I wonder if it was easier in the old days - after being transformed, Marius sends word to his family that he's ill and has been told to go to Egypt for the sake of his health, and it's formulated as a goodbye. The extent/stability of the Empire notwithstanding, it wouldn't have been a simple matter for his family to visit him, and unless a brother got a political or military posting nearby, they would not expect to see him again.

In fact, I've often been moved by reading about the expectations of people living far more recently - when a lot of people were leaving Ireland for America in the 19th century, their families used to give them what were called "American Wakes", because they had no hope of seeing them again.

But now you'd have to really contrive reasons not to see people - even if you move to the other side of the world, anyone close would expect photographs - though they can afford to mock something up with ageing makeup or Photoshop, it seems like being officially dead would be easier.

That said, I couldn't do that to people - either the fake death or the ambiguous disappearance thing. So having to figure our convincing ways of showing love without the secret being rumbled would effectively be the price paid for immortality.