"Have you never wondered why your body, which should have been frozen forever at sixteen, kept growing year after year?"
After Merlin spoke, Artoria could no longer hear anything else.
She held her hand to her brow and stared at the floor, her thoughts returning to that afternoon years ago when the sword was drawn.
———
[Flashback]
Early summer sunlight, a noisy crowd, voices, and boys and girls sitting under a big tree feeling the summer breeze.
The boy named Alvin looked at the sword in the stone, then leaned toward the girl and told her a huge secret.
"Lily, I'll tell you secretly. Once you pull the sword from the stone, you'll never grow up. Your face will stay sixteen forever. Sounds nice, right?"
Eternal youth is an enormous attraction to a girl.
But the girl only knit her brows and said quietly, "What's so good about that. I don't want to stay sixteen forever. Didn't we promise to grow up together?"
"And if I never grow up, I'll never catch up to my sister."
The girl lowered her head and looked at her flat chest, then remembered the stunningly beautiful Morgan le Fay and felt worried.
"So you want to grow up, right?"
At that moment the boy's gentle voice sounded in her ear.
"Of course," Saying that, Artoria slightly lowered her eyelids, her gaze dim.
"But if I pull the sword—"
A warm hand gently rested on her head. Sunlight filtered through the leaves and softly lit the boy. Along with that came a reassuring warm smile.
"Rest assured," Under the brilliant afternoon sun, the boy quietly looked at the sword that symbolized a king, "I'll help you."
———
[Present]
The room was silent for a long time.
Long after, Artoria finally came back from that distant memory.
She slowly raised her head, her voice strained as if suppressing something, "You mean... he actually already partially pulled that sword back then?"
"Not exactly pulling it out, but even causing the sword to loosen a little was enough to transfer the sword's curse onto him."
Merlin spoke with a tone of feeling, "But I didn't expect he nearly pulled the sword out purely by brute force. Before inheriting the White Dragon's power, that guy was already an unreasonably violent creature."
Staring at Merlin's face and remembering his words, Artoria went blank for a moment.
'No wonder. No wonder that after so long has passed since the sword ritual, I have grown so much while Alvin's appearance had not changed at all.'
She had once thought Alvin's development had simply stopped.
'But if Merlin did not lie...'
Thud! Thud!
Suddenly that heart she thought frozen for so long beat lightly, echoing in the depths of her soul. Artoria's beautiful eyes widened. Although she tried to remain calm, the past scenes flooded back.
'How annoying... He left nothing when he left, yet in some places his traces suddenly appear.'
A strong sorrow and bitterness rose, and Artoria's long-held composure finally broke.
She looked down at the sword in her hands, the symbol of the king, and tears flowed uncontrollably. Her grip on the sword tightened without realization.
"Why bring this up now?"
After a long silence her voice, as if struggling to hold back emotion, sounded in the room.
"I just thought you had a right to know the truth."
Merlin's face was calm, "Your Majesty, what do you think Alvin would do to these transmigrators if he were here?"
"If it were him, he might find a better solution. Also... he only wanted you to be more confident, not to go to extremes."
"After all, if among these transmigrators there is Alvin... would you still unhesitatingly lock him in the interrogation room?"
The name Alvin seemed to touch some taboo. When Artoria suddenly lifted her head, for an instant Merlin saw fury flare in her eyes.
"Merlin—"
"Forget it."
At that moment a third voice came from the room.
At the sound, Artoria's expression went blank for a moment.
Then she turned stiffly toward the windowsill.
At some point Merlin's illusion had failed.
A boy sat on the windowsill looking at her, then raised his hand with a smile and said, "Lily... long time no see."
The boy's voice was gentle and calm, yet it seemed to hold some magic, plunging the room into a long silence.
Leaning in the afternoon sun, a boy on the windowsill and the golden-haired woman who had missed him, this should have been a touching reunion.
However, when Artoria looked at the boy her gaze first hardened and then grew even colder toward Merlin.
"Merlin... now you still want to desecrate the dead?"
The White Dragon who died under the Sword of the Promised Victory was now alive before her. Artoria assumed this had to be Merlin's illusion to achieve his goals.
Although it sounded absurd, it was entirely the sort of thing Merlin might do.
Hearing this Merlin was stunned. He looked puzzled at the anger on Artoria's fine face, then realized something and said helplessly, "Your Majesty, you misunderstand—"
"Even I would not casually desecrate the dead."
Artoria fixed her eyes on Merlin, and he returned her look calmly, seeming sincere.
Nearby Alvin looked at this Arthur in the room and was quickly struck by her beauty.
Compared to Artoria's art portraits, the real her was even more delicate and beautiful.
Her pinned blonde hair framed a noble, exquisitely fair face. Her small mouth was thin and red. Those saintly teal eyes carried an air of authority and created a striking, three-dimensional impression.
Of course, what shocked Alvin most was her proud chest. That bra-friendly bust, could this Lily really have that?
In just a few years she had developed fast.
While Alvin was admiring, Artoria, filled with hope, slowly turned to the nearby boy.
Thud! Thud!
In that instant Artoria felt her Red Dragon furnace core beat fiercely.
In Arthurian legend the Red Dragon and the White Dragon represent Welsh and Saxon forces. The Red Dragon defeating the White Dragon meant the Welsh repelled the Saxons.
In Type-Moon history the White Dragon also symbolizes Vortigern and later Alvin. Artoria's Red Dragon core reacting meant it sensed the White Dragon's presence.
'In other words... this is not an illusion.'
'Is this really Alvin?"
'But how could that be... I killed that Alvin—'
Thoughts raced, but Artoria suppressed them and looked up at the boy.
Her expression was hopeful but fearful of illusion. Quietly she asked, "Is it really you?"
Alvin gave a gentle smile and softly said, "Long time no see... Lily."
At that moment Artoria's long-suppressed emotions could no longer be contained and she walked to Alvin.
Alvin stepped forward too, smiling gently with arms open.
He had been about to slip off the windowsill, but Merlin's emotional play had kept him there.
To be fair, although a nightmare, Merlin understood emotions clearly.
Merlin knew Alvin would not avoid Artoria.
Still... Merlin had not wanted them together before, so why was he now pushing them together?
As Alvin had this thought, someone lightly pressed the back of his head.
Artoria embraced the boy.
The soft, pleasant touch and a faint fragrance filled Alvin's senses and left his mind blank.
"Not an illusion... is it really you, Alvin?"
The warmth of the boy's body, the quickening breath in her arms, all declared that the boy was not a phantom.
He had truly returned.
Artoria moved from disbelief to joy.
Buried deep in her arms, Alvin had other thoughts. He felt the nearly enveloping fragrance and her warmth and said, "Lily, could you loosen up a bit?"
'Is this plot development a bit off?'
'A reunion embrace is fine. But shouldn't I be the one holding Arthur?'
'Why am I being held?', Alvin inwardly complained, half amused, half exasperated.
But Artoria did not answer. She simply held him tightly. The wonderful softness and the perfume at her nose made Alvin swallow the words he wanted to say.
So he closed his eyes and wrapped his hands around her slender waist.
Though he initially had some physical reaction, when he actually held Artoria that primitive urge faded.
Just holding her he felt an intense longing.
Was it because her emotions affected him, or because awakening the game plot memories upon transmigration? Alvin did not know. In any case, holding Artoria made him feel warm and safe.
In an unnoticed corner Merlin looked embarrassed, then quietly left the room.
Walking down the stairs he saw a blonde girl standing motionless.
Merlin snapped his fingers.
Reines, who had been suppressed by Artoria's pressure, finally felt free.
Thinking of Alvin upstairs, she looked toward the white-haired mage.
"Merlin—"
Before she finished, Merlin put a finger to his lips, "Lower your voice... the queen is doing business with your friend."