Chapter 83: Family Reunion -1-
The army that had fully brought all of Pictland under its control, accepted Dál Riata’s surrender, and finished the bloody purge of the traitors within at last crossed the border into Garlot, the northernmost human kingdom in Britain.
The Kingdom of Garlot’s attitude toward us was quite different from that of the Picts before them.
The gates stood open, and they received us with proper courtesy, but in the eyes of the soldiers guarding the walls lingered fear they could not hide, along with taut vigilance.
Which was only natural. The army of the demon king who had split the King of Fortriu and his fortress walls in half with a single blow had arrived right at their doorstep.
On top of that, between Garlot’s royal house and our House of Pendragon lay a deeply uncomfortable past, stained with blood.
The audience chamber was grand, yet somehow weighed down by a sunken atmosphere.
Before the throne stood Garlot’s ruler, King Nentres, his expression stiff.
As befitted a monarch who had defended his country for many years against invaders from the continent and the northern barbarians, he looked down at me with a grave and stern bearing.
But he was not where my gaze settled. My eyes stopped on the woman standing right beside King Nentres, dressed in an elegant gown.
My half-sister, Elaine.
The moment we faced her, I heard Artoria beside me draw in a small breath.
Elaine’s features bore a strange resemblance to Artoria’s.
But unlike Artoria’s blond hair, touched with the proud nobility unique to the Pendragons, Elaine’s hair was a calm, alluring brown.
The instant our eyes met hers, an odd longing rose in both Artoria and me, together with a heavy sense of debt.
The original sin of the late king, Uther Pendragon.
Uther had killed her true father, Gorlois, and raped her mother, Duchess Igraine, begetting Artoria and me.
From Garlot’s point of view, we were not only conquerors, but also the bloodline left behind by the enemy who had ruined their father- and mother-in-law.
And on top of that, we were the heirs born from the very cause of it all.
Even if they hated us, even if they drew their swords and attacked us on the spot, it would have been a relationship in which we could say nothing in our defense.
"Arthur Pendragon, new hegemon of Britain. Welcome to the fortress of Garlot."
King Nentres was the first to break the silence, greeting me in a heavy voice.
In that voice lingered the torment of a man caught between the pride of a king and the pressure radiating from the Heroic Spirits standing behind me, such as Barghest and Ushiwakamaru.
I gave a slight bow in courtesy, then placed the parchment scroll I had brought onto the table.
"Thank you for your welcome, King Nentres. I will not waste words. I have come to propose an unprecedented peace to the Kingdom of Garlot."
"Peace... is that what you said?"
King Nentres’s brow twitched.
"That is correct. Erin and the seven kingdoms of Pictland have already knelt beneath my feet. If I wished, I could force Garlot into submission as well and make it a vassal state by arms. But... I will not demand Garlot’s submission. I will not seize your land, nor will I press you for tribute. I ask only that we remain equal allies, respecting one another’s borders and defending Britain together against foreign enemies."
At my extraordinary concession, the ministers in the audience chamber began to murmur. For terms offered by the demon king who had swallowed Pictland in one gulp, they were excessively generous.
Well, of course they were. This was the land of family. I did not particularly want to crush it by force.
For the unification of Britain, turning them into a vassal state would have been the proper course, but surely blood ties made this much acceptable.
But King Nentres’s expression was tangled beyond measure.
"Politically speaking, there is no better offer than this. To make an enemy of Pictland’s new ruler would be an act of self-destruction that leads the kingdom to ruin. But... is that man not the child of Uther, who shattered my wife’s family?"
The fact that he had to join hands with Uther’s bloodline, born of filthy scheming, tormented his reason both as King of Garlot and as the husband of one woman.
Just as he fell into deep thought, his emotions in turmoil, gripping the arm of the throne tightly, Elaine, who had been quietly observing the situation, slowly stepped forward.
With her brown hair lightly swaying, she warmly covered her troubled husband’s hand.
"I believe it would be right to accept King Arthur’s proposal."
"My queen, but they are..."
"The tragedy of the past is an undeniable fact, and I too will never forget that pain for as long as I live."
Elaine’s sorrowful eyes briefly turned toward Artoria and me, then returned to King Nentres, hardening with resolve.
"But King Arthur and Princess Artoria standing before us are not the ones who committed that tragedy. The lives of countless people already rest upon their shoulders. For Garlot’s safety and future, we must look not at the ghosts of the past, but at the reality of the present."
At her thoughtful and wise mediation, King Nentres let out a long sigh. If even his wife was willing to permit this relationship and choose the future, then he no longer had grounds to persist stubbornly.
"...Very well, King Arthur. For the sake of Britain’s future, the Kingdom of Garlot will accept the peace you propose. Let us swear an alliance."
When King Nentres at last accepted the alliance, the taut tension hanging over the audience chamber eased.
Documents were exchanged, along with the formal procedures of oath-taking, and peace between the two kingdoms was officially established.
When the rough outline of official business had been concluded, I took my hand from the hilt of Caliburn and looked King Nentres straight in the eye.
"King Nentres. The formal procedures between allied nations are now complete, but... I have one personal request."
"A personal request?"
"Yes. Together with my sister Artoria, I would like some time to speak privately with Queen Elaine."
At those words, King Nentres’s face stiffened in an instant.
He had already been wary of Uther’s bloodline because of the tragedy suffered by his wife’s parents.
Now a husband’s protective instinct flared within him, fearing that Artoria and I might mean to harm or insult Elaine.
"That would be difficult. I do not wish for my queen to suffer pain over the past. If there is to be conversation, then let it be here—"
"It is all right."
Elaine gently stopped him. She turned to her husband and gave him a faint smile, as if to reassure him.
"I too have wanted, at least once, to have an honest conversation with these young siblings. So it is fine if you leave us for a little while."
Faced with his wife’s firm stance, King Nentres could only nod in the end, though a bitter look remained on his face.
"...Do not make it long."
Thus we left the audience chamber where King Nentres and the ministers remained, and entered the queen’s room. Soon the door slowly closed behind us.
Inside the splendid and spacious chamber remained only half-siblings bound together by a cruel fate.
Only Artoria, Elaine, and I were left, looking at one another.
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