Chapter 66: The Child of Prophecy -1-

At last, the golden sails of Prydwen cast their vast shadow over the coast of Britain.

The youthful conqueror had returned after forcing all of Ireland to its knees beneath his feet.

The moment the ship touched land, Britomart stepped forward with Talos, then knelt before me on one knee with perfect courtesy.

"Prince Arthur. I will never forget the immense grace you have shown me for as long as I live."

She bowed her head with all the proper decorum of a knight.

"The usurper Grandot has been subjugated, and the Kingdom of Eden is now safe, so Queen Irena should soon be able to return as well. I will now go back to the fairy kingdom of Cleopolis, where Her Majesty Gloriana resides, and report everything that has happened."

Just as she rose without hesitation and was about to disembark with Talos—

"Where do you think you're going?"

In an indifferent voice, I seized Britomart by the shoulder.

"Pardon? I-I was going back to the fairy kingdom to make my report..."

"No."

I curled the corner of my mouth into a grin and cut her off firmly.

"You've been kidnapped."

"...What?!"

Britomart's eyes went wide as a rabbit's. To someone who had lived her whole life by noble chivalry, it was a shocking declaration completely beyond common sense.

I tightened my grip on her shoulder and pressed the matter with shamelessly perfect logic.

"You said it yourself—you owe me a great debt. If you're a knight, shouldn't you repay the grace you've received properly? Don't you agree, Talos?"

Talos let out a mechanical noise and nodded as if in agreement with me. Of course, it might just have been his joints creaking.

"Th-that may be true, but! I am still Lady Gloriana's direct knight, and I have a duty to report back to my homeland...!"

"You can make your report later when you visit with me. For now, work under me. You're quite a useful military asset."

I patted the flustered Britomart on the back and drove the final nail in.

"Welcome to the army, recruit."

"W-wait, what do you mean, welcome to the army?! I never agreed to...!"

For Britomart, it was an utterly unreasonable forced conscription falling from a clear sky.

But my eyes were unwaveringly serious, and beside me Merlin and Morgan were both shaking their heads with expressions that plainly said, "It's easier if you just give up."

Britomart let out a deep sigh.

'Well, if it's Lady Gloriana, she has probably already seen through this entire situation. Queen Irena will soon return safely to the Kingdom of Eden as well... For the time being, I have no choice but to serve this man.'

In the end, she quietly nodded and took her place behind me with Talos.

Having effortlessly gained an excellent tanker and knight, I hummed cheerfully as I turned my steps toward our Kingdom of Nogares.

The moment I arrived at Castle Nogares, the one who had come all the way to the gate to greet me was none other than my lovely twin younger sister, Artoria.

"Brother!!"

But her belly had swollen beyond recognition compared to before I left. She was now heavily pregnant.

No matter how swiftly I had handled the unification of Ireland, I could not stop several months from passing and the seasons from changing.

"Artoria! Don't run over here, it's dangerous!"

I rushed forward in alarm and wrapped my arms around Artoria's waist. She beamed and rubbed her face against my chest.

"Hehe, I knew you'd come back safely! The birth isn't far off, and you have no idea how anxious I was with you gone."

At that moment, from behind her, Kay—holding a stack of documents, with dark circles hanging almost to his jaw—grumbled irritably.

"Anxious, my ass! Do you know how much you've been eating? We were this close to emptying Castle Nogares's winter food stores! The appetite of a pregnant woman isn't supposed to feel like three or four wild boars combined!"

"Kay! It's only natural for a pregnant woman to eat a lot if the baby's going to be healthy!"

When Artoria puffed out her cheeks and snapped back at him, I smiled fondly and pinched her cheek.

"Good girl. My pretty sister should eat everything she wants. You've all worked hard. Suspend the wars of conquest for a while and get some proper rest. From now on, I'm devoting myself entirely to taking care of Artoria through childbirth."

At my declaration, the Heroic Spirits and my close retainers cheered and scattered to their own places of rest.

"Doesn't it feel like something about him has changed a little?"

"It certainly does."

Caenis and Penthesilea, who had remained in Nogares to protect Artoria and the kingdom, seemed to have noticed the change in me.

Well, all the others who had gone with me had noticed it at once too.

An unprecedented terror began spreading across all of Britain like a plague.

The nations of Wales and central Britain could not hide their shock.

Deep down, they had firmly believed that the young boy king would have his skull split by Grandot's rampaging axe and end up as fertilizer for Ireland.

Yet in less than a year, news that I had returned in triumph after unifying all of Ireland through overwhelming force and the terror of geasa was enough to chill them to the bone.

The fear that "We are clearly his next target" tightened around the throats of the lords.

But upon hearing this news, there was one man in Britain who raised a celebratory cup: King Leodegrance of Cameliard.

"Hahahaha! Did you see that! My eye for talent was not mistaken! He is a true vessel of emperorship, one who will build an empire beyond Britain itself!"

Unable to contain his joy, Leodegrance went straight to the room of his beautiful daughter, Guinevere.

"Guinevere, my proud daughter! The future emperor who unified Ireland will soon become your husband!"

At her father's excited words, Guinevere, with her beautiful black hair and elegant bearing, lowered her head with a faint blush on her face.

"I shall follow your will, Father. This daughter is simply overwhelmed by the thought that I may become the consort of such a great king."

Before her father, she was the image of a flawless, pure princess without the slightest imperfection.

But the moment Leodegrance left the room and the door shut behind him, her eyes gleamed with a sticky, greedy light.

She was not the real Guinevere.

She was Gendievre, an illegitimate sister who had deceived her father, imprisoned the real Guinevere in a cold, dark underground cell, and was now impersonating her.

'Heh... the emperor of an empire that even rules Ireland.'

She looked out the window and rubbed her thighs together.

It had begun as a simple plan to steal the position of queen with a false identity, but the stakes had grown far beyond anything she had imagined.

The one she had thought of as merely a young boy king, merely a strong and handsome king, had become the most dazzling sun in Britain. The overwhelming, brutal path of kingship Arthur Pendragon had displayed.

In the ears of Gendievre, who was mad for power and strength, flickered the image of a blood-soaked demon king who had forced countless humans to kneel beneath his feet.

'Ah... a monster like that is exactly the kind of man who suits me. A man with that overwhelming power and authority becoming my husband... it's driving me crazy. Just thinking about it makes my womb throb.'

Consumed by lewd, twisted ambition, Gendievre inwardly mocked the real Guinevere who would be trapped in the underground prison, and eagerly counted the days until the bloody wedding soon to come.

Time passed swiftly, and one winter day, white snow lay thick in the inner courtyard of Castle Nogares.

Inside the castle, maids and midwives hurried back and forth without rest carrying hot water, while Artoria's ragged screams and moans filled the bedchamber.

Ignoring Kay and Merlin pacing anxiously outside the door, I stood firm at the bedside and, together with Morgan, did everything I could to ease Artoria's pain with my Mana.

"Just a little more! Artoria, the baby's almost out! Hang in there!"

"Huaaah...! Brother!!"

The instant Artoria gripped my hand so tightly it turned white and poured out her last ounce of strength with a final breath—

"Waaahhh!!"

The baby's first cry, loud and brimming with life, rang out beneath the sky of Nogares.

"The child is born, Your Highness! A very healthy baby!"

The midwife cried out in a voice full of emotion.

Using the modern knowledge I had prepared in advance and warm sterilized water, I carefully cleaned the baby's body, then gently wrapped the child in swaddling cloth woven from the softest fabric in the world.

A child who had inherited the bloodline of the red dragon deeply.

Holding that tiny, squirming life in my arms, I carefully approached Artoria, who was smiling through sweat.

"You did well, Artoria. She's a truly beautiful daughter."

Artoria stretched out a weak hand and gently caressed the baby's face inside the swaddling cloth. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and dampened the pillow.

"Hehe... Brother, look at her face."

Artoria whispered in a voice full of emotion.

"She looks exactly like a perfect blend of me, Morgan, and you."

The baby's fair skin, the dazzling color of the very faint hair just beginning to grow in.

She was still a tiny newborn who could not even properly open her eyes, yet her features already carried the intense, prideful dignity unique to our Pendragon bloodline.

"Have you... thought of a name, Brother?"

At Artoria's question, I looked down affectionately at the baby's tiny hand gripping my index finger tightly.

If history had followed its original course, she would have become the rebellious knight who led Britain to ruin and drove a sword into her father's head.

But the child in my arms now was my own blood, born not under anyone's schemes or curses, but only amidst warm blessings.

"Yes. This child's name is..."

I softly kissed the baby's little forehead and spoke that name.

"Mordred."

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