The Floralia festival, which spanned several days, finally concluded amid roaring cheers and lingering fervor.
Countless citizens, many still nursing severe hangovers, slowly returned to their daily routines.
As yawning slaves swept the debris from the Forum with long brooms, a new political announcement echoed across the city.
Candidate registration for the consular elections had officially opened. The winners of this election would formally assume the consulship the following year.
In the Roman Republic, two consuls shared the highest executive power for a single year. Consequently, candidates often formed alliances to secure both seats, or fought bitterly to shut their rivals out.
"I, Gaius Julius Caesar, hereby declare my candidacy for the consulship of the coming year!"
Amidst the deafening cheers of his supporters, Caesar officially entered the race.
Simultaneously, another man stepped forward to declare his candidacy: a politician named Lucceius.
Firmly aligned with the populares faction, he announced his run with Caesar's full endorsement.
And at that exact moment, several men in the shadows began to move with urgency.
***
"The optimates will undoubtedly try to prop up a rival candidate to run against my father."
"But who on earth could possibly beat the master right now?" Felix asked, stretching his arms.
Perhaps because it was early morning, the Roman air felt unusually cold.
"No one could beat him, of course," I nodded in agreement.
He had crushed the uprisings in Hispania, returned to Rome with an unimaginable fortune in spoils, and extinguished a devastating bank run.
To top it all off, he had voluntarily renounced his triumph out of 'devotion' to the Roman citizens.
Finding a more perfect candidate was literally impossible.
But that didn't mean there wasn't a problem.
Rome elected two consuls every year.
"It would be ideal if either Pompey or Crassus could take the second seat," Felix noted.
"I agree. Unfortunately, it hasn't been long enough since either of them last served as consul."
By tradition, a politician was expected to wait more than ten years before running for the consulship a second time.
While this was merely a custom and not a strictly enforced law, the real issue lay in the toxic jealousy between the two men.
Neither of them had any problem with Caesar becoming consul, but the idea of the other man taking the second seat alongside Caesar was intolerable to both of them.
Crassus and Pompey either had to serve as consuls together, or not run at all.
"Which is why my father chose Lucceius as his running mate."
I tapped my fingers against the table.
He was the man who had run alongside Caesar in the original timeline, only to lose the election.
Lucceius didn't have much political clout of his own, but he maintained a close friendship with Cicero and was a staunch member of the populares.
"Did you look into what I asked?"
"Here is the report, young master."
Felix handed me a sheet of paper.
"Just as you instructed, we placed several informants near Bibulus's estate. During the festival, quite a few senators paid him a visit. Even now, they still visit him every few days."
"They're trying to persuade him to enter the race. I imagine they're busy drafting their campaign strategies right now."
Just as I expected.
In the original history, the conservative optimates had pooled their vast resources to push Bibulus across the finish line, securing the second consular seat for him.
Once elected as Caesar's co-consul, Bibulus spent his entire tenure obstructing every single piece of legislation Caesar proposed.
Eventually, outmaneuvered, he retreated to his estate and refused to perform his consular duties for the rest of the year.
He spent his days writing scathing political pamphlets attacking Caesar, and whenever the People's Assembly attempted to convene, he would announce that the auspices were unfavorable in a desperate bid to cancel the sessions.
His self-imposed exile was so pathetic that the Roman citizens jokingly referred to that year not as 'the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus,' but as 'the consulship of Julius and Caesar.'
"But didn't those conservative senators owe us a massive debt after the banking crisis?" Felix asked.
"I doubt they would dare oppose us so openly right now."
"On the surface, they'll shower us with gratitude, of course. Politically speaking, they've become our clients."
Without the massive bailout provided by my father, Crassus, Pompey, and me, their banks would have collapsed, ruining them entirely.
For the time being, at least, they couldn't afford to antagonize us directly.
"But Lucceius is a different story. And some senators will do everything in their power to install an opposition consul to keep my father in check."
"And that opposition is Bibulus."
I looked down at the report in my hands.
There was likely no need to actively campaign for my father.
His victory was essentially a foregone conclusion.
The goal was to ensure Lucceius won the second seat alongside him.
"We already have extensive dossiers prepared on Bibulus, so drafting a counter-strategy would be easy. Let's begin preparations immediately."
There was no need to resort to blatant smear campaigns.
Even without directly attacking Bibulus, there were plenty of ways to raise Lucceius's public standing.
"We'll utilize the method we used recently."
"You mean the woodblock stamps and paper?"
"Exactly. We'll blanket the Forum with flyers stating that my father endorses Lucceius. We can also hire public heralds to..."
I spent the next hour hashing out various campaign scenarios with Felix, preparing for a political dogfight.
However, it wasn't long before I realized my predictions had completely missed the mark.
"You're telling me no one else registered? No one besides my father and Lucceius?"
"Yes. And the registration period officially closes this afternoon. It's almost certain that only two candidates are running." Felix replied with a bewildered expression.
Only two candidates running for the two consular seats.
What the hell is going on?
"Has that ever happened in the entire history of the Republic?"
***
"Are you serious about this, Bibulus?"
It was only natural that the optimates had chosen Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus as their champion for the consulship.
He was married to Porcia, the daughter of Cato the Younger, and had previously served as aedile and praetor alongside Caesar.
However, Caesar had always eclipsed him completely, monopolizing the glory and public adoration. It was an open secret in Rome that Bibulus harbored a deep, bitter resentment toward him.
"You are refusing to run? Even after we promised you the full financial and political backing?"
"Do you take me for a fool?"
Bibulus glared at the gathered senators.
"I may despise Caesar with every fiber of my being, but what do you think will happen to me if I become his co-consul right now?!"
"Which is exactly why you must step forward! If no one is there to check him, who knows what madness Caesar will unleash upon the Republic? You are the only man fit to keep Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey in check!"
"If you need a watchdog so desperately, why don't you ask my father-in-law to run instead?"
Bibulus scoffed bitterly.
"My entire public career has been spent suffocating in that man's shadow. If I could crush his arrogant smirk, I would do anything."
He gave a bitter shrug.
"But I am not stupid enough to step into a pit of vipers with my eyes wide open."
The senators pleaded with him several more times over the following days, but Bibulus refused to change his mind.
Eventually, they had no choice but to seek out an alternative candidate.
"Since it's come to this, why don't we throw our weight behind Cato?"
"I went to his estate yesterday to sound him out, but I couldn't even secure a meeting with him. Word is he spends every waking moment obsessively poring over the financial ledgers from the Veterans' Fund."
"There was a reason Caesar recommended Cato for the audit."
"Cato is a lost cause anyway. The man refuses to spend even a single sesterce on his campaign, and he even refuses to make any political promises or grant favors."
"Then what are we supposed to do?"
"I have no idea."
Hortensius and the remaining optimates approached several other prominent politicians, but every single one of them politely, yet firmly, declined the offer.
Men who would normally go down on their knees for optimate backing were now fleeing from them as if they carried the plague.
It was a bizarre phenomenon: politicians actively running away from the promise of the consulship.
And so, when the final day of candidate registration arrived, only two men had put their names forward.
Caesar and Lucceius.
In an election designed to select two consuls, exactly two candidates had entered the race. It was a completely unprecedented event in Roman history.
"Does this mean we don't even need to hold a vote?"
"We still have to determine which of them takes first place. It determines who takes precedence and carries the fasces for the first month."
"Do we really need a vote to figure out which of those two is going to get more votes?"
"..."
Not a single person in Rome had a retort for that.
***
"It seems that whenever I am near you, Lucius, the impossible becomes routine."
My father chuckled, clapping a heavy hand on my back.
The two of us were walking down the street, completely surrounded by a throng of cheering supporters.
"Only two candidates for the consulship. It's entirely unprecedented."
Honestly, it wasn't completely illogical.
My father's popularity in Rome was currently untouchable.
With him endorsing Lucceius, any third candidate faced an uphill battle.
But for no one else to even attempt a run? That completely defied my expectations.
Even if they couldn't beat my father, surely someone believed they could outpoll Lucceius.
Even Bibulus backing out was astounding.
"None of this would have been possible if you hadn't saved Rome from the panic, Father."
"'We' saved Rome," my father corrected, shrugging.
A moment later, we stopped in front of a sprawling domus.
"Well, here we are."
"This is a lot bigger than I expected."
"It's certainly a massive step up from our modest home in the Subura, wouldn't you agree?"
My father smiled as he stepped through the grand front gates.
I followed him inside.
At first glance, it felt like a typical elite patrician estate, but the details told a different story.
From the exquisitely carved marble accents to the towering columns and immaculate frescoes, everything screamed premium and prestige.
"Are you truly giving this entire estate to me?"
"I am not a man who makes empty promises, Lucius."
"But this must have cost a fortune."
"A paltry sum compared to everything you've accomplished for me. Let's not forget, you were the one who directed me to those lucrative silver veins in Hispania," my father said, gesturing toward the interior of the domus.
"Come, let me show you the rest. I personally oversaw the furnishings and preparations."
The interior was striking—elegant, clean, yet undeniably luxurious.
Come to think of it, my father had always had excellent taste in clothing and art.
Did he really prepare all of this himself?
I listened to his commentary as we toured the sprawling estate.
This was the home where Pompeia and I would officially begin our lives together.
The place where we would begin our household, receive guests, and host our political clients.
"You should see the wedding done soon, before things become too chaotic. Once I officially assume the consulship, neither you nor I will have the luxury of time."
"Even if you win the election now, you won't actually take office for over half a year."
"And that half-year will be consumed entirely by preparations. A consul's term is agonizingly brief," my father said, his tone turning serious.
"A single year is nowhere near enough time to change Rome. We must nock the arrow now, so we can loose it the moment I take office."
"I agree."
Without Bibulus there to sabotage every single piece of legislation like he did in the original timeline, my father's consulship would progress far more smoothly.
Which meant we could accomplish vastly more.
We could use the temples to redefine the authority of the office of Pontifex Maximus and prepare the Republic for the storms that were approaching.
Though I still couldn't tell what form that storm would take.
"I will be right by your side to assist you, Father."
"I have no doubt about that. However, a thought occurred to me recently."
My father stopped and turned to look at me.
"You have proposed numerous radical reforms and policies for the betterment of Rome. Once I become consul next year, I will have to exhaust myself trying to implement them all."
"I'm afraid 'exhaust yourself' might be an understatement."
A single year was a terrifyingly short window to execute systemic reform.
Even if we made full use of every single day, it was going to be an incredibly tight race.
"And when I eventually retire from the political arena, you will aim for the consulship yourself. Then, you will effortlessly inherit the stable, reformed Republic I bled to build. Tell me, Lucius, are you planning to let me hunt the lion while you stroll in afterward to claim the pelt?"
"I believe I am still far too young to be discussing my own consular ambitions, Father."
I cleared my throat and quickly averted my gaze.
Damn it, he saw right through me.
My father watched my reaction with amused suspicion before bursting into laughter.
"You had better prepare yourself, Lucius."
His next words made me swallow hard.
"Because I have no intention of hunting that lion alone."