His career continued in the east of the empire, where Candidus served as an assistant to the Roman Governor of the province of Asia before being appointed "curator" of Nicomedia and Ephesus. He was either serving in the east, or was "Legatus legionis" of one of the Pannonian legions when Septimius Severus, then governor of Pannonia Superior, declared himself emperor in 193 CE following the murder of Pertinax and the elevation of Didius Julianus.