It turned out, rather unsurprisingly, that the late senator didn't have many supporters. For this reason, no one questioned his tearful new bride when she announced the next morning that he'd fallen off the balcony after one too many drinks and impaled himself on his own sword.
Only hours after becoming a bride, Cassia suddenly became a widow, which suited her much more. After all, widows inherit all of their late husband's property. While Cassia was considerably wealthy before her marriage, she was doubly well off after her husband's unfortunate accident.
The first formal action she took after arranging the funeral was to free all of Corvus' slaves, offering the chance to stay on at the villa for real wages or pursue their dreams in freedom. Most stayed, having no other place to go. They lived the rest of their lives happy and secure, and Cassia's plantations prospered because of their admiration and love for their new mistress.
Helena, of course, stayed. While Cassia insisted that she couldn't be a servant, Helena insisted just as stubbornly that she was the best choice as the new house mother, in charge of all the other servants' well-being. She was remarkably skilled at caring for everyone's needs while still spending most of her waking hours at Cassia's side.
Proper etiquette had to be followed for Cassia's period of mourning, but as soon as the month was up, she left Rome to move closer to her family in Sicily. Milo and Helena came with her. As soon as she had taken residence in her family's Sicilian villa, she and Milo were wed. It was a joyous and beautiful event, and everyone talked for months about the beautiful bride and her passionate, handsome husband.
It was about two years later when Helena delivered Cassia's first child, a son Milo named Atticus. A year later, the couple's daughter Helena was born, named after her godmother. More children followed as the years progressed. As their family grew, so did their prosperity and their strong reputation as just and compassionate leaders.
They lived to ripe old ages, watching their grandchildren grow. Though time wore along, slowing Milo's stride and whitening Cassia's hair, they were as much in love as they had been when they shared their first kiss. Milo continued to call Cassia the fairest woman he had ever seen, and Cassia continued to call Milo the bravest man she'd ever met. Frequently, in the early morning at dawn or after the revelries of the evening, the two lovers would slip out of the villa on one of their horses and fly across the fields.
It really wasn't a surprise to any of their children when they were found one morning wrapped in each other's arms in the final, lasting sleep. Cassia was resting on Milo's shoulder and Milo had his arms wrapped around his wife. They looked completely at peace.
They died as they had lived: together.