Digging into the abyss

A few days after the attack at the harbour, Maou was seeking C.C.

Cornelia was in her private jet discussing with Schizel something important. As the prime minister of Britain, it's his duty to oversee the nation's infrastructure, economy, and politics. He was a bit surprised that the goddess of victory would want to discuss him on a private channel.

He knew about how she was captured by the Demon Slayers Corps led by the masked vigilante Zero; her capture was already spreading among the Britannia populace as fear and doubt spread, but not that much, unlike Clovis' death.

But the fear felt within the citizen, especially how powerful Zero was, was that he was able to go toe to toe with a knightmare frame without a knightmare himself piloting.

"So Lelouch and Nunnally are alive." The prime minister of Britain was surprised that the Lamperouge siblings were alive. The prime minister was relieved to find out that they were still alive.

"Yes, it seems they are hiding, and Lelouch is investigating Lady Marriene's assassination," Cornelia explained, explaining the information she gained during her captured vacation.

"Which is not a surprise, as his outburst years ago to find his mother's killer caused him to be exiled; it seems appropriate that was his drive." But Schizel knew Lelouch wanted revenge, knowing his entire family had left them for dead. And he doesn't think it was water under the bridge; Lelouch was up to something. He called it his foresight, knowing the Britannia family's royal bloodline tends to have a grudge.

An example was Guinevere's how a servant spilled drinks on her favorite dress and had all the entire family executed, almost if it weren't for Euphemia intervening and his help also making sure there were no casualties as it was bad with the press.

Cornelia flinched at how Schizel didn't care about his tone, as if talking about a forecast that was easily forgotten.

"It seems Lelouch is under zero protection, including Nunnally. That's good news, but I doubt this is your only reason to discuss in a secure line." Schizel doubts the witch of Brittania would call something so trivial.

Cornelia took a deep breath and decided to ask Schizel about lady Mariene during the assassination in Ares Villa and her body that was carried somewhere while the casket was empty.

"I suspected the coffin to be empty. When the body arrived at the morgue the Emperor wanted to see her body immediately after that he told his trusted servant to quickly prepare her burial and everything was hush hush". I suspected our father was up to something but I didn't pry not until Lelouch was the one who decided to pry and you know the rest"

"Are you sure the body was empty?" Cornelia was still skeptical

"I'm positive you can dig it up if you want to make sure it's true with your own two eyes" Schizel encouraged Cornelia as he doesn't need to get his hands dirty.

"That would be sacrilege. I will dishonor her body."

"Suppose it's true that there's no body buried you need to fear, or that you shouldn't be scared of learning the truth"

Cornelia gritted her teeth "If I must seek the truth".

"It is my hope that these answers would bring closure to the truth for you and one piece of advice for you, Cornelia: don't dig too deep into whatever you're doing. Whatever happens to Mariene children might happen to you." It was a warning Schizel was warning Cornelia knowing the dark side of the imperial family who ever gets to close of the Emperor's secrets are disposed of even if they are his own children.

"I will keep that in mind" Schizel signs off the screen turn black.

Conelia sighs again, pinching her nose, and decides to make another call with Merrybell to learn about the bombing accident. Her intuition was telling her it was connected.

"This is a surprise," as the familiar face in area twelve was described as ruthless and cute by the denizens. "Why did you suddenly call me Cornelia, and we hardly knew each other after what happened? It was true that their relationship as siblings was very rocky, probably due to the terrorist accident.

The goddess of victory said, "Hello, Merrybell, it's good to see you again."

The leader of the Gilda knights said, "Stop with the pleasantries, please. We all know that you won't call unless it's something important," which was true as Merrybell doubted it.

" Then it won't be a problem if I asked a question , Do you remember who was the boy that send the bomb that killed your mother and sister?" That was Cornelia question.

Merrybell frowns at hearing this, her half sister opening old wounds. "Yes, I remember that day, like scars that couldn't ever heal."

"Then could you tell me what he looks like, his age, or even his hair colour—anything you remember to describe the culprit?"

"Of course I..." Merrybell was trying to remember, but something was blocking her memory like a lock as the familiar red ring appeared in both her eyes. "Why can't I remember? I should remember the terrorist that killed my mother and sister, but why can't I remember at all? As she was having the worst migraine ever, she massaged her head, trying to ease the pain.

Cornelia was concerned about seeing her half-sister in pain. "Merrybell, are you all right?"

"I'm sorry, Cornelia, maybe some other time," as she cut the communication line.

Merrybell, wait a moment!" Cornelia couldn't ask anymore.

In this way, more questions were raised about what is going on with the Royal family as a whole.

Cornelia arrived at Pendragon, the capital city of the Empire, as she was called by the Emperor, knowing she must accept the call, which would be rude and disrespectful towards the Emperor if she arrived without announcing her presence. Plus, she already knew the Emperor was expecting her arrival.

She arrived at the royal chamber and quickly got down on one knee, bowing towards her Emperor. Even if he is her father, it's his overwhelming presence that made her quirk in fear.

She greeted the emperor, "Greetings, your majesty. I, Cornelia have arrived at your request."

"Tell me what brings you here back to Pendragon. I doubt it's about your capture that wouldn't warrant your reason to return to our homeland or that you wanted to give yourself a chance to redeem yourself openly in front of me like a child." Charles felt like a child confronting their parents, who didn't get what they wanted, and acting spoiled.

"Neither , I have obtained information from Zero during capture about the Lamperouge siblings, and they are alive," she confesses, not hiding her intention.

"If Charles' eyes twitched, he didn't show it. "What of it?" was like talking about old news that was easily forgotten.

Cornelia gritted her teeth, knowing he didn't care at all, but continued, "I believe that I could find out what happened to Lady Marianne's death if I investigated more. Zero told me that Lelouch was investigating her death and under Zero's protection, including Nunnally."

"So my wayward sons and daughter are alive, and you came all the way back just to inform me and investigate what happened that night."

"I believe finding out what happened to Mariene might bring Lelouch and Nunnally back to us." It was something Cornelia hoped to do to redeem what happened those years ago when she did nothing when the Lamperouge siblings were in exile.

"Do you even believe that?" Charles wanted to laugh but kept his emotions to himself.

"Yes" was Cornelia's simple answer.

"Do whatever you want, like I care; if you continue the investigation, I doubt you will find anything." The Emperor let her rebellious daughter do whatever she wanted, as it was no concern for him.

"Thank you, your majesty," she said as she left the chamber, leaving only the Emperor alone.

Charles spoke, "You heard that, big brother?"

From the shadow appeared the familiar face of V.V. "I heard it, brother; it seems Mariene's children are alive. I didn't expect that," the immortal played in ignorance.

'You lied again, big brother; you knew they were alive just like us?' Charles, though furious, still kept his emotions in check. "So what are we going to do with Cornelia if she gets too close?"

"There's an old saying that curiosity kill the cat, and we should dispose of her if she gets too close," V.V. gave the Emperor a suggestion.

"Agree, our plans must come first. I think you can handle it."

"Of course, for the sake of Ragnarok," V.V. disappeared into the shadows.

The first thing Cornelia did was watch the old footage of the security camera during that night, the day Mariene was assassinated, and she found nothing wrong with it. Only the gruesome scene of Mariene's death, but every time she replies to the scene, a strange part of the footage is cut and added. Especially the part where Mariene was meeting someone was erased like nothing had happened. Along with why Nunnally was within Mariene's arms, if she remembers correctly, the little sister was supposed to be in bed, and the walk between the stairs and the room was far.

It proves someone within Royalty was the one murdering her idol, along with using Nunnally as a hostage for collateral.

That only left her to do something that would dishonor her idol, but she needed to learn the truth.

XXX

It was midnight. Cornelia was at the graveyard where royalty was buried, and she was at the grave belonging to Lady Mariene. She remembered that Schizel told her the casket was empty, so she needed to confirm. "I was either going to discover something that would take me down the deepest rabbit hole or hell for disrespecting the dead."

As she started to dig, the sky started to turn dark and rain heavily, but she continued digging until finally she reached the casket. Her hands were trembling in fear, but she was determined to look at what was inside as she lifted the cover and was shocked.

"Empty?! Schizel speaks the truth, but why take her body for what reason?" Those are the questions. The more she thinks, the more something like an ominous malice shadow shrouds her like a puppet pulling her strings.

To make sure nothing happened, she quickly buried the coffin back in the ground and quickly returned to her room to clean herself of the mud.

In the shadows, someone was monitoring the Witch of Brittania. "Sir, it seems Princess Cornelia is starting to get suspicious. What should I do?"

"Make sure to keep an eye on her first. I want to know how much she knows before we dispose of her."

"Understood Director V.V."

V.V. just smiled and said, "Oh, Cornelia, it seems we have to dispose of you, it's a shame you were the perfect pawn but I have to make sure it would be beneficial, and I'm going to have a talk with Brother Charles about the missing body".

XXX

Ever since the missing body, Cornelia has started researching the deaths of her other siblings in other locations and nations. She felt like some kind of conspiracy was happening within the royal family, similar to the Emblem Blood.

So she decided to travel to a place that might have connections.

Her visit was to Europe. It was where her half-brother Roberta was assassinated during his stay. She put on a disguise that she wasn't the witch nor the goddess of Britannia.

It happened during his time in a hotel as he was on a mission as representative to Britain as the emperor entrusted Roberta with overseeing the Euro Britania army, but for those who knew it was a test if his children were competent.

Euro Britannia has a different philosophy than the mainland, as such, there is a clash between the two nations like fire and water. Euro Britannia does not seem to enforce the same area and number label systems on its conquered regions as the main Empire does.

They believe the number system is barbaric as it strips humans of human rights. Which Cornelia would agree with, but it was Zero that changed her perspective.

The next day, Roberta was found dead in his hotel room with a gun wound to his heart. There were no witnesses, as the security camera didn't find anything suspicious. Because of these, it caused an international incident in which Euro Britannia lost credibility and trust between the two nations.

Making both nations hostile to each other as leaving Euro Britannia fighting the E.U. on their own with the mainland waiting for the opportunity to intervene and use the ascension to annex the nation. All in all, this would result in an unfortunate outcome for all parties involved.

Cornelia was at the hotel when it was shut down due to the assassination of her half-brother. She sneaked inside, believing it must have had some kind of recording during that time.

But all she got was a destroyed security room, as someone was making sure they didn't leave any evidence behind. "Dammit, you are going to say there's nothing!" As she kicked the debris in anger, a small stone flew and crashed into something.

Cornelia heard and quickly searched to find another hidden room. It was old retro style, but it had an old security TV, VCR, and video cabinet.

"What if there's a clue here?" As she searched for the date and found out the same date as her brother's assassination, the VCR was probably a backup security camera that was old but might record what happened that day. And the authorities didn't care, as they focused on the importance of royal deaths.

She watched it with focus, finding anything suspicious, and then she saw someone entering Robert's room. She couldn't see clearly, but it was a boy wearing a bellboy uniform as he pulled a gun out of his clothes. As Robert tried shouting at the guards to apprehend the assassin, something supernatural happened as Robert stood still like a statue, and then the assassin fired his gun and killed the prince easily. He then left, as everything had never happened.

All that was left were dead royalty and confused guards.

Knowing she saw something she shouldn't and that it was possible her idol was killed in a similar way, she quickly took the tape and hid it, along with returning to Area 11 as she needed to tell someone she could trust her knight.

She had to do this covertly and quietly, knowing she couldn't trust anyone.

Unknown to her, someone already saw everything as he made a call. "Director, it seems Princess Cornelia found footage of my assassination.

"Our princes got too close to the sun and are going to burn.".

"Should I dispose of her?"

"No, let me handle it." I have a better idea. Continue with your mission."

"Understand Rolo's out!"

V.V. was making another call to "begin the plan and make sure she was killed by terrorists. It was going to be another good speech for the public."

You can guess it was during the time Maou was searching for C.C. and starting his scheming while Cornelia did her own investigation.

Cornelia's search for the truth would attract unwanted attention as she got to close the geass order that needed her to be disposed of.

You can guess the name Robert was from Game of Thrones: Robert Baratheon, knowing he died outside his comfort zone.