「Fierce.」
That was Su Shu's (Alwin's) first impression. He had never experienced such a fierce, demanding kiss. It was like a torrential downpour. She had pushed him onto the bed with sudden force, pressing her body down onto his. Their soft lips met, trembling as they embraced in a kiss. There was no trace of gentleness. Instead, it felt like... a battering ram against a fortress gate.
—She launched an offensive, her army charging forward, crashing against his defenses with an undeniable force,霸道地 prying open his gates. This felt like a battle to the death. The heat. The breath. The urgency. Within the forceful kiss, a sweet liquid was exchanged with the building heat, and a faint, metallic taste began to emerge. ...Blood. —It was the sweet taste of blood.
It was as if emotions, suppressed for too long and brewed too deeply, had finally been unleashed in a violent, crashing tide. The force of her kiss was so overwhelming, it felt as if she wanted to melt them together until they suffocated. So much so that his lip was bitten, and from it trickled the cloying sweetness of blood. Tasting it, her lips showed no sign of stopping.
She was like parched earth in a drought, thirstily drinking in the nourishing rain. She kissed him with that same intensity, that same ferocity. She sucked at his lips devotedly, as if trying to drink his very blood.
...Blood. The dragon blood inside you screamed. Your heart hammered like a war drum. An intense pleasure, enough to send you to heaven, surged through your body. You wanted to... Defile her— You wanted to, savagely! Fiercely! Without a shred of mercy... Violate her! Make her fall! Corrupt her! Possess her—! Just the thought of such a scene... Elicited an ultimate pleasure that sent shivers through the very marrow of your brain.
A tidal wave of desire crashed against your mind. Overlapping whispers hissed like demons from subspace. Temptation, desire, pleasure, malice... Everything, including her incredibly proactive and demanding attitude, was urging you, pushing you, driving you, luring you to just... —Completely... take her.
Those temptations, those whispers. That pleasure, that screaming. The silver-haired young man lowered his eyelids. His iron-gray eyes seemed to hold all the sorrow of the world—he felt an undeniable sadness, and he ignored all those urges completely. The intoxicating kiss finally broke... A sliver of moonlight shone brilliantly between them. The seductive charm in her deep blue eyes was endless. They looked at each other. Su Shu just watched her, watched as her hand clumsily began to explore him. "Alwin..." Her slender, pale fingertips trembled as they fumbled with the sash of his robe. "Take me— just like you always do."
Just like I always do... as usual? But... —We have no "as usual."
He didn't need the resonance of his dragon blood. He didn't need the surging tide of desire to tell him. If his mind had been sluggish from exhaustion before... Then the instant that hand began to explore him... Su Shu had already... recognized the complete truth.
She looks so much like her. He just stared at the woman before him. ...It was an incredible likeness. Even after spending countless days and nights with his beloved witch, after lifting her face to kiss her deeply countless times, after melting into their shared, intoxicating love countless times... He could barely find a single flaw in the woman before him. She was truly... trying her absolute best to imitate her. Her face, her figure... even the aura she emanated. In this deep, cloudless night, with no bright moon or watching stars... Facing the silver-haired beauty kissing him, Su Shu felt as if he had returned to that distant afternoon when he first kissed the witch. That moment then... Was so much like, this moment now. It's so similar.
He hadn't seen her in so long. She had dressed up so carefully. Her stunning beauty was even more worthy of worship now. But... Those nervous movements. The slight tremor of her fingertips as they touched his skin. The clumsy, stiff way her tongue intertwined with his within her thin lips. All of it... betrayed her identity.
If the witch's embrace was like a hot spring in a frozen mountain—cold on the surface, but once enveloped by her, you could feel the warm, fervent emotion radiating from her beating heart... Then the woman before him was like a babbling brook. Flowing, clear and pure, through a valley—so cool, so trembling, so clumsy.
"Alwin, take me..." Facing the silver-haired beauty's nearly drowning, shimmering gaze... A complex, bitter smile appeared on Su Shu's face. She was about to lean in to kiss him again. And so. He raised his hand and gently pressed his index finger against her lips. This incredibly slight movement... Made her entire body freeze completely.
"Long time no see," he said. "Artoria..."
The silver-haired young man's voice was, as always, soft and light. As light as the wind, brushing against her face before disappearing into the night. So light it seemed afraid... of startling her. The words fell. The echo hung in the air. The finger gently pressed against her lips held no force at all. Yet it made Artoria's body... begin to tremble uncontrollably.
"Why, Alwin..." It was a question. An interrogation. Like her heartstrings and her body, her voice trembled. The deep blue lake of her eyes rippled violently. Those overlapping, surging ripples made Su Shu's gaze grow hazy. They even... cry so similarly.So... pitiable.
A damp, warm feeling spread across his chest. Su Shu took her hand, drawing a deep breath. He suppressed the violent impulse in his heart, gently moved her pale fingers away, and placed them on the bed. Gently, as if holding a precious, fragile treasure, Su Shu took her shoulders—pushing her back, he slowly sat up. Her expression was dazed and frozen. As if her tears, too, had frozen in her eyes. The silver-haired young man sat up, tied the sash of his robe, and looked down at her with his iron-gray eyes. "...I'm sorry, Artoria."
...Sorry. Like a string of pearls snapping. Clear teardrops bloomed on the floor. Those simple words, however, seemed to suddenly enrage her. "I... I don't need your apology!" Her eyes brimming with tears. Like an enraged lioness, she grabbed the collar of his robe with both hands. With tremendous force. She yanked his face towards hers and kissed him ferociously. She gnawed and sucked at his lips. Like a lioness tearing viciously at her prey with sharp teeth. Blood flowed from them. Mixed with her tears. It formed a salty, bitter, metallic taste—the taste of possessiveness. And yet... No matter how she demanded, no matter how she stimulated him with passion or pain. No matter how she embraced him, wrapping her arms around his neck to kiss him forcefully, trying to meld him into her own body. ...There was no reaction. He had lost even the most basic impulse to reciprocate or resist—
Artoria stared at the silver-haired young man before her. He simply gazed back at her, silently, full of pity. Like a demagnetized magnet. He had lost all response to her pull. This is meaningless, Artoria. His sorrowful gaze seemed to convey those words. But. "It... it has meaning..." Cupping his face. She murmured, dazed. She continued to leave the marks of her bites on his lips. "—You... being in front of me right now... that is my meaning... Alwin..."
As if sensing her every thought. The man before her raised his hand and gently pressed his index finger to her lips again. "I... have no love for you, Artoria."
"..." Silence. A silence so profound that even the deep night could not conceal it. All the tearing, the madness, the venting... all of it drained away, leaving only a sour ache. "Why..." Artoria lowered her gaze, her body trembling uncontrollably. Her soft, swaying silver hair shielded her shadowed face. Her voice was faint and hoarse. "Why... even after I've done all this... Alwin... Senpai... "Even if you recognized me... so what... you could have pretended... you didn't... "I... I even took her place... my sister's place... I just wanted... for a short while... to have you... just for a little while... "Yes... that's right..." Muttering as if in a trance. She seemed to find a spark of life, desperately grasping at a life-saving straw. She suddenly looked up, her eyes swimming in tears, her voice trembling. "—It's okay to treat me as her! "That's right... just pretend you didn't notice...! Alwin... just like you do with my sister... smile at me..." She forced a smile. "I'm begging you... Alwin..." A heartbreaking light began to glimmer in her pupils. "Just for tonight... just for... right now... "That would be... enough for me."
Looking at her dazed, sorrowful, almost begging... smile. Su Shu lowered his eyelids. "I refuse, Artoria."
The light in her eyes froze. As if forcing the words from her throat, she choked out. "...W-Why?" "Because..." the silver-haired young man said softly, "my heart already belongs to Morgan."
"...Morgan." Artoria numbly repeated the name. Her hand slowly clenched into a fist. Her heart slowly began to collapse. It shattered on the ground and was blown away by the wind. Separation from love. Union with hatred. The torment of existence itself. The pain of unattainable desire. The greatest suffering in the world is wanting something you can never have. As if questioning her very soul. "Morgan..." She let out a final, desperate cry. "—Morgan! It's always Morgan! So what if you love my sister, Alwin! If you love her, does that mean you can't love me too?!" She roared. Questioning him like a raging tidal wave. "You turned me into a person, you dragged me down! You gave me peace of mind, only to snatch it away completely! "You said you were going to save me..." Swaying. Her voice began to drift. Finally, like a bonfire that had burned through all its fuel, it gradually faded. "—What, exactly, did you save?"
Su Shu just watched her. Watched her burn, watched her extinguish. Sin.This is the sin of Alwin Pendragon.Yes, I truly am a man overflowing with evil.Perhaps... I should never have walked into that wheat field. This was the cruelest farewell he could have possibly imagined. "My salvation... has nothing to do with you."
The words fell. Only silence remained. She didn't say another word. Although, Su Shu could see the screams in her eyes. And yet, she didn't say another word. The silver-haired young man turned and left. Artoria reached out, trying to grab him as he departed. But she only caught a cold, thin shadow. No... She couldn't even lift her hand—that was just her imagination.
"Love is... a desire for monopoly. "Morgan has already taken my heart, and I have taken hers... I'm sorry, but there is no room for you in it. I have always seen you as a friend, Artoria. "Yes, it was my arrogance to want to save you, yet I cannot accept your feelings—this is undoubtedly my baseness, my sin, and I don't know how to atone for it." Standing at the edge of the bedroom's shadow, the man, he turned back and said. "...Just pretend I never appeared."
The deep blue eyes gradually shifted to deep green. The voluptuous figure shrank back, returning to the girl's former youthful form. The silver in her hair faded inch by inch, returning to a brilliant, glorious gold. "Alwin... Senpai..." She raised her head. Her exquisite face was unblemished. Her soft golden hair swayed gently, as if still dancing in that radiant wheat field. As always. Artoria smiled that way. "You really didn't leave any room for me at all? "You can't accept my love because of Morgan, right? "But my sister, if she agreed....."
"—We already... have a daughter."
Her final smile froze on her face. "Goodbye, Artoria."
Artoria's form collapsed. She was still standing. But she had collapsed. She didn't know how she managed to walk out of that room. The entire castle had completely crumbled, its ruins burning in a sky-high inferno. Behind her, she left a trail of devastation, as if a hurricane had swept through. The ground was pulverized and annihilated by a storm of sword energy, stretching for a thousand meters. No one dared to approach. Standing under the bleak, starless night sky. Dazed, she lifted her gaze as if sensing something. In the deep, dark canopy of the heavens, gloomy clouds gathered. The twisted, spiraling, bizarre vortex of clouds formed what looked like a hollow eyeball, silently and calmly staring down at her. "Even you, sky, are you laughing at me too..."
BOOM—
A brilliant, dazzling beam of sword light shot towards the heavens, scattering the swirling clouds. And yet... The bizarre, spiraling clouds did not dissipate. Instead, they slowly gathered back into the shape of a vortex-like eyeball. Silently, calmly, watching her. For some reason. "Heh... hehe... ha... hahaha—!!!" As if hearing a voice from the bottom of her heart, a choked laugh rose in the throat of the disheveled, golden-haired girl, before erupting into a manic, hoarse peal of laughter.
"I get it now. I completely understand! "You were right... Alwin-senpai. "You were... hinting at it for me! "Love is... a desire for monopoly. "And I... selfishly love you. "So, I must... have you all to myself— "What does it matter... if you don't love me? "If I'm the only one left for you to love, then you'll be able to... love me, won't you?"
"My salvation has nothing to do with you." "That's right. Even if you hate me, despise me, distance yourself from me... I will still make you live. "I will take you, for myself—"
As if suddenly remembering something. Her muttering paused for a dazed moment. "A daugh...ter...?" Artoria dazedly lifted her hand and wiped the thick, red substance from her lips. That was... Alwin's blood. "Senpai..." She smiled. A happy, brilliant smile. "We will have a daughter, too."
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