"If you're worried about your condition, you should have told Leon and me sooner. If anything happened, both of us would have done everything in our power to protect you," Artoria insisted. Leon nodded in agreement.
"I'm... sorry."
After a long silence, Irisviel finally seemed to come to a decision. She let out a relieved sigh, though a trace of loneliness lingered in her eyes as she looked at Leon and Artoria.
"Artoria, you're right. Keeping this from you wouldn't solve anything. If anything, it might only cause trouble for you and Leon later."
"Give me your hand."
Walking over to Artoria, Irisviel waited as Artoria obediently extended her right hand.
"Artoria... I'm going to squeeze your hand with all my strength. Is that alright?"
"Of course."
Though puzzled, Artoria agreed.
Irisviel gently took her hand.
Then, just as she had promised, she poured every ounce of strength she had into her grip. Her brows knitted together, her arm trembled violently from the effort—
But...
"Irisviel?"
Confusion filled Artoria's emerald eyes.
She couldn't feel even the slightest pressure.
It wasn't even a grip.
It was merely Irisviel's hand resting against hers.
"I'm not joking, Artoria," Irisviel said with a strained smile. "For me... this is already everything I've got."
"All I can manage now is to barely rest my hand on yours. I can't grip anything... or even clench my fingers. Even changing clothes in the morning takes all the strength I have."
"That's enough, Irisviel."
Leon gently stopped her from forcing herself any further.
Taking her hand, he channeled a stream of soft emerald healing energy into her body.
"Thank you, Leon. I already feel much better."
She smiled with visible relief.
Yet the crease between her brows never disappeared.
The comfort she felt could not conceal the weakness consuming her body.
She was like a cracked cup.
No matter how much water was poured into it, the vessel itself remained broken, and the water leaked away faster and faster.
"W-What's happening? Are you injured somewhere?" Artoria asked anxiously.
"It's nothing more than feeling a little unwell," Irisviel replied lightly. "So I sealed off my sense of touch."
"Suppressing even one of the Five Senses is enough to significantly reduce the burden on my spiritual foundation. That way, the rest of my body can still function normally."
"I suppose... that's one advantage of being an artificial life-form..."
"That's not something you should brush off so casually!" Artoria exclaimed. "And what exactly do you mean by 'feeling unwell'? You need treatment!"
"You may have forgotten, but I'm not an ordinary human."
Irisviel smiled softly.
"Even if I caught a cold, I couldn't simply go to a doctor. To put it another way... this isn't something that can be treated."
"Because this discomfort is, at its core, a flaw in my very design."
"So it's alright. Look—I can still move around just fine. I'm only a little weaker than before..."
She swung her arms exaggeratedly, almost like a Kamen Rider striking a transformation pose, hoping to reassure Artoria.
But after only a single swing—
Her body suddenly lost its balance.
Like a life-sized doll whose strings had been cut, she toppled backward uncontrollably.
"Irisviel!"
Artoria reached out instinctively.
But Leon was even faster.
In an instant, he wrapped an arm around Irisviel's slender waist, steadying her before she could fall.
"Thank you, Leon."
She smiled warmly.
"My... I seem to be thanking you an awful lot today."
She smiled so gently—
As though the one whose body was slowly falling apart was someone else entirely.
"Why..."
Artoria lowered her head.
The shadow cast by her bangs concealed her expression.
Her pale fists trembled as she clenched them tightly.
"What do you mean, 'why'?" Irisviel asked with the same impossibly gentle voice. "Don't worry, Artoria. So I won't become a burden to you and Leon, I'll stay here in the mansion until the Holy Grail War is over. Until—"
"Why?!"
Artoria suddenly looked up.
The corners of her reddened eyes shimmered with unshed tears.
"Even when you're so weak that you can barely stand... why are you still pretending everything is fine?!"
"Ah... I-I'm not..."
Irisviel forced another smile.
Cold sweat dotted her forehead.
Her breathing had grown noticeably heavier, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Without Leon supporting her from behind, she probably wouldn't even have been able to remain standing.
"Irisviel!"
"You can rely on Leon and me more than this!"
Artoria threw her hands out in frustration.
"I don't care if you're hurting, grieving, exhausted, or afraid. Even the smallest discomfort—you have to tell us! Don't keep carrying everything by yourself!"
"Because—"
"Aren't we companions?!"
"You..."
Artoria's voice trembled.
"...Aren't you afraid of dying?!"
For perhaps the first time, Artoria openly displayed genuine anger—
And it was directed at someone as dear to her as Irisviel.
As King Arthur, she had once lived by the ideal of absolute solitude.
She had never truly tried to understand the hearts of the Knights of the Round Table.
In the end, she received only one judgment:
The king does not understand the hearts of men.
And she was abandoned by those very knights.
But during her time with Leon and Irisviel...
As though beginning a second spring in her life, something inside her that had remained frozen ever since she drew Caliburn – Sword in the Stone had finally begun to grow once more.
Was it friendship?
Family?
Love?
The heart of an ordinary young girl?
Or simply the ability to cherish others?
Artoria couldn't put a name to it.
But she knew one thing.
She would never repeat the mistakes of her past.
Every companion at her side was someone she had to treasure.
"..."
Faced with Artoria's heartfelt concern, Irisviel fell silent.
All the excuses she had prepared...
All the gentle lies she had relied upon...
None of them would come.
She bit her lower lip until its rosy color slowly faded white.
Her entire body trembled.
"I... I..."
"I-I'm afraid of dying too!"
At last—
She shouted the words.
Every ounce of fear.
Every trace of anxiety.
Every fragment of sorrow and pain she had kept buried inside herself—
Burst forth together with tears.
"It hurts!
Ever since the first Servant died...
It feels like my body is being torn apart!
It keeps getting worse...
More and more painful...
Until now...
It hurts so much that even speaking has become difficult!"
"I thought I was prepared for this..."
"But..."
"I don't want to die!"
"I want to stay in this world...
To experience more wonderful things...
To see more beautiful scenery..."
"I..."
"I want to stay with you and Leon forever..."
"And I don't want Illyasviel to become like me someday—to suffer the same pain I'm going through!"
"She's still just a child..."
"How frightened will she be when that day comes...?"
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