"In hindsight being so open with my ambitions might have been a bad idea, but at the time I felt honesty the best option."

Alexander Andreas Gustavos Di Britannia.

…

Knight of two, her, Kallen Kozuki, a half breed, being offered the position as one of the greatest Knights in the Empire, the offer coming from one of the three men most likely to take the throne after the emperors death. What the hell was the man thinking, she was supposed to be his enemy, his 'Greatest Opponent' as he put it! what the hell was he thinking?

"Maybe a bit too forward on my part I admit, but you will have more than a passing chance at the title when I become Emperor." She carefully noted the use of the word 'when' instead of 'if', Andre was assured he would become emperor, so sure of it he even now planned for it. "Of course that is in the far future, for now you are on the side of the enemy, and on the fields of battle I will act to that."

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because I want you to know my plans, and think of them what you will, so that we may make a deal, I also have a gift for you as thanks for saving my life, which you will receive regardless if you agree to the deal or not." A deal? Kallen did not exactly like the sound of that, most of the time such a term was used it was never a fair one.

"Alright then, tell me."

"The deal first I suppose. It's one that is beneficial to both of us, your father is planning to have you wed, now I am assume you are not in favour of this, by both your reaction at the time and the face you are currently making." Kallen glared at the man, the Lion simply smirked in that quickly becoming annoying way of his, but she still nodded in confirmation. "With you joining me alone many of the nobles are going to think I am courting you, and because I am the third Princ-"

"My father would not dare to risk insulting you by having me engaged!" Her shout came before she could stop herself, relief flooding through her, it was a simple solution now she thought about it.

"Exactly, the deal I propose is that you continue to come here every week, both to keep up the illusion and to allow myself the pleasure of your company." Andre had just offered her a perfect out, and all Kallen had to do was talk to the man once a week, a small sacrifice, he was interesting enough to talk to and not bad to look at, now that her state of panic was fading she could even call the man attractive.

"Deal."

…

"Marry me?"

The question made Marius's mind blank, he was having trouble keeping up the dance with the blond heiress, the words caused him to stumble and nearly fall over her, she laughed and guided him to the side of the ball room. His mind raced, what just happened?

"What?"

"I said Marry me, Marius."

"Why?"

"Because it would be a good match, you are a kind man with and well respected, you are around my age and unlikely to push for a fast wedding, that's better than any of the matches my mother had lined up for me."

"How?"

"Well it would generally involve a ring and a few I do's..."

His brain powered back on, mind reeling as he considered it all, it would not be a bad match, not at all, she was beautiful and intelligent, and he could not deny that those were the trait that mattered to him most of all. It was rare for a Knight of Honour to marry but not unheard of, but he would need Andre's permission, as well as his mind, he found himself severely under qualified to think through all the numerous political ramifications of such an engagement.

"I-I do not dislike the idea, but perhaps we should start off with a Courting instead, so that we may get to know one another better?"

….

I had not expected Kallen to so readily agree to my deal, was her fear over her father's threats so great as to force her hand? That kind of made me feel bad about offering her that deal, I could have just as easily subtly threatened her father and dealt with it that way, but I, admittedly selfishly, wanted to speak with her more often.

"Huh, did not expect my answer?" Kallen asked, her striking blue eyes colouring with amusement as she smiled for the first time in the night, had she really guessed my thoughts by my minor expressions? It was almost easy to forget she was highly intelligent as well as a fighter, from what I recall from the anime she was at the top of her class despite many tests missed because of her 'sickness'

"I did not in truth, I expected some more pushback?"

"It's as you said, a simple solution to my problems and talking to you is not exactly bad..." She said with a shrug, the dress she was wearing offering a distraction at the movement that I forced myself to ignore, glad to see her smirk at that, a test passed then. "Of course I don't expect either of us to share anything that might affect our side negatively."

"Naturally."

"Well, I will ask the first question then. Why have you not had me arrested, from everything I heard about you Andre, you are pragmatic to a T and this does not fit you at all."

….

"A logical assumption if I truly was a man purely loyal to the Empire yes, if I wanted to preserve the empires power and standing I would have had you, and your associates executed as soon as I knew who you were."

"But you're not? Loyal to the empire that is?" A question she never thought she would ever ask a prince, or any Brit for that matter, but one Kallen still wanted an answer to, she was simply too curious to not get one.

"Not completely, of course, I am Britannian Prince vying for the throne, a bit of treason is expected and even commended, as long as it is not brought to the public eye of course. In truth, I commend the Black-Knight's ideals, their existence for now serves my cause and their destruction can be delayed until it does so no longer." Still pragmatic, but in support of their ideals?

"Our ideals?"

"Long has systematic racism plagued the Empire, the number system is one that is both vile and harms it, alienating potentially skilled workers and advisors just to uphold the ideal of 'superiority', going against the very idea of true Darwinism that our Empire so idealises." Andre leant back in his chair as he spoke to her, narrating like he was doing so to a massive crowd instead of just her. "Zero is forcing the people and more importantly the nobles to break from their normal, comfortable, mindset of untouchability, allowing me to champion more liberal policies freely, and the ability to appease the conservatives by combating his threat."

"And after that, what would you do Andre?" The man was interesting to say the least, and the openness he had with his thoughts a nice change from the people she dealt with these days, Lelouch was interesting but a closed book when it came to plans and emotions.

"After Zero is defeated many of his troops will find pardon if they choose to join me, and suddenly a new advisor will join my side, rising as a political figure supporting me."

"You expect Zero to just start working with you?" Was he really that sure of his charisma? Or was it something else?

"I expect my brother to help me yes."

There it was, confirmation of her suspicions in the most direct form, Kallen had been following the threads and putting together possibilities for a while now, ever since Lelouch and Euphemia spoke like long lost friends. Him being part of the royal family was a possibility, the Emperor had taken so many wives and mistresses that the amount of descendants he had was fully up to debate, political rivalries were common and assassination almost equally so.

The confirmation did not shake her as much as it might have, the similarities between Andre and Lelouch had been clear from the first moment they met, both grand personalities with a streak of acting like massive Hams. And the bloody purple eyes! How had that not alerted her right away!? Only those with some relation to the Royal bloodline had eye colours that went towards that shade.

"Fucking hell, it's never simple is it?"

"He told you who he was?"

"I knew his fake name and had my suspicions." There was a look of genuine interest on his face, surprise and amusement colouring his now actually mirthful and disarm smile, it took him a few moments to respond.

"How interesting, I had not expected him to even reveal that much..."

…..

"How did you gain your moniker?"

"The story is well known, is it not?"

"Yes, but I would like to hear it from you, 'Butcher of Brunei'."

"Alright then Milly, it was about two years ago, a large scale rebellion had broken out in the city of Bandar Seri Begawan, in the country formerly known as Brunei, the city had been taken by a particularly vile group of terrorists, religious extremist with a penchant for bloody slaughter." Marius paused as he remembered those troubled days, when the empires conquest was still recent and when his brother was still reorganizing his new domains as Duke of Asia. "Prince Alexander dispatched me to deal with the issue while he focused on the larger rebellion ongoing on Java. Their defences were easily broken, but when my forces entered the city we found that the snakes had gone to ground and left a trail of bodies in their wake, men, woman, children, murdered, slaughtered, maimed and worse."

"And then you did it?"

"Yes, whenever we captured a group of those terrorist I had them flayed, an example made out of them so that no other would try such barbarity."

…..

"Ah it seems my gift has arrived." Kallen's ears perked at Andre's words, the last half an hour had been filled with light conversation, both of them having decided that the time for talk of ideals and motives was over. So far the two of them had spoken of their likes and dislikes, their education and childhoods, Kallen had to admit that it was nice to talk so openly with someone. "It should be here in a few moments."

"I am curious, what is this gift exactly?"

"Now why would I spoil the surprise?" The man chuckled, his smile less intimidating and more endearing now that she was more familiar with him, still incredibly infuriating though. "Just be patient, a few moments and it will be here."

Patience was never her strong suit, quite the opposite in fact, in battle she could ignore the desire to act because of the nerves but now she had nothing like that. The door creaked and she turned towards it, a man in a suit entered first, bowing to Andre before allowing a second man to enter, leaving and closing the door without a noise. Kallen looked the man who remained over, red hair, down to his shoulders, clean but unkempt, white shirt and pants, a prisoner, his face was so oddly familiar...

"K-Kallen!"

"Naoto!"

…

It was amazing how the little changes my presence made blew over into greater ones, Lelouch revealing himself to Kallen was something that he would have never done in canon, at least not voluntarily. What the fuck had I done to change his mindset so much? Was it the few games of Kriegspiel? No that can't be all can it? Still even with that no longer being a secret it is unlikely to spiral further unless I am missing something, which while not impossible is unlikely.

The sight of the two reunited siblings was a nice one, and one easily manipulated into being, tracking the prisoners my brother took was a duty of mine, and having Naoto transferred to the Rock was easily done. My original plan had been to recruit the man, but I had little time since my arrival in the area, all in all this was both a better option and easier for me, plus it was a nice gesture. I think? I am not exactly good at the whole romance thing, almost bad at it in fact.

"You're okay..."

"I am, little lotus, I am..."

Was I intruding on a personal moment, probably, but they were in my lounge, not my fault that I was here then, the two of them were crying and glad to see the other. Before this life I would have found that strange, having had a mediocre relationship with my family at the best of times and abysmal normally, now I found it almost natural, after having spent time with siblings I actually cared for. Nelly and Euphie are my sisters, and I would protect them no matter what, I cared for some of my other siblings too, Odysseus and Marybell, Schneizel and even Clovis to some degree.

"Naoto Kozuki-Stadfeldt, you are hereby pardoned of all crimes allegedly committed, a free-man once more, congratulations."

"So you're really freeing me?"

"Yes."

"No strings attached?"

"Well no, your sister saved my life so I am giving you back yours."

"Really?"

"Why do people always think I have an ulterior motive? I may be a pragmatic man but I am still an honourable one." Of course I do have an ulterior motive, but no need for him to know that.

….

"Thank you." She meant her words completely, Andre only smiled, giving her a short bow as she stepped into the limo that would carry the two of them to the manor, and from there to the hideout. She knew the driver of the limo, a Japanese woman that had been a friend of her mother, she would not betray anything she happened to overhear so when the Limo was on the road she turned to her brother.

"Gods it's nice to have you back here, what happened Naoto?" it had been over a month since her brother was captured, now that he was returned he looked a bit more pale and skinnier, but altogether healthy, more than healthy enough to tell her how the fuck he had been captured. "Was it Tamaki?! I swear I will gut him!"

"Partially, we spotted the opportunity to go for a bigger shipment and follow after you, but it was more heavily guarded then expected, before I knew it I got knocked out and Tamaki had run for it." He leaned forward in his seat, running his hands through his way to long hair as he chuckled, his smile a familiar and long missed sight. "I woke up in a cell under the rock, how long has it been since that day?"

"Just over a month."

"Hmm, less than I thought." Naoto muttered as Kallen kept her eyes focused him, "How has the cell been? I have only gotten the bare essentials of the news but I did recognize Ohgi and Tamaki with this Zero."

"Zero formed the black-knights out from us, it's a long story..."

…..

"When trying to win a battle there are many things to consider, in plotting this is even more so the truth, but in romance? In romance the amount seems to grow at an exponential rate."

Alexander Andreas Gustavos Di Britannia.