Nero woke up on his own, and realised that he woke up ahead of time. These days, after his assigned caretaker used the card to help him condense his sleep down to a single hour, he would usually sleep deeply until woken up. Today, for some odd reason, he woke up early.
Nero suppressed a soft smirk, and closed his eyes, maintaining a regular breathing pattern, as if he was still asleep. He used these precious few minutes to go through his thoughts and plans.
Contrary to what others thought, Nero was not ignorant of what was happening to him. In fact, he was the first person to notice, but he simply didn't acknowledge it openly. He himself would not quit - he could not afford to quit or lose his nomination for the legion.
However, he also realised that he could not keep going on like this, for more than one reason. It was not that he could maintain such an unreasonable pace. That, biologically speaking, may be a factor, but it was not what made him decide to stop.
