Nunnally frowned when two identical pairs of purple eyes focused themselves on her. One was amused, the other expectant. The six year old decided to ignore them for now. She tiptoed and reached out, the pink ribbons on her sleeve dragged across the checked board as small fingers grabbed hold of the knight.

The princess brought it forward a square and knocked the queen, which had been standing there, halfway across the chessboard and into the king. Both fell over.

After a second of surprised and slightly awed silence, Charles chuckled. It grew louder as he heard Lelouch's exasperated (and more than a little girly) voice explaining to Nunnally that the knight COULD NOT be moved like that.

The prince glanced fleetingly athis father, who could see the nervousness in his eyes plainly.

*****

A guard in the Queen's guardroom smiled as he heard a booming laugh coming from her chambers. He thought about the Emperor's other wives with their snide comments, and felt a surge of satisfaction.

His companions raised their eyebrows-despite the fact that they were grinning themselves. Though all present had volunteered to serve Queen Marianne, Jeremiah Gottwald was always slightly more coughcoughobsessedcough DEDICATED to her than most.

*****

"But big brother, it's just a game." Nunnally said, rolling his black king on the ground. "You told me so."

The 98th Emperor remembered someone who had once said the same thing. He looked at her now, amethyst eyes twinkling with amusement- and could that be a hint of pride?

Marianne beamed.

*****

"They…"

"Yes?"

"are without a doubt, your children."

"You're telling me you believed otherwise Charles?"

"…"

"Charles?!"

The Vi Britannia siblings had returned to their room, leaving their parents in bed, with chess pieces scattered about on the floor. Those chess pieces are currently highly likely to be joined by the contents of the Emperor's head, along with a lot of black ink.

"Marianne."

He stopped backing away and looked instead, to his feet. She put down the inkwell.

"Stop biting your lip and say it."

"I love you."

"I know."