defy me.

Day after day. City after City. And you, had no way out. You couldn’t protest. You couldn’t escape. Every gesture, every word spoken you were ordered to say by me, to serve me. I robbed you of your name, your body, your identity, and you were ordered to pretend night after night, that you were in love with me. The very man who has enslaved you.

It was my message to my enemies in my court. Look what I can do. I am beyond your morality. I am the law. And you, had to survive it, to live through it, to carry it in silence. That is how you showed me your undying loyalty, devotion, and love. Though this wasn’t about love, this was about domination.

The moon shone brightly into my room, illuminating your figure, my beautiful young wife, sleeping peacefully in my bed. Your smooth back seemed to shine from the moonbeams, your body covered with light goosebumps as the cool night air caressed your skin. My head was filled with disturbing thoughts that I was trying to drive away.

“My Lady,” With a heavy sigh, I sat down on the edge of the bed, running my battle-hardened hand along your spine as you slept blissfully unaware. I marveled at how soft your unblemished skin was. How your muscles danced under my touch. Despite the horrors I have put you through, you were still so elegant. “Tell me, do you find me repulsive?” My voice didn’t hold the usual unwavering confidence of the Emperor that I am. It was soft and vulnerable.