~ Two Weeks After the Trees Founding ~
Julius sat in his office within his palaces penthouse.
His mind racing a mile a minute as he dealt with paperwork of the nation requiring his attention.
Paperwork that only grew with the implementation of his own intelligence branch though still in its infancy.
But as much as he worked, as much as he planned, Julius felt the weight of it crushing down on him.
It wasn't just strategy.
It wasn't just a battle.
It was guilt.
Loss.
A wound that even time refused to heal, as if he was grieving her very death.
His people saw him as their Invincible Emperor which was the mythos he had built up around himself so far.
The unshakable force behind the rise of Rome.
But inside?
Inside, he was still the young man, the boy who had failed to protect her...