Ruler of Desires

Chapter 6: The Full Moon Feast

"Marianne Imperial Consort Your Highness, Cornelia Princess Your Highness, the Ashford Duke is waiting outside the palace!"

Just as Marianne was carefully contemplating how to combine Lelouch's genetic factors with her own eggs to cultivate a superior bloodline using in vitro fertilization technology, the report from a lady-in-waiting from outside the palace startled her from her thoughts.

"Mm, I understand!"

The banquet must be ready now!

Marianne thought to herself and instructed the lady-in-waiting beside her, "Tell the Ashford Duke to wait a moment; Cornelia and I will be there shortly!"

"Yes!"

After the lady-in-waiting withdrew in response, Marianne turned her attention to Cornelia and Lelouch.

"Let's go inside and change our clothes. Although I don't have many friends, the Ashford Duke is like a father to me. We mustn't be rude!"

"Mm!"

Cornelia also understood the relationship between the Ashford family and Marianne Imperial Consort; their conglomerate was indeed Marianne's support. However, with Marianne's exceptional military achievements, rising from officer to knight candidate, the Ashford family, responsible for developing the humanoid combat armor, the Knightmare, had also gained noble status.

As the empire engaged in external wars, the performance of the humanoid combat armor in battle had become increasingly outstanding, particularly suitable for combat in modern cities, making it an essential tool for the Holy Britannian Empire's expansionist endeavors.

After the sixth knight became the fifth Imperial Consort of the empire, the Ashford family also rose in prominence, gradually gaining control over the primary production rights of the empire's Knightmare and many leading developers of Knightmare technologies. Originally designed as main battle vehicles, these armored units were extensively converted into humanoid combat armor, Knightmares. Currently, most of the humanoid guiding weapons in the Britannia military, the third-generation humanoid combat armor—Ganymede—was developed by the Ashford family.

The Ashford family had risen from Earls to Dukes. Now, their relationship with Marianne had become one of shared honor and shared misfortune.

Additionally, because the Ashford family was so closely tied to Marianne Imperial Consort, the royal family and the old nobility, who underestimated Marianne's commoner background, harbored great hostility towards the Ashford family.

It was easy to imagine that once Marianne Imperial Consort lost her current status, the Knightmare production rights and many leading technology developers held by the Ashford family would become a large cake to be divided among other nobility and conglomerates.

The Ashford family was very aware of this fact, so they spent substantial amounts of money to cultivate relations with the middle- and lower-tier forces of the empire, as well as with emerging nobility. Among the royal family, there were individuals like Cornelia, who held feelings of admiration for Marianne and were deeply influenced by her charisma. Thus, the Ashford family enjoyed excellent interpersonal relationships across various strata of the empire.