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Fifth-century Britain.
Britain was home to countless kingdoms.
It was a nation formed under a confederate system: an alliance in which the kingdoms founded by the various Briton tribes came together and operated as one Britain.
However, even such a system was far from perfect.
Not long after Roman colonial rule had ended, a traitor emerged from the Pendragon family, the royal house of the Kingdom of Londinium at the heart of the alliance.
Vortigern.
Claiming to be the will of the island, he had brought in the Saxons and other foreign peoples from beyond its shores, plunging Britain into one war after another.
The alliance had effectively collapsed, with every kingdom left to fend for itself.
To the north lay Pictland, a confederation of Pictish states hostile to the Britons.
From distant Ireland, the Gaels, with Ireland’s Age of Gods at an end, had begun setting their sights on Britain. Even Rome, ruined by the Hunnic invasion, was somehow clinging to life and meddling little by little.
It was, in every sense, a chaotic age of war.
Standing at its center was Uther Pendragon, king of the Pendragon family, born to rule the isle of Britain.
Alongside Merlin, the court mage who served him, he resolved to break through this crisis.
His method was...
First, he raped the wife of a lord from another region.
He took Duchess Igraine, judged to be the finest womb in all of Britain.
His plan was to produce an outstanding heir through her.
And as for her husband, Duke Gorlois of Tintagel, he sent him to war and had him killed, eliminating any future trouble.
Thus, Igraine, reduced to a womb, gave birth to children.
Twins who would become Britain’s hope.
"The boy shall be named Arthur, and the girl Artoria. I shall grant both children the surname Pendragon."
"Wow~☆ A surname you never even gave Morgan, your legitimate daughter? That’s quite exceptional, Uther. She’ll be jealous if she finds out."
"Do not call her a legitimate daughter. That woman is already dead; she ought to be treated as a concubine. Only by making Igraine my principal wife will these children become my legitimate son and daughter. That failure is nothing more than a bastard daughter."
"Heh. Even for someone as inhuman as me, that’s rather cruel, isn’t it? I am her teacher, you know~? It’s not as though I’m fond of fairies, but she’s a decent girl."
"She is a failure, born a fairy rather than a human. Even if she inherited the heart and blood of a dragon, she is unlike these children, who are human. Britain’s king must be human. The Age of Gods is over. The mystery of the Pendragons ends with me."
Uther already had a child who was his heir.
Morgan.
Her name as a fairy was Vivian, and she had originally been born as his legitimate daughter.
But the moment the twins were born, she, the eldest daughter and child of his principal wife, was abruptly reduced to a bastard daughter. Her dead mother had been demoted from principal wife to concubine.
Merlin had been certain that the girl would be consumed by rage and sharpen her blade for revenge...
But she was fated never to become king.
Regrettably, Morgan could not defeat Vortigern. As a fairy who was mystery itself, she could not overcome Vortigern, who devoured mystery.
In this age without even gods, there was no choice but to defeat the incarnation of a dragon with another incarnation of a dragon.
It was unfortunate, but Merlin chose to turn a blind eye.
"Then~ I suppose Arthur is the one who’ll become king after all?"
"Ordinarily, yes. But if he lacks the aptitude, then the legitimate daughter will have no choice but to take the throne."
"So one of them is being kept as a spare? Well, that’s the unavoidable reality of royalty."
For now, Merlin lifted Arthur, the favored heir, into her arms and looked down at him.
"Grow up healthy, Arthur~"
Merlin smiled as she tickled him with a finger.
Then Arthur opened his tiny eyes and looked up at her.
The thought held by the newborn Arthur was...
‘Is Merlin a woman because I’m a boy...?’
He was bewildered by Merlin’s gender.
The eldest son born into this extraordinary family was, in truth, a reincarnator.
This is the story of a boy reincarnated in another world, striving for a happy ending.
The story of a man striving to secure a happy future for his younger sister.
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