"Waaah! Waaah, waah!"
Early morning in a plush bedroom within the inner walls of Camelot.
The peaceful morning air was pierced by Mordred's thunderous wailing.
"Oh, what do I do! Oh, Brother! Mordred won't stop crying! I've changed her diaper, and she doesn't seem cold... Could it be that the way I'm holding her is uncomfortable?!"
Lily, wearing a cute frilled apron over her pure-white nightdress, bounced on the balls of her feet in a panic, completely at a loss while cradling the sobbing Mordred.
Though she was a princess-knight who had once swept across battlefields with a Holy Sword in hand, she was utterly clumsy and overly cautious when faced with a newborn baby who felt as fragile as a lump of clay.
Just as tears of frustration began to well up in Lily's eyes...
"Don't panic so much, Lily. Babies can only express their discomfort through crying."
Kay emerged from the kitchen, bringing with him a savory aroma, and gently took Mordred from Lily's arms.
As his large, rough hands securely supported the baby's back and neck, Mordred's cries miraculously began to subside.
"Now then, Mordred. It's time for your meal, isn't it? Let's stop troubling Mommy Lily and settle down now."
Kay expertly offered a bottle, warmed to the perfect temperature, to Mordred's tiny mouth. As if she had never cried at all, the baby gripped the bottle with both hands and began to gulp down the milk.
Watching Kay's steady and tender profile, Lily's cheeks flushed a soft pink under the morning sunlight.
"...Hehe."
"What are you giggling at? You're already acting spacey this early in the morning."
As Kay asked while burping Mordred against his shoulder, Lily clasped her hands behind her back and twisted her body shyly, whispering.
"But... it really feels like we're a real married couple. Waking up together, caring for the baby, preparing breakfast... The dream I had every night has become a reality right before my eyes. I'm just so happy that I can be part of a family with you, Brother."
It was a blind, yet pure, offensive of affection.
Struck by her straightforwardness, Kay scratched the back of his head and cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Well, if you're happy, then that's all that matters. Anyway, now that she's fed, shall we head out? After that large-scale food distribution in the plaza, the castle has completely run out of fresh vegetables and fruit. I need to go shopping at the market."
"Shopping?! You're buying them at the market instead of sourcing them from elsewhere...?"
"I'm just buying a few simple ingredients. It's a way to help the locals make a living."
"I-I want to go too! Let's go together, Brother!"
Lily's eyes sparkled like a young bride heading out on her first market date with her husband.
"Alright. Let's go so Mordred can get some fresh air. And hey—you over there, don't just stand there staring through the crack in the door. Come on out."
At Kay's gesture toward the door, Gareth, who had been blinking her expressionless eyes through the slight gap, slowly revealed herself.
"...Am I coming too, Uncle?"
"Of course. You need to rub shoulders with people in a place that actually smells like humanity and learn some emotions. This is Day One of your socialization training. Follow me."
"...Yes."
And so, Kay began a peculiar family outing, cradling Mordred in one arm, with Lily on his right and Gareth on his left.
The market streets outside Camelot were more vibrant than ever, thanks to the aftermath of the army stew Kay had brewed. The faces of the citizens and merchants, their bellies full, were blooming with smiles.
"Oh! Lord Kay, you've come out!! That red broth dish from last time—I'll never forget that taste for the rest of my life!!"
"Lord Kay! Please take some of this freshly harvested cabbage! I won't take a single coin for it!"
As soon as they entered the market, merchants scrambled to thrust high-quality ingredients into Kay's arms.
"Haha, I appreciate the thought, but you have to run your business properly. Here, this is for the cabbage and tomatoes."
Kay paid with a smile, while Lily beamed beside him, placing the vegetables Kay selected into the basket.
"Brother, look at this! These apples are so red and beautiful! I think Mordred likes the smell of them too!"
When Lily held a red apple to the tip of Mordred's nose, the baby giggled and reached out with her short arms.
"She must be in a good mood. Honestly, though, I still can't understand why things like potatoes and tomatoes exist in Britain... what kind of world is this?"
Gareth observed this warm, peaceful scene from a short distance away with indifferent eyes.
...So that is the form of the emotion called happiness. Uncle's and Lily's heart rates and body temperatures have risen slightly. But nothing is changing inside me. As I thought, perhaps I am broken.
Just as Gareth was performing a mechanical analysis of her own empty interior...
Crash!
"Waaah!!"
Right in front of Gareth, a child about five or six years old, running with an apple, tripped over a stone and scraped their knee. Clutching the bleeding wound, the child burst into tears.
"..."
Gareth looked down at the crying child with a practiced, fake smile.
The sympathy, pity, or instinctive urge to help that an ordinary person would feel did not surface within her even by one percent.
In the past, she might have simply ignored the child as a nuisance and walked away.
However, the new rule Kay had engraved in her mind last night surfaced.
If you cannot feel it with your heart, I will teach you to understand it with your head.
Do what I tell you. Follow the actions I say are right.
If it's Uncle... then helping the weak is Uncle's rule.
Gareth leaned down. She grasped the dusty shoulders of the child and lifted them up in one swift motion.
"Please do not cry. It is only a minor abrasion on the skin of your knee. It is not life-threatening."
It was a starkly dry consolation, but as Gareth brushed the dirt off the child's clothes, the child sniffled and nodded.
"Hic... thank you, Miss Knight."
"...Yes."
"Good job, Gareth."
At that moment, Kay's large hand came resting atop Gareth's head.
"It doesn't matter if it didn't come from the heart. You learn with your head by putting it into action. What you just did was the right thing, and it was a great help to that child."
Kay gave her a grin, gently ruffling her hair.
Gareth still didn't fully understand the emotional reward of doing the "right" thing, but from the heavy warmth of Kay's palm... she felt a strange, tickling sensation in a corner of her chest.
"...Yes, Uncle. From now on, I will move as you say is right."
A very faint smile, devoid of falsehood or madness, spread across Gareth's lips.
Watching from behind, Lily felt her heart swell.
The broken niece, the family that had nearly collapsed—Kay was firmly gathering all those fragments and piecing them back together.
After finishing their shopping, Kay's group took a seat on a quiet park bench in a corner before returning to the castle.
Drunk on the warm sunlight, Mordred fell fast asleep on Kay's lap, while Gareth blankly observed a grasshopper nearby.
"Brother. Here, have some lung bread."
Lily sat close beside Kay, offering him lung bread, a common street food in Britain. Her shoulder was so close to his arm that they were almost touching.
"They still sell this? It's really just a palate cleanser."
Kay took a large bite, leaving a few crumbs on the corner of his mouth.
"Oh, Brother. You have something on your face."
Lily smiled and pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, gently wiping Kay's mouth. Through this natural intimacy, Kay's gaze became deeply entwined with Lily's.
Within her green eyes was a blind, sweet devotion directed solely at the man before her.
"Brother."
Lily lowered the handkerchief, tilted her head slightly, and leaned closer to Kay's face.
"I... during those five years on the battlefield, there was something I wanted to do most once I met you again. Just like you did with Sister Artoria... I want a kiss, just the two of us..."
Lily's moist lips were just a breath away from Kay's.
However, there were certain beasts who would never let such a perfect, pink romantic atmosphere go undisturbed.
BOOM!!
"Master!! I've hunted a massive beast on the outskirts! Let's use this for lunch!!"
Bagest burst onto the scene, smashing through the park's stone wall while dragging the carcass of a boar the size of a rocky mountain with one hand.
"Eek?!"
The shattered mood sent Lily leaping back in fright, and the sleeping Mordred woke up with a start, beginning to fuss.
But Bagest was not the only intruder.
"My, my! Darling? You said you were just going shopping, but what kind of indecent petting were you attempting with a young knight lady in the park in broad daylight?!"
Tamamo leaped down from the roof of a nearby tea house, her eyes gleaming.
Then, pushing through the market crowd, Artoria X Alter appeared, wearing a jersey and glasses that glinted sharply.
"...Using Mordred as a decoy to enjoy a date. I express my deepest regrets regarding the shamelessness of Lily and Brother. I shall demand ten crepes as immediate compensation."
"Honestly... these people have a supernatural nose for finding me the moment I'm out of sight."
In an instant, the sweet honeymoon date with Lily was ruined, and the park was filled with a chaotic melee of Bagest's monster carcass and Tamamo's jealousy.
"You—you people!! How dare you interrupt my precious time with Brother! I'll turn you all into dew by the Holy Sword today!!"
Her face beet-red with rage, Lily finally drew Caliburn from her waist and charged at Tamamo.
"Waaah!!"
Mordred's crying grew louder at the sound of the fighting, and even Gareth, who had been watching bugs, approached and added a bland comment.
"Uncle, is this also what you call a 'good daily life'?"
"Well... probably?"
A peaceful daily life might be tangled in complex romantic disputes... but it's still better than before, Kay thought.
And then.
I felt a gaze...
Kay sensed a gaze from somewhere far off. He wondered if it was the current Merlin, but it lacked Merlin's characteristic unpleasantness.
He decided to wait and see who was watching them...
"Fou."
The beast continued to watch him.
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