The war council dissolved slowly.

Not with chatter.

Not with relief.

But with the quiet, restrained hum of officials already calculating tonnage, routes, bribes, and coded correspondences.

Julius remained at the head of the table a moment longer after the last advisor bowed out.

The continental map loomed before him.

Red markers.

Blue markers.

Green markers.

And somewhere admist them all were his invisible root markers.

his agents hidding in plain sight, waiting for orders to arrive, for them to begin operations an sow discorse and disorder to disrupt their national operations as much as we can of course after the initial months of these begin, the Visigoths will begin to employ means to prevent further sabotage, all while deploying their forces to root out the sabatours and begin performing counter-espianoge to further protect themselves in the future.

He exhaled once and turned away.

The corridor outside the chamber felt cooler.

Quieter.

Palace servants moved with disciplined silence.

Guards snapped to attention as he passed.

The weight of rulership never quite left his shoulders, but away from the war table it shifted into something less suffocating.

He expected to return to his study.

Instead, as he rounded the final archway toward the private wing, he saw Serena waiting near the tall western windows.

Golden light filtered through stained glass, catching in her hair.

And beside her—

Yuri.

That alone was unusual.

Yuri rarely appeared unannounced, if anything she almost actively avoided me if she could help it since she was recovered from Francia.

Not because i asked her to, but due to fear that she never knew when her other half would come out and risk her commiting treason against Romanus once more.

She stood straight, composed, hands folded neatly before her.

Her golden blonde hair fell over one shoulder, eyes steady and alert.

Different.

Not broken.

Not distant.

Present.

Serena noticed him first and smiled faintly.

"You look like you just sentenced the world to burn," she said gently.

"Only parts of it," Julius replied dryly. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

He approached them, studying Yuri more closely.

The weeks of recovery had changed her.

There was clarity in her gaze now.

Not the faint haze he had grown accustomed to.

"Your majesty." She curtseyed while saying so, though just from her mannerism itself, Yuri was just poking fun at Julius.

She herself was a princess, perhaps of a now vassalized land, but as someone who had been beside Julius for his entire rise to the glory he now held.

His own personal response to her formalized greeting was to respond equally as such.

Bowing low before the two ladies.

"Greeting your royal majesties, fancy finding the pair of you in a place like this, the gods have truly blessed me with the opportunity for this meeting."

Though at the end of the address as i was rising back up, i could feel the air pause ever so slightly, and when my eyes once more met with hers...

It was almost as if they had dimmed ever so slightly.

"Hrm..."

A simply groan of displeasure crossed her lips, at least at first.

"That depends on which of ’us’ you happen to be addressing i’d say."

The voice and tone sterner, tempered like steel.

Julius stilled.

"...I see," he said quietly.

Yuri’s posture shifted almost imperceptibly.

Shoulders squared.

Chin lifted a fraction higher.

The healing operation had indeed restored Yuri however while it had restored her, it also had the side effect of allowing the forcibly created personality to also remain as well.

Yurasia Roserun first princess of the Kingdom of Roserun was only one half of the person before me now.

The other, Saint Joan Commander General of the Francian peasent militia that fought for the preservation of their realm during the Romanus-Francian war.

In the months since the war ended, i had only seen Joan from afar, with her appearances happening seemingly at random.

But now, it seemed like something had changed, the shift between the two had become smooth... almost as if it had been controlled.

Serena meanwhile beside them both, was the one to break the tension that rose up.

"Don’t worry Julius, she means no harm... right?"

Giving the other Yuri a side eyed glare.

"Right... the reason for the war has been properly explained to me... and while i cannot still see you as my enemy, i do still hold against you the deaths of the Francian people whose blood was spilt by your hand."

"And i would argue that blood was spilled needlessly, since without you, yourself there to rile them up only the Kingdoms own armies would be forced to face off against my legions... and without the Saint herself backing the royals the nations morale would ahve collapsed far sooner meaning a swifter end to the war."

His words were measured, but also stating truths without actually assigning blame.

The saint was a fabricated tool afterall knowing nothing of her true history nor her connection to the invaders seeking the destruction of Francia.

"Hrmmmm... i cannot refute those claims since neither of us knew of the others actions... and all true fault lies with the Francian royalty who has already been punished."

"Yes. So... that brings up the true question then, which is what brings you tw-three ladies to see me?"

Having his knowledge of earth and the advanced phycological knowledge so long as the personalities are aware of one another rather than just rejecting one over the other he played the peacemaker and just attempted to accept that there were two people sharing one body.

"Well..." Serena began to state, but before she could get the words out, Joan herself cut in.

"They’ve come to force your hand Julius, speaking frankly if i may these two ladies have had their eyes on you for quite some time now, and while you express-" Joan started to go off on an explanation but before she could get to far Serena dived in to cover her mouth and before to much could be said, the light returned to her eyes and it was clear Yuri had forced herself to the surface sending Joan into a mental timeout for now.

Though seeing the ’threes’ action Julius standing before them could only breaking into a throaty chuckle.