Laodice VI’s regency over Pontus, which has lasted from 120 BCE to 116 BCE (even perhaps up to 113 BCE), has favored her younger son Mithridates Chrestus over her elder son Mithridates, who had escaped from the plotting of his mother and gone into hiding.

Returning to Pontus between 116 BCE and 113 BCE, Mithridates is hailed as King and is able to remove Laodice and Chrestus from the Pontic throne, thus becoming the sole ruler of the kingdom.

Mithridates shows clemency towards his mother and brother, imprisoning them both.

Laodice VI dies in prison of natural causes.

However, Mithridates Chrestus could have died in prison from natural causes or was tried for treason and was executed on his orders.

Mithridates gives his mother and brother a royal funeral.

He takes as his wife his sixteen-year-old sister Laodice, to preserve the purity of the royal bloodline, to ensure the succession to his legitimate children, and to claim his right as a ruling monarch.