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The Die is Cast
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2025-03-08 14:30:50
majmajmaj16i hope you enjoyed the chapter! (bows)
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LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) Those with Bad Intentions
The night had fully settled in.. And the surrounding darkness seemed to swallow everything in its path—leaving behind an oppressive silence.. The usual rain of the season was absent tonight. Still, the air remained damp and cold. Plancina gazed into her speculum, her reflection, calm and composed—unusually so, for a wife whose husband was now imprisoned. Nearby, an array of cosmetics lay scattered across the table—opened, used, and left unattended. As if she could not care less about whether they were cleaned away or left to waste. A typical behavior for a woman of her caliber. She's a noble. It's what's expected of her. Her fingers absently ran through her dark hair, the motion was habitual, her thoughts drifting far away from the present. Four beeswax candles flickered in the room, their warm glow dancing against the cold night air. A wasteful act. Well.. she's a noble! A noble! The fire illuminated the smooth, rounded surface of the speculum, casting shadows that deepened
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-10LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) Whispers in the Shadows
The time was very late, the night stretching long and still, like a canvas of blackness waiting to be filled.The air was cool, yet heavy, thick with the scent of moist earth after rain.It clung to Agrippina’s whole being, like a damp shroud, mingling with the distant tang of the Tiber river.The river’s gentle flow was a reminder of the city’s lifeblood, its soft gurgling seeming to breathe secrets of its own, concealing the tension in the air.The moon, now a crescent in the dark sky, indicated that the rain would not fall for the rest of the night, despite being in season.It cast an eerie glow over the Roman streets, its pale light twisting silhouettes into living things.Agrippina’s footsteps broke the silence, her heels tapping rhythmically on the rough cobblestones.The flickering flames of the torches cast ghostly outlines along the walls, and every whisper of the wind seemed to echo with the city’s unspoken secrets.She felt like an intrusion into the quiet, dark world of Rom
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-14LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) Darkness Closed In
The night had stretched on, slipping into vigilia tertia, and the weight of the quiet hour seemed to press down even more heavily on Plancina. Her steps echoed through the empty streets, the cold air biting at her skin. She was losing control, and with each passing moment, the unease in her chest only deepened. Her gaze flickered to the shadows, every movement sending a jolt of panic through her. She was waiting for Sejanus. Where is he? She thought, biting her lip in frustration. She wrapped her arms around herself, her fingers trembling despite her best attempts to remain composed. An hour had passed since the messenger departed. Her mind, frantic with worry, couldn't quiet the question that continued to swirl. Why my husband is not in the Tullianum prison? But the more she pondered, the more she realized—she was actually relieved that he wasn't there. Had Piso been there when Agrippina arrived, the entire scheme might have unraveled. Agrippina, ever sharp, could have pried
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-14LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) Caligula's Monochrome Reverie
The Year is 23 AD August 17 two weeks before Caligula's 12 BirthdateCaligula, a young boy of eleven, closed his eyes as he slept, his chest rising and falling in a measured rhythm...And then, he dreamed..In this state of unreality, he found himself in a plain, gray world.Monochromatic.It's been his world as far as he can remember, even in reality—after waking up from an intense fever years ago. He remembered bawling his eyes out, trying to shake it off in his eyes.It's uncomfortable.But he learned to accept it as his new reality—slowly and overtime. He learned to adapt. Because he realized that, he was powerless to fight such an enigma.It's a force of nature.And even if he could fight it, he wouldn't know how.He's only a kid.Incapable of anything.Caligula closed his eyes and readied himself for the intrusion of the bright light coming from the sun, a habit he developed to protect his defective vision.As he shut his eyes, his other senses seemed to be heightened.The wind b
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-17LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) The Gods in the Scrolls
One week after the dream...Caligula sat in the tutor's chambers, located within his grandmother Antonia's villa urbana, where they had been residing since his father's death.He glanced around the airy space.The room carried the scent of aged papyrus and hardened wax tablets, making it feel smaller than it was—almost confining.And yet, it was a mess. Stacks of scrolls and tablets were scattered everywhere.It was said that this room held the wealth of classical Roman knowledge, but to pile it all up as if it were nothing more than discarded clothing?Caligula couldn't help but show a hint of distaste in his eyes............For the first time in years, he could express his emotions again. Was it because of that dream—when his father telling him to wake up?The eleven year old boy didn't know. It had been too long.But he remembered being aware of his surroundings, of what was happening, and it felt like as if his soul had been a mere spectator, trapped within his own body. He had
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-17LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) The Boy who Stumbled
Vipsania Julia Agrippina.Regal.Commanding.A colossus.Sounds of her footsteps echoing at the mosaic floor.The air itself seemed to crackle around her as she stopped and stood just a few steps away from the doorway. The scent of her expensive perfume, sharp and floral—filling the tutor's chamber.Her expression was a carefully crafted mask of fury.Agrippina's presence overwhelmed the room in an instant, as she surveyed the state of the room's disarray. Her face gradually twisted in displeasure.Julia sprang up from her seat first."Mother!" She rushed towards her mother without hesitation, grasping the hem of her white palla, which covered her black stola, and hid behind Agrippina.Caligula followed suit.His steps were slower, more unsure—while his eyes searched for his mother's face.He can only make out her almost white hair that seems to shine from the brightness of the morning sun that's coming from the wide open window.Caligula knew she was blond.But he hasn't seen any colo
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-19LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) White Wild Flower
Lepidus had long since discovered that the goddess from three years ago, was.... in fact, a boy.It took one year of watching the goddess whenever they appear at public processions, and finally asking people, to learn that.. and also to find out his name.Caligula. A nickname that the soldiers gave the boy, after hearing him sing in his father's military camp.He felt somewhat proud of these small achievements... which is a big deal to Lepidus.A fifteen year old boy. A half slave and half noble... having this kind of resourcefulness..It started as a simple curiosity, perhaps a bit more.. he's not sure.What truly captured his interest was Caligula's vacant, withdrawn look, the same one he'd witnessed years ago at the boy's father's funeral.His resemblance to a goddess's statue—slightly long golden blond hair, piercing blue eyes, which was disturbingly empty—was striking.Yes, just like a sculpture. Unmoving, uncanny. Years had passed, and Caligula still held that same expression, f
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-26LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) Tu es meum Deus
"Lepidus..." the boy parroted his name, the sound lingering in the air, a soft echo against the hum of the forum. "Lepidus..."A strange smile played on Caligula's lips, a curve that didn't quite reach his eyes, leaving them cold and distant. "Hmmm... So, Lepidus... do you know me?"The question hung in the air, a subtle challenge.Lepidus suddenly felt a strange compulsion to explain himself, to justify his presence.But he remained stupefied, his tongue heavy, held captive by the boy's blue eyes that were trained on him.Now that he was closer, and a sense of ease began to settle over him, he found something oddly disconcerting.That even though the boy's gaze was fixed on him, there was a strange lack of focus, a sense of his attention drifting, like a phantom limb.But when Caligula's attention shifted to the drawings, he noticed a subtle change.The small circles in his eyes, the pupils, dilated and contracted, reflecting a flicker of genuine interest, a spark of life that was ab
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-27
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LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) When The Heart Started To Forget
The next day...Macro returned to his usual routine—standing guard outside the prince's cubiculum, stone-faced as ever.But something had changed in the air.The door opened.Macro, who wasn't looking directly at Caligula, was waiting for the soft footfall on the marbled floor.Seconds passed.A full minute went by.No sound.No movement.A bead of sweat rolled down his temple.He can swear he even heard it when it hit the marble.Slowly, Macro moved his eyes and peeked from the corner of his vision.Caligula was just standing there, his back resting against the frame of the door.His hands folded on his chest. Crumpling his purple tunic.His other leg was crossed over the other.His posture seemed relaxed, but it felt like a bowstring stretched too tight.One move and it felt like the prince would snap and attack him.Alert. Like a viper.The pretty prince didn't exit his room like he used to.He didn't move at all.He stood motionless, like a statue.Staring at Macro.'Is he measurin
LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) Macro Heard The Whistle
Sometime around November. The day Sejanus' letter arrived at Capri Island 28 ADA whistle.Two tone.Caligula's been trying to learn it ever since he first heard it five years ago.But he never managed to do it.Not with his mouth. No.Instead, it echoes inside his head.The tune stays, curled up in the back of his brain like something half-alive.It's the only thing keeping his sanity.He tries to hum it, but the sound won't come.His throat is dry.He wishes there was something to drink.But there was none.'Water—anything—!!'Even if it contains something that drives men past reason!........The sun had long since vanished, and the sea had gone black.Capri held its breath.But Caligula didn't know.He can't tell.Because there is no window.He sat on the cold stone floor, bare legs drawn up to his chest.His tunic was ripped and bunched at his waist, leaving his back and chest exposed, streaked with old bruises and new.The oil lamp flickered weakly against the far wall.Just a fl
LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) Revolt Of The Frisii
Sometime Around October 28 AD, Germania Inferior, Marshland East of the Rhine"Hmmmmm..."A low thrum stirred the stillness before dawn.It grew.A deep, resonant drone—heavy with numbers, thick with intent.A barritus.The battle-cry of Germania.Then came the tendrils of grey, snaking upward through the thinning branches of the forest—Smoke.Grey. Acrid. Hungry.The Germania tribe had returned.And at their forefront—Arminius.This was no petty rebellion.He did not rally for kingship.It was a reckoning.He rallied for vengeance—raw and untamed, pulsed in the air.A bitter memory surfaced in Arminius's mind, sharp as a shattered glass.Sejanus.The snake.Yes, it had been Arminius who first approached him—believing that Sejanus’ ambition might be bargained with.He had offered something of value, hoping to secure his family’s safety.And in return, once part of the promise was fulfilled, Sejanus would reveal their location.But in the end, the nature of the serpent does not change
LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) What She Paid
Tiberius sat slumped beneath the statue of Augustus, like a man worn down by time, shadowed in black robes.He could hear footsteps.Slow.Deliberate.It was getting near.Then murmurs.He did not look up at first, even when it grew increasingly loud.Like the annoying buzzing of a hornet.When he did look up, his eyes were red.His face sagged.Hollow.His son had just died.And Agrippina had come to talk politics.Senators hot on her heels.As if she owned the place.His palace.The foolish senators stopped on their tracks, looked between them—suddenly trapped between thunder and lightning.The buzzing stopped.Only Agrippina moved forward. Then stopped right in front of Tiberius.Silence stretched on.Agrippina's hazel eyes were trained on Tiberius's old, tired eyes.They measured each other.Then Tiberius raised one trembling hand."Leave us."The senators bowed and scattered like leaves in a storm.All that enthusiasm on the way from Curia Julia was gone in an instant.'Spineless
LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) I’ve Got You Now
Agrippina rose before the sun.As if she hadn't cried.As if she hadn't hurled a vase at the wall last night—because of Antonia's words.Her pride had been scratched.All night she lay motionless, waiting for sleep that never arrived.But no one could tell. No trace remained.A bath.A female slave braided her hair in silence.The scent of something floral folded into her dress.Rituals. Armor.Outside, Rome stirred with a hangover.But not her.She stood before the mirror—her speculum—and stared herself down without blinking.The reflection was thinner than she remembered.Older. Sharper.Gone was the old Agrippina.Something had burned away in her this past year.Or maybe it had only just become visible.Drusus the Younger was dead.And Tiberius had not come.Her mouth twitched.'You hide in your palatium while your son dies choking on roses. Just as you hid when you had my husband murdered.'She pressed a pearl pin into her black stola, twisting it with the precision of a blade.Th
LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) The Defeated Hyena
Lucius was out of breath.It was vigilia tertia.Third watch.Late enough for the bakers, early enough for secrets.Lucius, a plebeian’s son—born to ash and bread—ran without stopping.He didn’t pause to wipe the sweat from his brow. Didn’t slow to catch his breath.He ran like he was being chased by a pack of wolves.From Antonia’s villa, down the winding alleys of the Palatine.Through night fog that curled around shuttered stalls and broken lamps—until the scent of ash, fig, and fresh dough told him he was close.His father’s thermopolium was still open.Always was—especially after dark, when the real customers came.He ducked under the worn awning of the bakery—or the front of it, anyway—and pushed through the wooden door.Inside, the warmth of the ovens wrapped around him.Bread. Honey. Smoke. Burnt flour.Comforting. Safe, in theory.But his legs still shook. He stumbled.His tunic was wet, sticky. Not from rain—it was summer.It was his own sweat.His father—Publius, the baker
LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) Marc Aemilius Lepidus, Filius, Nihil
The praetorian guards were gone. The guests too—long gone.Only the ghosts of perfume and wine lingered in the air, drifting through the night like whispers.Faint laughter, fading music—echoes of the party that had turned to horror because of his uncle Drusus the Younger's poisoning.It's so quiet.Drusus Caesar moved through the corridor, barefoot now, careful not to make a sound.In his hands, his sandals.He had already forgotten the poison he found in his mother’s cubiculum—and how he’d taken it and hidden it behind the tapestry.Now, he just regretted not moving faster.His curiosity about everything was getting in the way now.Slowing him down.If he’d slipped out of the cubiculum just a little earlier, maybe he would’ve caught a glimpse of what happened.But no—he’d tried to play the clever delator—like a boy-legatus chasing the shadow who’d planted poison in his mother’s room.As if it were some grand conspiracy.'Did his uncle really die? Who poisoned him? What happened afte
LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) A Shame No One Stopped Me
The sound of armor—clinking. The march of many feet.Metal on rough marble.Sharp.Cold.No shouting.Only silent efficiency.The praetorian guards had arrived from the palatium.Not Tiberius.No Sejanus either.Only men in blackened bronze, masked by plumes and indifference.They moved through the hortus like shadows.Some went to Drusus’s body—now covered—lifting it as if it were both fragile and foul.They wrapped him in purple linen.No ceremony.No priest.No incense.Just death.Others moved to Livia, to escort her out.She was pale, her eyes wide—not with grief, but with the horror of survival.She could have died too. She hadn’t even known.She leaned into a servant, still straight with imperial steel—but her poise was unraveling.A few guards bowed. Not deeply.Behind her, Livilla followed like a ghost.She didn’t cry.Didn’t speak.Her slaves hovered, flitting like insects, trying to soothe her—but she didn’t notice.They were led out the side way—not through the colonnade.
LOVE AND HONOR: The Mad Emperor (BL) Stars and Moonlight
The path behind the villa urbana was narrow and winding, barely more than a trail carved between hedges and crumbling garden walls.It felt forgotten. Unkempt.A stark contrast to the boastful entrance.The air was warm—heavy with the scent of summer.No moon. No stars.At least not yet.Only torches lit along the edges of the estate, their flames flickering in the summer breeze.The world felt distant. Smaller somehow.As if all that mattered was this path.These two figures.Lepidus walked beside Caligula, not too close.Just near enough that if the boy stumbled, Lepidus could catch him.Caligula said nothing as his feet led Lepidus to the place he'd found after the chaos at the Circus Maximus—a place he now sought out for solace.He already memorized the path at heart.His footsteps were slow, dragging a little, the hem of his toga dusted from the gravel.He looked tired. Hollowed out.But not afraid. Not cold.Not anymore.The orange-golden light of the torches behind them dimmed
