Chapter 192 : Our choice, Our destiny

"What is it that you truly desire?" the woman asked, standing directly before me. "Think carefully before you answer. It is a question of profound importance."

"You still haven’t answered my question."

I tightened my grip on the hilt of my sword.

Though the sword didn’t seem to pose the slightest threat to her, I leveled it at the woman.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Well, shall we say that I am the one who brought you to this world?"

"No. You are not her."

The woman looked and sounded exactly as I remembered.

Yet she was fundamentally different from the being who had brought me into this world.

"Strictly speaking, one could say I am different, though not in any way you could easily comprehend." She bent down and plunged her hand into a pool of spilled blood. "Lucius Julius Caesar. The things you have achieved are truly entertaining. Starting with nothing more than soap and insurance, you transformed Rome beyond recognition...None of it would have been possible without you."

"Thanks for the compliment."

"You founded newspapers, turned the press into a political weapon, and gathered your followers into an organized political party. Yet you have missed one crucial thing." The woman shook her head. "You should have simply followed Clodius’s example. Gather your followers, seize control of the popular assembly, purge the Senate, and seat yourself upon the throne. Or place your father upon it. With what you’re capable of, it would have been effortless. Why do you constantly seek permission from others when you know you are right?"

"Were you the one pulling Clodius’s strings? Were you the one who murdered my signalmen and manipulated the Jews into orchestrating Pompey’s assassination?" I demanded, keeping my sword leveled at her, but the woman didn’t seem to be listening.

"Were you the one who handed gunpowder to the Gauls as well?"

"In the original timeline, Gaius Caesar was a truly magnificent figure. He possessed the strength of a lion, yet was as cunning and ruthless as a fox. But in this world, you have made him weak." The woman sneered. "In the original timeline, Caesar seized Rome only after he lost his beloved daughter. If his daughter had remained in Rome, do you truly believe he would have had the resolve to ignite a civil war?"

I stood frozen in place, saying nothing. Whatever her intentions were, I had no desire to play her games.

"How unexpected. I thought you would be far angrier."

"You seem to enjoy the sound of your own voice. I didn’t want to interrupt."

"Yes, you always did have a sharp tongue."

The woman walked closer and grasped the edge of my blade with her bare hand.

The blood coating her palm smeared across the cold steel.

"I have an offer for you, Lucius. Because I know what you desire most in this world."

"What I desire most..."

"Family. The one thing you never possessed in your previous life. A family that loves you, cares for you, and stands by you no matter what. Am I wrong?" the woman whispered. "For the sake of that very family, why not cast aside your hypocrisy? Everything you’ve done so far has been about gaining power. There is no need to take such a convoluted, agonizing path."

"And there’s no need for you to speak in riddles," I countered. Perhaps this was nothing more than a bizarre nightmare.

Or perhaps it was my only chance to uncover the truth.

"What does my desire have to do with you?"

"I wish to grant your wish, Lucius. That is our purpose, after all."

The woman slowly circled me as she continued speaking.

"Your father, Gaius Caesar, suffers from the falling sickness. Epilepsy. What if I could cure it completely?"

"That sounds like it comes with a steep price."

"Five hundred thousand Gauls."

"Five hundred thousand?"

My brow furrowed instinctively.

What on earth did that mean?

"In the upcoming campaign, what if you slaughter five hundred thousand Gauls? Men, women, the elderly, children—it matters not."

"That seems a rather exorbitant price to cure a single man’s illness."

"Yet what if that single man is your father? To some, that would be an exceedingly small price to pay." the woman said. "After all, it is merely what Gaius Caesar did in the original timeline. He massacred hundreds of thousands of Gauls and sold the rest into slavery.All you have to do is repeat what he did."

"And if I refuse?"

"The choice is always yours. But if left untreated, Caesar’s seizures will only worsen. Eventually, he will meet an agonizing death."

"All mortals die eventually."

"I can remedy that as well. If you desire it, of course. But if you don’t want to accept my offer, I have a different question to ask. Do you wish to save your present family, or your future family?"

"What does that even mean?"

"You will understand soon enough. For now, I’ll take that to mean you’ve chosen your present family." A brief silence fell between us, and the woman reached out with her blood-stained hand, gently caressing my cheek.

"Would that precious family of yours still love you if they knew your true nature? If they discovered that you are a stranger who had already lived an entire life in a future they could never imagine?"

Warm blood trickled down my jawline.

"Consider my offer carefully, Lucius."

And with that, I snapped awake.

***

"As you instructed, we conducted experiments using cylinders crafted from multiple layers of paper. The innermost layer had to be reinforced with papyrus and glue to withstand the intense heat," Spurius said, holding up a paper tube.

"As soon as it ignited, the cylinder shot forward at incredible speed. The testing is not yet complete, but Pompey has requested a private demonstration... Caesar?"

"Forgive me. My mind drifted for a moment. Please, continue."

I let Spurius’s technical explanations go in one ear and out the other.

What I truly desired, huh?

Why on earth had she asked that question?

The nightmare from a few nights ago remained terrifyingly vivid in my mind. When I awoke that night, I found actual blood smeared across my cheek.

It was exactly where the woman in the dream had caressed me.

I had barely managed to stop a panicked Pompeia from summoning a physician in the middle of the night.

Having finished his report, Spurius asked in a cautious tone.

"Is there something wrong with the report?"

"No, not at all. Excellent work. Keep me updated on your progress."

"Understood. Ah, and the consul is due to arrive shortly."

"Father is coming?"

"He wished to see the prototypes for himself."

I nodded. Various prototypes under development lay before me, including paper cylinders packed with black powder.

Weapons destined for the Gallic campaign.

To begin mass production, we had to complete the testing as quickly as possible.

I couldn’t afford to sit around brooding. Yet the words that woman had spoken continued to echo endlessly in my mind.

While I was lost in thought, a heavy hand landed on my shoulder.

"You look unusually absent-minded today, Lucius," Father said with his familiar bright smile.

He waved a hand, signaling the surrounding lictors to step back out of earshot.

"Are you feeling unwell?"

"If it were merely a physical ailment, I would consider myself fortunate."

"You shouldn’t say such things so casually. The gods have quite the wicked sense of humor, you see."

Father stood beside me, looking down at the prototypes undergoing testing.

"Next year, you will be leaving Rome as well."

"I suppose so."

A long silence settled between us. We both stared at the prototypes in quiet contemplation.

"As a father, I should be bursting with pride to see my son set out on his first campaign as a grown man. Yet I cannot help but feel an overwhelming sense of dread."

I opened my mouth to respond, but the words died in my throat.

"Whatever happens, always keep a calm, rational mind, Lucius. Remember that on the battlefield, the unthinkable can happen at any moment."

"I will keep that in mind."

After another moment of silence, I finally spoke.

"Did you ever think I was strange when I was a child, Father?"

"Strange?"

Father looked at me for a moment before bursting into hearty laughter.

"I doubt Rome ever produced a stranger child than you, Lucius."

"Forgive me. It was a foolish question. Something has been bothering me all day..."

"You were a peculiar boy from the moment you could walk. While other children were obsessed with playing knucklebones in the dirt, you spent all day reading papyrus scrolls. To be honest, I often thought you were far too mature for your age."

Father’s expression softened.

"Do you remember the day you turned eight, when we first went horse riding together?"

"On the Campus Martius."

I replied with a chuckle. I could still vividly remember struggling with the horse all day.

Just mounting the horse was an ordeal.

I had never ridden a horse in my previous life, after all.

In the end, I had tumbled into the mud several times that day. Yet instead of remembering the day as painful, I remembered it as one of the happiest days of my childhood.

Father had stayed right beside me the entire time, constantly encouraging and supporting me.

"That was the day I realized you were a normal child after all."

"Because I was terrible at riding?"

"No. Because you were having so much fun." Father smiled with me. "The moment you finally managed to ride on your own, the radiant smile on your face... I still remember it clearly."

When I fell silent, Father spoke once more.

"Is there something weighing on your heart?"

"It’s just... I wonder if the choices I have made so far were truly the right ones."

Perhaps what the goddess had said was true.

Until now, I had transformed Rome under the guise of noble intentions, hiding the selfish motives beneath them.

Everything I had introduced—the institutions, technologies, policies, even the cultural changes—had originally been meant to protect my family.

What had begun as simple self-interest had changed Rome, Italy, and now the whole world.

Yet the thought that there might be an easier, bloodier path had never fully left me.

"Whether our actions were right or wrong is for future generations to decide."

Father turned his head to look directly into my eyes.

"All we can do in the present is follow what our hearts tell us, and shoulder the full responsibility for our choices."

"Follow my heart?"

"Yes. follow what our hearts tell us. But at the same time, we should be prepared to bear the consequences ourselves."

"You always did have a gift for saying the right thing, Father."

"I didn’t rise to become Pontifex Maximus and consul for nothing, you know. I can manage a few inspiring words." Father chuckled softly.

"Besides, I can’t have you brooding like this."

"What do you mean by that?"

"If a master plans to sell a slave tomorrow, what do you think he does with that slave today?"

"He works him to the bone before selling him, of course. Wait..."

I cleared my throat and shot him a dry look.

"Did you just compare your own son to a slave?"

"There are countless matters you need to settle before you march off to Gaul next year, Lucius. After all, you were the one who set most of them in motion."

Father gave me a playful nudge.

"You said you weren’t sure whether what you’ve done was right. Follow me to the council tomorrow morning."

What did the Religious Council have to do with this?

Father merely gave me a cryptic grin.

***

The following morning, I followed Father toward the grand council tent on the Ager Vaticanus.

Father was clad in a ceremonial toga praetexta, edged with a rich purple border.

"Come this way."

"Why did you bring me here today, Father?"

"There are people I wish to introduce to you."

Standing beside Father, I watched the crowd gathering before us.

Some wore pristine white robes similar to those worn by Roman priests, while others were dressed in garments of vibrant blue and saffron yellow.

They approached us in a steady, orderly procession. The first priest to greet us was an elderly man with silver-streaked hair.

"From Eleusis in Attica. A high priest of the sacred sanctuary of Demeter and Kore."

Father whispered beside me.

The elderly priest bowed low, and Father and I returned the bow in kind.

Following him, another delegation stepped forward.

"From Delphi. A priest of Apollo."

"It is an immense honor to meet you, Lucius Caesar."

"The honor is mine."

While the priests paid their respects one by one, I exchanged greetings with each of them.

"From Argos. A priest serving Asclepius, the god of healing and medicine. Next is a priest from Sparta, from the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia."

New priests arrived in an endless stream.

"Ilion."

At Father’s words, I flinched involuntarily.

Ilion...

Was that not the ancient city known to history as Troy?

"I serve Pallas Athena in Ilion," the man said, clasping my hand firmly.

"It brings me boundless joy to set foot in the land of our kinsmen, who share our ancestral blood. If not for Lucius Caesar, such a gathering would never have been possible. On behalf of the citizens of Ilion, I offer my sincerest congratulations on the founding of Nova Troia."

At a loss for words, I could only nod.

Delegation after delegation stepped forward.

As the procession continued, the priests began to look increasingly different.

They served gods ranging from Melqart and Eshmun to Baal Hammon and Nemausus.

Father and I welcomed priests serving gods with unfamiliar foreign names, guiding them into the great tent.

"This is the new Rome that you and I are forging, Lucius," Father whispered.

"This is our choice."