Refrain

"Kallen Stadtfeld, eldest daughter of House Stadtfeld, one of the Britannia Empire's eight great noble houses. She is the mixed-race child of the head of House Stadtfeld and an Eleven. She had one biological older brother, confirmed dead during resistance attacks. She currently attends Ashford Academy and lives with her biological parents and stepmother at House Stadtfeld's main residence in the settlement."

Leila handed Ask a stack of paper documents with neatly arranged text and images, briefly introducing the basic information on the people in the files to help him read through them more smoothly.

Of course, the information on those pages was far more detailed than her explanation.

It included not only every recorded event in Kallen's life, large and small, from birth to the present, but also information on the head of House Stadtfeld and Kallen's biological mother.

Even their everyday relationships and the "dirty work" they did behind the scenes were documented in precise detail.

This was not something Britannia's intelligence agencies could accomplish alone. Even with the help of Lady Beatrice, director of the Intelligence Bureau, they could at most obtain information about House Stadtfeld. The bureau's reach did not extend to Kallen's secret identity and activities.

That hidden intelligence was all thanks to Jeremiah.

While serving as the frontline commander in Area 11, he had followed Ask's orders and secretly recruited Elevens willing to side with the Britannia Empire, or bribed opportunists, promising them Honorary Britannian status and money in exchange for intelligence from the local population.

The results had been significant, allowing Ask to reach places the empire could not.

Of course, they could not recruit too many of these people. At heart, they were all scum who sold out their country for personal gain, and they could just as easily betray this side.

Most of their dealings were therefore one-off transactions, with identities kept completely secret. Even if they were discovered, nothing could be traced back to Jeremiah.

Ask listened to Leila's explanation while scanning the documents in his hands. Finally, his gaze settled on the file of a woman who looked very much like Kallen, and he slowly spoke a name.

"Refrain."

It was the name of a new drug, called Refrain-an indulgence in the joys of the past.

As its name suggested, it induced powerful hallucinations, making past memories appear "real" before the user's eyes.

It had been developed within the last two years and was widely popular among local residents, especially Elevens who had lost loved ones in the war.

They were Refrain's primary customers.

There was little demand among Britannian citizens; it was mainly sold outside that population.

As it happened, the records showed that this woman had bought it on multiple occasions.

"His child's biological mother, yet her status means she can't even be given the Stadtfeld name. How pathetic... no, perhaps the head of House Stadtfeld has long since forgotten the woman he once toyed with. She's an Eleven, after all."

As one of Britannia's great noble houses, they could not afford to grow too close to Elevens, no matter how one looked at it. Otherwise, they would only become a laughingstock among the other nobles, a disgrace to the family.

"But... this woman is still living in House Stadtfeld's residence as a servant, under the same roof as the stepmother..."

"Probably because of Kallen."

That was what Leila believed.

A mother loving her child was perfectly natural.

She could think of no other explanation: the woman was willing to endure the stepmother's contempt and insults just to remain by her daughter's side.

Injecting Refrain was probably another way to escape reality for a little while.

Ask gave a cold laugh, a mocking smile spreading across his face.

"How noble. Quite the contrast to my own."

Just thinking of the woman known as "Marianne the Flash" made him sick.

She treated her children as tools and had experimented on the child in her womb while she was still pregnant. Forget being a mother-she had abandoned even basic human decency. Ask had never regarded such a woman as his mother.

Instead, he wanted to trample her mercilessly, pin her beneath his foot, and savor the regret on her face.

Only then would it count as revenge.

After a derisive chuckle, Ask tossed the documents aside and reclined in his rocking chair with his eyes closed, issuing an order.

"Start with her. Plant the land mine before the Black Knights establish a system of trust."

"Squads P1 through P6, follow the designated routes and approach point D1 from six directions. If anything unexpected happens, proceed to point D2 and stand by. Await my orders for the rest."

At a stairwell landing in Ashford Academy, Lelouch cautiously issued orders over his phone.

Classes were in session, so almost no one would come here. He had slipped out by taking the opportunity to ask for a bathroom break.

Once he finished giving his orders, Lelouch immediately hung up and unplugged the counter-surveillance device from the bottom of his phone, leaving nothing to chance.

His next plan was to establish Zero as an irreplaceable figure within the organization, bringing the scattered Black Knights together under his sole command. To accomplish that, he needed to create a miracle that only he could deliver.

That meant the Narita Mountains.

He had received word that, owing to frontline commander Jeremiah's "mistake" and the abduction of Euphemia, Second Imperial Princess Cornelia would personally lead an army to wipe out the Island Nation Resistance Front entrenched in the Narita Mountains. This would be his opportunity.

Imperial Princess Cornelia's army was infamous. Merely hearing her name was enough to make some resistance organizations collapse without a fight.

No one believed there was anyone in Area 11 who could defeat Cornelia.

If he could defeat Cornelia's army in the Narita Mountains, or even capture its commander, Zero's position within the Black Knights would become unshakable.

Not only did he need to make preparations in advance, he also had to guard against that man staying in the Tokyo Settlement. His...

His "dear" older brother.

"As long as no member of the imperial family is killed, he won't take action personally, so..."

For now, he could only capture Cornelia, not kill her, and he could not hold her for too long.

But that did not interfere with his plan.

He had already worked out how to "snatch survival from certain doom."

P.S. I'll be updating the Lelouch story from now on. For my next book, I'd like to write Dragon Raja, Genshin Impact, or Demon Slayer, but I feel like writing Genshin would get me flamed to death.