A Gladius, A Crown and A Broken Empire (Reichpol) [Hiatus]

Meetings in the night

Poland's POV

He woke up when a hand started shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes groggily, seeing the lanista standing in front of him.

"Be silent Poland. Someone wants to see you."

He rubbed his eyes and got up, putting on his sandals and following the director.

"I thought we weren't allowed to have visits" He said, remembering just the experimented gladiators that had brought a lot of money into the ludus could ask for visitors.

"Yeah, but this person paid a good amount just to talk to you"

The red and white country raised his eyebrows in surprise, but shrugged it off. If a rich roman wanted to pay a lot of money just to talk, he didn't care.

The lanista left him alone in a table inside of an almost empty room. A hooded figure approached to him, sitting by his side before revealing his face.

"Reich" he said in surprise.

"You remember my name" the black, white and red country said with a smile.

"I didn't expect you to actually come here"

"I don't like to break promises"

"Do you like to visit gladiators in your free time? What a peculiar hobby" Poland murmured, still confused about why would a noble want to talk to him, a lower class fighter.

"Nah, you're the only one. You have some pretty amazing combat skills"

The white and red country laughed, shaking his head a little bit amazed to see how easy it was to talk to this man.

"There are a lot of gladiators stronger than me. What's so interesting about me, sir?"

"You can call me Reich, there's no need for the 'sir'. And to answer your question, well... There's something... something in your eyes that really caught my attention..."

"What... Are you saying I have pretty eyes? That's kind of an insult to a gladiator" he responded with a teasing smile.

Reich laughed shaking his head. "Well, you have very nice eyes, but I'm talking about something special... A shine on them"

"Sure, sure" Poland just said rolling his eyes.

"Can I ask you something?"

Poland shrugged.

"Sure... I mean... You paid a good amount of money"

"Is it true that you used to be a slave?"

The fighter lowered his face, shadows covering his eyes.

"You don't have to answer" the other was quick to say when he saw his expression.

The seconds passed and the noble seemed to get the wrong idea, getting up and preparing to leave.

"I was... I was a slave... But not like the almighty Flamma. No, I was a normal servant for some pretty long years." Poland finally responded, making the other stop and sit back again.

Reich looked at him with sad eyes, before a little smile appeared on his face.

"I'm happy you scaped then... Something tells me you're not the kind of person who can bow to others."

The white and red country smiled, happy to see his rebellious attitude was still there, somewhere.

"I am curious Poland... What is your goal? You could be famous, rich, you could build a fortune and retire... I'm sure you've catched the eyes of some important people that bet a lot of money.."