Once a promising candidate, now a fragment of a bygone past

"I don't need the Power of the King. I don't need it, so just stay by my side until the end."
Long ago, there was a young man who resembled Lelouch in many ways-a youth who C.C. had once found, yet unlike others, he refused to form a contract with her until the very end.
One morning, C.C. wakes up crying, dreaming of the day she lost him. She found herself recounting the tale to Lelouch, sharing a rare fragment of her past: a story of a potential contractor who had rejected the Power of the King.

Translation of the Japanese pixiv fanfic: かつての逸材、今は亡き過去のカケラ (https://www.pixiv.net/novel/show.php?id=22865334) by Lemon Yuri / れもんゆり (https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/13344803)