In history, Commodus only had his sister, Lucilla, as his only relative after he succeeded the throne.
However, this did not mean that he did not have other siblings. In fact, Aurelius had quite a lot of children, but most of them did not survive to adulthood. In the end, only two children were left behind after his death.
If the children who died at an early age were included, Commodus would have many brothers. Among them, Commodus's twin brother died when he was four years old. Aurelius held a funeral for him. At that time, the Senate even adjourned for a day to express their grief.
As long as the ordinary citizens in Rome were not too young, they would remember this matter.
Therefore, at the societal level, Commodus's twin brother was indeed dead.
This was also why Zhang Heng did not think of this in the first place. Of course, these were just Zhang Heng's speculations for now. If he wanted to prove that Altrus was Commodus's dead twin brother, Zhang Heng needed to collect more evidence.
Considering the special nature of the palace, almost all political forces would secretly plant their people here. Hence, there were no secrets in this building complex. After a prince "died," it was obviously impossible for him to continue living in the palace for so many years without being discovered. So no matter what the reason was, if Aurelius wanted his child to continue living in secret, he could only send him away from the palace. The safer choice was to send Altrus out of the city directly, and the further, the better.
It was just like how Zhang Heng sent the slave girl on a long-distance trip.
The good news now was that, given Altrus's illness, it was impossible for the people in the place where he lived and grew up to not have any impression of him. As long as he found out who Aurelius trusted the most sixteen years ago, as well as the aristocrats with relatively remote fiefs, he could easily confirm his conjecture by visiting them.
But the bad news was that Zhang Heng found that he did not have the time to do so.
When Zhang Heng went to the perfume shop again, he found that the owner had changed, and the shop assistant who served him before was gone. Zhang Heng knew that he had been abandoned.
This kind of abandonment did not mean that the Balance Blade had thrown him to the Hounds. Instead, it meant that the war between the Balance Blade and the Hounds had probably begun. Both sides were getting nervous, and the Balance Blade obviously did not trust Zhang Heng enough. Coupled with the fact that there was a traitor in the organization, the Balance Blade decided to temporarily toss him aside at this critical moment. He was an unstable factor with no faith.
If that was the case, Zhang Heng would not be too bothered by it. His original plan was to slack off, and it was not a big deal that no one cared about him. But the problem was that Zhang Heng heard a new piece of news. Commodus planned to visit a military camp twenty miles away from the city of Rome. Other than him and Clint, Altrus was also among the entourage.
The aristocrats and politicians in Rome were no strangers to this name, but no one had seen Altrus's true face. In the past, the owner of this name had been living in the dark. To put it bluntly, Altrus was probably the second most powerful person in the city of Rome, second only to Emperor Commodus of the Empire.
Under normal circumstances, it was easy for the emperor to be wary of Altrus. However, Commodus seemed to have incredible trust in his chief advisor. He never doubted Altrus at all.
This had also made Clint and other consultants extremely envious and jealous. And this time, the emperor had announced that Altrus was one of his companions. It seemed that Commodus was ready to gradually push his subordinate, who had been working behind the scenes, to the forefront. Therefore, this inspection, which was supposed to be a routine, had become particularly eye-catching.
Not only did the nobles and senators want to see the true face of the emperor's most powerful minister, but Clint and the other advisers were also nervous, feeling a sense of crisis. Altrus, who was behind the scenes, already had such a great influence. Once he stepped onto the stage and began to use his power and influence to make friends and build his own forces, he might even control the Senate and the entire country in the near future.
What Clint and others did not understand was why Commodus would let this happen. No matter how much he trusted Altrus, doing this would undoubtedly damage the imperial power.
Clint even gathered a group of people who had a good relationship with him, preparing to persuade Commodus.
Naturally, he did not forget about Zhang Heng, the newcomer that Commodus had recently taken a liking to. During this period, Zhang Heng's rise to power was unprecedented in the entire history of Rome. From a slave to a civilian, to an advisor, and then to a real noble, it only took Zhang Heng a little more than half a year to complete the triple leap that would take other families a few generations to complete. It was incredibly fast. Even Clint regretted bringing Zhang Heng to Commodus.
It was just that Clint had a more troublesome opponent to deal with. That was why he had no time to suppress Zhang Heng.
However, when he left Zhang Heng's domus, his face was gloomy. Clint did not expect Zhang Heng to reject him. Although he did not really regard Zhang Heng as his political ally, the two had a pleasant cooperation the last time. Zhang Heng also showed some intention to join forces with him to deal with Altrus.
It was precisely because of this that Clint agreed to help Zhang Heng. He asked Zhang Heng to use the name of the Imperial Guards to scare the major forces in the southeast city. However, not long after that, Zhang Heng tore up the alliance agreement, making it clear that he did not intend to participate in the fight against Altrus.
Clint almost failed to maintain his usual gentle image. He slammed the table and stood up. However, he obviously did not want to make a new enemy at this critical juncture. In the end, he just glanced at Zhang Heng coldly, turned his head, and left.
In fact, Zhang Heng hoped that Clint and his men would succeed. This matter was clearly a trap to deal with the Balance Blade. Zhang Heng was one of the few people who knew about Altrus's physical condition. He knew that it was impossible for him to show up in front of the public. At the same time, Zhang Heng also knew very well that Clint and others had no chance of persuading Altrus.
The final result was just as Zhang Heng expected. Clint and others failed to dissuade Commodus. Two days later, the emperor insisted on bringing Altrus along as if he wanted to tell the world how much he trusted his advisor.
And Zhang Heng also realized that he had to meet the priestess before this inspection.
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