A/N

First of thank you all for the reviews, follows and favorites. They motivate me to keep on writing.

Secondly the positive reviews I got all said I should continue the story, so I shall.

One of the reviews mentioned about Marrybell which gave me an idea for an arc I can write about, so thank you hnh058513. I am always up for ideas.

Just so things make sense in this AU Lelouch did not completely abolish the aristocracy, like he did in canon. In this AU he greatly restricted and reduced their power but did not abolish the nobility.

Enjoy the story and please leave a review

Disclaimer: Code Geass and its characters Do Not belong to me.

Chapter 7

With the he got up kissed his wife on the top her head and went into one of the rooms.

The gesture was so unlike Lelouch that Kallen had a hard time believing her eyes. She had only ever seen him being this affectionate to just one other person and that had been his sister.

Watching the two interact had brought about the same feelings she decided did not exist ever since the battle at Mt. Fuji …

"Well time to get ready." Milly said finishing her breakfast and getting up.

She too started walking towards one of the doors before turning her head and saying, "Kallen join me please." Kallen obeyed.

The room they entered was a large dressing room, and the Empress was promptly attended to by two maids both named Elizabeth. One of the maids went by Beth and the other as Elle. Kallen acknowledged their smiles with a nod.

During her training Kallen had been introduced to the maids and man servants that attended the royal couple. There were five maids in total and four man-servants plus one butler. And they were the only servants allowed in the real royal suite. Anyone else dressed in either the maids or butlers' uniforms, who somehow made it into the royal suite was to be treated as a threat, regardless of who they claimed to be or who sent them.

"Which dress Kallen?" Milly suddenly asked.

"Huh- What?"

"Which dress?" Milly clarified by pointing at dresses, one held by each of the maids.

"Umm the blue one?"

"Excellent choice, its more regal."

Seriously Kallen was supposed to guard the Empress not give her fashion advice. Kallen then realized that the Empress probably had an ulterior motive. What it was she did not know.

After the Empress was done dressing, Kallen had to admit Milly looked very beautiful and indeed looked regal, they left the dressing room.

The Empress's secretaries were waiting for them when they got out. Again, like the maids Kallen had already been introduced to them during her training. They were five in total, three females and two males, lead by woman, a couple of years older than Kallen, named Patricia Patterson. From their brief meeting Kallen had determined her to be very intelligent and serious. She wore big round glasses, which she had a habit of pushing up her nose. She was carrying a tablet which she promptly handed to one of her assistants. They all curtsied when Milly entered the room.

"His majesty has already left." Patricia said, "My uncle arrived late last night and wanted to give his report to the Emperor in person." Her uncle was a prominent general in service of the Emperor but Kallen was unsure as to his exact role.

Milly nodded and made her way out of the suite. Kallen took her left side while Patricia fell in on Milly's right side. The rest of the secretaries followed behind them. Ben the guardsman also joined them, and the rest of the Empress's guard loosely surrounded them all as soon as they left the suite.

First, they made their way to the office Kaguya had been given. Kaguya's door was open and there was a guard, wearing the standard royal guard uniform. Kaguya was bent over a desk.

But before Kallen could enter the room Milly said politely, "Kallen please stay outside this time."

With that the Empress entered the office followed by Ben and Patricia, the door was closed behind them, while everyone stayed outside. Kallen had wanted to meet Kaguya again, they had gotten close while sharing a cell in prison and Kallen had not seen her since they had been released. But Mill had said "this time" which indicated she would be allowed in the office in the future. Kallen made peace with that.

Milly came out the office nearly an hour later, during which Kallen had gotten bored again. Kallen only caught a glimpse of Kaguya, but she could clearly make out the smile on her face, before the door was closed by the guard. Kallen was left wondering about the smile. She decided to ask Kaguya the next time she saw her.

The Empress's entourage made its way to a room behind the throne room where people came to petition the Empress. It was large and had a throne like chair, at one end of the room, on which the Empress promptly sat. Kallen took a position at her right Patricia at her left and Ben stood beside the door, while the rest of the guards stayed outside.

"Lady Jane Brightfall is already waiting outside your majesty." Patricia said.

"Were you able to find out why she had been requesting to meet me?" Milly asked.

"No, your majesty." One of the secretaries replied.

"It's fine, send her in. Kallen and Ben keep a close eye on her, we don't know her motives." Her voice had a command to it that Kallen had not previously heard, and she could not help herself and salute like Ben did.

A middle-aged lady was escorted in. She had the bearing of someone who used to be over-weight but had lost most of her weight in a short span. She was pale and her eyes had a sunken look to them. Lady Brightfall looked defeated and desperate. Just by looking at her Kallen could tell she was no threat but none the less she stayed alert.

She curtsied and with a gesture from the Empress sat in the chair in front of the Empress.

"Greetings to the Empress." Lady Brightfall said vey formally.

Milly smiled.

"Greetings to you too." Milly said cheerfully. "What can I do for you?"

Lady Brightfall looked surprised at Milly's directness. But that's how Milly was, direct.

"Your majesty, when his majesty first he placed restrictions on the nobility. My cousin... traitorous cousin former Earl Rosenkreuz tried to rebel and was defeated by the Knight of One." She paused looking at Milly as if trying to gauge her reaction. Milly's face remained neutral, however it maintained a smile.

"Go on." The Empress prompted

"My son, James, at that time was in the service of Rosenkreuz as part of his Knight training…he joined the former earl… in the rebellion" Tears suddenly stream from the woman's eyes and she began to sob uncontrollably.

"I have tried… contacted… no one seems to give me an answer…Please your majesty I know he … a traitor… please I just want to know if he… if he is still alive... please…"

Milly gestured to Patricia, who began to tap furiously at the electronic tablet she was carrying. She nodded and showed the tablet to Milly, while whispering something in her ear.

Milly nodded in response to whatever Patricia had whispered and said, "Rest assured Jane your son is alive. He is currently imprisoned at…"

Lady Brightfall suddenly lunged forward from her chair and Kallen moved on instinct and ran to stand in front of Milly, Ben pointed his weapon at the lady.

But there was no need for that as lady Brightfall was now knelling towards the Empress, well Kallen really since she was standing in front of Milly.

"Thank you… thank you" Lady Brightfall kept on repeating.

Milly made gesture which Kallen knew from her training to mean stand down. Everyone including Kallen returned to their posts.

"Please rise Jane" Milly said.

Jane did so. She was still sobbing but was now smiling.

"As I was saying, your son is alive and in prison." Milly said after Lady Brightfall's sobs subsided a bit. "I have ordered to arrange for you to visit him. You will be contacted tomorrow with more details."

Lady Brightfall restarted her sobbing again.

"Thank you… thank you… you are very kind," she knelt again. "I will tell everyone of your kindness."

Milly smiled and made a gesture and the Lady Brightfall was escorted out.

"Alice you will make the arrangements." Milly ordered one of the secretaries who too began to tap on her own tablet.

"Patricia, further look into her son. Find out what his current… political stance is." Milly said while twirling a finger in her hair. Her hair was now longer than the shoulder length she had in school. Patricia nodded typing into her tablet.

"Also find how many others are in the same situation as James, those who fought under rebellious nobles, but are not directly responsible."

"There will be a lot your majesty." Patricia said still typing on her tablet.

"Hmm… narrow them down to those who are not likely to rebel again."

Patricia nodded.

"I will talk to Lelouch and see if I can get James and some others released. Especially the relatives of those who approach me directly like Lady Brightfall did." Milly said,

"They can act as our test subjects so to speak…" Patricia said.

"Exactly, we will see how they and the people will react to their release and go from there. Because I think James and no doubt many others were just soldiers in the rebellions and not the instigators." Milly said. Patricia began to issue orders to her subordinates, organizing the Empress's orders.

"Hopefully I can get Lelouch to agree to this…" Milly said after a while still twirling her hair. She smiled. Held out a hand and one of the secretaries handed her a tablet as well.

"Ugh… I see Lady Cranedall is next." Milly said after a while. "I hate her."

Kallen could not help asking "Why?"

Milly looked at her and said, "She has been subtly and not so subtly hinting that Lelouch should marry of Nunnally, preferably to her arrogant fool son, who is over twenty years older than Nunnally I should add."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, and the worst part is she seems to apply that since Nunnally can't walk she is a burden to Lelouch, and he would be glad to be rid of her."

Kallen had to scoff at that. Lelouch get rid of Nunnally, unconceivable. "What do you tell her?"

"Nothing, since she has not directly stated what she wants so I play the dumb girl she believes I am. She is lucky that I don't tell half of what she implies about Nunnally. No telling what he'll do to her then."

Kallen could only nod at the last bit.

A short while later Lady Cranedall was admitted in. She was tall, had a forced smile on her face and practically oozed arrogance. Kallen immediately joined Milly in hating her.

She curtsied and began with the praise of the Emperor and slowly directed the conversation to the topic of Nunnally. However, before she could get into details Patricia reminded Milly that she had a lunch appointed. Lady Cranedall was promptly dismissed and the Empress's entourage left for the Empress's lunch appointment.

They made their way to a third-floor balcony overlooking a small lake or a large pond. A long table was set.

Instead of sitting Milly went to the balcony railing. Kallen joined her.

On the other side of the pond/lake sitting on stairs that led into the water was the Emperor himself. Next to him a short distance away lying on grass was Suzaku. On the other side of the Emperor was a pretty girl Kallen identified as Princess Marrybell. The three looked to be relaxing and talking, they were far away enough that Kallen could not make out what they were saying and standing behind them a short distance was the Orange Knight. Standing even further away were the royal guards.

Lelouch looked up caught sight of them looking at him. He smiled and waved. At first Kallen thought he was waving at her, she almost waved back. But then she realized that Lelouch's gaze was set on Milly, who in turn waved back and smiled. The dreaded feeling in Kallen's stomach returned.

The royal couple broke their gazes when Suzaku said something to Lelouch.

"Your majesty?" Patricia said.

"Yes?"

"Just got a message, she is on her way up."

Milly nodded and they all stood to wait for Suzaku's lady. "Whoever she is" Kallen thought.

A/N

That's it for this chapter. Next chapter we meet Suzaku's lady. Fair warning, she is an OC. I did sort of mention her in chapter 3 I think.

Her exitance is important to the next arc I have planned for this story. So far I have made all the OC's to be replaceable and ignorable. Depending how well Suzaku's lady is received by you all I will modify her importance. If she is well liked enough, I might give her important role. If not, I will push her to the background.