He secured the position of Deputy Governor without any surprises.
Emperor Charles cared neither how fierce the war in Area 11 was nor how many people died because of it. He cared only about information on C.C.
In his view, Ask most likely already knew that the resurrected Zero was Lelouch. Sending Jeremiah would therefore allow him to spare Lelouch's life at a critical moment.
After all, Lelouch was his own brother-Charles figured that Ask would probably assume this was his reasoning.
In reality, he believed he had long since seen through Ask.
Family affection was merely incidental, a show put on for outsiders. Ask simply wanted to use this opportunity to study Lelouch's Geass.
He had no excuse to do so at the Imperial Palace, but now he had a perfectly legitimate opportunity.
Capture Lelouch in secret, then publicly declare that Zero was someone else...
Charles believed Ask would do just that, because the two of them were very much alike.
So he simply played along, feigning ignorance and handing this "opportunity" to Ask.
His true intention was to draw out C.C.
After discussing the direction of Area 11's development for a while, the two prepared to end the meeting.
Just then, Charles suddenly "got to the point" and asked:
"Ask, I hear you're researching Geass?"
Here it comes.
Ask stopped just as he was about to step away.
He knew the real test was coming.
Everything before this had been dispensable "small talk." This was what truly mattered.
Without showing the slightest hesitation, Ask turned and nodded.
"Yes. This power is far too strong, yet unstable, so I intend to develop ways to control it. Perhaps it could be put to military use. However, I have no test subjects so far, so I can only begin by analyzing