In the halls of Ashford Academy, a single accidental discovery sparks chaos in the heart of the Britannian Empire. Princess Euphemia li Britannia, beloved by all for her gentle smile, picks up what she thinks is a study notebook in the student council room—only to find it's the private diary of her secret crush, Kururugi Suzaku.
Before she can stop herself, her eyes land on words that make her heart pound: Suzaku has been in love with her from the very first moment they met. But before she can
Code Geass: The Princess Who Fell for Her Rival - I pledge my vow beneath the cherry blossom tree.
Euphemia sat at a small desk placed at the end of the hallway.
The formal release order form that the Military Police commander had left behind. Her fingers, holding the quill pen, trembled faintly. Her own face was reflected on the surface of the inkwell. Her rose-pink hair was disheveled, and her violet eyes were slightly red.
*(I cried so much, my face is a mess.)*
Even so, she couldn't afford to stop here. To secure Suzaku's complete freedom, this order was absolutely necessary. Euphemia steadied her breathing and dipped the nib into the ink.
*'By order of Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Holy Britannian Empire.'*
The trembling made the very first letter horribly distorted. A plump, swollen S. The next letter, H, came out thin and gaunt this time. A faint, slender line that looked as if it might vanish with a breath of wind.
"[sad]Ah... why does this always happen to me?"
She crumpled the sheet of paper and took out a fresh one.
The second sheet. This time, carefully, slowly. But perhaps she'd been too tense—now the line of the M wobbled and shook. A wavy line, almost like an electrocardiogram.
"[crying]Oh, honestly..."
She crumpled the second sheet too.
The third sheet. Three deep breaths. She calmed her heart and, with a feeling almost like prayer, set the pen in motion. This time, surely, this time—
*Splash.*
Her hand, too tense, knocked over the inkwell. The blue liquid swam across the desk, staining the edge of the order form in an instant. Euphemia turned pale.
"[scared]Ah—! Oh, what have I done!"
She hurriedly took out a handkerchief, but it was already too late. The upper right corner now looked like a small blue lake.
That was when it happened.
"Well, hello there. Your Highness Euphemia."
Before she knew it, Lloyd was standing right beside her. His lavender-gray hair swayed, and behind his silver-rimmed glasses, his narrow eyes were narrowed in their usual amused manner. Euphemia reflexively tried to hide the order, but Lloyd's hand was quicker.
"Oh-ho."
He picked up the order and examined it closely, as if observing a rare specimen.
"This is excellent. Quite a rare set of data."
"[angry]Wh-what data?!"
"The influence of emotion on pen pressure and character stability. A magnificent correlation. This trembling in particular is a mixture of fear and resolve. And this ink stain. Is it an accident, or perhaps unconscious self-expression?"
"[crying]It's not! It's just a mistake!"
Euphemia shouted, her face bright red. Lloyd laughed, "Ahaha," but his voice, as always, held not the slightest trace of genuine amusement.
"I've ruined three sheets already..."
"Three? Now that is interesting. Panic on the first failure, tension on the second, self-destruction on the third. A perfect pattern."
"[angry]Please stop analyzing it!"
Euphemia snatched the order from Lloyd's hand and bit her lip. Three sheets wasted. She couldn't keep Suzaku waiting any longer. With trembling hands, she took out the official seal—the stamp engraved with the princess's crest—and pressed it down with all her might, right over the ink stain.
*Squish.*
Half the stain was hidden by the seal. With this, it might, just barely, pass as an official document.
Lloyd watched her in silence.
"You're not going to stop me?"
When Euphemia asked, a little reproachfully, Lloyd shrugged.
"Why would I need to stop an irregular behavioral pattern produced by human emotion?"
Then he gazed intently at Euphemia's face as she held the order. The eyes behind his glasses took on a serious light, just for a moment.
"Besides, Suzaku-kun needs it, doesn't he? That scrap of paper you wrote. If so, then even if it's covered in stains, to him it's the finest release order there is."
Euphemia's eyes widened.
"[surprised]Lloyd..."
"Well, as for me, as long as the Devicer data comes back safely, that's the best outcome."
Lloyd returned to his warmthless smile, waved his hand flippantly, and disappeared down the hallway. Euphemia clutched the order to her chest.
Half stain, half official seal—probably the most unprecedented release order in Britannian history.
*(This is everything I've got.)*
She began walking down the hallway. Her steps toward the temporary detention room were far steadier than before.
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The temporary detention room was a small room at the very back of the school building. It had apparently once been a storage closet; it had a window, but iron bars were fitted over it. Euphemia stopped in front of the door.
Her heart was loud.
Something was churning restlessly inside her chest. She had to say it this time. That she wanted to appoint him as her knight. That she needed him.
*(It's okay. I can say it. I can.)*
She squeezed her eyes shut and chanted it three times in her heart.
*I appoint you as my knight.*
Then, she took a deep breath and flung the door open.
*Clatter.*
The air in the room was chilly and musty. Suzaku sat on a simple chair against the wall. His eyes had been closed, but at the sound, he slowly raised his head.
His large emerald-green eyes caught Euphemia directly. Despite his exhaustion, those eyes were frighteningly clear.
"Euphemia... Your Highness."
Suzaku stood up. The chair leg made a soft *clunk*.
Unable to look him in the face properly, Euphemia shifted her gaze slightly downward. She opened her mouth.
*Say it. Now.*
"Um... Suzaku-kun. Today, I've been... all day..."
At that moment, a sensation like her stomach clenching tight shot through her. The words she had been about to say retreated into the back of her throat, and in their place, completely different words flew out of her mouth.
"[surprised]H-have you already had your dinner this evening?!"
Silence.
Suzaku's expression rapidly clouded with bewilderment. After a beat, he answered with a solemn face.
"...Not yet."
"[sad]I-is that so."
Euphemia nodded. Then, not knowing what to do, a perfect silence fell between them.
*(Dinner?! That's what I say now?! I'm such an idiot!)*
She mentally kicked herself over and over. But words once spoken couldn't be taken back. Euphemia held out the order in her hand to Suzaku.
"H-here. It's the release order."
Suzaku took it. He opened the document, and seeing the stain-covered letters and the official seal pressed over them, his eyes widened slightly.
"This is..."
"[sad]I ruined three sheets. I knocked over the inkwell, too. But I managed to write it properly. So, you're free now."
Euphemia's voice trembled. There were so many things she wanted to say, but the crucial words just wouldn't come out.
Suzaku stared intently at the order. The shape of the stain, the disordered handwriting, the official seal pressed down with such force. All of it bore the mark of just how desperate Euphemia had been.
"[gentle]...Thank you."
Suzaku's voice trembled just a little, too. After the words "thank you," he seemed to want to say something more, but he couldn't, and closed his mouth.
Both of them, swallowing the things they wanted to convey to each other, began walking side by side down the hallway.
Neither of them noticed at all that at the end of the hallway, Milly was pressing a handkerchief to her mouth, stifling her laughter.
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When they stepped out into the courtyard, the surroundings were already completely dyed in the colors of sunset.
Ashford Academy's proud row of cherry trees. Now fully in leaf, the orange light spilled through the gaps in fine streams. On the cobblestones, fallen petals lay in a thin layer, like a carpet of pale pink.
Of the eight benches, they both stopped, without either one saying so, just before the one at the very end. Neither suggested sitting; they simply stood there, side by side.
Every time the wind blew, the remaining petals fluttered down.
Euphemia opened her mouth and closed it, closed it and tried to open it again. In her heart, only the words *I want to appoint you as my knight* kept spinning in vain.
*(I want to say it. I want to tell him. But the words won't come out.)*
Suzaku, for his part, felt the weight of the order. How much she had run around for his sake, how much she had fought—the result was this stained scrap of paper. And yet, he couldn't even properly say a simple thank you.
*(I haven't been able to give this person anything in return.)*
The unerasable reality of their difference in status. And yet, she always treated him as if such a thing didn't exist. That kindness seeped into him, almost painfully.
The sun sank lower.
Their shadows stretched long, seeming about to overlap, but not quite touching.
Watching the two of them from a distance, Milly whispered to Lelouch, who stood beside her.
"[whispers]Hey, look. It's starting to feel like whoever moves first loses."
"[cold]Don't say such foolish things."
Lelouch sighed. However, his deep violet eyes, fixed on the backs of his sister and his best friend, held a complex shade of emotion.
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How long had they been like that?
When a full three minutes had surely passed, the first to move was Suzaku.
He slowly turned his body toward Euphemia. His unruly dark brown hair, backlit by the sunset, was outlined in gold. He clenched his scarred hands tightly, and then, he looked straight into Euphemia's violet eyes.
Euphemia almost averted her gaze.
But—
Inside her breast pocket, Suzaku's diary rustled softly.
*'I want Yuffie to keep smiling.'*
The moment she remembered that line, her feet felt as if they had taken root in the ground. She wouldn't run. This time, she wouldn't look away.
Suzaku's emerald-green eyes slowly, but surely, shifted to a color of resolve.
Quietly, he knelt down on one knee right there.
A single cherry blossom petal fluttered down and landed soundlessly on the cobblestone beside his knee.
In the distance, she sensed Milly gasp loudly. Lelouch, arms still folded, watched the two of them with an expressionless face.
Suzaku, his head still bowed, forced the words out.
"[serious]...I am an Honorary Britannian. My rank in the military is merely Private First Class. I am someone who could never possibly be worthy of Your Highness Euphemia."
His voice was low, yet it carried clearly.
"I know how much trouble I've caused you with what happened today. By all rights, I don't even have the qualification to be at your side. Even so—"
His words broke off there for a moment. He clenched his fist tightly.
"Even so, there is something I must say."
He raised his face. Those large eyes shone hot and strong, as if they had absorbed the very heat of the sunset.
"[serious]Even if everyone in the world becomes your enemy—I will become your knight, and yours alone."
Euphemia's eyes opened wide.
"Because you... because you were my light. Because you saw me as a human being. So, until this life runs out, please let me stay by your—"
That was as far as he got.
From Euphemia's large violet eyes, tears spilled over. They had begun to well up at the very first word, and at the phrase *because you were my light*, the dam broke.
Her face crumpled.
"[crying]—Me too!"
Her cry echoed through the cherry tree-lined path in the twilight.
"Even if you make the whole world your enemy—I will stay by your side, always, always!!"
Euphemia threw herself with all her might onto Suzaku, who was still on his knee, embracing him. Her long rose-pink hair swayed softly and spread over Suzaku's shoulder. For an instant, Suzaku's body stiffened at the warmth, but soon his arms gently wrapped around Euphemia's back.
It was a tender embrace, as if touching something fragile.
Euphemia's tears soaked into the chest of Suzaku's military uniform.
*Clap, clap, clap—*
From somewhere in the distance, someone began to applaud. First one. Then two, then three, and soon, from among the students gathered around the cherry trees, a warm circle of applause slowly spread.
"[laughing]Oh-ho-ho-ho! You did it, you did it!! The Cupid of
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