"I say, King of Knights… Tell me I didn't hear that wrong."
The one to finally break the silence was the King of Conquerors, Rider. The usual cheerful grin had vanished from his face, replaced with a stern expression.
"You said you want to change fate—meaning you want to change history?"
"Yes. No matter how difficult the wish, as long as one holds the omnipotent Holy Grail, it can be fulfilled."
Saber declared with pride. Now she finally understood why the atmosphere among them had become so strange and cold.
"Ah, Saber? Just to be clear… This destruction of Britain you speak of—was that during your reign?"
"Yes! And that's why I cannot forgive myself."
Saber's voice grew even more resolute.
"I'm unwilling to accept that ending! Because I was the one who brought it about..."
Someone suddenly burst into laughter. It was crude, derisive laughter, devoid of understanding. And it came from none other than the radiant golden Heroic Spirit, Archer.
Humiliated beyond measure, Saber's face filled with anger. Her most cherished belief was being mocked by Archer.
"...Archer. What's so funny?"
Completely unfazed by her fury, Archer answered between chuckles:
"Claiming to be a king… praised by the masses… and yet saying you're unwilling? Ha! How could I not laugh? What a masterpiece! Saber, you're the best clown of all!"
As Archer kept laughing, Rider frowned, his gaze on Saber now full of displeasure.
"Wait a minute… Hold on, King of Knights. Are you saying you want to deny the history you yourself created?"
Saber, who had never doubted her ideals, was not shaken by the question.
"Exactly. Surprised? Find it laughable? As a king, I devoted myself to my country, and yet it was destroyed. Am I not allowed to grieve that?"
Archer responded with another burst of laughter.
"Hey, did you hear that, Rider? This self-proclaimed King of Knights… talking about 'devotion to her country!'"
But Rider did not laugh. Instead, he fell into a deep silence—something that, to Saber, felt just as insulting as laughter.
"I don't see what's so funny. As a king, of course I should step forward and strive for my nation's prosperity!"
"You're wrong."
Rider's stern denial came without hesitation.
"It is not the king who devotes themselves. It is the nation and the people who offer everything to the king. Don't get it twisted."
"What did you say?"
Saber could no longer hold back her anger. She raised her voice.
"That's tyranny! Rider, Archer—you're both wrong! That's not how a king should rule!"
"Maybe so. But we are not just tyrants—we're heroes, too."
Rider answered calmly, without even raising an eyebrow.
"So, Saber, if a king is unsatisfied with the outcome of their rule, then that king is nothing more than a failure—worse than a tyrant."
Unlike Archer, who mocked her openly, Rider denied Saber's ideals at their very core. Saber furrowed her brows and snapped back sharply:
"Iskandar, your empire eventually broke apart into four separate realms. You mean to say you feel no regret about that? Don't you want to do it over again, to save your nation?"
"No."
Rider didn't even hesitate. He answered without thinking, puffing his chest as he stared directly into Saber's sharp gaze.
"If my decisions—and my subjects—led to that result, then destruction was inevitable. I'll mourn, and I'll shed tears… but I will never regret it."
"How can you say that…?"
"And I would never dream of overturning history! Such foolishness is an insult to all the people who lived in the era I built!"
Saber replied to his proud words with equal defiance:
"You say that, but you speak only from a warrior's pride. The people wouldn't agree. What they want is salvation."
"Are you saying they want to be saved by a king?"
Rider shrugged and let out a laugh.
"I don't get it. What value is there in something like that?"
"That is a king's duty!"
Now it was Saber's turn to speak with pride.
"Proper governance, proper order—these are what the people expect."
"Then you're just a 'righteous' slave, aren't you?"
"If that's how you want to see it, then fine. Sacrificing oneself for an ideal is what makes a true king."
Without a hint of hesitation, the young King of Knights nodded.
"Through their king, people understand law and order. What a king represents should not be something that dies with them—it should be something greater, something nobler."
Looking at the unshaken Saber, Rider shook his head, as if pitying her.
"That's not the kind of life a person should choose."
"No. But being born a king means you can't hope for an ordinary life."
To become a perfect monarch, to embody an ideal, she had sacrificed her body and discarded her emotions. The life of the girl named Artoria had changed completely the moment she drew the sword from the stone. From that point on, she had become an undefeated legend—a symbol of song and dream.
There had been pain, there had been doubt, but they came with the glory of victory. Her unchanging conviction was what still gave strength to the hand that held her sword.
"King of Conquerors, someone like you who only lives for themselves could never understand my ideals. You're just a tyrant driven by desire!"
What started as a banquet had now turned into a fierce debate between Saber and Rider. Watching them argue, Archer made only one comment before falling silent and returning to his wine. Flan, too, had remained silent from beginning to end.
Though she had declared herself a king before three genuine rulers, in truth, she was still just a child.
Flan had no understanding of the grand matters of nationhood discussed by Saber and Rider, nor of imperial authority.
She had spent nearly five hundred years in a dark underground cellar, knowing nothing of such things. She was simply speaking on behalf of her sister—giving voice to the long-hidden wish in her heart: the revival of the Scarlet family.
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