One day, then two... In the blink of an eye, seven days had passed.
During this time, not only had the Holy Grail War come to a close, but Guinevere and the others had also brought Illya to live with them. Naturally, the Einzbern Family had a new Head.
At that moment, in an ordinary detached house in Fuyuki City, Morgan had just seen off visitors from the Purification Plan and the Clock Tower on Guinevere's behalf. Her gaze then locked with her foolish sister's.
"Foolish sister, is it really so difficult for you to call me 'Sister'?"
"The day you stop coveting Guinevere is the day I'll call you 'Sister.' Don't think I don't know you gave your memories to the Morgan of another worldline. What exactly are you plotting?"
"What am I plotting? To change that world's fate, of course. And while I'm at it, to test whether the path you all abandoned—the path of the Lostbelts—is truly impassable. Foolish sister, by the time I was summoned as a Servant to that world, a Fantasy Tree already existed there. It had the prerequisites, the foundation, to walk that path."
"Hah! But the problem is, for a Lostbelt to persist, it must erode and replace Proper Human History. At best, you're aiding the enemy. At worst, you're trying to overthrow Proper Human History itself!"
Inside the ordinary living room of the detached house, Morgan, dressed in her JK school uniform but with the clear figure of an adult woman, lay sideways on the sofa, completely ignoring the stern-faced King of Knights.
She knew her sister was telling the truth, but so what? Besides, Merlin's warning had already told her that the Lostbelt would ultimately fail.
All she wanted was to ask Guinevere for help—to have her repay a small debt by saving that other, resolute yet tragic version of herself in that Lostbelt.
Everything in that Lostbelt originated from the memories she had sent to the past Morgan.
"Look," Morgan said, "I know what you're worried about. The me here has no right to compete with you for Guinevere—after all, my children are already grown. But the other me in the Lostbelt does. She won't suffer the same misfortune I did."
Lying on the sofa, Morgan left much unsaid, but the words she chose were more than enough to fray the King of Knights' nerves.
After the initial tension subsided, however, the King of Knights regained the calm composure she had long since cultivated. She had already decided to trust Guinevere, no matter who the rival was. She had simply learned to vent her emotions when necessary, letting Guinevere know what was truly on her mind.
So, what was Guinevere doing at this moment?
-
"Sakura, did you pick up your mother and sister?"
"Yes, Big Sister Guinevere, I did. My dad... no, Mr. Tohsaka... is there really no hope for him?"
"I checked him earlier. His body is still alive, but his soul is gone. Bringing him back would require a miracle."
"The Holy Grail War?"
"Perhaps. But the Fuyuki Greater Grail has already been dismantled. If you have the will and the ability when you're older, you could try building a new Greater Grail System. After this Holy Grail War ends, the path to the Root will be fully formed. With all the relevant data sent to the Clock Tower, Kayneth says many Mage families are already planning to construct their own Holy Grail Systems."
On the second floor, in her bedroom, Guinevere stared at a freshly inked sketch, twirling a pen in one hand while holding her phone to talk with Sakura.
With the Holy Grail War over and Illya safely rescued, Guinevere had only one short-term goal left: to change the public's perception of the King of Knights' court as much as possible.
Over the past few days, she'd had the Clock Tower conduct a thorough investigation. She discovered that the historical accounts she had fabricated had been lost to time. The most widely circulated version now was the Legend of the King of Knights, which portrayed Lancelot as a faerie girl and depicted Guinevere having an affair with her...
That version was actually the work of a novelist from several centuries later, and the author had undeniable ties to the Holy Church.
Since the original history was lost and the mainstream perception was now shaped by a novel, Guinevere realized it would be much easier to reshape public opinion.
"Ahem, Sakura," she said, "for now, try to visit your mother and sister often. Help them get used to the Clock Tower, even though you only arrived a few days earlier yourself."
"Big Sister Guinevere, I will," Sakura replied. "Thank you for giving me the Pendragon name, and for saving me... for letting me see my mother and sister again."
"There's no need to thank me. I'm not some demon, and you're so adorable. By the way, do you know someone named Waver Velvet?"
"I've heard about him. He's the one who stole Master Kayneth's Holy Relic, right? But Master Kayneth was apparently quite satisfied with the thesis he brought back. He's even considering having him marry into the El-Melloi family and get engaged to Miss Reines."
Holding the phone, Guinevere now had the pen clamped between her nose and upper lip. She hadn't expected Waver to actually earn someone's admiration and realized her own teasing had inadvertently helped him.
She pursed her lips, noncommittal. Still, she knew that if Waver's future unfolded as she remembered, he would indeed be worthy of Reines. The problem was that Waver's mind was completely occupied by the King of Conquerors; in matters of romance, he was even more clueless than the King of Knights had been when they first met, back when Artoria still didn't understand the human heart.
A spark of inspiration flashed in Guinevere's mind. She knew what kind of doujinshi to draw next.
After saying goodbye to Sakura and reminding her to take care of herself, Guinevere called Kayneth. She asked him to look after Sakura and mentioned that she would be returning to Great Britain soon and would visit the Clock Tower then.
"Alright, I'll start by drawing the story of how Lia and I first met," she muttered to herself. "If my art isn't good enough or the story is poorly structured, I'll have the Clock Tower find professionals to polish it. In the future, even if it doesn't sell well, I'll have it adapted into live-action and anime. I'll force-feed it to the public if I have to.
"But the character designs need to be done carefully. I absolutely can't base them on our real appearances, or else..."
Ahem... Drawing a doujinshi about myself... this is already weird enough.
Yes, Guinevere was drawing a doujinshi about her and the King of Knights, even after she had already tasked the Clock Tower with finding authors to do the same.
When she envisioned something, she felt compelled to work on it herself, at least in part.
The pen scratched across the paper, rapidly filling the gridded sheets. In the Far East of 1990, hand-drawing still reigned supreme.
In her drawing, the King of Knights remained blonde and green-eyed, but her face was completely different. Guinevere even based her figure on her own mature form.
As for herself, she drew a lively, mischievous girl with an orange ponytail and amber eyes.
In fact, the version of herself in this doujinshi was entirely based on a character from Honkai: Star Rail named Guinaifen—the Chinese translation of her own name, Guinevere.
Speaking of which, if Guinevere were to check her Servant Status screen now, it would still be written entirely in English. But if she were to translate her True Name into Chinese, it would indeed read "Guinaifen" (桂乃芬), that amusing transliteration.
Digging deeper into her origins, her primary region was China, with Great Britain as her secondary.
With such a True Name and origin, she wasn't surprised that Morgan and the Clock Tower had failed to summon her properly, always getting a distorted version instead. Their summoning rituals had been far too specific.
Guinevere of Great Britain... Of course, they would summon another version of her who better matched that specific target.
"Hey, Guinevere, is this you in the drawing?"
"Back then, I was still..."
"This isn't you at all!"
"Lia! Do you really want me to draw a doujinshi using my actual appearance? Besides, I'm not going to copy our story exactly. I'll add plenty of artistic embellishments! In any case, we can't completely deviate from the fictionalized history, right?"
An arm wrapped around Guinevere's shoulders, and a head rested on her shoulder. But when she tried to turn and kiss the King of Knights, she was met with a look of disgust.
It seemed the King of Knights still needed time to accept that Guinevere's body was made of Black Mud. Or perhaps Guinevere needed to find a new body as soon as possible.
But she had already tried. The moment her consciousness left this body, the Black Mud that formed it would surge forth again. She couldn't solve this problem for now and would have to wait until she returned to Britain to ask Merlin, or visit the Clock Tower to consult the Old Man of the Jewels.