Chapter 6: Subterfuge

"Jeez, you guys!" Rivalz exclaimed. "Leave Milly alone, why don't you? You know that it's not true."

Rivalz had taken Lelouch's instructions to heart and was taking his job of protecting the others very seriously. Especially considering Milly couldn't go anywhere on campus by herself at the moment without being attacked by Lelouch's fan girls. She'd already been slapped (multiple times), had her hair pulled, had her dorm vandalized, and had been called almost every foul name human language was capable of creating. Even one of her teachers had jumped on the bandwagon if the F she'd received on her last math assignment was any indication. Even if the answers were correct, the teacher refused to acknowledge it.

"Thanks, Rivalz." Milly said weakly as the Student Council Treasurer rebuffed a pair of angry freshmen.

"I can't believe they're getting so worked up over something so stupid. I mean . . . you and Lelouch would never have dated . . . right?" Rivalz asked a little uncertainly.

Milly scoffed in response. "Yeah right. Lelouch is more like a brother to me than anything else. The poor guy. I wonder how he's coping with all this. I mean, it's bad enough that he's trapped in Pendragon with his family again, but now he's got to deal with all of these rumours too. I hope he's not mad at me."

Rivalz shrugged, reassured by her answer, "Nah, he can't be mad at you. He knew this was going to happen. Remember the letter? Maybe we should start thinking about his advice and come up with a festival to distract them. At the very least, it might be able to calm down this angry horde of girls so that you can go out on your own again without being attacked."

"Awe, Rivalz, are you tired of my company already?" Milly asked with mock hurt.

"What?" Rivalz exclaimed, "No! No, not at all. I like spending time with you." He flushed bright crimson at his slip up. "I mean -"

He stopped when Milly began laughing. Laughing at him. God, he was such a fool around her. Sometimes he wished he had Lelouch's smooth confidence. Though now that he knew it came from the fact that Lelouch was a royal prince, it wasn't as hard to explain.

"You're a good friend, Rivalz. Thank you for doing this for me." She said as she lightly punched his arm.

A friend. Yes, always just a friend.

"Don't mention it." He replied despondently.

Jeremiah Gottwald sat slumped against the desk in his study as he contemplated everything the young vi Britannia prince had said to him. The window coverings were drawn closed, the air was stale and there was an opened bottle of expensive single malt whiskey on the desk next to him.

In one fell swoop, his prince had destroyed any hope he'd had of redeeming himself. He wasn't forgiven for his failures. Nor had he been given the chance to make up for them, either with his life or through service.

Even worse, the teen had implied that his life was in danger. If Prince Lelouch died, it would be another irremovable stain on his conscience. He should have stayed. He should have forced the prince to see reason and accept his service. He would gladly have died to keep Lady Marianne's son safe. He should have refused to leave until the boy had agreed.

And yet . . . the prince wasn't really a boy anymore. And he certainly wasn't a boy who could be swayed. He was a young man who understood how the world worked. No doubt he understood the world of the Imperial court far better than Jeremiah did.

Still, he should have tried harder to convince the prince. Except . . . except there had been a terrifying finality to the prince's dismissal. Lelouch had told him to go and he had gone. There was an aura of authority there that demanded obedience. So he had gone running back to Area Eleven like a whipped puppy with his tail between his legs.

There was a knock at the door to his office, pulling him out of his dismal thoughts. Straightening in his chair, he bade the visitor to enter.

It was Villetta.

"I didn't expect you back so soon, Jeremiah." She said as she strode confidently into his study.

"How did you know I was back?" He asked sullenly. He wasn't sure if he wanted to deal with company at the moment.

"You let Prince Clovis know you were back in the country. I'm friends with one of the women in his employ. It wasn't a strictly confidential matter, so there was no problem in her telling me you were back." She explained nonchalantly. "How did it go? He wouldn't see you?" She guessed as she eyed the open bottle of liquor on his desk disdainfully.

Of all of the Purists, Villetta was the only one who knew of his deep seated remorse over his failure to protect Empress Marianne and her children. She was the one who had found him drinking himself into oblivion on the first anniversary of Lady Marianne's death and had stayed until she'd weaselled an answer out of him. Despite their differing ideals on the propriety of Lady Marianne's marriage to the Emperor, Villetta had never betrayed his secret to the other members of the Purist faction.

"He saw me." Jeremiah answered bitterly as he slumped back in his chair and reached for another drink. It was only Villetta. There was no need to keep up appearances. She'd seen him far worse.

"And?" She enquired.

"And he told me quite plainly that there was no way I could ever redeem myself in his eyes. That he didn't forgive me. And that he wouldn't let me make it up to him." Jeremiah sighed before downing another gulp of the amber liquid.

Villetta pressed her lips into a thin, disapproving line as she took in the state of her commanding officer. "Permission to speak freely, as a friend." She requested.

Jeremiah waved his hand in her direction lazily. She wasn't exactly sure if it was an approval, but she took it as such and snatched the tumbler out of his hand and set it out of reach.

"Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald," She said as she pushed him back into his seat as he attempted to rise and retrieve his drink. "You are an excellent soldier and a damned fine commander. If the royal brat can't see that, then it's his loss."

"Don't," Jeremiah snarled as his hand clamped painfully around her wrist, "insult my prince, Villetta."

"Prince Clovis is your prince, Lord Jeremiah. And don't forget that." Villetta retorted scathingly. "You've sworn an oath of fealty to Clovis."

Jeremiah scowled in response. "Why are you here?"

There was a long moment of silence as Villetta very deliberately pried his fingers off of her wrist. "I'm here to give you a warning, Jeremiah." She said as she stepped back and out of reach.

"Are you threatening me, Villetta?" He demanded.

"Not at all." She replied calmly, "But the others are confused by your latest vacation to go visit vi Britannia. They've called your loyalty into question. You need to watch your back. And sitting in here moping because Prince Lelouch shot you down isn't going to convince them of your fidelity to the Purists. You're going to have to prove yourself."

Jeremiah scowled at his subordinate as the gravity of the situation worked wonders to sober him up. They were plotting against him, were they? The only reason he'd ever been able to attain such a high rank within the Purist faction was because they had been one-hundred percent assured of his loyalty to the purist ideology. If his loyalty suddenly came under fire, he could lose everything. Not only his position and authority, but also his life. They wouldn't tolerate a traitor.

"Sometimes survival has to come before our own ideals."

That was what his prince had said to him.

Survival was most important. Then, he would do what was needed to survive.

"Thank you, Villetta. And I apologize for my unseemly behaviour." He said as he straightened his posture and ran his fingers through his hair to make sure it wasn't too out of place.

She smiled slightly. "It's fine. Just keep an eye on Kewell. He's been making the most noise. Probably just blowing smoke, but you never know."

Lelouch lounged idly on the patio at the Aeries Villa, a chess piece twirling lazily between his forefinger and thumb as he stared out at the gardens and contemplated his next move. Schneizel had him. Not only that, but Schneizel knew he had him. Even if it was only a bluff – even if Schneizel didn't actually know where Nunnally was being hidden – his brother knew enough to have Lelouch dancing in the palm of his hand. Or had it been a genuine act of good will from Schneizel?

He had hoped Nunnally would be able to remain hidden for at least a few weeks, not a few days. He would have to have her moved soon. But where? And more importantly, how? He couldn't simply move her to another of his friend's vacation homes. That move was too predictable. But nor could he simply commandeer a house for her. That would cause too much of a commotion.

Ideally, what he needed was an agent who would buy a new residence for Nunnally for him. But he needed someone he could trust. He had checked Edith's bank accounts for any unusual incomes, but had come up lacking. He'd even checked bank accounts that might be kept under her mother's maiden name, the maiden name of her father's mother and the married name of her sister. There was nothing. All the evidence indicated that Edith could be trusted.

But still, it was Nunnally he was talking about. He refused to be careless when it came down to her safety. And he wouldn't be quick to trust anyone from Pendragon with her safety. So that left . . . someone he knew he could trust. Someone he knew wouldn't sell Nunnally out to the royal family. Someone from Area Eleven.

He frowned as he considered his options. Contacting someone from Area Eleven secretly opened up a whole new can of worms. He obviously couldn't just phone them. He was reasonably certain that some enterprising reporter or spy had the phone lines tapped by now. Even if he could just phone them, he'd have to have an excuse for sending them the money to buy the house.

It seemed like the trust fund his mother had left to him and Nunnally after her death hadn't been touched since before their disappearance and had accrued a rather hefty amount of interest over the last seven years, in addition to the already substantial sum that had been left to them. He certainly wasn't hurting for cash; it was just getting that money to Nunnally that was the problem.

He had to have an excuse for sending his as-yet-undecided agent the funds to buy a house. He would also have to brief his agent on how to hide the purchase or what kind of cover to establish for the place. It was giving him a headache just thinking about it.

Damn Schneizel to the deepest pits of Hell.

Even if, on the off chance, Schneizel was being sincere and genuinely did want to help him, he should have known better than to go about it that way. He should have known the way Lelouch would see it. Lelouch was, by no means, dumb and understood this game of favours and debts very well.

Lelouch was now in debt to Schneizel. He owed his brother one for keeping Nunnally's existence secret. He fully intended to pay off that debt at the first possible chance. He would not allow his brother to hold it over his head for long.

Scowling, Lelouch set the chess piece down and glanced at Edith. She was standing, unobtrusively a few feet away as she scanned through her PDA. She was far enough away to give Lelouch the illusion of privacy, but still close enough to be available if he needed her.

"Do you play chess, Edith?" He asked as he pushed his recently abandoned piece into the proper position.

"Chess, sir?" Edith questioned. "No, I don't."

Sighing, Lelouch leaned back in his chair and stared up at the fluffy, white clouds for a few minutes. It figured that she didn't know how to play. It was like Pendragon was specifically designed to wear on his nerves. From the haughty nobles right down to the infatuated fan girls. He'd had to have two more of them arrested the previous night when they'd tried to invade his car after returning from Schneizel's.

And now his main aide didn't play chess. It was like hiring a tour guide that didn't speak the same language.

"Would you like to learn?" He asked eventually as he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Would I like to learn . . . how to play chess?" She asked hesitantly.

"I'll teach you." He offered. The last person he'd attempted to teach chess to had been Shirley. She, quite simply, hadn't gotten the grasp of it. She didn't think like a tactician, so her moves were all inherently transparent.

In all honesty, he didn't expect Edith to be any better. But he was stuck here in Pendragon and he hadn't been given anything to do. The Emperor was still deciding his fate, it seemed. Back home, he would have challenged someone to a chess match to alleviate his boredom, so he would do the same in Pendragon.

"Um . . . shouldn't I be working though, sir?" She asked as she gestured to the PDA in her hand.

"I am your boss, aren't I?"

"Yes, sir."

"So, if I say chess is more important than checking my messages and sending refusals to all the people who want to interview me . . . ?" He left the question hanging.

She smiled slightly and set the PDA down before sitting across from him at the chess board. "I won't be any good at this, Master Lelouch. But I am willing to learn."

"That's all I'm asking for." Lelouch said before he launched into an explanation of just how each of the pieces moved and the rules of the game. Really, teaching Edith how to play chess was an investment for the future. He was sure there were going to be more days like this when his mind was restless and there wasn't anything else to keep it focused.

It took three 'practice matches' for Edith to fully understand the concept of the game. The first round, he'd had her in check mate in four turns. He was pleasantly surprised when he discovered that Edith actually possessed a mind analytical enough to see through some of his tactics. She was, by no means, an even match for him, but she was learning. With enough time and practice she may even have been able to become a decent chess player.

They played until almost dinner time when Edith insisted that she had to get some work done. He let her go, content with the reprieve the impromptu chess workshop had given him from his worries, before turning his mind back to the problem of the agent, how to contact it and how to fund it.

It was eleven thirty-nine when the answer finally came to him. The plan was, if not perfect, then workable. He'd figured it all out. Who to call, how to call them, and how to get the money to them. But first he had to test it. He wasn't going to take chances with Nunnally.

He hurried down the corridor towards the employee's quarters and found himself pounding on Edith's door at quarter to midnight. It opened almost before he'd taken his fist away to reveal his secretary/assistant/butler in a pair of silk pyjamas with wet hair hanging around her shoulders.

"Master Lelouch?" She asked, startled, as she reached for her dressing gown and pulled it around her. "Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"Edith." He greeted as he stepped into her room and closed the door firmly behind him. He wasn't going to risk eavesdroppers. "I have a somewhat delicate matter that I'd like you to attend to. Tonight, if it's not too much trouble."

To his surprise, she blushed about three different shades of red and took a few quick, short steps back from him. "Uh," She said awkwardly, "I'm really very flattered, your highness, but I take my job very seriously. Something like this would be inappropriate."

"I haven't even told you what I want you to do." Lelouch said confusedly.

"I'm not a fool, your highness." She said, glancing between the bed and where his hand was resting on the doorknob, inches away from the lock.

Lelouch followed her gaze and glanced around the room for a moment before realization hit him. "I wasn't trying to – to proposition you!" He exclaimed as he was sure his face flushed to match hers. He didn't even really think of her as a woman. In fact, he hardly thought of her as a person. Which was deplorable, he realized. So he took a moment to actually examine the person in front of him.

She was pretty, he supposed, in a no-nonsense business kind of way. She was older than him, probably in her mid-twenties. Her chestnut hair fell to her shoulders, though it was usually kept in a strict bun at the base of her neck. Her eyes were hazel. Her nose was straight and her lips were pressed into a thin line. But no matter what she looked like, she was still his employee and he would never cross the employer-employee line.

"You weren't?" She asked, mortified.

"No! Of course not. You work for me, Edith. You're not a . . . ugh, let's just drop this." Lelouch flustered.

"God, I'm so embarrassed. I thought. . . after the chess . . . and then you showed up here in the middle of the night. You probably think I'm some kind of pervert." She rambled.

"Enough, Edith. Drop it. Just forget about it and I will too. I have business to discuss with you. I closed the door to keep out eavesdroppers."

"Oh. I see. What did you need me to do?" She asked, recovering her all-business aura.

"I want you to go out into town. Probably to one of the nightlife areas and make sure you're not followed by a reporter. When you get there, I want you to approach the first person you see wearing a hat that you're absolutely positive isn't a reporter, a member of the imperial guard, or an agent for someone at court. When you've found your person, you'll give them this," Lelouch said, holding up a one thousand pound note, "in exchange for their cellphone. Make sure you tell them not to cancel their service for at least a month. Once you've got their cellphone, I want you to bring it straight to me. And I don't want you to tell anyone what you're doing or who you're doing it for. Understand?"

Edith frowned. "If you need a cellphone, I can lend you one." She said, pointing to the place on her desk where her cellphone sat next to her PDA.

"That won't work. I need it done like this." He responded. If she refused to comply he wasn't exactly sure what he'd do. Well, he knew he'd have to fire her, but he wasn't sure who else he could trust in his household. He'd already found two employees – both maids – that had accepted bribes from the press. It was a test of her loyalty as well as a test of the logistics of his plan to relocate Nunnally.

Running her hand through her damp hair, Edith sighed. "Alright, I'll head out as soon as I'm dressed. I wouldn't expect me back for at least an hour though."

Lelouch smirked. "That's fine. Knock on my door when you get back."

It took her almost three and a half hours to get back with the phone, by which point in time, Lelouch was lightly dozing on top of the covers on his bed. He startled awake when she knocked on his door and stumbled sleepily over to answer it. He was surprised when he saw her dressed in casual clothes instead of her usual uniform. Apparently she'd taken her mission very seriously and had thought more about how she was going to explain her little midnight excursion more than he had.

He gestured for her to enter the room, which she did after a moment of hesitation.

"Any problems?" He asked.

"Not really," She answered as she pulled a nondescript white and red cellphone out of her purse. "I'm pretty sure I was tailed by a reporter for the first little while, but I know that I lost him after I entered a bar. Apparently he didn't want to look too hard into what a maid from the Aeries Villa was having after a long day of work. The girl I got the phone from was the first person I saw with a hat after I was sure the reporter was gone. She was young, probably only a year or two older than you, cutesy and very inebriated. Definitely not press or spy material."

Lelouch grinned. "Excellent. Could you call the number please?"

Edith paused and stared at the phone in his hand for a second. "I didn't check what the number was. I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that I was supposed to."

If possible, Lelouch's grin got a little wider. If she was telling the truth and hadn't checked the number, it was another point in her favour.

"You weren't. It was a test and you passed." He explained as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of bills. He thought it was about five grand, but he didn't really count. "Buy something nice for yourself. And keep this to yourself. I don't want you to mention this phone to anyone, understood?"

"Yes, sir." She said as she eyed the hush money in surprise. "I'll be headed to bed now, if you don't need anything else."

"I've got everything I need, thank you. Good night, Edith. Feel free to take the morning off."

"I'll do that."

He waited until he was sure she was gone, checked both ways down the corridor after a minute then locked his door. He stared at the cellphone for a moment. It had to be the most expensive cellphone in the history of the world, but it was worth every penny. It was completely untraceable. No one knew he had this phone except Edith. Even the girl she'd gotten it from wouldn't know that Edith worked for him. As long as Edith hadn't lied and leaked the number to anyone, it was perfect for him.

Flopping himself down on his bed, he flipped the phone open and dialled. For this test, he would take advantage of the circus the media had already created. If even more rumours began to spread about his relationship with Milly, he'd know that Edith had lied and the phone was bugged.

It rang twice before she answered.

"Hello? Who is this? How did you get this number?" Milly asked on the other end of the line. It had only been three days, but Lelouch suddenly realized just how much he had missed hearing her voice.

"Milly? It's Lelouch."

There was a deep inhale of breath on the other end of the line, but no response. For a few long minutes, all he heard was the sound of her breathing and the busy campus around her. Even that eventually fell silent until it was broken by the sound of a door closing.

"Are you okay?" She asked quietly after finding somewhere private to speak.

"More or less." Lelouch replied. "It seems he's decided to try to make me useful, though he has yet to divulge just what purpose I'll be serving."

"Well, I guess that's the better of the two options."

Lelouch chuckled. "Quite. How are things on your end?"

"A complete mess. I can't go anywhere without Rivalz escorting me. Your admirers pack some pretty hard punches." Milly complained.

"What do you mean?" Lelouch asked sharply. "You're being attacked?"

"Eh . . ." Milly hesitated, "I'm not sure if you've seen the news there, or if the magazine even circulates in Pendragon, but some reporter wrote a gossip rag about us."

"The one about our supposed engagement in return for letting me stay with you?" He asked. It was the only one of the many articles he'd actually read – and only because the author had dragged Milly into it.

"Yeah. That one. Well it seems like some of your crushes took it to heart and they've not been the kindest to me since."

"Are you in danger? Do you want me to send someone to guard you? I know I've robbed you of Sayoko but I could find you someone to replace her." Lelouch questioned. He never wanted his friends to pay for his mistakes. Especially not Milly.

And yet, he was using her as a guinea pig for this experiment of his. If he was betrayed and news of this phone call got out, Milly's life would get even worse. He felt a little stab of guilt at the thought. Was the effect of the royal court this potent? He'd only been in Pendragon three days and already he was using people like tools. First Edith, now Milly.

"No, I'm fine. I've got Rivalz. And Shirley and Nina stick close to me when Rivalz can't be there. It's not like my assailants are particularly dangerous. They're just jealous school girls. I'm sure you've seen them in Pendragon. Did you know that last night here in Area Eleven, you were voted both sexiest man and most eligible bachelor by one of the talk shows?"

"Please tell me that was a really bad joke, Madame President." He groaned.

Milly laughed. "Nope. Why else do you think your fan girls are so rabid? Has the craze hit over there yet?"

"Yeah. Apparently some girls tried to scale the gate the other night. And a pair of girls tried to get into my car last night when we paused at the gate. I had to have them arrested to get them to leave." Lelouch sighed.

"Talk about crazy, huh? But really, how are you? You didn't really say. Are you scorned by everyone? You need to start making some allies if you're going to make it over there. And you should really tell the press some excuse for why you stayed in Area Eleven for so long. So far the only excuse that's been leaked to the press is the one of our supposed engagement. If you don't set them straight they're going to come up with crazier and crazier stories."

"I don't care what they think." Lelouch said petulantly. "As for the rest, I really am fine. I'm staying in the Aeries Villa, which is kind of depressing but I'm learning to live with it. As for being scorned by everyone, the answer is pretty much yes. Euphemia doesn't care of course, but she hasn't even debuted yet so she's not exactly a lot of help on the political front. And Schneizel is . . ." He sighed. "I don't know about Schneizel yet. He wants to be allies, I think, simply because he knows I'd be a dangerous enemy. But he's also after something from me. I haven't quite figured him out. But I'm working on it. The others have taken to avoiding me. I think they don't want to be caught in the crossfire if something happens to me."

"I see." Milly answered. "Lelouch, is this phone line safe, do you think?"

"No." He said quickly. He definitely didn't want her talking about Nunnally until he was one hundred percent certain that the calls weren't being intercepted.

"Okay. Was there something you needed from me?"

He paused for a moment, considering a valid excuse but coming up with nothing. "I just . . . missed hearing from you, is all. It's hard being here without any friendly faces. Is Rivalz with you now?"

"No. I kind of abandoned him when you called. We were just headed to the cafeteria." She explained.

"Oh. Okay. Tell the others I said hi, okay? And make sure you let them know I'm okay. But when you tell them, please make sure no one else is listening. I don't want anyone to know that I'm calling you. It might . . . not go over well."

"Got it. I'll let them know. Now, Lelouch, if my calculations are correct, it's the middle of the night in Pendragon. You should really be sleeping." She scolded halfheartedly.

Lelouch smiled. "I'll go to sleep right now. Goodnight, Milly. It was good to hear your voice."

"Same goes for you, Lelouch. I've missed you. You take care of yourself over there. And sleep well."

Lelouch hung up the phone and smiled slightly. Yes, he'd used Milly, but he'd meant every word he'd said about it being good to hear her voice. It was that little bit of familiarity he'd been lacking. He fell asleep moments later with the cellphone on his chest.