Chapter 45: Kingdom of Cameliard -7-

The massive gates of Cameliard, which had been shut tight, swung open, and King Leodegrance, lord of the kingdom, came hurrying out with his knights in tow.

As soon as the white-haired old king, who had come to greet the heroes who had saved the nation, saw the dazzling blond hair of Artoria and me at the head of the force, he collapsed to the spot and began to shed thick tears.

"Oh... ohhh! Are you truly the blood of my dear friend Uther?!"

King Leodegrance wept with emotion and clasped Artoria's hand and mine.

"Even in death, my dear friend has sent his splendid children to protect me and Cameliard. I do not know how I could ever repay such miraculous grace!"

He welcomed us with wholehearted joy. Then his gaze fell on Morgan, standing quietly behind me.

Because of the infamous rumors of the past, the knights of Cameliard tensed for a moment, but King Leodegrance instead looked at her with a warm, affectionate smile.

"Lady Morgan. It has been a very long time."

"...Your Majesty Leodegrance. It has been a long time."

When Morgan greeted him awkwardly with a slightly stiff face, King Leodegrance nodded kindly.

"The cold, sharp venom you once carried is gone, and your eyes have become so warm and gentle. It feels as though I am seeing you again as you were in childhood, back when you were clear and pure. This old man's heart is truly full."

Rather than treating her with hostility for having spent her life going astray as a witch while resenting her father, her father's old friend instead looked upon her with the image of the pure child she had once been and offered her warm encouragement.

Morgan's cheeks flushed red, and with a faint smile mixed with relief and embarrassment, she lowered her head.

"Well, well. Old man. Don't you have anything to say to me?"

In the middle of that moving reunion, Merlin suddenly cut in, waving her staff.

Only then did King Leodegrance notice Merlin, and he burst into hearty laughter.

"Hoho! Merlin, you're exactly the same as ever! More than ten years have passed, so how is it that your appearance has not changed in the slightest?"

"And you've gotten all wrinkly across the forehead in the meantime, old man. Time really is cruelly fast, isn't it?"

The way the two of them traded jokes showed the depth of their long friendship.

King Leodegrance hurriedly wiped away his tears and raised his voice.

"Come, quickly, inside the castle! You saved my precious daughter and this nation on the brink of ruin! As soon as things are settled, I shall hold the grandest banquet in the history of Britain and honor you as heroes who saved the realm!"

But I politely declined his kindness and shook my head.

"Thank you for the welcome, but I'll pass on the banquet. There's something I need to do right now."

I do not usually speak so formally, but he was advanced in years and a friend of my father, so I showed him due courtesy.

At my words, King Leodegrance and the knights looked puzzled.

"Something you need to do? Has the battle not already ended completely?"

"Cameliard's crisis is over, but the war is not."

Turning my horse, I calmly analyzed the situation.

"King Rience is dead, and his main force of ten thousand has been annihilated. Which means his home base in North Wales, the Kingdom of Nogales, is now an empty house. Before someone else takes it, we should invade at once and seize that rich land whole."

At my cold and swift strategic judgment, the surrounding knights all let out cries of admiration and agreed at once.

"Prince Arthur is right! Once this news spreads, King Cradelmant, the other great power in North Wales who was contending with Rience for supremacy, surely won't sit still!"

"Exactly! Cradelmant of the Kingdom of Northgalis is a cunning man who commands no fewer than five thousand elite knights. We must strike first before he swallows Nogales!"

King Leodegrance gave a heavy nod, as though deeply impressed by my decisiveness.

"Indeed... that is truly perfect insight, worthy of Uther's heir. Even after you have saved this nation, I must send you off without properly offering you even a meal or a cup of wine... this old man's heart is heavy with regret and shame."

"Don't worry about it. Once the operation to take Nogales is over, I'll come back. You can treat me lavishly then."

When I smiled at ease, King Leodegrance answered with a bright smile of his own.

"Very well! I shall wait eagerly for the day of Your Highness's triumphant return. The moment you come back, I will repay this grace with everything this nation possesses!"

After I had finished preparing to depart, Princess Guinevere approached my side.

Clutching the hem of her skirt, she looked up at me with eyes full of reluctance to part.

"Prince Arthur... please, please return safely. I will pray day and night, waiting only for the day Your Highness comes back to Cameliard."

"Don't worry, Princess. I'll be back soon."

After giving her a light wave, I began the march toward the Kingdom of Nogales.

Arthur's gallant back receded into the distance, along with the procession of dazzling Heroic Spirits guarding his side.

Guinevere stood there for a long while, unable to take her eyes off him until his figure disappeared beyond the horizon.

"Hoho. It seems our princess has completely lost her heart to King Arthur, hasn't she?"

When King Leodegrance came up from behind and asked with a teasing smile, Guinevere blushed and nodded honestly.

"Yes, Father. He is so noble, so strong, and above all so kind. I think I have fallen for him completely."

At his daughter's sincere confession, the king let out a boisterous laugh.

"Naturally! He is the incarnation of the battlefield, that radiant golden king. If you did not fall for him, that would be stranger. He may be busy now with the great task of unifying Britain, but when the time comes, this father of yours will surely arrange a splendid union between you and King Arthur."

"Really, Father?!"

"Yes. So leave the grim work of cleaning up this battlefield to me and the knights. You should return safely inside the castle first under Sir Bertole's escort."

At King Leodegrance's order, the knight Bertole approached Guinevere and bowed politely.

Under Sir Bertole's escort, Guinevere turned her steps toward the castle.

Her heart swelled with anticipation for the day the war would end as soon as possible and she would meet Arthur again.

"If I am to stand at Prince Arthur's side, then I too must become a fine and wise woman, one he would never be ashamed of. I need to learn more and work harder with the time I have left."

She was softly humming to herself as she strengthened that resolve.

Then Sir Bertole, who was walking ahead, slightly turned his head and spoke in a calm voice.

"That is truly an admirable frame of mind, Princess."

But as Guinevere walked, she realized that the scenery around her felt strangely unfamiliar.

Rather than the broad central road leading to the castle's main gate, they were taking a secluded forest path, sparsely traveled and thick with shadow.

"Sir Bertole, this doesn't seem to be the road we usually take. Is there some shortcut I don't know about?"

Since he was a knight who had served the royal family faithfully for many years, Guinevere asked without any real suspicion.

But the only answer she received was silence.

And then, the next moment.

"Ah...!"

Sir Bertole suddenly turned around, roughly seized both of Guinevere's arms, and twisted them behind her back to pin her down.

"S-Sir Bertole?! What are you doing?!"

Guinevere cried out in confusion and struggled, but there was no way a frail princess could overcome a knight's iron grip.

"Forgive me, Princess. It is all for the greater cause."

It was just as Bertole muttered coldly.

Step, step.

Footsteps came from the dim darkness. A woman's silhouette emerged, walking through the shadows.

"At last... at last it's my turn."

The moment Guinevere saw the woman's face revealed beneath the moonlight, a shock so great it felt as though her breath had stopped swept over her.

Dark hair, delicate eyes, even the shape of her cheeks.

The woman standing before her had a face perfectly identical to Guinevere's, as if she were looking into a mirror.

"You... who are you supposed to be? Is this some illusion?!"

When Guinevere asked in horror, the woman parted her lips with a sticky, greedy smile.

"An illusion? No. I'm a real human being of flesh and bone. My name is Gendievre. Another daughter who carries King Leodegrance's blood."

"What?! That's impossible! Father has only one child, me...!"

When Guinevere denied it, Gendievre clicked her tongue in disgust.

"Yes, on the surface. The great King Leodegrance's disgraceful affair with a lowly maid of the court was thoroughly hidden away. Along with the existence of a filthy bastard daughter born on the exact same day, at the exact same time, as you, the noble real princess."

Gendievre's voice was thick with resentment and bitterness.

"Why did I have to be born on the same day as you? If only I had been born even a little earlier, or if only my mother had been the queen! Then I could have been loved as the true princess inside that shining castle! Why did I have to live hidden away in this dark, musty forest, unable to let anyone know I even existed, just because I was a bastard who should never have been born?!"

She looked down at Guinevere with a sneer and thrust her face close. The two of them were horrifyingly identical in appearance, build, and even voice.

"But now that miserable life in the shadows is over. All this time, from the darkness, I watched every last thing about you—your walk, your way of speaking, even the habit of how you smile—and copied it perfectly. From now on, it's my turn to take the real princess's place."

Struck speechless by the shocking truth, Guinevere finally looked up at Sir Bertole, who was holding her, with eyes full of reproach.

"Sir Bertole... you are a knight of Cameliard! How could you betray Father and do something so horrible...!"

Sir Bertole answered coldly without so much as blinking.

"She too carries the blood of His Majesty Leodegrance. How is offering loyalty to royalty betrayal? Besides, Lady Gendievre has promised me the greatest honor and wealth in Cameliard. I have merely made a rational decision to rise higher."

Seeing Guinevere's despairing face, Gendievre burst into mad laughter.

"Hahaha! Yes, I saw that shining man from afar. Arthur Pendragon... that dazzling golden hair and those overwhelming abilities like a god's. Just thinking that such a noble and beautiful man will become my husband makes my whole body tingle so much I could go mad already!"

With eyes glistening with greed, she made a grasping motion at the empty air.

"Yes, now the time has come for me to become the true queen of the new Britain, to place Britain's wealth, honor, and power beneath my feet, and live in luxury forever!"

"You would steal the place of the nation's queen for nothing more than such greedy, vulgar ambition?! Prince Arthur will never be deceived by a fake like you!"

Guinevere shouted in fury, but Gendievre struck her hard across the cheek as if she were ridiculous.

Smack!

"It has nothing to do with you anymore, loser."

At Gendievre's gesture, black magicians who looked like remnants of King Rience's forces stepped soundlessly out of the forest's darkness and bound Guinevere's hands and feet with grotesque chains of sorcery.

"Throw this fake bitch into the underground prison hidden deep in the forest. Make sure she doesn't see so much as a scrap of sunlight until my glorious coronation is over!"

As her vision gradually blurred and her consciousness faded under the black magicians' curse.

Guinevere collapsed onto the cold dirt and, for the last time, desperately cried out a single name.

"Prince Arthur......"

The real Guinevere was dragged away into pitch-black darkness, while Gendievre, the fake Guinevere with a face perfectly identical to hers, turned her steps toward the castle with a greedy smile.

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