The Lion King's order to rotate the garrison had caught Lancelot off guard, but he completed the handover with Mordred without complaint.
However, shortly after setting out with his forces, a messenger from the Holy City arrived with instructions—he was to return to Camelot immediately.
This time, the command didn't come from the Lion King, but from Agravain, her adjutant.
Whether it was to report back to the Holy City or because the Lion King had issued new orders, Lancelot didn't know. Regardless, he led his troops back to Camelot and entered the council chamber used by the Knights of the Round Table.
"What's going on, Agravain? By the King's command, I was supposed to head to the wilderness where Mordred had been stationed and begin scouting toward the direction of the mountain folk," Lancelot asked.
He also noticed that, in addition to Agravain, both Gawain and Tristan were seated at the long table.
"There's something we need to discuss with you, Sir Lancelot," Gawain said. "Please, have a seat first."
Lancelot noted that besides Gawain, even Tristan wore a rather uneasy expression.
"Did something happen?" Lancelot assumed some unexpected and serious event must've occurred during his absence from the Holy City.
Tristan was the one to answer. "We're concerned the King may have been influenced… and is now hesitating. We're unsure whether to advise her that she may have shown too much mercy in a certain matter."
"Influenced?" Lancelot instinctively cast a suspicious glance at Agravain.
In life, he had never trusted Agravain, seeing him as a spy sent by Morgan to infiltrate the Round Table and compete with the King for the throne. Even now, whether in life or in the Holy City, Agravain oversaw all domestic affairs.
"This meeting was called because, among the Knights of the Round Table, you three are perhaps the most familiar with matters concerning women," Agravain said. "So I must discuss with you something that may come across as disrespectful to the King."
If he didn't, eventually there would be another rift between the King and her knights—one that could threaten the success of her great plan.
Every knight who remained knew full well: even if they helped the King complete that plan, they wouldn't be allowed to remain in Camelot. In the end, they were the ones who would be discarded.
Yet even so, not one of them hesitated.
To protect the humans who remained, they had resolved to give their lives a second time.
"Whether the King is male or female doesn't matter. Surely you all understand by now that it was never the King's gender that made you choose to follow her."
Realizing the issue at hand wasn't as dire as he feared, Lancelot felt a bit of relief—though he still asked with a serious expression.
"But would a king who has never lived as a woman be susceptible to a man's charms?" Gawain's expression was grim, as though the question held grave weight.
Lancelot thought he'd misheard. "The Enforcement Knights were all created by the King through the power of the Holy Lance. They possess no will of their own. The only men who remain at the King's side are us. Who could possibly...?"
"Have you forgotten, Sir Lancelot? In this White Walls City, there's still one man who refuses to submit to the King," Tristan reminded him.
"…The Master of Chaldea?" Lancelot's eyes widened, a cold sweat forming on his brow.
From a knight's and a man's perspective, Lancelot held Tenkei Shiomi in high regard.
As a mere human, he wielded the cursed red spear and could stand his ground against Knights of the Round Table. Back during their encounter on the battlefield—if Shiomi had been aiming to kill instead of warn—Agravain's head would've already been skewered by that spear.
And with his striking looks and dignified demeanor, it wouldn't be surprising if such a man had his share of romantic entanglements.
In fact, were he an ally, they might've even shared casual talks about women.
But to suggest now that the King had been swayed by this prisoner?
"Impossible. Even if the man is exceptional, how could the King—who has abandoned her human heart and vowed to follow the path of the lion—be deceived by someone like that?" Lancelot slammed his fist onto the long table, the sound of metal against wood echoing heavily.
"You're right," Gawain said with a deep frown. "Under normal circumstances, no one could possibly sway the King... We all firmly believe she wouldn't be beguiled by some ordinary man..."
"But Sir Lancelot, do you remember something else?" Tristan added. "The Master of Chaldea... is Morgan's man."
"What—" Lancelot froze.
Agravain had once been injured by the red spear for insulting Morgan, calling her a venomous woman.
They had all heard Morgan refer to Shiomi as "my husband." The meaning behind that title was crystal clear.
"He's Morgan's man—and not just that, but one who seems rational, calm, and mindful of the bigger picture," Tristan sighed, almost poetically. "Ah... it pains me. If he's the kind of man who could even deceive Morgan, and if our King has merely imprisoned him... how could she not eventually fall prey to his silver tongue?"
"In the end, we were all set on executing the Master of Chaldea then and there," Gawain said, turning to Agravain. "But you brought the King's secret order—an order to take him alive. Why would the King arrange such a thing?"
The knights had already begun to piece it together—the Lion King must have had a reason from the very beginning for ordering that he be captured alive.
That man had even been brought along to witness the "Holy Selection," had interfered during the "Holy Punishment," and even attempted to flee with Morgan.
Though Shiomi ultimately failed, the King had not declared any punishment.
Most telling of all, despite not needing a Master, the King had forcibly contracted with that man.
"The King's orders are absolute," Agravain said flatly, his face unreadable. "Bringing Lancelot back midway was precisely to address this matter…"
"I understand your concern," Lancelot murmured, folding his hands and pressing his forehead heavily against his gauntlets. "If the King has truly been bewitched by the Master of Chaldea… then everything we've sacrificed until now will have been for nothing."
He never imagined that one day he would have to worry about something as absurd as "the King being seduced by a man."
Lancelot would sooner fear that one day he might collapse under the weight of everything and beg his comrades to end him, just as Gareth once had.
"But what should we do? Has the King truly been swayed? Should we confront her about it?" Gawain looked to the others. "If it turns out we're wrong…"
"Even if it pains us, as knights, we have a duty to speak up if the King may be making a mistake."
Tristan voiced what everyone else was already thinking.
And in that moment, the Knights of the Round Table could see the same resolve reflected in one another's eyes.