A/N: First of all, thank you so much to all who reviewed and alert-ed this story! It's much appreciated! XD And yes, I actually planned on posting this chapter much, MUCH earlier… alas, stupid Words kept on giving me error and thus I was unable to even open the program, let alone finish the chapter.

So yeah, a few tidbits about this chapter: One, this is an incredibly boring chapter (filled with a whole bunch of backstories) and I'm very unhappy with it. However, I feel that it is necessary and I will explain the reason why at the bottom of the chapter. So prepare a cup of coffee and enjoy!

Eugh… still need to re-read this… I'll post up a newer version after I sleep…

The Third Princess

Unlike princesses written in the numerous books that Lelouch have read, who pretty much spent their days beautifying themselves and refining their artistic ability such as their dancing or their music playing, she spent her days reading books. Of course, she didn't read romance books. Rather, she read various history books and strategy books, though occasionally when she was feeling particularly bored, she'd actually read pretty much anything that her hands can grab a hold of, including sappy romance book.

Probably being to read all day long without worry was the only good thing that came out of being isolated in Aries Palace. Granted, technically speaking, because she was not officially 'banished' by her father, she was allowed to see or go as she pleased. Apparently being banished unofficially by the Emperor only entailed of her not being able to see or to be more precise, be ignored the Emperor, a fact that she could actually live with. She'd rather not see her father, not since her mother and sister's death.

The fact of the matter was that Lelouch vi Britannia hated her father, she had thought of running away from Pendragon. However, her rational thought had advised her otherwise. First of all, if she had been born a male, probably she would've done that a long time ago.

Alas, she had been born a female. Growing up in a place where females are viewed as the weaker gender (with only a few to proof otherwise, like her sister Cornelia, her late mother and a few of the Knights of Rounds), she was clearly in disadvantage. Of course, her weak physical ability wasn't really helping her either. And despite being a chess master, she'd rather fight with the pieces all laid out in front of her… instead of just half, or even worse, a third of the pieces on her side while her father owned the rest of the pieces.

She might be a princess, but she wasn't naïve or stupid. Being in isolation tend to do that to you… at least if it didn't drive you insane first. She had to thank Jeremiah for that though. Truthfully speaking, she didn't know how her life would be without Jeremiah at her side, aiding her and advising her in her time of need. He was like a father to her, despite the age difference that can actually vouch for that little fact as well… and not that she'd tell him too, though she suspected that he knew about this anyway. Jeremiah always seemed to know what she was thinking. Perhaps because he'd pretty much raised her.

Thinking back, Lelouch was probably the first of the imperial children to receive her knight. After her mother's death, her sister who was in the intensive care unit quickly left to join their mother, leaving her alone to fend the world on her own. Either out of duty or out of guilt, Jeremiah who was assigned as the guards that night took it upon himself to care for the mourning princess. It wasn't in his intention to become her knight.

All that he wanted to do was to fulfill the duty that he wasn't able to complete. Seeing the little princess not being able to even cry in her mother and sister's funeral for fear that she might be viewed and deemed as weak, it was rather heartbreaking moment to him. Especially when he knew that had he been there during that night, he could've somewhat prevented it from happening.

It was probably about a month later that he was knighted to be her knight by the Emperor. In his own point of view, although the Emperor appeared uncaring and unaffected from his wife and child's death, he knew that the man was actually affected by it. Jeremiah guessed that his reason for dismissing the surviving Lelouch vi Britannia was because he didn't want Lelouch to fall into the target of the perpetrators.

Thus, by denouncing her of the throne publicly (though he didn't denounce her position as the third princess), in a way he had guaranteed her safety. If that wasn't reason enough, the Emperor also made Jeremiah to be her knight when she was 10 when the royal children were usually given their first knight at the age of 16. In his perspective, it was without a doubt that the Emperor actually cared for his daughter. Of course, that would be the fact that he'd keep to himself since he knew that there was no one else that she hated more than her father.

The first time Lelouch saw Kururugi Suzaku, was probably when her older brother Scheneizel took her along to see how his pet project, the scientific research team Camelot who specialized in the development of the newer generation of (specially designed) knightmare frames, was coming along. Of course, she didn't come along willingly, but his promise of playing chess against her for until it pleased her after his monthly visit to the project her funded quickly won her over. Her brother knew her far too well, though she supposed it was probably because ever since she was little, she always nagged, whined and nagged him some more to play chess with her since he was the only that can actually give her some kind of challenge in chess.

At first, she was completely disinterested in the Knightmare project since her interest didn't lie in the development of the knightmare frames at all. She'd prefer thinking of new strategies and any loopholes that it might have instead of seeing a whole bunch of metal trying to scrap each other. Although her mother was a legendary pilot while her sister Cornelia excelled at it as well, she knew that riding a knightmare frame required a certain amount of physical ability, and unless Llyod Asplund was able to construct a knightmare that needed brainpower more than physical ability, she believed that she would remain disinterested in its development.

Her below average physical ability was always her sore spot; hence that was probably why she chose chess as her sport, aside from the fact that she was good at it that is. (A/N: Yes, apparently chess is a sport, don't believe me? Check the list of sports in Summer Olympics. Chess is part of it. )

She recalled back then, Suzaku was a mere Sergeant. However according to Jeremiah, he was promoted to that position due to his high synchronization rate as well as the military regulation, which states that unless a soldier is in position of Sergeant or higher, they weren't allowed to pilot a knightmare frame. Ever the one with spontaneously bizarre ideas and not much care for anything else but his 'children', Earl Asplund apparently promoted Kururugi on the spot as soon as he found out that Kururugi by far, was the person most compatible with Lancelot.

Lelouch inwardly snorted that that last piece of information. As if a compiled pieces of metals have a feeling. She supposed it was this kind of thing that made scientists to be viewed as a whole bunch of lunatics in the eyes of public. Call her cynical or whatever but she was just pointing out the truth there.

In any case, that visit to the Camelot team 'lab' was the first time she saw Kururugi Suzaku… and from then on, it was downhill for her. Although she was a firm believer of the principle that love at first sight don't happen in real live, there was nothing else that can explain this phenomena but 'love at first sight'. How else would one explain her behaviour?

She remembered that 'butterfly in the stomach' feeling the moment she laid her eyes on Kururugi who exited Lancelot's cockpit before she followed her brother out of the research centre. That day was the day when her mind was completely in the cloud, costing her a losing streak against her brother. It wasn't just any losing streak as well, since a massacre streak would probably be a closer term seeing how less than ten minutes of the games, she was already defeated by her brother. Usually they'd play for hours until either she was defeated or until her brother gave her a draw.

It was after her brother left Aries Palace that she quickly summoned Jeremiah to find out all that he could about one Kururugi Suzaku. Maybe she was at the door of being a stalker, but at least she wasn't going to deny it. Kururugi managed to piqued a reaction out of her and now that he managed to raise her curiosity about him, she'd do anything to satisfy her curiosity (or passion… seeing that she's smitten by him at the moment).

Kururugi Suzaku is one lucky person. Gifted with superior physical ability, keen instincts and good luck, he was able to quickly rise through the military ranks despite him being a non-Britannian. His charming naiveté won over a large percentage of the female population in the army while keeping the male population from being his enemy since he was very dense and held a deep devotion and affection to one Princess Euphemia li Britannia.

Yes, everyone that knew Suzaku practically knew that the reason why he joined the army in the first place and literally worked himself to death was because he wanted to be closer to one Euphemia li Britannia.

As such, because of that, he devoted himself fully to the princess (despite not being her knight) and led a life of celibacy. Of course, that partly was because he was so dense that he never took notice of anyone that held any kind of romantic interest in him... with an exception of the Britannia's Third princess, Lelouch vi Britannia.

Of course, the only reason why he knew about it was because shortly after his Knighting ceremony to be the Knight of Seven, the princess, as blunt as she could be, marched out to him and told him about her interest in him in haughty tone. He had politely refused her advance, reasoning that he had devoted himself to another.

To his surprise, she didn't give up and instead, his reason seemed to fuel her even more as she has never failed to make her knight extend her invitation to the Aries Palace to him at the end of every week, which he declined every single time with reasons and lies. Although he felt slight guilt for his constant lies, he felt that it was necessary so that he didn't give the princess the wrong sign and complicate things.

A/N: Phew! You've made it down here. So first of all, I'm sorry that this is an incredibly boring (thankfully, it's short) chapter. I just had to get this one down, just for the sake of the plot since the first chapter didn't explain much of the main heroine, Lelouch. So yeah, I basically made this into a plot builder, where the problem is somewhat introduced and all. Hopefully, it cleared up some of the questions that people had in mind.

Oh, I've decided not to make Charles evil, as what I've always done to all of my CG drabbles if you read them… for this one, his personality will be between the original Charles and the Charles in Road to Love.

Again, I'm sorry that it's such a dull chapter. Heck, I actually fell asleep writing it! But anyway, thanks to whoever reviewed! Don't forget to review and I promise that the third chapter should be more exciting as I will introduce my favourite Knight of the Rounds into this story! Cookies to whoever can guess it! Oh, and he'll be a regular too!