Chapter Name: Insecurities proven right in novels

*Note: I do not own Code Geass.

Warning: Sexual contents are in it. I am not liable for any damages and since this is rated as 'M', only reader aged over 18 should read it. You have been warned.

The sun was hanging high up in the sky. Judging from the amount of light pouring in from the windows, it is safe to assume that it is early afternoon. He is awoken by the light that has been beaming down on his upper body, the natural heat from the rays caused him to stir in his sleep. Lazily he got out of the bed and drew the curtains closed before he crawled back into the blankets again. He had wanted to sleep but because of his 'internal alarm', he is not able to. His internal alarm works in such a way that once he is awake, partially or not, unless it is the night time or if he is really very tired, he will not be able to get back into his sleep.

His eyes remained closed, and cautiously, he lifted himself up from his sleeping position to lean against the headboard, trying not to wake up the sleeping figure besides him. Once he is in sitting position, he brought one hand to massage his temples, probably due to side effects of the amount of alcohol he had last night, while the other hand of his reached out to retrieve his spectacles that is situated at the side table beside him. Putting on his spectacles, he tweaked open his eyes slowly, allowing it to adapt to the brightness in the room, and at the same time for his mind to function properly.

After a few moments, he sat in a daze because he just realized for somewhat reasons, he felt great, mentally and physically. It is as though his body is revitalized, free from all his accumulated tiredness in one night. Though feeling good and refreshed, there is a guilt-like feeling welling inside him that he could not explain but he mentally shrugged it away. He gave himself a good stretch, with both his hands up in the air, a small 'pop' sound is heard in his shoulder joints. Then he also started to stretch his back from side to side, but stopped halfway when his eyes are fixated onto one area in the room.

That particular area seems weird in place. Clothes are seen scattered around, but each article is not far from each other. But what caught his interests the most is that those discarded articles seemed very familiar to him. Way too familiar. Racking his brain hard, he knows those clothing — there are his lover's dress, undergarments, and her high heels and there are also his pants, belt, shoes and boxers too. All those are what they had worn for last night's ball.

As he registered all these information into his mind of the unattended clothing, he can and has come to an only conclusion — sex. So, this means that he had sex with someone last night. Memories of last night came flooding into his mind. Unconvinced by the evidence and his memories, he lifted the sheet up and took a quick peek before putting it down. Guilford tried to deny the events that took place but no matter how much he wanted, the reality presents right in front of him speaks otherwise. Everything pieced in perfectly. That guilt-like feeling that he has been feeling this morning finally makes sense to him.

'I have sex with her… A princess. What am I going to do?' Guilford thought as he looked up to the ceiling with his eyes closed, his hand again massaging his temples, trying to soothe out his building headache.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt her shifting, and she is now facing him, partially awake. Unlike him, Cornelia remembered the events when she saw him, to put it simply she took it well. She pulled the sheets up against her face, trying to hide her blush.

"Good morning." She said, it sounded as she is muttering.

"Ah… Ya, morning." Guilford said to her but he is not looking at her instead he focus his gaze onto the blinds.

"Erm, you know. I will go washed up now and make up breakfast." Before Cornelia could give him any reply, Guilford has quickly got out of the bed and made his way to the bathroom, disappearing out of her sight.

Upon seeing the way he acted, Cornelia is surprised. He is acting so not himself at all.
'Is it because of what happened between them last night?' She kept asking herself, and then another thought came to her. 'Is he regretting what he has done?'

She has read a lot of different kinds of romance novels, and most of the novels would usually have scenarios after a man and women are engaged into sexual activities. Sometimes she would silently curse at how the man would have reacted and mocked when the woman is trying her best to keep her man at her side. To put it simply, Cornelia never believed these kinds of scenarios would happen in real life but now she is starting to believe it as her man, Guilford is already displaying some reactions as what she read in the novels.

"No, he is not that kind of a guy. I have faith in him" She shook her head, trying her best to shrug off those thoughts she had earlier.

"It is just a novel I read. Just a novel."

Seeing that there is no point for her to let her thoughts went wild, Cornelia decided to take care of other tasks at hand. The first thing to do will be to clean up the mess of their clothes scattered on the floor. The moment she tried to stand up, her body, rather her legs gave way and she hit back onto the bed again. It is then she realized that her body is sore and in pain, especially that lower part of her. Her face turns red immediately when the pain she is feeling right now, directly conjured up the memories she experienced she had last night. Shrugging off this dirty thought, she tried to stand up again by supporting herself with any nearby furniture until she reached out and put on her silk robe draping by her chair. With much effort, she continued on to gather the clothing on the floor, separating his and her articles. She took his clothes and begins to hang them up in a hanger, while she put her night dress into a bag and placed it in the cleaning basket located near the entrance of the bathroom, where the cleaners will took care with it the following day.

As soon as she finished with her little task, the bathroom door opens and Guilford stepped out, his body wrapped with only a white towel around his waist. His hair is let down and beads of water is seen dripping at the ends of his hair onto his body. He is caught with surprise to see her standing in the same room as him. They locked their gaze onto each other for a few seconds and he tore it away by looking onto the floor, and he gave a small cough in the process to break down the awkwardness he is feeling.

"I'm done. The bathroom is all yours. So… What would you like to eat?" Guilford asked, his eyes still remained fixated on the floor.

"Anything would be fine." Cornelia answered with a tinge of bitterness in her because of the avoidance he has been sending out to her since she woke up. Deep in her heart, she kept telling herself that she is imaging things up. Guilford gave a small nod and once more, he quickly disappeared out of her sight. He mentally scolded himself at the way he has been acting towards her as he gets himself dressed. He walked over to her dressing table, and all of a sudden he banged his fist on the table and looked at himself in the mirror.

"Damn it. What the hell is wrong with me?" Seeing his reflection in the mirror, Guilford knows something is wrong with him. The more he looked at himself, the more he hated himself for the way he acted to her as she does not deserves for such treatment. The faint sounds of shower brought him out of his thoughts. Rather than brooding over all these thoughts of his treatment, he gave a deep sigh, and walked towards her kitchen. For now he just wanted to make a good breakfast.

((OOOOO))

It has been a while since he has last stepped into her kitchen area. Unlike the built-in kitchen in other hostel rooms, Cornelia's one is definitely different, well you could already guessed it because of her status. Her kitchen is within the vicinity of her room but it is located at another spot of the storey she is living in. It took Guilford about five minutes to reach his destination. He opened the refrigerator and the cupboards, and as expected, the foods are stocked in quantities. Sometimes he did envied her to a certain point that such trivial matters are being handled by someone else and she did not have to worry it in a single bit at all. Guilford remembered the time he told Cornelia about such matter, she simply answered back to him saying that she actually did not like the way she is being treated so differently because she is a princess. A whole storey for herself, trivial matters taken care by someone else et cetra. She just wanted to be like others who entered into the military for the sake of the country or to have a second identity in life. In short she wanted to be normal.

Snapping back to reality, Guilford took out the ingredients he needed and started to heat up the pan. Whipping up a few simple dishes is an easy task for him. In his opinion he would say it is part of life survival skills, which is what he learned in the academy training. Minutes later, he is done cooking. He placed the food and a pot of tea and walked back into the room with a dish tray in hand. When he stepped into the room, Cornelia is seated by the couch with newspaper in her hands. She looked up and gave a small smile to him.

"I have cooked some omelets, toasts and a pot of black tea." He set a plate in front of her and the other to him, and then he proceeds to pour the tea into the tea cups. He sits down on the couch too but not as close to her as he used to.

"The omelet is delicious."

"Erm." He nodded.

"So is the tea."

"Yes." Another short and simple reply came from him. Quietness once again fills the atmosphere between them as they continue to eat in silent before Cornelia speaks up once more.

"Are you having guilt about last night?" Guilford choked himself slightly while taking a small sip in his tea when Cornelia's question popped up. He begins to cough and at the same time gasping for air to accommodate for the lack of oxygen during his choking fit.

"Are you alright?" Cornelia immediately seated beside him, one of her hands patted on his back.

"I *cough* I'm okay." He raised a hand up signaling her that he is alright.

"I supposed my question really surprises you."

"What do you think?" Guilford answered in an amuse tone. His coughing has started to cease, but sill he has a little difficulties in trying to talk because of the lack of air caused by his choking.

"Cornelia, I…" His expression is unreadable, Cornelia instantly felt sad and disappointed when she saw a mixture of guilt, confusion and hesitation in him. A simple question that requires a simple answer of either a 'yes' or a 'no' gets him so worked up and not only that, he is unable to give a direct answer.

"It's okay. Let's forget about last night, it is a mistake. Treat it that the alcohol got to us." Cornelia said to him, her tone is evident of bitterness and perhaps trembling as if she is on the verge of crying. She is not sure what got her to say this to him. As soon as she finished saying her piece, she stood up and walked towards her room, shutting the door close. She slumped to the ground with her back leaning on the door, sobbing silently. She folds up her knees, burying her head against it. Cornelia did not know why she cried, the only reason she can came up with is that probably she is afraid of what he is going to tell her. Though a part of her keep telling to her that she is being oversensitive or sort but yet, another part keeps telling her she is the same like those women she read about in her novels. After all, she is the one who initiates the sexual exchange first and so it will be reasonable to end it so as not to hold him back because of her.

On the other hand, Guilford is left stunned and speechless when he heard what she says to him. Just as when she stood up and walked away, he held out his hand about to stop her but he withdrew it back. It is as though his body is moving on its own, disobeying his command of grabbing her. All he can do is only watch her leave while he did nothing other than sitting down on the couch looking shocked and frustrated. Moreover, he refuses to believe every single word she said.

"Am I…"

"I have really messed it up, didn't I?" He said to himself, and a bitter chuckle is heard in him.

A/N: Writer's Block again + Busy Schedule = (Very) Late Release of story; Very sorry about it.

Nevertheless, I have managed to write up and finish for this chapter. I know the front part, the first few paragraphs are pretty lengthy and drag-gy. Seriously I assumed it will be even longer if I did not edit it because I got this habit to go as detailed as possible so as to make my story seems logical and flows well. Still this habit of mine, you can still managed to see it in some parts of this chapters and in the following chapters for the future, so all I ask is that please bear it with me (Old habits die hard you see — writing engineering school reports made me this way)

Lastly hope you enjoy reading. Review it if you can so that it can help me plus some ideas would be even better to ease down my chances of getting a writer block again. XD