Three months passed. Aurelia felt her body change. The signs were clear. She was pregnant.
One night, under the olive tree behind the villa, she broke down.
"Why did you make me beautiful, oh gods? Was it to punish me this way? Is beauty a curse?"
Livia, nearby, simply said: "No, child. Rome is the curse. Not you."
Aurelia held her stomach. She did not know if she hated the life within. But she knew she wanted to live. For
that child.