Adaptation was in the nature of humans, just as it was in the nature of animals. Often it happened automatically, reflexively and without being noticed. Other days, however, it was forced. He remembered the deer he had shot with his father when he was a small boy. It had been his first deer, his first catch. For the first time he had aimed the rifle correctly and pulled the trigger at the right moment. They had brought the deer home so that his mother could process it, and when he helped skin it and take the meat off the bones, he made a discovery that has remained in his memory to this day: there was a broken arrow in the deer's ribcage. It was lying diagonally between the first right rib and the last left rib, whereby the word "lying" offers a false idea. In truth, the deer's body had incorporated the arrow into its bones: the first right rib had grown around the broken metal tip and the ragged end of the plastic shaft had grown into the last left rib. The deer's organs had rearranged themselves to embed the arrow, down to the last millimetre. Shocked and puzzled, he had asked his father how this was possible. Why had the deer survived? How had it survived? Was this deer a deity he should not have killed?

Of course not, his father had said. Not at all. The deer had merely adapted, had adapted its own body to survive. The arrow had not killed it, but the body had not been able to remove the foreign body, so it had embedded it. Whether this had made the deer's life easier or harder was, of course, impossible to say, but it was a miracle. His father compared it to firearm bullets that some war veterans had in their bodies, and he himself had never dreamed that such a thing was in the realm of possibility.

Adaptation, he had learned that day, was not arbitrary and not freedom, no, it was a necessity. With it, one survived. He himself had adapted when his mother died of cancer. He had adapted when his father died of alcoholism. He had adapted when he had served in the military. He had adapted when he lost his wife during the birth of his son. He had adapted when he lost the war against Britannia.

His name was Genbu, Genbu Kururugi. He wore this name with pride, with dignity, with his chin up. Genbu Kururugi – the man who had boosted Japan's economy and quality of life and turned it into a welfare state with a democratic presidency like no state had ever functioned before. Genbu Kururugi, the President of Japan, the most powerful and yet most popular man in his own country, devout widower, lauded military leader, wise traditionalist. Even such a man, who had done everything for his country, one day reached his limits and had to admit defeat. He had to stop fighting, for the good of Japan. Britannia had finally won after its lightning attack eight months ago. Genbu sat here, in this huge meeting room dressed in Britannia's colours of red, gold and white, and in front of him were the documents with which he would hand over Japan to Britannia. All they needed was his signature. Still, he hesitated, his hands clasped tightly on the brown tabletop.

Life had taken everything from him. Without Japan, he had nothing. All that he had lost, his wife, his parents, his country, he now carried only in his heart and in his memory. For this reason, he had only one question for the man he was sitting across from: "What happens now?"

The question may have been foolish, but it was a valid one. Britannia had provided a different purpose for the person or persons of governance each time it had annexed a country. Many of them had been executed, others were still working under the Britannian regime. The last conquest dated back to 2016, already five years in the past, and Britannia had only expanded into Europe in its entire history. That Japan, an Asian country, would now be part of the empire was so extraordinary that Genbu had no choice but to worry about his own existence.

The man sitting opposite him was the Prime Minister of Britannia. His European-lined face, blond hair, piercing blue eyes and white skin were well known in the media: Crown Prince Schneizel el Britannia. Nothing could be read from his gaze, it was pure emptiness, like looking at a shark, and not a muscle moved in his face. Schneizel was professional and polite. His presence alone was terrifying, although he did not seem to feel any hostility. Thus, Genbu attributed this feeling to his own nervousness.

"You will be executed," Schneizel replied. The monotone of his voice took the heaviness off the meaning of those words. Truly, it sounded as if he had been describing the weather, and yet, as Genbu's brain decoded the words again, his heart beat with a stabbing pain. He could only imagine such pain coming from an arrowhead in his chest. All these years he had carried his own imaginary arrow around with him, had adapted, and even after losing everything, he still did not want to die.

The arrow, though merely imaginary, was ice cold. So cold that Genbu experienced goose bumps.

"However, ..."

This word made Genbu look up. He hadn't even noticed how his gaze had lowered, but that was irrelevant now. The thought that he wouldn't have to die after all sent a rush of adrenaline through his veins. Schneizel had his undivided attention as he continued, "Your death, Mister Kururugi, is fortunately neither a disadvantage nor an advantage for Britannia. De facto, it would only be a waste of taxpayers' money. For this reason, we would like to make you the offer to voluntarily disclose your state secrets. Should you do so, you will merely be exiled."

His state secrets? At first Genbu was confused about this general term, but afterwards he understood. He understood that Britannia had already found out his secret. Had they annexed Japan for that reason? But why? What for?

No. This was no longer his fight. He had given everything, done everything, sacrificed everything. He would now leave the board. For that reason, he nodded. "I consent."

Schneizel reached for one of the slips of paper in front of Genbu and swapped it with a blank form. "We are pleased to hear this. Please fill out this form to withdraw your son's human rights and place him in the custody of the Britannian Crown."

Genbu picked up the biros to his right. Rarely had anything been easier for him than to fill out and sign this form.

Two long weeks passed after the post-war meeting. Britannia had many palaces and one of them was in Luton. From the first steps into the building, Suzaku knew he had entered another world. Bright white walls, burgundy carpets and seemingly endless golden embellishments recreated every corridor in full splendour and luxury. Luton Palace was the residence of Princes Lelouch vi Britannia and Schneizel el Britannia and served mainly as a reception venue for important guests, meetings and also events. The Summer Night's Ball, for example, was held here every year. The king himself lived with his wife in the royal palace in London. The other royal children also lived in other palaces located in different areas of Britannia.

Suzaku had a digitally drawn map in his hand with which he tried to orient himself. A month ago, he had been released from the prison where he had been in the war compartment with other Japanese soldiers and had then been driven to a hotel. He had been held prisoner in that hotel for a fortnight. Apparently, that was a special kind of solitary confinement for 'Politically Relevant Persons'. Although he had been given a legal letter about that, his English was not good enough in terms of law to fully understand the letter. After the two weeks, an interpreter had appeared and explained to him that his father, the President of Japan, had been exiled and had handed over governance to Britannia. As a consequence, Britannia would now be in charge of Suzaku's life. To what extent this was a consequence of handing over power was not clear to Suzaku, because Japan could choose its president democratically. If Japan had been run as a monarchy and therefore had Suzaku as its new president, this 'consequence' would have been understandable, but it did not correspond to reality. However, when Suzaku asked questions about this, the interpreter simply denied it and pointed out that he himself did not know more and was not allowed to know.

Britannia's property. These two words now defined Suzaku's life. He considered himself lucky never to have thought anything of his life, so that working for the Empire until his death did not even cause him sleepless nights.

According to the interpreter, he would be subordinate to a prince named Lelouch vi Britannia. How, with what tasks and why remained unexplained. The letter he had received from the Britannian Crown in this regard merely ordered him to be in Lelouch's office at 2 p.m. that day. He knew how to obey this order.

Maids, butlers and male and female guards strode through the palace. Suzaku did not get more than a sidelong glance. Obviously, the servants were too busy with their stressful daily routine, or they knew of his arrival. The latter seemed more logical to him.

Another few minutes passed before he arrived in the hall where the grand staircase separating the west and east wings stood. The moment Suzaku stepped through the open door, a butler stood in his way with a stern expression on his face. Suzaku reflexively stopped and looked up. The butler asked him indignantly, "Where is your uniform?"

"I don't work here," Suzaku replied. He took the letter he had received from his pocket and showed it off. "My name is Kururugi Suzaku. I am on my way to see Prince Lelouch vi Britannia in the west wing."

The butler's gaze dropped down to the letter, but when he saw the royal wax seal, he immediately turned his head away so as not to read the contents. Because of this all too curious as well as worrying reaction, Suzaku folded up the letter again and stowed it away. Only then did the butler look at him again and continue, "So that's how it is. Well, from what I've been told, you're very much working here from today. Don't forget your uniform." With these words he turned away and walked past Suzaku.

Suzaku looked at the butler but decided not to bother with it and to continue on his way. He stepped up the grand staircase, turned left and entered the west wing. The corridors were similar to those he had seen before, and it was thanks to his good sense of direction and the map that he could distinguish one corridor from another.

Lelouch vi Britannia's office was far back in the wing. It was a walk of about eight minutes, in the course of which the corridors were now deserted. It seemed as if Suzaku had crossed an invisible line that seemed like an impassable wall to everyone else, and it wasn't long before he was surrounded by silence. Only his own footsteps echoed, only his own heartbeat sounded. Strange, he thought. How was it that the closer he got to the office, the fewer people there were guarding? Was the security system in this wing possibly that good?

Suzaku finally arrived at the office. He stepped to the door and rapped his knuckles against the expensive mahogany wood that proudly bore Lelouch's name on a gold plate. Immediately, a neutral "Come in!" sounded from inside. Suzaku turned the doorknob and entered.

Warm, stuffy air welcomed him in. The walls were hung with navy blue wallpaper, decorated with black baroque scrollwork and silver accents. All the furniture was dark oak. To the right were hanging cupboards with glass doors containing old wines and antique collectibles. To the left were countless full bookshelves, offset from each other, creating the illusion of a labyrinth. In front of Suzaku, the large room stretched far forward; on the floor was a light blue carpet that led to a large, dark brown desk. At that desk sat a boy about Suzaku's age with black hair and a considerably lean figure. He was dressed in noble English clothes. Only at that moment did Suzaku notice that there were no photos of Lelouch; this was the first time he had seen him in his life.

Lelouch was writing on a sheet of paper. Countless pieces of paper, a few books and some pens lay completely jumbled on his desk. He finally looked up when he seemed to have finished his notes and their eyes met.

"Suzaku Kururugi."

"Highness."

Lelouch leaned back in his comfortable desk chair. "I've had a look at your file. You have quite an impressive CV. Good scholastic achievements, many summer courses and seven years at a military academy. Your statistics are outstanding. But I'm going to be honest with you." Lelouch stood up and arrogantly placed a hand on his hip. "I can tell by looking at you that this is the last place you want to be, and I don't like it here any more than you do. The King has obviously saddled you to me and I have no time to polish another of his trophies for the public, accordingly I expect full obedience." Lelouch spoke these words with a cold and harsh tone, but his body language betrayed the spark of tension he must have felt as he kneaded a biro in his hand, almost as if he expected immediate disobedience. However, Suzaku had no interest in resisting. "Understood."

Lelouch's grip on the pen loosened a little. Though he continued to regard Suzaku with a sharp look in his eyes, he accepted his answer without hesitation. "Good. You will be my Personal Knight from today, it was decided by the King."

Really? Suzaku had never had anything to do with knights before. He knew that there were various orders of knights within Britannia, but he had not expected to become a part of them himself.

Lelouch circled his desk and leaned back against it, his eyes fixed on his counterpart all the while. "You are still a slave," he explained, "which means you receive no salary, but you surely know that. Your inheritance, your property and your head are mine from now on. And one more thing: when it's just the two of us, I want you to call me by my name. I have to deal with enough hypocrites and parasites who submissively lie to me about everything and suck up to me. With a servant, I want to prevent that."

Suzaku nodded. "Understood."

"Good." Lelouch pushed himself off the desk and stepped towards Suzaku. "First, let's start with the clothes." He pointed to Suzaku's chest with the pen in his hand. "You will find a uniform in your room in the closet. You will wear that every day. A second uniform and an extra pair of boots will also be there; you will wear that on special occasions. And now that you'll be on my shoe like chewing gum, you'll also

be part of my image. If I find that my reputation is damaged because of you, you will face appropriate consequences."

"Understood. "

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. He looked at Suzaku intently for a moment before continuing: "Really? Because The King wants to show off his trophies. You represent Japan as a new member of the inner Britannic royal circle. You must behave accordingly."

"What tasks will I be assigned for this?"

"You are responsible for my protection, but I don't need any, so forget it right now." "As you wish."

"As you wish," Lelouch corrected.

"Sorry," Suzaku replied, but the cool undertone with which he apologised seemed to make Lelouch doubt. He eyed Suzaku, but did not comment, merely adding, "You will learn what it is to work for my family." He then turned. He walked to the bookshelves and let his finger glide over each book. "I have a lot to do from now on to integrate Japan. In that time, you will have to relearn everything a learned Royal Knight should know, were he in your position." He pulled one book after another from the shelf and stacked them. "It is best that you read them at night and memorise them as quickly as possible, for I will not bother to familiarise you." With five books, Lelouch stepped back to Suzaku to place them in his arms. "Here. See that I get them back as intact as I give them to you."

Suzaku nodded.

"I'll show you your room, it's right next to mine. No one is allowed in this back area of the wing except the cleaners; not for security reasons, but because I want my privacy." Lelouch walked past Suzaku, opened the door and stepped out into the corridor. Suzaku followed him every step of the way. They walked to the end of the wing, into the last corridor, which was adorned with impressive picture windows on the right side. From here, one could see into the palace gardens, which shone like a sea of gold in the sunlight of this beautiful morning.

The corridor had only two doors on the left. They were very far apart, Suzaku estimated forty metres. Lelouch went to the first door and opened it inwards. A room revealed itself, decorated in white, red and gold like the building. A double bed stood centrally against the left wall. At the other end were three windows, next to it a wardrobe and a couple of chests of drawers. On the wall next to the door was a desk with a comfortable chair. Next to it was an open shelf for folders and books; right now, it was empty.

"It's all yours from now on. Congratulations," Lelouch said coldly and immediately turned to leave. "I still have a lot to do, so I won't waste much time waiting for you. Get changed and then come back to my office." Without waiting for a reply, he left the corridor again. His footsteps echoed in the expensive shoes with little heel, even after he had already disappeared around the corner.

Packed with the heavy reading material, Suzaku crossed the threshold and placed the stack of books on the empty desk. Then he took off his coat, hung it on the desk chair and walked over to the large windows. From here he could see part of the kingdom, at least the rich part. The houses and gardens were gigantic and technology in the form of surveillance cameras could be found at every corner.

Suzaku opened the wardrobe. There were two identical uniforms and a pitch-black suit hanging from silver coat hooks. He took out one of the uniforms: it was white and had fine gold trim. The cut was old-fashioned: a jacket with asymmetrical ends that reached to the knees at the back. The trousers were entirely white and cut waist high. Under the jacket was an all-black, long-sleeved top that bore Britannia's badge of nobility in gold on the chest. In addition, two black leather gloves added the finishing touch to the uniform.

Suzaku took off his own clothes, put on the uniform and stepped in front of the mirror next to it to adjust it. It was not nearly as elegant as Lelouch's clothes, but it was still striking and bore some aspects and details that harmonised with Lelouch's robe. I guess if you saw them side by side, you would see that they belonged together. That had obviously been the tailor's intention, since a Personal Knight - as far as Suzaku knew - only worked for one person in the royal family and not for the realm in general.

Suzaku folded his clothes on the bed and unceremoniously made his way back to the office. He knocked and Lelouch's voice granted him entry, whereupon he opened the door and took a step into the large room before gently pulling it shut behind him.

As before, Lelouch sat at his desk and wrote, wrote, wrote. But unlike their first meeting half an hour ago, Lelouch didn't keep him waiting so long: it only took a moment for him to look up. His stern eyes looked Suzaku up and down, and apparently, he found nothing to fault, for he merely clicked his tongue

and then pointed with the pen in his hand to a white envelope lying on the corner of his table. "Inside are your ID card, your work mobile phone and your brooch. You must carry these three things with you at all times. The badge goes on the left side."

Suzaku approached the table and opened the envelope while Lelouch returned to his work. He took out a gold-plated brooch representing the sign of Britannia and pinned it to his jacket on his left breast. The identity card was in a small fold-out wallet, which he put in the inside breast pocket of his jacket. The mobile phone was an ordinary, modern flip phone in the colour grey. It had a touch function in addition to a keypad and the screen was much larger than those of its predecessors from twenty years ago. He stowed the device in his jacket pocket before looking at Lelouch again. "What do you want me to do?"

Lelouch looked up and gave Suzaku a sharp look. Obviously, he hadn't been lying about his view of this collaboration: he actually didn't like it. "Shut up."

An order was an order, it was a religion in the military. Suzaku had no intention of being provoked. "Understood." With that, he passed the desk and faced the large windows behind it. One could see the gardens from here. Butterflies clustered down there by the round fountain surrounded by a wide variety of flowers. The water that jumped out was so clear that it appeared almost transparent and could only be differentiated from the background because of its movement.

Lelouch diligently worked through one piece of paper after the next. Files were piled up next to him, from which he took some from time to time and picked something out. So many papers piled up that it was amazing how Lelouch still knew what belonged to what. The system on his desk - if he had one - was as much a mess as it was complex.

The hours passed quickly. The daylight receded and the shadows lengthened. It grew darker and darker in the room and the stuffy air slowly made Suzaku tired - and hungry. His gaze slid around the room in search of a clock, and he found it above the display case with the expensive wines. It told him that it was already after seven.

Time continued to pass in silence. It became increasingly difficult to make out the silhouettes of the individual pieces of furniture. Suzaku's eyes fell on the desk lamp and normally one would probably turn it up, but Lelouch looked very absorbed in his work. Could he see anything at all?

There was a knock at the door. "Come in!" said Lelouch reflexively and in a monotone voice. A maid entered the office. She bowed briefly in greeting and Lelouch looked up before speaking, "I have been instructed to inform you that His Highness, Prince Schneizel, wishes to see you immediately, Your Highness."

"Can't it wait?"

"I'm afraid not. "

"Fine by me. You can go again."

"Wouldn't you like some more tea at this hour?"

"No, thank you."

With a nod, the maid bowed her head once more and immediately left the office. She closed the door so gently that not a sound could be heard. Suzaku looked down at Lelouch, who sighed in exasperation and placed a few pieces of paper on a push to push them aside. He then rose and Suzaku immediately made a move to follow him, but Lelouch looked over his shoulder and raised a hand to stop him. Was the conversation so important, then, that he didn't want Suzaku there? Or was it about Schneizel's presence? Vast amounts of rumours surrounded Schneizel el Britannia, also known as "the White Prince", like mist, shocking stories – torture, human trafficking, murder, underground relations.

"Go," Lelouch said. "You're done for the day. I want to be woken up at seven. Don't forget the tea." And with these words he turned again and left the room.