"Four hundred years remain until the Great Calamity… If my premonition is correct, this one will wipe out at least ninety percent of Britannia's fairies, erasing even the foundation for the next generation's birth."
After returning to the library, Totorot went off to tidy her own room, while Aesc stayed behind to speak privately with Shiomi about what was to come.
"I'm afraid even Wryneck and Ector won't be spared," Shiomi said, sitting by the bed as he gently combed Baobhan Sith's hair.
Aesc froze for a moment, then lowered her head. "Most likely not."
"Since this place was originally a Pruned Event—a Lostbelt—I believe the next Great Calamity is what ultimately caused it to be cut away. The usual cycle of disasters wasn't enough to make the fairies realize their folly. So, in the twelve-thousandth year after Britannia's founding, an even greater catastrophe erupted, leading this world toward an ending without a future."
Shiomi spoke quietly, then shared something he had never told her before.
"When I arrived two thousand years into this Lostbelt's future, Britannia had already become a dead island. Nothing remained but plants—no trace of life at all."
"So I intend to use the magical power of the Fantasy Tree to resurrect Britannia after the next Great Calamity," Aesc said.
"And how exactly do you plan to do that?"
"By ensuring that all the dead fairies are reborn not as 'the next generation,' but as 'this generation.' During that process, I'll implant special Command Spells to draw in magical energy—something I'll call an 'Existence Tax.'" Aesc looked directly at Shiomi. "This time, I won't govern Britannia. I'll rule it."
As she spoke, her blue eyes were like frozen glass—clear and cold to the core.
The thousand years she had spent building and ruling Londinium had not been wasted.
During that time, Aesc had learned much, especially about the nature of leadership and governance.
But this time, it would no longer be the gentle kind of rule she once practiced.
"So," Shiomi asked with a faint, knowing smile, "you plan to become a queen?"
"Exactly. There's no need to keep playing at 'shared prosperity' with the fairies. Fairies and humans alike will either obey me and accept my rule—or they'll die. That's all there is to it."
Shiomi smiled bitterly. "Don't try to act so tough. I know you can do it—revive Britannia and make the fairies live under your rule. But can you really become cold enough? Can you sit on the throne, pass harsh laws, and decide who lives and dies without hesitation?"
"…Of course," Aesc said after a half-second pause.
"Then why not start with me?" Shiomi replied. "I have no intention of giving up my claim to Britannia's throne. And Britannia doesn't need two rulers. You can't kill me, but I'm sure you could seal me away."
"Uh…" Aesc faltered, caught off guard. "I was thinking we could rule together—you know, 'dual kingship.'"
"The fact that you'd even suggest that shows your weakness," Shiomi said, his tone unusually sharp. "A king must be absolute—one and only. How could a ruler allow another to stand beside them?"
Aesc's face flushed bright red. She slammed her hand down on the bed in frustration. "Then what do you suggest, huh? I think my plan's perfect! Unless you come up with something better, you're sleeping on the floor tonight!"
Shiomi chuckled, then moved closer and wrapped his arms around her. Their foreheads touched, the tension between them melting into quiet closeness.
"The plan is perfect, but it doesn't change one truth: even after witnessing so much life and death, you're still the same pure-hearted person you've always been. Forcing yourself to kill would only torment you—it would eat away at your heart and leave you sleepless," Shiomi said softly. "So… leave the rest to me."
"But you just said dual kingship was naive…" Aesc looked at him with quiet reproach, feeling as though they had come full circle.
"Dual kingship is naive," Shiomi replied with a faint smile. "But what if it's two kings in conflict?"
"We… become enemies?" Aesc asked in confusion.
Shiomi shook his head. "Only in name. I would take the title of the opposing king—one who conquers all of Britannia, slaughtering every fairy and every human who refuses to submit. Your role would be to stop me from wiping them all out, forcing the fairies to submit to your rule if they wish to live."
"What's the point of that? Isn't that just replacing the calamities with you as the enemy?" Aesc looked at him, puzzled.
In essence, he would still be playing the role of a savior—one who destroys in order to save. It felt natural, yet hard to comprehend.
"When Britannia is reborn, and the Lostbelt transforms into the Anomaly World, there will be no more calamities," Shiomi said calmly. "I will exist as Britannia's sole, visible 'calamity,' slaughtering the island's fairies endlessly."
"Then… you mean—" Aesc's eyes widened as realization struck her.
The reason the fairies had always remained so reckless, so willing to destroy peace and stability just to satisfy their whims, even in the face of calamity, was because those disasters were like forces of nature—mindless, will-less, without intent. Without a will behind the destruction, the fairies never understood the need to restrain or resist it.
What Shiomi intended was to make them live forever in visible, tangible fear—either die by his blade, or surrender and live under Aesc's rule.
"So this is what you meant… by helping me maintain Britannia?" Aesc said quietly, unable to find any way to argue. She was perceptive enough to see how effective his idea truly was.
After all, the two strongest beings in all of Britannia were her and him.
"If anything, I've wanted to do this for a long time," Shiomi admitted with a faint, eager smile. "If it weren't for your sake, my patience with the fairies of Faerie Britain would've run out in the first three hundred years."
"..." Aesc pressed her fingers to her temples, sighing.
If her husband were the one to do it, she knew he could execute the plan perfectly.
If nothing else, his ruthless command over the Royal Guard and the Round Table Army during the fall of Londinium—cutting down any fairy without hesitation—was something she could never emulate. That cold precision, that unwavering resolve… she simply didn't have it in her.
Even if she tried to imitate him, it would only ever be an empty gesture.
But this plan… would mark their true separation. Not like their brief partings during the Londinium campaign—days or months apart while they worked toward the same goal.
Then, they had fought as one: she commanding from the rear, he striking from the front lines. Perfect coordination.
Once this plan began, they would only see each other across a battlefield.
Even if he was forever the one swinging his blade against the fairies under her banner, unable to speak to her as before, she knew how unbearably lonely it would be for him.
"It seems this really is the only perfect way."
She reached out, gently brushing her hand across Baobhan Sith's sleeping face—and accepted Shiomi's plan.
...