Lady Beatrice

"Long time no see, Lady Beatrice."

Under the dim lights, only three people gathered around the table in the vast hall, enjoying the food laid out before them.

Ask and Beatrice sat opposite each other at the long, rounded table, while Monica stood respectfully behind Ask.

Beatrice wore an expressionless face as she helped herself without hesitation to the dishes served by the royal chefs, yet a trace of hatred and confusion remained in her eyes.

Taking a sip of red wine, Ask continued:

"Years ago, thanks to Marianne the Flash-my mother-I had the chance to meet you once, Lady Beatrice. I never imagined you would look even more beautiful now than you did then."

A flicker of emotion crossed Beatrice's face, but it was not because he had complimented her appearance. At twenty-four, she was in the prime of her youth, with powerful connections and considerable influence. She had once served as the Second Knight of the Round Table of the Holy Britannian Empire, and though she had since stepped down, her formidable strength could not be ignored. Nor was her impending appointment as director of the Secret Intelligence Bureau any secret. Add to that the beauty that captivated countless men, and she had no shortage of admirers-not only nobles, but even members of the imperial family who had proposed to her.

A woman like Beatrice would never be moved by a man's sweet talk.

Instead, the words "Marianne the Flash" brought a complex emotion to her face for the first time in a long while, though disgust made up most of it.

"Did you deliberately mention your mother's name to provoke me?"

She could hear the deliberate emphasis Ask had placed on "Marianne."

Now displeased, Beatrice set down her knife and fork and stared straight at Ask.

At the other end of the table, Ask merely smiled, picked up his knife and fork, and leisurely cut into the steak before him.

"I know what happened between you and my mother. I also know why you hate her."

Beatrice's brows knitted tightly. As she recalled the tragedies of the past, anger surged through her, and she clenched the tablecloth as though she might erupt at any moment.

Holding his wineglass, Ask gestured for her to calm down.

Realizing she had lost her composure, Beatrice took a deep breath and subdued the emotions threatening to erupt, though she still could not hide the hatred on her face.

Watching all this, Ask smiled inwardly. Two days earlier, he had secretly instructed Lord Jeremiah to investigate Beatrice, particularly her dealings with Marianne at the military academy.

Yet the investigation had progressed exceedingly slowly, obstructed at every turn for one reason or another. His instincts told him that astonishing secrets and powerful forces were involved.

Fortunately, the investigation had not been fruitless. An incident from years ago had caught Ask's attention.

It concerned the deaths of Beatrice's younger brother and sister.

The records stated that they had been "killed by rebels during the Bloodstained Rebellion."

When the Bloodstained Rebellion occurred, Ask had not yet been born. Emperor Charles had only recently ascended the throne, and Marianne the Flash was still merely the Sixth Knight of the Round Table, not yet an imperial consort.

But every record of that rebellion seemed to have been scrubbed, with all the important details carefully avoided.

They contained only accounts of the heroic deeds of the Knights of the Round Table, Bismarck and Marianne, and how Marianne's outstanding performance had led Emperor Charles to decide to take her as his consort.

Ask could understand why the course of the rebellion had been glossed over, but the descriptions of Beatrice's contributions and the deaths of her younger brother and sister were far too vague.

"Killed at home by rebels who broke in."

The noble Franks family, to which Beatrice belonged, had always remained neutral toward the imperial family. Even when the tyrant Charles ascended the throne, he had not received Earl Franks's explicit support.

The Franks family protected the Britannian Empire, not any particular emperor.

The Bloodstained Rebellion, however, had arisen from dissatisfaction with Emperor Charles and had been launched against him.

The rebels had no reason to make enemies of the Franks family. If anything, they needed its support to establish a new imperial family after their rebellion succeeded.

The same held true for the other nobles. According to the records, the rebels had not attacked any nobles except those who explicitly supported Emperor Charles. It was the imperial family that had been drenched in blood.

So why had they killed Beatrice's younger brother and sister?

The most likely explanation was that the account in the records was merely a cover story, meant to conceal the true cause of their deaths.

But Ask could not keep investigating. His enemies lurked in the shadows, and whatever further inquiries unearthed might well put him in danger.

Until that morning, he had not been confident enough that he could persuade Beatrice to become his supporter.

The good news was that, at noon, Lord Jeremiah had brought him a key phrase:

Human experimentation.

The moment he received that news, Ask laughed in delight. Though matters were still unclear, it was certainly a welcome surprise that had come just when he needed it most.

"Human experimentation."

Beatrice's eyes widened. The wound in her heart had been torn open again. She rose angrily and swept every piece of tableware before her onto the floor.

Behind Ask, Monica instantly drew the handgun tucked inside her clothes and aimed it at the distraught Beatrice. If Beatrice made another move, she would shoot without hesitation.

Beatrice merely stood there, breathing heavily, her eyes bloodshot as she stared fixedly at the smiling Ask. Her reaction delighted him, confirming his suspicions.

He reached out and rested his hand on Monica's handgun, signaling for her to lower it, then said:

"Could you tell me about it in detail? What happened back then, and the human experimentation."

Beatrice did not answer. She remained standing where she was, though her emotions gradually settled.

Ask gave Monica a meaningful look. Understanding him, she took a very small letter, roughly the size of a palm, from her pocket and placed it before Beatrice.

"Open it and have a look."

Ask spoke without waiting for a response and continued savoring his red wine.

Beatrice glanced at the envelope's seal. The conspicuous red symbol calmed her down, and she returned to her seat.

She opened the envelope, only to find nothing inside. Puzzled, Beatrice glanced at its back, and her eyes suddenly widened.

On the back of the envelope, a single English word had been written in red blood:

"Geass"

P.S. The story primarily follows the anime. Other material, such as the official novels and audio dramas, will not feature much.