The 8th of July of the Year of Our Lord 2009 was an apparently normal summer day in the Imperial Dominion of Virginia. It was hot and humid and while in the cities, Richmond above all, life continued as usual, except only for the flags lowered to half-mast and for the news, in the public TVs, about the war with the Empire of Japan, declared only four days earlier. Likewise, in the countryside black workers were now busy picking the tobacco, while singing their traditional songs, while the nobles, sitting in their antebellum plantations like small kings, played Bridge, while smoking cigars and drinking Bourbon, debated politics or played Cricket in their gardens.
Of those huge plantations, however, one of which deserved particular attention: the Concordia. Concordia Plantation was one of the oldest of Danville County, Southern Virginia, having been established by the House of Galahad-Canossa, an Italian noble family, back in the 17th Century, when they entered the slave trade and acquired land in the New World. Turned into the family seat in 1814, after their emigration, fleeing from the Jacobin Terror, this plantation, with its white, neoclassical estate, was known as "Virginia's Versailles".
That day, however, the four flags (of the Holy Britannian Empire, of the Confederate States of Britannia, of the Dominion of Virginia and of the House Galahad-Canossa) which flew in front of the manor house, were both lowered half-mast and the huge gathering in its premises was not, as it used to be until then, for one of the traditional summer balls or parties, but for a far more macabre event: the funeral of Lord Livio Galahad-Canossa, 5th Duke of Danville.
The mass had just taken place in the chapel and now a procession was taking the coffin with the body of the Duke to the family mausoleum, where he was going to be buried, together with his predecessors.
The back of the procession was made by the many guests, friends and distant relatives of the Duke, while his close family was in the head of it, along with the three young members of the Britannian Imperial Family who had attended the event: the Duchess of Boston, Princess Cornelia li Britannia; the Duke of Richmond, Prince Clovis la Britannia and the Duchess of Montreal, Princess Euphemia li Britannia, just nine years old. Ahead of them, the coffin was being carried by six of the Duke's closest friends, among which the former Prime Minister, actor and filmmaker Sir Clint Eastwood. Leading the procession, just behind the priest and his sister, was then the heir of the Dukedom: Marquess Giulio Galahad-Canossa, just 14 years old, dressed in the red uniform of the Imperial Military School of Virginia. A charming lad, taller than the average boys of his age, with delicate and elegant facial features, a marble-like white skin and a pair of small, investigative green eyes, which now revealed all of his shock and deep sadness, making vain all of his efforts not to cry in public. He was carrying the sabre which belonged to his father during his year as a cavalry officer. In front of him was his little sister, Lucrezia, a beautiful child with an innocent and confused expression, just six years old, carrying, on another pillow, the collar of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, to which Lord Livio belonged. Unlike her older brother, she was crying without any control. Finally, leading the procession was then the priest, with an acolyte who carried the cross, while the orchestra played Mozart's Requiem.
The mausoleum was a huge, circular construction, built entirely in Carrara marble and bronze and presenting a structure similar to the Pantheon, in Rome. There, in the upper floor were the sarcophagi in which now five generations of Dukes of Danville were resting, while in the lower, underground floors, were buried several other members of the House. The burial place of Lord Livio was not different from the others: a white sarcophagus on which top was sculpted the resting shape of Lord Livio, dressed in a military uniform and showing all his decorations.
Finally, the coffin was placed into the sarcophagus. Giulio placed the sword over the coffin and Lucrezia handed him the pillow with the collar, so that he could place this too inside the sarcophagus. Then the priest pronounced the last blessings. The orchestra was now playing Mozart's Lacrimosa.
"Amen." Said finally the priest.
"Amen." Echoed the presents.
The orchestra ceased and the coffin was sealed forever. Giulio looked astonished at the sealing of the mortal spoils of his father. As soon as this was done, the members of the delegation of the Cavalier Party, of which Lord Livio was one of the main patrons, started singing the old anthem of the Confederacy, soon followed by all the presents, except for the three Imperial Princes:
"God save the South, God save the South,
Her altars and firesides, God save the South!
Now that the war is nigh, now that we arm to die,
Chanting our battle cry, "Freedom or death!"
Chanting our battle cry, "Freedom or death!"
God be our shield, at home or afield,
Stretch Thine arm over us, strengthen and save.
What tho' they're three to one, forward each sire and son,
Strike till the war is won, strike to the grave!
Strike till the war is won, strike to the grave!"
"God bless the South!"
"We'll rise again!"
"Lord Livio lives on!"
Shouted many of the guests, while many others, as the ceremony was finally over, began to express to each other their anger and their resentment towards Emperor Charles and the way he was repressing and destroying Britannia's oldest aristocracy.
Giulio however had no stomach for all of that. Not on the day of his father's burial. Thus, before anyone could approach him, he left in a hurry, leaving behind his mother trying to calm his sister and seeking shelter inside the mansion.
Soon after he had locked himself in his room, in the upper floor of the manor, he heard Euphemia's delicate and sweeter voice calling from the lower floor.
"Giulio! Where are you? Please, come outside." He gave no reply, remaining on his bed looking at the top of the canopy. She insisted: "Please, Giulio! Come outside!"
He still did not reply. She started heading upstairs. "Come on, I don't want to see you this way." She insisted.
He took a long breath and opened the door of his room, finding her right outside, about to knock. Euphemia at the time was just 9 years old, but she knew Giulio thanks to her brother, Clovis, of which he was a great friend. The princess hugged Giulio as soon as he opened the door, before even he could say anything.
"Thanks, Euphy." Said Giulio, with his voice still broken.
"I'm sorry... It all looks like a nightmare." Said the child, still holding her friend. "But we are here for you: me and Clovis. You can always count on us."
In that moment, also Clovis, who had rushed after his little sister, reached them.
"Giulio, my brother, all of this is terrible." He started, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder, while Euphemia let him go. "Your father was innocent, I'm sure of that and so is everyone who knew him. It was a crime only to suspect him of being behind the murder of Lelouch and Nunnally."
"Thanks for your words, Clovis." Replied Giulio, forcing a smile.
"I know, it doesn't help much, but as my sister said, we are here for you."
"Everything helps, right now, especially knowing that I have friends on whom I can count." Replied Giulio, now walking outside his room. "Sorry for leaving in a hurry before, but I really couldn't stand all that people talking nonsense while my father was being buried."
"It's okay." Replied Euphemia, taking his hand. "It's fine to feel so bad in a moment like this."
"Exactly." Echoed Clovis. "Why don't we go downstairs, in the library? At least we are away from all that people."
"Good idea." Replied Giulio.
They had just started heading down the huge staircase in oak wood of the mansion, when they saw Cornelia, in her red uniform of the Imperial Tank Regiment and with her long purple hair entering the room, looking for Euphemia and Clovis.
"Ah, there you are." She said, looking at them coming down.
"We were going to the library, so we can be left alone for a little bit." Explained Clovis, while the three reached her.
"We must go." Replied the Duchess of Boston, peremptorily. "Sir Jeremiah has asked us to leave, as he believes that we are not safe in the middle of all those Cavaliers."
"We are perfectly safe at Concordia Plantation, like we've always been." Protested Prince Clovis.
"But we are unsafe in the middle of Southern secessionists and enemies of the Crown, especially after what happened to Lelouch and Nunnally." She concluded, without even paying attention to Giulio.
"Then you go and we stay." Insisted Clovis, firmly.
"Should I make our security take you away?" Asked Cornelia, coldly.
"Come on Cornelia." Protested Euphemia. "Giulio has been a number of times at our place and we've been his guests a number of times..."
"Then his father conspired with his old college bestie, Genbu Kururugi against our father and the country. Safety first, Euphy."
Cornelia took a break, then spoke to Giulio: "Lord Galahad, my condolences for your father's death. Yet, suicide was the most honourable thing he could do at this stage. In Britannia there cannot be space for traitors. This is why next week you will appear before the House of Lords. Farewell."
Those words left Giulio frozen, incapable of replying. He saw that happening already and knew perfectly what it would have meant: a public humiliation for him and his family, to be followed by the stripping of all his titles and privileges.
"This is an absurdity!" Shouted Clovis.
"And this is enough. Now move, or I will make you move, both of you." Cut short Cornelia, heading to the door.
"I-I'm sorry!" Exclaimed Princess Euphemia in tears, hugging Giulio one last time.
"It's alright." He replied, hugging her back.
"We'll get you out of this." Promised Clovis. "See you soon, Lord Galahad."
Indeed, they were to meet again soon after that funeral, since just as Princess Cornelia had announced, Emperor Charles IV zi Britannia demanded that Giulio, as the 6th Duke of Danville, appeared before the House of Lords. He did so together with his mother, Lady Charlotte Aglae de Bourbon-Orleans, Princess-of-the-Blood of France, who did not wish her son to face the Lords of the Realm on his own.
In this way, a week after the burial of the 5th Duke of Danville, the two appeared before The Right Honourable Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the Holy Empire of Britannia in Parliament Assembled, or the House of Lords. From their benches, the Peers, dressed in their red Hermine robes stared at them, some with disdainful and anger looks, others with sympathy or concern. As by protocol, they were brought in by the Chief Whip, who held this function as the Captain of His Majesty's Body Guard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms. The House was completely filled, with all of the Peers sitting at their places, Emperor Charles sitting on his throne and his children seated near him. Giulio felt surrounded by hostile presences, while neither Clovis nor Euphemia were present in the House.
Faced by that view, Giulio initially felt intimidated, cornered and abandoned and had an impulse to step back. Yet, before he could do that, he felt his mother's hand on his left shoulder and a gentle push forward. "Don't show those animals any fear. Don't give them this satisfaction." She whispered. As soon as he heard this, all the fear and despair left space for anger and hatred: they betrayed him, they wanted to destroy his family, but he would have had his revenge.
"Lord Galahad, you must bow to your Emperor." Said the Speaker, as he stood in front of Emperor Charles IV. Giulio disobeyed, instead looking defiantly at the Emperor.
"Lord Galahad, you must bow to your ruler." Insisted the speaker. At this point even his mother pushed his sleeve. Still nothing. Charles looked at him with interest.
"I would rather die than to bow to a tyrant, who made his way to the throne by murdering his siblings and who has perverted and destroyed all of the sacred institutions of this monarchy!" Said finally Giulio, provoking immediately surprise and outrage in the House, whose members began to whisper and comment the gesture.
"Lord Galahad, retract you immediately or you will be charged with Lese Majesté." Ordered the Speaker.
"It doesn't matter, Honourable Speaker." Intervened Charles, calmly, raising a hand. "The young Lord Galahad is just too attached to a Medieval conception of the monarchy and the nobility. Respect meaningless traditions, protect the weak, Rights of the Barons and so on." He made a pause. "Fortunately, Britannia has long left behind this obscurantist past, just as it has left behind a past in which his ancestors, together with a bunch of resented Lords, could secede a part of the country and impose their will on the Crown." He made another pause, looking at the other Lords. "Furthermore, it is ironic how he is so eager to talk about honour and chivalry and name me an impostor, when his father conspired with the Japanese Prime Minister, murdered one of my wives and two of my children. All in the name of a fossilised, obsolete ideology which cannot accept the path endeavoured by our great Empire..."
"My father was innocent, you dirty bastard!" Yelled Giulio, stepping forward and being held by the guards.
"Hold yourself, son." Whispered his mother to his ear. "Don't play his game."
Giulio obeyed, with tears falling from his eyes.
"Enough!" Exclaimed Charles, now losing his patience. "If your father was innocent, then he would have defended himself, instead of committing suicide in his hunting lodge. Your family represents one of those weaker, dying branches of the powerful tree that Britannia is and as such, it needs to be chopped off before it kills the whole plant." Charles paused and all the New Nobles of the House applauded and acclaimed him. "Now my sentence: that all of Lord Livio's close family, until the 3rd degree, are to be banished from the Empire and their properties confiscated. The title of Duke of Danville shall return to the Crown and from now on, the House Galahad-Canossa will no longer be considered a noble family. Let this old tarnished nobility give space to a new, vigorous one, of which this House is the expression. Now begone!"
The sentence was received by the applauses and acclamations of all the Lords, while the guards removed from Giulio and his mother all the insignia of their noble status, then conducing them to the exit.
Right before crossing the gate for the last time, Charlotte d'Orleans turned to the throne, and rising her voice well above what she was used to do, she stated, almost as if in a mystic trance:
"Charles zi Britannia, you make a big mistake in banishing us: you banish the bloodline of Sir Galahad and of Louis Capet from your land, but be aware that this same blood, one day shall drown your Dynasty and wash away from the face of Earth the pathetic travesty that you and your minions dare to call an Empire."
With those words, the House of Lords seemed to freeze for a few instants, while Charles himself looked astonished at the two, mother and son, leaving the House of Lords for the last time, heading to their exile.
Following that fatidic day, the family had to leave the country within 24 hours, being barely allowed to collect few personal belongings. Thus, within this short timeframe, Giulio, his sister Lucrezia and their mother found themselves from the House of Lords to the Empress Victoria International Airport of Pendragon, boarding on a flight for Milan, in Italy.
In the airport, after the family had just gone through all the border controls and was now waiting at the gate to board, Giulio had an unexpected surprise: a young Captain with teal-coloured hair and dressed in the uniform of the Imperial Household Cavalry, whom Giulio recognised as being Sir Jeremiah Gottwald came in from a service entrance, followed by Clovis and Euphemia. Gottwald accompanied them closer to Giulio, amidst the general surprise, then letting them reach their friend.
"Giulio!" Exclaimed Euphemia.
"My friend!" Echoed Clovis, as the two hugged the former nobleman.
"This is such a good surprise!" Replied Giulio. "Where were you today? I thought I would see you at the House of Lords?"
"We weren't allowed in... Better if don't comment on this, trust me." Was Clovis' angered reply. Immediately, he recomposed himself to greet also Charlotte and Lucrezia, being imitated by Euphemia.
"Our father is just being ill advised, you will see, we'll fix this." Reassured the Duchess of Montreal, turning to Giulio.
"He is not ill-advised, unfortunately." Said Clovis, dryly. "He's putting his interests first. There's a list of families that will soon be purged. I was told this by Schneizel."
"Really?" Asked Giulio, surprised.
"Yes: basically, all of the Old Nobility, including many former royal families: Habsburg, Savoy, Wittelsbach, Bourbon, they will all soon go to exile."
"Purging the true nobles to hand the Empire to a bunch of parvenus, what an inglorious ending for Britannia." Said Charlotte with disdain, as she was following their conversation.
"If only things could be different." Sobbed Clovis, who then turned at Charlotte. "Milady, I recall well that you have been my Baptism Godmother and that it was your will that I was named Clovis after the first King of France. Let me therefore express our deepest regret, from my part but also of my mother."
Charlotte nodded and forced a smile. "You are good people and you, dear, probably one of the very few true Princes in that family, just like Euphy is one of the few true Princesses there." At those words, the little Euphemia made a small reverence. "I hope that the ties between you and my son won't be severed by the exile and that one day we will be reunited."
"They won't, Madame." Said Euphemia, taking Giulio's hand.
"It won't be our father with his stupid prohibitions, to end a friendship." Added Clovis.
"I agree, after all, deep roots are not reached by the frost, as Tolkien would have said." Concluded Giulio.
Finally, a short melody announced the communication from the airport service: "Ladies and Gentlemen, the flight AZ 756 of Alitalia, scheduled for 22:30 and headed to Milan-Malpensa International Airport is now boarding. We will begin by calling the First, Business and Premium classes, then groups from 1 to 6."
"Time to go." Said Charlotte standing up and handing a bag to Giulio.
"I beg your pardon." Intervened then Jeremiah. "Your Highnesses, we should go, you know the risks if your father knows of us here."
"We are going, Jeremiah." Reassured Clovis, who then turned at his friend. "Safe travels, dear brother."
"Thanks, dear brother." Replied Giulio, hugging him again.
"Please, take this." Said then Euphemia, handing him a silver pendant, which portrayed on one side an Irish Cross and on the other Euphemia's personal crest. "I want you to remember of me."
Giulio wore it immediately. "I would remember you anyway." He said with tears in his eyes.
"We must really go now, I'm sorry." Insisted Jeremiah.
"You're right, Jeremiah." Replied Clovis, taking his sister by the hand and gently pushing her. "Farewell, Lord Galahad."
With those words, Prince Clovis and Princess Euphemia left Giulio boarding, with his family, on the airplane that would have taken him away from what, until that point, used to be his homeland. That meeting before departing was certainly heartening for Giulio, especially in a moment like this. Yet, the wound that Charles and the Britannian Lords had caused him was deep, so deep that would have shaped in choices from that day on, with one main purpose in mind: to take his revenge and punish all of them.