Chapter IV
"There is one thing that you should know when you are serving under me, Jeremiah."
Jeremiah straightened his body, staring straight into the princess's eyes. The princess was lying in her bed, reading one of the illegal books – Art of War, written by some ancient Chinese general named Tsun something, illegal because it was written by a Chinese – ,seemingly ignorant of all her surroundings.
There was a ruffle of clothes as Vio prepared to sew, ignoring the sewing machine located not far from her. Darien was lying on the carpeted floor not far from Vio, flasks of colorful liquid placed in front of him, a book about Chemistry in his hands, and bread in his other hand.
"Yes, Your Highness?"
Lilianne just hummed, placing a bookmark on the page she was reading before she closed it. "It's hard to explain… so perhaps you just need to see?"
Jeremiah furrowed his brow in confusion. "I do not understand, Your Highness."
"Just watch either Vio or Darien. I feel that something interesting will happen. Both of them love showing off after all."
"I digress, Princess," Vio started as she skillfully inserted the thread to the needle smoothly, as if she had done this so many times, "I just cannot stand the thought of someone like him being better than me."
"I cannot stand the thought of someone prissy and bossy like you being better." Darien returned, stuffing his bread into his mouth, at which Jeremiah inwardly scowled in disgust and trepidation.
Vio humped, before she shifted lightly and started to sew in a surprisingly smooth move. Darien took out a lollipop and scoffed at Vio's blandness. "All those talk, and no coolness? So not cool…"
Vio stopped on her sewing, glaring at Darien, before she stood up, threw the clothes in her hands up in the air, did something in the air that Jeremiah can't really caught, and all of a sudden, when the clothes fell back to Vio's waiting arms, it already became a dress.
Vio sent a smug smirk to Darien's way.
Darien gritted his teeth and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt. He took two of the flasks, pouring it into a beaker, and took it into his hands as if he wanted to drink it.
"Darien?" the Princess interrupted, pausing Darien, "I hope that is not explosive, acidic, or anything that might destroy my room."
Darien stared at the beaker in his hands, and shrugged, tipping his head and drinking said liquid.
Jeremiah watched in horrific fascination as steam sizzled out of his mouth. Darien's mouth slowly rotting away and his throat started to take the color of red and purple. Jeremiah snapped out of his stupor and shot to the Princess's front, blocking the Princess from seeing the gory image any longer.
Jeremiah really, really had not expected for something like this to actually happen in the Princess's room. Heck, he had thought that those colorful liquids were just syrups or juices! Jeremiah will have to ask for his Princess's forgiveness later on.
"Darien, I want you to rid my room of this disgusting stench by the end of the day," the Princess said in monotone, "and no more weird liquid inside my room, understand?"
Jeremiah's brow furrowed, clearly, even with his back facing that kid, Jeremiah knew for sure that that child should have died from that kind of chemical, so why was his Princess still talking?
Curious, Jeremiah peered to his back, looking at the body whose throat and mouth were damaged. Jeremiah was surprised to find said body still in a sitting position; eyes open, the damaged part rippling and bubbling as the new flesh grow. Darien tested his newly regenerated jaw before he answered the Princess.
"Of course, and you don't care at all about me," Darien said drily, "My heart wrenches in hurt."
The Princess scoffed. "Both of you does not feel pain, and you are the resident's cell regenerator, I will only be worried if something got to your heart or brain."
"Wha- How-"
Jeremiah finally managed to stutter out.
The Princess just smirked as she rolled on her bed to face the sky of her room, eyes still staring at the shell-shocked Jeremiah. "Why of course, that secret should stay in this room, Jeremiah. I'll tell you about the Empire's dirty little secret that only very few know. A secret which I found out. A secret about the Power of Kings."
.o0o.o0o.
Schneizel sat and waited in the hall, smiling and chattering together with his fellow brothers and sisters, though he was inwardly wondering about what Father is going to do.
It was something important that concerns the whole royal family, that much he was sure.
Schneizel secretly sent a glance to Lilianne, who was sitting right beside him at his own insistence, reading a book on her lap, uncaring of the surrounding people. He was still worried about the psychology effect of the… massacre to Lilianne, but from the time he watched her, she was still the same old sleepy Lilianne who is naturally detached of her surroundings.
Just to be safe, Schneizel decided to keep her as close as possible to him and watch her lest she tried something weird.
When the hall suddenly quieted down, Schneizel stopped talking and stared at the podium, where father stood in all his magnificent glory. Father's eyes were condensing as always, looking down at all his children like one would to a pest.
He had always hated that, hated father's ideology, the empire Father had built as it was today. He will change it, he swore, so that no one will be a victim to father's ideology of Darwinism. He will make a revolution, which was why he needed the throne. He wanted the throne.
"Yesterday, it seems that we have another new enemy to watch out." Father started, "An enemy country with a large amount of power source. They had done the unspeakable and harmed one of us, the royalties."
The screen behind Father flickered to life. There was a light brown haired girl – Schneizel's throat went dry, was that… Nunally? – with a sword, no, more specifically a… katana, straight to her chest. Her eye was lifeless, like a doll – like a corpse.
Then the screen changed scene, showing a black haired boy with his arms chained, cuts and bruises leathering the supposedly porcelain white skin. There was the sound of a whip snapping, before the boy screamed in agony-
"Father! Stop that clip right now!" Schneizel shouted despite the disturbing sound from the video, eyes darting to the quiet Lilianne beside him. "It was not appropriate for children to see those kinds of things!"
Father stared at Schneizel, not even bothering to press the stop button, challenging Schneizel to say anything anymore. Schneizel gritted his teeth, eyes darting to Lilianne once more, who had stopped reading her book to watch the video.
Schneizel scowled in disgust, he would like to close Lilianne's eyes, from the bloody, gory image, from the screams of torture and suffering, but with Father watching on him like that…
Father has always been heartless. He always has.
When the video ended, Lilianne suddenly stood up, and when Schneizel thought she was going to run away, she stared at father, eyes blank, asking, "You showed me this video. What is it that you want?"
Schneizel was shocked to say that Father smiled as he looked at Lilianne – the little girl who had just watched her dearest siblings die and tortured – who just woke up after a coma after getting shot and the death of her mother.
"Japan has harmed one of us," Father said, "They had harmed – killed – your siblings. We will be attacking Japan. We will be taking Japan over. We will name it as Area 11!"
The crowds roared in approval. Japan, the country known for their production of Sakuradite, will be theirs, fueling their armies and daily lives.
"And, Father," Lilianne's small voice echoed around the hall when the roars died down, "I will be leading the invasion?"
Father smiled. "It is just fitting that you, whose siblings are tortured by them, to torture them back in exchange."
Shocked and disbelieving murmurs echoed throughout the hall.
Lilianne left Schneizel's side and walked towards the door, her short heels clacking against the floor, before she stopped as if she remembered something. "Should I start assembling the army?"
"Of course."
And Lilianne exited the hall.
.o0o.o0o.
"Jeremiah, catch."
Jeremiah's hands immediately lunged to the thing the Princess threw at him even though he had been enjoying the silence earlier. The two children, Vio and Darien, had left for their own training and will only return after a few months. Both of them had used their Geass to get a rise out of each other, and frankly, it annoyed him to no end.
Jeremiah stared at the item in his hand. It was a disk.
"Watch it. It's important."
Jeremiah nodded as he inserted the disk to a nearby CPU. He waited for the video to load, before pressing the play button.
Jeremiah's blood boiled with rage when he saw the video's content. "Princess! This is unforgivable! They harmed Prince Lelouch and Princess Nunnally! I cannot tolerate this-"
Jeremiah immediately quieted down at the raise of the Princess's hand.
"Calm down," the Princess said, "You should not concern yourself with them."
"But-"
"They're strangers." The Princess stated, "Not even someone of royalty. I pity those children who were kidnapped by Father to produce this… farce."
"Then they are not-"
"Rest assured. I know for sure that they are not Lelouch and Nunally."
Jeremiah heaved a sigh of relieve.
"But Father had shown me this video in hope of me flying in rage to Japan, therefore invading Japan and gaining Japan's near limitless Sakuradite with Lelouch and Nunally still inside."
Jeremiah held his breath. That was the same as the Emperor sending both the Prince and Little Princess to their death!
"I have a plan concerning Lulu and Nana," the Princess said, "But you are the one who will be leading the invasion as I am but a child in the public's eyes."
"It- I – It is such an honor, Princess."
"Good."
.o0o.o0o.
"Japan's defense was spread evenly among the borders, but the defense is usually more concentrated on Tokyo, the capital, and Hokkaido, Genbu Kururugi's residence."
Avoid Genbu Kururugi's residence. Lulu and Nana are kept in there.
That was what the Princess had said. Jeremiah secretly glanced at the Princess who was sitting on the throne, eyes looking on in boredom. Jeremiah looked back to the meeting table, surrounded with other well known Generals.
"Then we focus our attacks on to Hokkaido! With the leader dead, Japan will fall!"
"Yes, I second that decision."
"I say we focus on Kyoto, due to its high population."
"Kyoto and Hokkaido have a high density of Sakura trees," the Princess said from the throne, "I'm sure Father would like to keep them as much as possible for the Sakuradite production."
"I say we focus on a huge area attack, avoiding the parts of the Kyoto region and Hokkaido." Jeremiah said, "And also, Japan, if it is as deceitful as we know, there is no guarantee that the information about Genbu Kururugi's residence is true. We will be wasting our resource. As we attack on a huge area, we can send some scouts over to Hokkaido to search for the Kururugi's residence."
"True, but there is a flaw in…"
And the discussion continued, and Jeremiah could see a small relieved smile etched on the Princess's face, and Jeremiah let himself to smile.
.o0o.o0o.
Lilianne lounged around her comfortable little throne, eyeing the little snakes coiled around the generals in distaste. They are useful, yes, they did made the generals much more cooperative than it was initially, but it was really hard to prevent the snake from Geassing them to pain. She wanted to quickly end the meeting, but she didn't want to inflict some random pain to someone just because she was annoyed.
The snakes seem to think that making anyone who is annoying to her suffer is a good idea.
Lilianne listened to the report, finding which area needs a back up and which area was done with their job. The invasion had gone smoothly up to this point. Hokkaido's defense was extremely high so it was a good thing they did not attack Hokkaido, and the war in Tokyo had gone easier than she had expected. Kyoto, on the other hand, had some difficulty.
The screen beeped, the sign of a coming video call. Lilianne tried to find out the source of the call, but it was not from any of her troops. Curious, Lilianne pressed the call button.
A screen popped up, showing the face of a certain man that she can clearly recognize.
"Ah, Todoh Kyoshiro, is there anything that you need?"
Todoh looked at Lilianne with wide disbelieving eyes, clearly seeing the similarities between her and Lelouch. Or perhaps it was because of her age?
"Genbu Kururugi had surrendered and ended his life." Todoh said after shaking out of his stupor.
"Ah… for the confirmation, I'd like his head sent to the nearest carrier to be examined."
"It was done."
"I do hope the Kururugi child is alright. If what I heard is right, then the first kill has always been hard."
"How did you-"
"The Kururugi child needs to know that Britannia is wrong. I rather pity you for trying to change a mind like that." Lilianne said, "Hmm… What's the Japanese equivalent for thank you and good bye? I had just finished learning some European Language so I haven't really learned Japanese and Chinese… I guess, the right word is 'arigatou' and 'ja-ne'?"
"No, we are not done with this yet-"
But Lilianne quickly pressed the off button and scrambled the pass code of the channel. It was a good thing that Todoh was alone in his room. She banged her head to a wall. She should've kept her mouth from running off. Good thing the topic of Lelouch didn't come up, or else she will be painted as an evil twin…
It was also a good thing that the generals were too busy to pay attention to a child, or else they would be suspecting something.
.o0o.o0o.
Todoh slammed the screen, frustrated that he can't seem to connect with the Britannian's main frame. That girl must have learned a bit of hacking to quickly change the pass code.
Todoh slumped on to his chair, mind swimming with hundreds and thousands of questions.
Was that… Lilianne? The twin Lelouch had always been talking about? Isn't she supposed to be dead?
But the sadness in Lelouch's voice was genuine, and Nunally's mood had always gone down when the topic of Lilianne's death came up, something about how Lilianne died because of Nunally. They can't lie with such a real and deep feeling. Lelouch probably could, but not Nunally.
The Emperor must have kept Lilianne's survival a secret. He must've planned for this attack since the time Lelouch and Nunally were sent here for the peace offering.
But if Lilianne was as loving and as caring as the Prince and Princess described, she won't be joining in the Japan's Invasion, because the Prince and Princess might get caught and die. There is something missing in the picture. Something is not right…
Todoh could not find any answer to that.
Then there is a much more important problem of how she can easily deduce that the Prime Minister's death was actually murder, not suicide, and that it was done not by some assassin, but it was by the son himself.
Todoh was sure he did not give anything away, so was the Princess just that sharp? But there was too little information to deduce from. And if Lelouch's words about Lilianne's smartness can be trusted, then he can't just write it off as a child's imagination.
Todoh grunted in frustration, before he stood up and went out of his own office, going to Suzaku's room to check on him.
.o0o.o0o.
"It's your first victory."
I really hate meeting with you.
"That was a huge slip-up with Todoh."
Stop commenting on my life.
"It was a good thing that you did not try to lie."
What's wrong with me lying?
"Because you can't. It was the payment of reborn, just like how having a Geass has its own payment."
Wha- and you just told me now?
.o0o.o0o.
Jeremiah stood in front of the Princess's room, waiting for the sleepy Princess to get ready.
When Jeremiah heard of Geass, he was awed, and terrified, that such power exists. Moreover, he was surprised to find that the two children the Princess took in owned this power.
Faintly, Jeremiah wondered if the Princess had a Geass, and how to obtain one. He could serve the Princess better with a Geass.
The door banged open, and instead of revealing a tidy Princess in the usual black dress, the Princess looked disheveled, still in her night gown. "Jeremiah! I know God does not e-"
Just then, a chandelier in the Princess's room fell to pieces, disrupting the Princess's speech.
"Princess! Are you unharmed? What was it that you are trying to say?"
"I am unharmed. And I was just trying to tell you that I know God does not exist."
"That's idiotic. I told you that you can't lie, the universe will prevent you from lying."
"I'll tidy myself up. Call some servants to have the room cleaned." Ordered the Princess, "Oh, and God sure is a 'kind' creature," she added drily.
The Princess closed the door, leaving Jeremiah wondering what the Princess was actually saying. Faintly, from outside of the Princess's room, he could hear the Princess mumbling something.
"So even if I can't lie, I can do sarcasm, huh… You sure are one weird creature… and shut up, I told you not to comment on my life."
Jeremiah shook himself out of his stupor and called out to the maids, doing as what the Princess ordered.
.o0o.o0o.
Lilianne stared at the huge, looming black snake as it stared back at her, tongue hissing and tail whipping.
Lilianne was just walking in the Japan's National Research Facility, observing the developing technologies. A nationalist researcher suddenly released one of the experiments inside, with an aim to off the Princess.
And said experiment was the snake currently in front of her.
And all Lilianne could do was to stare up at the snake.
After all, what to do? She was surrounded by snakes every time, albeit it was by her Geass. She was an immortal, who had someone who can donate cells to her if she was injured. She was still afraid of the pain, since her Geass can't affect her own mind like Lelouch's, so she can't numb the pain like she did Darien.
Really? Lilianne has no need to be afraid of this.
So all Lilianne could do was say, "Hello there."
The snake hissed in greeting, cocking his head as if appraising her, then he looked around the ground, where her Geass's snakes were loitering around, watching the only black snake's movements warily.
The snake's head dropped to the ground, before he slithered to Lilianne's and made his way up the her head, coiling Lilianne's body.
Lilianne stood still, trying to adjust to the extra weight on her person.
"Princess!" Jeremiah shouted as he ran to her, "Are you fine? Did the experiment do any harm? W- Princess!" his tone suddenly changed when he realized that there was a snake coiling around the Princess. "Princess!"
"Ah, Jerry," the Princess greeted, "Meet my new partner, Dia."
Jeremiah eyes the snake warily, and the snake was hissing at him, trying to taste his scent.
"Is the scientist captured?" Lilianne asked.
"The scientist who released the experiments is now being brought to the holding cell."
"Try to extract any information regarding this snake. Oh… and what do snakes eat? Have the servant prepare some treats for Dia."
.o0o.o0o.