#sims4decades

The decision had already been made long before it was spoken aloud.

They had been sitting at the table for some time when Marcus finally broke the silence.

“You’re going to Rome.”

Lucius Vettius didn’t look surprised.

He had known something like this was coming. It had been in the way Marcus watched him lately—measuring, weighing, as if deciding what he was worth.

Still, hearing it said out loud made it real.

“For study,” Marcus continued. “You’ve learned what you can here.”

Lucius leaned back slightly, resting his elbow on the table, his expression unreadable.

“And if I haven’t?” he asked, not defiant—just honest.

Marcus’ jaw tightened, just a fraction.

“You will.”

A brief silence settled between them.

Lucius glanced down at his hands, then back up again.

Rome.

Bigger than anything he had ever known. Louder. Colder. Full of people who would not care who he was—only what he could become.

“You expect a lot,” he said quietly.

“I expect what is necessary.”

That answer came too quickly.

Too easily.

Lucius let out a faint breath through his nose, something between a sigh and a laugh.

“And if I don’t want it?”

Marcus’ gaze sharpened.

“It isn’t about what you want.”

There it was.

Not cruel.

Not loud.

Just… absolute.

Lucius held his gaze for a moment longer, then nodded once.

Not in agreement.

In understanding.

“Alright.”

No argument.

No resistance.

That, more than anything, seemed to satisfy Marcus.

“Good,” he said, more quietly now. “You’ll leave within the week.”

Lucius looked away, toward the dim light of the room, the familiar walls, the life he had always known.

He had never cared much for study.

Never found joy in it the way others did.

But he understood something else.

The name he carried.

The weight of it.

And the fact that it would one day be his to bear alone.

So he did not protest.

Historical Info

While I know it's not technically within the challenge rules to have an unwed woman move out of the family household and go off on her own, I felt like it just fit Viola too well to have her do this and be the showcase for what an unmarried woman might do for work.

Our view of western history is often that before feminist theory took off properly there was no way for a single woman to make her way into the world, but that's actually not entirely correct.

While women were definitely severely limited in their societal movement in terms of laws and the norms of society, it still wasn't uncommon for there to be women who worked for themselves.

This source examines women in Brittony and what they did for work, and while Sweden isn't in Brittony it's still an interesting read.

The source found that most unmarried women who worked for themselves either worked as domestic servants or within the mercantile industry (aka running shops or making things for shops to sell).

I learned that "in Nantes, one third of the innkeepers and mercers, and half of the whole-cloth merchants and fish vendors, were women" and so I decided that the most logical place for Viola to take up work would be at an inn run by a single woman.

The letter reached Titus many days later, far from home.

Night had already fallen over the camp in Germania. The fires burned low between the tents, and most of the soldiers had long since fallen asleep after the day’s march.

Titus stood alone when the message was brought to him.

At first he did not recognize the hand that had written it.

But the moment he broke the seal and began to read, the world around him seemed to fall silent.

The words were few.

Yet they carried a weight heavier than any blow.

Vespera was gone.

For a long moment Titus did not move.

The crackling of the fire, the distant murmur of the camp, the whispering wind through the trees — all of it faded into the background.

His daughter was gone.

The parchment trembled slightly in his hand as the truth slowly settled into his chest like a stone.

There were no words he could answer with.

No anger left.

Only the unbearable knowledge that he had not been there.

And in the dark forests of Germania, far from home, Titus Vettius stood alone with his grief.