At last, we're at the end of this little experiment, or should I say addition. I can bet that plenty of you want more from this. Still, with this, I would have answered most of the questions left by the end. Those following me will know I've picked up my other stories. Hence, my week is officially filled. I even post on Saturday, so I have no time.
That said, I have ideas for other projects, like one where Kirihara secretly has Lelouch and Nunnally shipped to China. Hence, they meet the empress and become friends with her. Naturally, this leads to Lelouch joining her fraction, as having a superpower's backing would go a long way in fighting Britannia. The other Euphemia wasn't at the Lake Kawaguchi hotel, so Cornelia levels it before the Black Knights can even consider getting involved.
As you can imagine, both Lelouch and Suzaku watching half their friend group get wiped out in a case of 'wrong place, wrong time' really screws with them; like, would Suzaku get more delusional to not have to think about Cornelia needlessly slaughtering his friends? Would Lelouch just lose like-all his empathy for others and decide, 'Bet, you want blood, I'll drown you in it, innocents be damned' or does he just leave Ashford and take Nunnally with him, severing another connection(to Suzaku as he'll probably hardly keep contact)
Epilogue 03: Through the Night, Light will come
The air outside Saint Boniface Cathedral was still thick with the scene of rain, though outside morning drizzle, it had been restrained. Beyond the arched windows, the sky was deep, unbroken grey, the clouds heavy with unspent rain ready to pour, though, for those in attendance, the weather couldn't damper the mood of joy and love.
The interior of the English Baroque-styled church featured soaring white walls, so much like the ironic White Cliffs of Dover, grand Corinthian columns held up the massive ceiling, with thick arches connecting each while also giving space for the large arched clear-glass windows, their wooden frames decorated with glided, intricately carved details of nature and biblical stories. It typically had a large ornate elevated pulpit, but today, it had been removed in place of the flowery glass arches set up for the wedding. All eyes were set on the couple, standing at the altar, poised at the very edge of forever.
The bride, a tall, stunning blonde with deep, kind blue eyes, wore a breathing white wedding gown. It was an exquisite masterpiece of silk, its ivory fabric kissed by embroidered bluebells and golden primulas that traced the hem like a field of wildflowers, perfectly matching Milly's wild and free personality.
Standing with her was her groom, who, even now, years since their days in high school, was the shorter of the two. He was nervous, and that much was clear even to the children in attendance, but his happy, caring grey eyes showed no hint of discomfort or fear of the future. His hair was slicked back while he wore a charcoal-grey suit, a much cheaper and less refined set of clothing than his wife-to-be. Still, Rivalz had saved for 2 years so he could buy it outright, determined not to rent this symbol of one of the happiest days of his life.
Behind him, to his right, stood his best man, Lelouch. The emperor dressed in a suit comparable but lesser to the grooms despite his title; as the minister continued with the last parts of the ceremony, Rivalz saw in the corner of his eye the subtle look Lelouch was giving him. It was one of encouragement and a reminder not to embarrass himself in front of his and Milly's extended family.
Behind Milly, to the left, stood the maid of honor, Nina, who looked stunning in her dress, though she happily was playing second fiddle to Milly.
Behind both the best man and maid of honor stood more of their closest friends, most of whom were people both had met in the years after high school, such as Rivalz's old roommates. The exception was Suzaku, the Knight of One. For Milly, her maids were made up of friends she made as Duchess of Tokyo.
Though Kallen's presence as one of her maids and not even the matron of honor would have been seen as an insult in days long past, the Queen took no issue with it, especially as she was visible five months pregnant herself. Instead, Kallen smiled as she watched as things neared their end.
"In the presence of God and before this congregation, I pronounce you husband and wife," the elderly minister finished, giving both a humble, priestly smile as he gestured to them. You may now kiss the bride."
Rivalz didn't hesitate as he leaned in, like Milly, and their lips met, sealing the deal as the entire church applauded for them. However, one could tell that Rivalz's family was much more enthusiastic about this, their commoner background having no norms on restraint in their emotions, which only livened the room up, especially when the emperor seemed to be swinging more towards their version of expression of happiness, then the literal nobles.
As the applause and cheers died down, the minister gave the two newlyweds a final blessing so that they would live long, happy lives together filled with the cries of healthy, rambunctious children who would attend Sunday school. That last bit was a bit of a joke, which got some more laughter.
As the bulk of the guests left the church to line its entrance, Rivalz, Milly, along with Lelouch and Nina, remained behind so that they could sign the imperial marriage registry and then the church marriage certificates. The best man and maid of honor acted as witnesses along with the minister to this. That done, the two made themselves scarce so that only the newlywed appeared out the front doors.
As they did so, music, a rain of flowers, and confetti showered them as they walked out. Friends and family snapped pictures and yelled well-wishes as Rivalz, in a bout of bravado, grabbed a surprised Milly and carried her bridal style to the car that would take them to the hotel they rented for their reception. The rest headed for their own vehicles to follow, Lelouch aiding his pregnant consort, even if the woman said she was okay.
"At long last, you're officially one of us." Lelouch lifted his glass of champagne to Rivalz. The trio stood to the side as the reception continued around them, the table to the side housing plenty of gifts for the newlyweds.
"What do you mean, 'one of you?' You mean a noble?" Rivalz asked. Although he was a commoner, imperial law did state that he would now be a Duke consort, though it was more popular to be called a lord with no specific title.
"He means a married man. You're the last guy in the council to get hitched, Rivalz. We were starting to think you got a chronic case of cold feet." Suzaku clarified, which flustered the newly married men's club member.
"I was waiting for the right time. Not all of us wanted to get married before they're 20," Rivalz looked towards Lelouch, who drank his champagne with no shame. "Unlike some people."
Lelouch had married not one but three women shortly after he turned 19. Suzaku had a little more sense, but not much, as to who marries when they're 20. Sure, he married a smoking hot older woman, but still! How was he the odd one out for waiting until he was 23?
"And yet, you've never seen me regret that decision for so much as a minute. Is it easy having 3 wives? Hell no, but for once, this lazy bastard enjoys how much work it takes to make it work. It's more than worth it." Lelouch replied, an eye going to his wife, who spoke with Milly. The blonde said something they couldn't hear, making the consort blush and swat at her.
"I think I'll stick with the one wife, thank you very much." Rivalz joked as Milly was more than enough for him.
"I see you're sane then." Suzaku clicked their glasses together.
"Oh, hardy har-har." Lelouch rolled his eyes.
"I'm just saying." With Milly, she pestered Kallen for some details, which the redhead refused to give.
"I'm not going to just tell you how my private life goes, Milly, no matter how many times you ask." Kallen, older and wiser, had enough sense not to talk loudly about how the new wife was trying to get her to reveal how she and her husband fucked.
"But Lelouch and you already have 2 kids, with your third here well on the way. And he's fathered another 5 kids with C.C. and Leila," Milly wiggled her eyebrows. Kallen hated what Milly was alluding to and that she wasn't too far off the match. "Surely there must be some…juicy secrets on how to keep your bedroom life so spicy. Can't you share them with a pure maiden before she takes to her wedding night bed?"
Kallen raised an eyebrow. "I doubt you could be considered either of those things."
Milly held her chest at that, pretending to be hurt by Kallen's words. "I'll have you know I'm not that kind of woman."
"No, but I know for a fact you're already gotten to that part with Rivalz," Kallen told her, her face dead-pan even as she moved to take a seat, damned pregnancy pains. "More than once. You don't need me to tell you how Lelouch and I handle things in bed, and I don't want to tell you."
"Oh, pooh, but I figured you'd be like that," Milly took the seat next to her, pouting a little before she perked back up. "Do you at least have some advice for a newlywed on how to keep things happy?"
"Communication, Consistency, compromise." Kallen listed them off on her fingers. "Those were what my mother told me; they seem to work great."
"I did add another one: Backbone. Don't give a shit about what others think about your marriage to him. You love him. He loves you. If he treats you right, then the rest isn't important." Kallen shrugged, as even now, despite being the consort to the emperor for 5 years and the many instances where they showed they weren't like the nobles of old, she still heard whispers about them.
About Lelouch's status as the son of the commoner consort, her status as a former terrorist, Leila's former E.U. citizenship, and even C.C.'s lack of care towards most norms of the court. That pizza-loving witch might have cut back on the pizza after she managed to transfer her code, but that didn't erase 700 years of life experiences, leaving you numb to what she called 'silly games'.
Milly scoffed as if Rivalz would ever mistreat her. If anything, that was advice Lelouch probably gave Rivalz about her. Her former council secretary did love to please her. As the emperor would point out, she has abused that plenty of times, mainly to get Rivalz to drag Lelouch into whatever schemes she cooked up that week.
"Believe me, I already got that part down. And the rest of my maids agree with me." She stated as she pointed towards one, a browned-haired woman who was pretty tall for a woman in her 20s but confident and eagle-eyed. Kallen could say she looked like the type that would be your strict boss then a pretty co-worker.
"Wasn't she a senior at Ashford?" Kallen asked, as those eyes…she was sure she had seen them on campus, but before she ever met the council.
"Yup! She moved when she graduated to take control of her father's company when he had a stroke," Milly replied as the woman turned to them and waved her over. The brown-haired lady waved towards the group she was talking to and quickly approached, a small smile on her hawkish features.
"I feel like it's odd that we maids don't know too much about one another." The woman started, as she had met Kallen in passing during their wedding rehearsals, but they had never shared a word.
"Well, we all care for Milly, so that's enough. Kallen ka Britannia." Kallen presented her hand to the lady, who grasped it instead of bowing as most court ladies would and kissed her wedding ring.
"Yekaterina Potemkin, Your Highness." She introduced herself as Milly gestured for Yekaterina to sit.
"She's determined to remain single till she finds a man who won't try to steal her birthright," Milly explained that despite the woman being 25, well within marriage age for noble women, she hadn't even had a serious courtship in the last three years.
Kallen only raised an eyebrow. "Then I wish you the best of luck, we've made plenty of changes to the nobility, but assholes might just be a permanent problem." Finding a good man raised in the snake pit that had been the imperial court was like finding a needle in a haystack.
Yekaterina waved it off. "It's of little concern, despite what my mother, bless her soul, would say to the contrary. I don't need a man to be happy; besides, as I am sure you are, I'm a busy woman."
"Is that right? What does your family do exactly?" Kallen asked as she hadn't heard the name before, and she did try to keep up to date with the happenings of the many players on the court.
Yekaterina smiled, happy to have a chance to advertise her family. "The Potemkin own and control Potemkin Steel. We're a construction and shipbuilding company, though we've never had contracts with the imperial family."
"Her family has been a major player in building Tokyo to what it is now and helping start programs to train Japanese Britannians for higher paid skilled occupations," Milly added. When the consort looked towards her, Yekaterina didn't try to pretend with her. All knew the consort's straightforwardness and that she appreciated the same from others.
"I won't pretend that it was solely out of the goodness of my heart. Milly's always been…well, Milly, so when she made her plans public, I decided it would be best to get in early while everyone else was still outraged by them." It helped that being the first and one of the best meant they got the most lucrative contracts, where even a minor one netted her company over 76 million in profits.
Kallen snorted at that response, taking a sip of the non-alcoholic cinder provided. "Well, you do run a business."
Yekaterina's hawkish gaze left little room for humor. "That doesn't mean I need to run it like a heartless bitch. So, what if we need to pay our workers fair wages and spend more on insurance, standards, and the like? We're still making healthy profits, and we should be done with 40% of the settlement by the end of the year."
They were leading the charge of rebuilding Tokyo into a symbol of what Britannia was turning into. They were ahead of schedule and had one of the most satisfied workforces of any of the companies involved. The board didn't like her investing so much in keeping workers happy. Still, it was starting to pay off, as it meant they could even poach some of the better employees from their rivals with better working conditions, pay, and benefits.
"You're certainly forward." Instead of being upset at how blatant this woman was, Kallen was intrigued.
Yekaterina pointed towards the woman in white. "Blame Milly over here. I was in half her classes and, through bad luck, always got partnered with her for assignments."
"Hey! That was a blessing if this is the woman you turned into." Milly objected, seemingly angry, before the trio started to laugh.
Anya smiled as she recalled parts of Milly's wedding, grateful she had been invited. She also remembered the joy of her graduation—years of study, long hours at the local library or her teacher's house, all leading to the moment she received her diploma on stage.
She didn't care that she was older than the others or that her name carried baggage. She had done it, placing fourth in her graduating class. Now, she sat on the deck of Jeremiah's farm, the farmer-soldier off in the fields as usual. Immortal or not, he worked hard. It was a quality she admired that inspired her when she struggled.
But where he found meaning in growing produce and offering people a life beyond war, she dreamed of another path. Jeremiah had chosen his life as a soldier. She hadn't. From the moment Marianne violated her body and mind, her life had not been her own.
She couldn't remember telling her parents she wanted to enlist. She barely remembered her years at the military academy. She didn't even know what she had done to impress them enough to be transferred to the knightmare pilot program. She recalled boarding Glasgows, Sunderlands, and Gloucesters, handling them well enough. Still, there were gaps—empty spaces in her memory whenever she faced a powerful opponent.
At first, she thought she was going insane, but the academy doctors found nothing wrong. Every time she tried to quit, to walk away from this strange and terrifying path, she would blink back to awareness in her dorm room, her withdrawal form torn and mocking her from the trash.
Despite the gaps, she graduated at the top of her class, younger than most, envied by her peers. They whispered about her, wondering how she moved her knightmare like that and how she always won. She asked the same. By then, she could admit she barely remembered half of her time at the academy.
Her first deployment was the same. She was still a child and was sent into battle, piloting heavily armed knightmares. She froze and nearly died. Then she came to, and every enemy was dead. She wasn't haunted by it—how could she be? She didn't even remember killing them. That understanding sickened her. It led her to stop feeling altogether. How could she trust her emotions if she couldn't trust her memories? How could she connect with people when she wasn't sure she'd wake up remembering their faces?
Gino was different. For the first time in years, someone stayed. Someone whose name she didn't forget. Someone who could recall every moment she spent with him, even when she couldn't. He couldn't fix her. He didn't make the memory issues go away. But he made them bearable.
When the end came, she was prepared to die. She had failed to stop Lelouch, but she still got her wish. Jeremiah took pity on her in that final battle, sparing her life and using his Geass Canceller on her. And just like that, the fog lifted.
One conversation with the emperor later, and she didn't care that he agreed. She cursed, cried, and screamed his mother's name for ten minutes, spitting every insult and swear she had learned from soldiers—foreign ones, too. When the rage burned out, grief took its place. The lives she had taken. The families she had shattered.
Her fate was worse than most. Others could say they fought for a cause. That they respected their enemies. That they felt shame. She couldn't. She hadn't chosen to fight. She hadn't even known for who or why she fought. And she hadn't experienced any of it until after the fact.
Oddly enough, Gino—her lovable goofball—cheered her up.
She had been in a dark place, ready to leave everything behind. She visited him, expecting it to be the last time, but it wasn't her who comforted him. It was the other way around. Gino still smiled at her in prisoner garb, looking like he hadn't slept in days. She didn't tell him everything. She wouldn't put that weight on him. But he got through to her anyway.
"Hey, I'm glad you can smile, cry, and yell. No one ever believed me when I said you could be a fireball of emotions."
She recalled his words, and despite how corny they were, she laughed—laughing with tears in her eyes. From then on, she got better. Bit by bit. Some days were more challenging than others, but she kept moving forward. And she did the same for him.
They kept in contact throughout his imprisonment—letters, calls, and the occasional in-person visit. She even sent him presents for Easter, Christmas, and his birthday. That part was against the rules, but some rules became mere suggestions when the Knight of Two spoke. She was happy to ignore them if it meant showing Gino the same affection he had shown her.
That was why she chose medicine. She had taken so many lives—now she wanted to save them. She wanted to be the reason someone's family or friend came home, not the reason they were lost.
"I should visit him soon," she thought. His five-year sentence was almost up. Despite his time inside, his spirits remained high. He had shown interest in aerospace, probably from all the times he enjoyed flying his Tristan. He even kept up with his education while locked away. Maybe they could even end up in the same school.
"We just need a place that takes us both, one with an aerospace and medical track," she mused aloud. She let out a small laugh, leaning back as she watched the clear blue sky.
There was time. But first, she would take him to celebrate when he got out. They would make new memories—ones that belonged to her alone. No one else. No one in her head. No one controlling her.
Just her.
Just them.
"Auntie!" Monica was prepared for the assault from the tiny royals, the group of children jumping her as soon as she entered the palace's more private quarters, far from the eyes of the court and any would-be assassins.
"Morning, sweeties. I hope you've all been good." The former knight of round asked after she made sure to give each of them a hug and a kiss; the youngest of them, twins Louise and Marie, grasped onto her and didn't let go, not that she minded as she happily picked them up and carried them, the soldier efficiently handling their weight.
"Big sister got in trouble." Louis, the shy blonde, pointed towards the eldest of them.
"I did not!" The green-haired girl yelled back.
"Did, too."
"Lois, Artemis, you shouldn't fight. Your siblings, and what do siblings do?" Monica asked them, with both looking down as they were scolded.
"Love and protect each other." She smiled as they both repeated that, the woman looking towards the parents who watched, Kallen, holding her youngest, baby Sōsuke, to her chest.
"That's right. Now I want to speak with your parents' real quirk, but afterward, we can spend the entire day together; how does that sound?" she asked them, which got happy reactions from all of them. The kids rushed out of the room towards the playroom, their governess chasing after them to make sure they didn't trip and hurt themselves.
Handing the twins to the second governess, as just the one couldn't possibly keep up with so many energetic children, the 40-something bowed before leaving the room, giving the royals some privacy.
"You realize they're going to drag you down to the beach for all of it, right?" Lelouch asked, an eyebrow raised as they were visiting Southern Britannia. However, they were staying in a large estate outside the city proper with everything one could ever need, including exclusive access to a private beach, which was only more appetizing at this time of year.
"It's a small price to pay," Monica replied, as it wouldn't be the first time the children had decided she would make an excellent foundation for a sandcastle. Besides, she got to see her brother as she gave him the biggest hug, the man struggling to breath as she loved to remind him she was the stronger of the two.
When she hugged the 3 consorts, or queens as the commoners liked to call them, she was much gentler-not so much with Kallen as the two seemed to enjoy trying to crush the other just to try and prove which was stronger. But there was more reason for her to be cautious this time around, that being the familiar bumps Leila and C.C. had. "Honestly, do you three ever stop?"
Leila blushed a little as Monica recalled her saying once upon a time that she would be satisfied with just one child, only for her to fall pregnant again and give birth to twins. Declaring that would be it and swearing to get an IUD only surprise, she was pregnant again. So either that IUD was shit, or she never got it.
"I love my children and like having a big family." She tried to explain, which was…partially true, but how does one explain that she took on a little of that French stereotype regarding romance and passion in the sheets? Especially when she wasn't the only woman there and found that she was bi-sexual.
"I love the hot cream-!" Kallen put her hand on C.C.'s mouth.
"Let's not discuss our sex lives with her!" She hissed at the former immortal, as Monica was already looking away, pretending like she didn't just hear that as…gross; she didn't want or need to hear about her brother's apparent active sex life. She was happy to have plenty of nieces and nephews to dote on and wouldn't think about how they were made.
Lelouch sighed. "I'm pretty sure she wasn't going to. She just wanted one of us to give her a reaction." At his response, Kallen looked towards C.C., whose eyes wrinkled in a way that only meant she was smirking.
Removing Kallen's hand from her face, she didn't deny her husband's statement, as she would say 'hot creamy coffee' just in case one of the little ones returned without them noticing. "Never change, Kallen, you're too easy."
Kallen groaned, muttering some less then Queen-like words under her breath as the adults got to conversing, catching up with one another's lives, including learning that Kallen was pregnant as well; she just wasn't nearly as long as her fellow consorts, which made Monica panic that she might have hurt the baby. Still, the redhead punched her shoulder and reminded her she squeezed her just as hard; any baby of hers can handle their mother being a little bit of a rough house so early into her pregnancy.
As they talked, the older staff members attending them couldn't quite believe it. Once upon a time, such consistent and cordial meetings would never have happened in Britannian culture.
The atmosphere enforced by Charles saw half-siblings see each other as rivals and hardly interact with them more than they needed. Monica, the product of the former emperor's affair, would be lucky if she was acknowledged as being of royal blood and never shared any positive dynamics with her legitimate half-siblings.
And that was exactly why she and Lelouch did this; they wanted to show that the time of their parents and grandparents was gone, left to the history books as the royal family would be, first and foremost, a family. Lelouch wanted his kids to have a positive relationship with their only living aunt…well, the aunt that they were allowed to interact with.
To do this, Lelouch acknowledged his connection to her publicly years ago, which led to some…complications, especially with Lelouch retroactively legitimatising her as a proper royal, which they headed off with Monica pledging that she and her descendants would never seek the throne, or accept the crown should it fall to them.
Besides, Monica's connection with her nieces and nephews was strong, almost as strong as the bond their mothers had for them. Leila, Kallen, and C.C. all saw each other as equals and loved their children just as much as the ones they carried and gave birth to. They had picture proof of C.C. being so caring that she would baby Kallen and Leila's children.
Dorothea could say with absolute certainty that her lift didn't go how she had planned. She had never aimed higher than a knight of round, as while other girls might have desired to marry into a noble house or even the imperial family, she didn't seek such things. If her name were to be remembered in the history books, it would be for her strength of arms and her contributions to the empire.
That all went out the window when emperor Charles, the man who had granted her the commendable title of Knight of Four, was slain and not even by a son that she had cared to learn the name of. Instead, the man who ruled Britannia for 20 years through intelligence and ruthless pragmatism was slain by the son everyone had thought dead. That same boy would then turn everything about Britannia on its head, locking up or 'disappearing' anyone that dared challenge that.
Seeing such a mockery of the empire she swore to defend, it wasn't even a challenge for Bismarck to convince her to launch a pre-emptive strike on the usurper before Prince Schneizel made his move.
Even now, years later, she still felt insulted by how quickly Kururugi had managed to defeat them; her life sparred on a whim. Her capture came quickly, and so did news that Bismarck, the strongest man she ever knew, was killed by Kururugi, leaving him, better or worse, the empire's strongest knight. She would have thought that would be the end of her story, that she would either vanish from the history books, one of the many that vanished in Lelouch's early reign, or she would be put to death.
Of course, that didn't happen.
"Is there something on your mind, Dorothy?" Lelouch asked, the two visiting Paris. Leila had nothing but good things to say about Paris. However, that only applied to its culture, people, and history. The people who once ran it…well, she had plenty to say.
Lelouch wished to experience the city of love with her, and Dorothea had been in the mood to explore, even with an armed escort to their rear and walking in front of them.
"It's nothing, just…nothing of importance." She shook her head, only for Lelouch to bring them to pause, a gentle hand moving some of her smooth, dark hair out of the way for him to lay a kiss on her lips.
Pulling back, he smirked just a little at how flustered the older woman looked. "If it can cause you such worry, then it is important, " he uttered. You can talk to me. I wouldn't be a good husband if I couldn't be a rock for you to lean on."
"That's part of it," Dorothea noted, looking towards the wedding ring around her finger and recalling how this trip was more their honeymoon as they had married not even two weeks prior, the dark-skinned woman becoming Britannia's third Queen. This entire trip was more their honeymoon than any.
C.C. would be one of them if she hadn't recently been elevated to the title of empress dowager on account of her daughter, Princess Artemis, being the eldest and heir apparent, the young princess granting the newly formed title of Princess of Louisiana.
"Go on."
"It's just…it all feels like a dream, like I'm going to wake up and none of it was real, none of this is real, and I'm back in that cell." She admitted as Lelouch pulled her closer, letting the woman rest her head in the crook of his neck. She took in his scent as the people on the street faded away, even as they gasped and pointed toward them.
"It's as real as the sun above or the ground beneath us," Lelouch told her, the 25-year-old emperor speaking honestly as he could understand, at least a little bit, how surreal this must have felt for her. They had only meat in a more relaxed setting thanks to his sister, Monica, having her present one of the times he dropped by to visit, and well…they got along quite nicely.
"But…I was your enemy; I tried to see you killed!" She whispered as loudly as she dared, with them not being in a private setting. "I'm…I'm an old maid." She added that as she was a 34-year-old woman married to a man nearly a decade her junior, that was strange.
Lelouch pushed aside such notions; what was wrong with a man taking an older woman for a wife? They didn't live when medicine and science were in their infancy, and one needed young, nubile wives. Besides, his father, grandfather, and God knew how many high-ranked nobles had wives or mistresses much younger than them; Marianne was 26 years his father's junior, and yet the only issue there was that she wasn't from some well-off family.
"People can forgive, especially those who work to deserve it. I won't say that at my core, I'm not that same vindictive, angry little boy that swore to destroy Britannia, but I like to think I've grown. So have you. You were my enemy, so what? Kallen has threatened to stab and shoot me twice in the past. C.C. threatened to put a bullet in my leg, and Leila…well, you know my history with her."
Lelouch shrugged as he spoke, Dorothea wondering how he could garner such violence from his own wives…but then she recalled that he could be an arrogant asshole at times, which combined with his love for secrets, many of which she was made aware of when she married him and…yes, she could see how someone like the firebird Kallen or the no-nonsense C.C. could choose violence.
"As for your age," his hold on her tightened, as he brought her face up to gently kiss her. Dorothea found her arms wrapping around her husband as they let the city of love get to them. "Anyone who would call you an old maid needs to have their eyes examined. You're an older woman, a beautiful, intelligent, decisive, brave older woman that I am honored to call my wife."
"Don't you mean one of your wives?" She asked, getting a laugh out of him.
"Oh hush, I've been told that ruins the moment outside the bedroom."
And done! And yes, I did throw in that Dorothea part despite the lack of set-up in the last story. It was a ship I always was weirdly attached to, and I wanted to just write something with it. Maybe I'll do something more in the future, as it's crazy rare, probably because of her minuscule showings in the anime proper.
With that Princess of Louisiana, like the chapter said, it was newly made by Lelouch as I wanted something comparable to the Prince of Wales, which isn't gender specific; in theory, one could be the Princess of Wales, but apparently none of the heirs to the throne have been girls, which…well, is BS as Elizabeth II at one point should have had the title after her father was crowned king, but he refused her the title. So I just made it. Lelouch didn't make the same choice as that guy.
Anya's part was fun to write, even if it did get dark when she thought about how the truth nearly drove her to take her life. However, as the theme of the chapter is, even when life gets hard, and we find ourselves facing what seems to be ever-rising challenges, there is still light. In her case, it was her genuine connection to Gino, which she paid back with interest, helping him deal with being locked up.
Rivalz and Milly's wedding was the second most fun part, as I based the boy's part on a conversation I had with a friend who did marry young, and the rest roasted them for it, even if we were proud and happy for him and made that clear.
One last thing, I've noted that the three main love interests have kids a lot in this story, either having a kid or being pregnant, so here's the list; their ages are based on August 2029 a.t.b. which is roughly when chapter 13 final part takes place:
1. First Princess Artemis ci Britanna, 9 years old, was born February 11th, 2020, a.t.b. The eldest child of C.C. and Lelouch.
2. First Prince Naoto ka Britannia, 9 years old and was born March 2nd, 2020, a.t.b. The eldest child of Kallen and Lelouch
3. Second Prince Louis Bre Britannia, 8 years old and was born October 9th, 2020, a.t.b. The eldest child of Leila and Lelouch
4. Second Princess Atalanta ci Britannia was 6 years old and born September 19th, 2022, a.t.b. The second child of C.C. and Lelouch
5. Third Prince Byakuya ka Britannia, 6 years old and was born December 7th, 2022, a.t.b. The second child of Kallen and Lelouch
6 and 7. Fourth and Fifth Princess Louise and Marie Bre Britannia, 6 years old, were born March 27th, 2023, a.t.b. The second and third child of Leila and Lelouch
8. Fourth Prince Sōsuke ka Britannia, 4 years old and was born October 16th, 2024, a.t.b. The third child of Kallen and Lelouch
9. Fifth Prince Pelops ci Britanna, 4 years old and was born June 4th, 2025, a.t.b. The third child of C.C. and Lelouch
10, 11 and 12: Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Prince Peter, Francis, and Conan Bre Britannia, 3 years old and were born August 22nd, 2025, a.t.b. The fourth, fifth, and sixth children of Leila and Lelouch
13: Sixth Princess Inoue ka Britanna, 3 years old and was born December 24th, 2025, a.t.b. The fourth child of Kallen and Lelouch
14: Ninth Prince, Lewis Ern Britannia, 3 years old and was born February 23rd, 2026, a.t.b. The first child of Dorothea and Lelouch
15: Seventh Princess Alicia Ern Britannia, 1-year-old and was born April 25th, 2028, a.t.b. The second child of Dorothea and Lelouch
By August 2029, a.t.b. Dorothea is three months pregnant with her third child and Lelouch's 16th child.
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