Two days later
Lelouch POV
Lelouch was reading a book, and, as he imagined from the information he managed to obtain on Jeremiah's schedule, he finally arrived.
Knock Knock.
Lelouch himself went to open the door.
In front of him, Jeremiah stood tall and imposing. For many, this would have been intimidating, but Lelouch had long since learned to ignore such feelings.
Jeremiah quickly recognized Lelouch as Marianne's son (probably from his purple eyes), He started talking, introducing himself like a perfect member of the Britannian nobility, and then he continued renewing his oath.
Lelouch invited Jeremiah inside, there was a lot of matter to discuss.
Despite Nunnally's and Sayoko's good feelings, Lelouch doesn't still trust him for many reasons, obviously, it's not something he will tell him "Jeremiah your loyalty is truly remarkable, but allow me to ask a few questions".
Jeremiah stood silent waiting for him to speak.
Lelouch "If you don't mind could I ask you why you found The Purist faction?".
Jeremiah "Power, one of the few things that almost every one of the nobles agrees on is their dislike for the Japanese, it was the easiest way to gain support".
Lelouch "But do you agree with them?".
Jeremiah "As the emperor loves to remind us we are not born the same, this applies to both the Japanese and the Brittannian, I can't say I'm guilty about my action, but the truth is that I don't really care, my only objective after the death of Marianne was to repent by serving the Britannia and the royal family, but now that I know that you are both alive... My only wish is your well-being".
Lelouch didn't wait a moment to keep going with his questions "Someone else knows about us?".
Jeremiah "No".
Lelouch "You want to serve as our knight?".
Jeremiah "Yes".
Lelouch "You would betray the empire for us?".
Jeremiah "Yes".
Lelouch understood why the two women were convinced by him. Jeremiah was stoic in his beliefs. He expected a little bit of hesitation, at least in the last question, but this was not the case, so either he was a really good liar or he was telling the truth.
Lelouch "Now that you found us what's your plan?".
Jeremiah "I would advise both of you to return to Pendragon until the situation in Japan is more stable, then it will be easy to put you as Viceroy and Nunnally as Sub-Viceroy".
Lelouch "I understand... It makes sense, after living so long here and with your support we would have every claim to that position".
Jeremiah "Exactly, so we should prepar..."
Lelouch interrupted him "We will not move from here".
Jeremiah was stunned "What... Why? My prince, I beg you to reconsider, Japan is becoming more dangerous day by day, we already lost control of some areas, while I'm sure we will be able to put down this pathetic rebellion, I can't rule out the possibility that the fighting will reach Tokyo".
Lelouch made an evil grin, his loyalty makes him so gullible, easy to manipulate (at least for him) "We know the risk, and I'm relieved to have such a loyal knight, but are you so sure that sending us at Pendragon would not put us right in the hand of the one that killed our mother?".
Jeremiah "D-do you think that the assassination of Lady Marianne was ordered by a member of the imperial family?".
Lelouch smiled, he was also smart, if Lelouch played his card right he could become an indispensable tool for his plan "So you too have already thought about this possibility".
Jeremiah "I... had my suspect, but I never wanted to believe this, do you know who the killer is?".
Lelouch "Unfortunately no, these are all theories".
silence fell in the room.
After a while, Jeremiah started talking again.
Jeremiah "If you two are still determined to remain in Area 11, at least permit me to assign some of my units to ensure your safety".
Lelouch had to do everything to avoid it, he wouldn't be able to keep his identity as Zero hidden with Britannia agent keeping an eye on him "Tell me, there is someone you can trust with our lives?".
Jeremiah pondered for a lot, there were probably many competent people working under him, but everyone had ambition, Jeremiah was smart, and surely he would come to the logical conclusion "No, Maybe, just maybe Villetta, but her sudden disappearance would raise many questions, maybe we could just assign them to guard Ashford, you would be just one of the many students".
Lelouch "No, that still would be dangerous".
Jeremiah was starting to get desperate "I can't risk leaving you alone, even one person would allow me to know if something were to happen, there is no one in the army that you can trust?".
Lelouch was starting to realize that he would not give up on this point but he couldn't thi... "maybe there is somebody".
Suzaku POV
When he requested to have access to the registration of the Battle of Shinjuku (to find any clue about Lelouch), he was surely not expecting this to cause him problems, it was a pretty normal request, it was not rare for a pilot, but he couldn't think of any other reason for him to be requested by the viceroy at interim, expect for his origin obviously.
Suzaku Knocked at the door of his office.
Almost immediately it opened, but to his surprise, it wasn't Jeremiah.
A pretty pissed-off Kewell was leaving the room "What is a number doing here".
Suzaku was almost about to correct him, he was an honorary britannian, but he stopped himself from doing so "I'm here under Lord Jeremiah's request".
Kewell turned to look at Jeremiah.
Jeremiah "As I have already said you are dismissed, Lord Kewell".
Jeremiah "And you can enter Suzaku Kururugi".
Suzaku entered "If I have done something wrong I...".
Jeremiah "No Kururugi, I heard that you are trying to enter the army, It's admirable, especially for someone with your name, but if I'm not wrong you are still part of the irregular force".
Suzaku "Yes Lord Jeremiah, I still have no official rank in the army".
Jeremiah "This can be easily settled, I have a mission for you Private Kururugi".
Two days later
Teacher "From today we will have a new student".
Suzaku "I'll be joining the student body here at Ashford Academy beginning today. My name is Suzaku Kururugi. It's a pleasure to meet you".