Guinevere, daughter of the Duke of Camelot.
It was said that this young lady had been Shirou's admirer since ten years ago, back when he was still only an Apprentice Knight.
For all those years, she had continued to admire him quietly from afar.
In other words, this meeting was, for all intents and purposes, a marriage interview.
After Vortigern's death, Britannia's internal strife came to a temporary end.
For the next ten years, war would no longer define the age. Recovery and rebuilding would be the kingdom's true priority.
As the King of Britannia, now acknowledged by all, Shirou was naturally expected to lead by example for the people. As a result, the matter of his marriage was formally brought forward.
"Merlin, do I really have to go through with this marriage?"
After the meeting ended, Shirou stopped the court Magus and pressed her for an answer.
"Arthur, do you have some complaint about Guinevere?" Merlin asked with a slight frown.
"No... it's not that I have any issue with her personally." Shirou shook his head.
Guinevere was a gentle, kind, dignified, and composed princess. Her looks, character, and status were all impeccable. She was the ideal choice for a queen.
Although in the original story Guinevere had emotionally betrayed her marriage with Lancelot, that was understandable in its own way, and Shirou held no ill will toward her.
But Shirou already had Morgan-nee-san in his heart.
Guinevere may have admired him for ten years, but Morgan-nee-san had also supported him from the shadows for ten years.
Shirou could not betray Morgan. His queen could only be Morgan. No one else would do.
Merlin looked at Shirou for a long moment, then said in an utterly rational tone,
"Arthur, I think you understand this perfectly well. The purpose of this marriage is to secure the Duke of Camelot's support."
"As long as you marry Guinevere, her father is willing to hand Camelot over to us."
"This is only my personal suggestion. The final decision still lies with the King."
Shirou: "....."
He understood that Merlin was thinking of him and of the Round Table, but right now, Shirou could not take in a single word.
He did not dare imagine what expression Morgan-nee-san would wear after waiting for him with hope in her heart for ten long years, only to learn that he had ultimately married another woman.
As she watched Shirou's troubled face, a trace of shadow passed over the Flower Magus's expression.
"...Shirou."
Shirou looked up in surprise. It had been many years since his teacher had called him by that name.
Merlin stepped over to him and took his hand firmly.
"You know, don't you? I have the power to foresee the future.
Because I can see through everything in the present, I can accurately predict what is about to happen. I had already known this island was fated for destruction.
Even so, I still assisted Uther's plan and helped him create a non-human king to save the island, even though I knew from the start it was destined to fail.
There was no grand reason behind it. I simply longed to see the ending of the story.
Whether it was an eternal happy ending or a brilliant destruction, both seemed equally beautiful to me."
The female Magus spoke with a beautiful smile, like a sinner calmly confessing her crimes.
"But in the end, I abandoned that plan. I gave up on creating a non-human king.
The one who made me reach that decision was you, Shirou."
"Because of your appearance, my observation of the future stopped being accurate.
What had once been nothing more than a flat world to me, like a painting, became something real, something unpredictable.
And so I found a new dream. I wanted to witness your journey. I wanted to see the future that cannot be predicted, the future that cannot be observed."
The smile Merlin showed now was no longer that false, superficial smile of old. It was a smile of genuine joy from the bottom of her heart.
"At first, I only raised you on a whim, intending to stir things up, but I never imagined you would truly grow into the king I had dreamed of.
Over these past ten years, Shirou, you kept answering all of my unreasonable demands, and each time you still managed to achieve feats beyond anything I expected.
Ah, just thinking back on it moves me. And now, you've even defeated Vortigern.
When I saw the people and the knights, men and women, the elderly and the children...
...all of them surrounding you and cheering for you, my heart began to race with them. I couldn't hold it back.
Shirou, I think I've fallen in love with you.
By the time I realized it, I was already deeply, hopelessly infatuated with you."
Shirou's eyes widened and his mouth fell open.
"Merlin...sensei...?"
In the very next moment, the entranced smile vanished from the female Magus's beautiful face.
In a cold voice, she said,
"That is why I absolutely cannot allow anyone to interfere with 'my Arthur.'
Shirou has worked too hard and given too much. He must receive the most perfect, happiest ending possible.
It has to be a Good Ending.
I will never accept a miserable future or a future of despair as the ending to that story."
Merlin released Shirou's hand and slowly rose to her feet.
"Ahem... it seems I got a little carried away. How embarrassing.
Now then, my King, please reconsider your marriage to Lady Guinevere. I look forward to your 'correct' answer."
With that, her figure dissolved into drifting clusters of flowers and vanished from before Shirou's eyes.
That very night, a guest arrived at the queen's bedchamber in Orkney.
…
…
"I still can't betray Morgan."
"More importantly, I can't betray my own heart."
After not very long in thought, Shirou made his decision. He refused the marriage alliance with Guinevere.
"There is already a woman I love deeply."
When Shirou told Guinevere this, she offered him her blessing with a slightly sorrowful expression.
"To be loved by you so deeply, Arthur, she must be a truly wonderful woman."
Shirou nodded.
"Yeah... she's the best woman in the world."
After that, Shirou summoned every member of the Round Table and confessed the secret ten-year relationship he had shared with Morgan.
The atmosphere in the chamber turned heavy.
Morgan, the evil and licentious Fairy Queen, was actually the King's secret lover. That shocking truth left even Arthur's most loyal knights speechless.
Lancelot, Percival, Bedivere, Tristan... every one of them wore a grave expression and said nothing.
Morgan's children all turned pale, and Agravain let out a cry before fainting on the spot.
Only Shirou's sworn elder brother, Kay, lightly patted him on the back and said with a grin, "That's really something."
Shirou did not regret it.
He had never felt as relieved and at ease as he did now.
It took a very, very long time, but Shirou finally managed to convince everyone that Morgan was not evil by nature, that there was still kindness deep within her, and that much of his success today had only been possible because of Morgan's secret support.
Aside from Agravain, who handled political affairs, most of the Knights of the Round Table accepted the truth. Gareth even began wondering how she ought to address the King now that he was her mother's lover.
After overcoming the resistance from within, Shirou could finally begin making formal preparations to marry Morgan.
First of all, he had to go share the good news with Morgan-nee-san.
That night, as usual, he slipped into the Fairy Queen's bedchamber.
Over the years they had spent apart, he had snuck into this luxurious palace dozens of times by now. He knew the place like the back of his hand.
"Morgan-nee-san? What are you doing? Put me down already."
The moment Shirou quietly entered Morgan's room, several chains suddenly shot out from the surrounding void and bound his hands and feet.
Then the beautiful figure he had longed for day and night stepped out from the moonlight.
"You insolent wretch. Why are you in my bedchamber?"
Morgan glared at Shirou with icy eyes and shouted sternly.
Shirou blinked.
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Heh... I was wondering who it was. So it's my adorable little brother, the famous King Arthur himself."
Morgan let out a cold, alluring laugh.
"And here you are, barging into a married woman's room in the dead of night.
If word of this scandal got out, the reputation the Round Table worked so hard to build would come crashing down, wouldn't it?"
No, no, no. With people like Lancelot around, the Round Table never had much of a reputation in that area to begin with.
"Morgan-nee-san, quit fooling around and let me down. I actually came tonight because there's something important I want to tell you... guh!?"
Shirou looked down and saw a dagger lodged in his abdomen.
Only the tip, about two centimeters, had pierced his skin, but blood still began to flow.
"...I have nothing to say to you."
Morgan held the hilt in one hand and replied in an especially cold voice.
Only then did Shirou finally realize that something was wrong. Morgan was acting very strangely tonight.
"Since we're not related by blood, but you are still my younger brother in name, I'll spare your life tonight."
Morgan pulled out the dagger and said in a tone utterly devoid of humor,
"Don't ever appear before me again. Next time, I won't be welcoming you with just a little knife, King Arthur."
Staring into her eyes, Shirou frowned.
"..... Did Merlin-sensei tell you something?"
Morgan froze for a moment.
She quickly recovered, but Shirou did not miss that instant of panic.
He pressed on.
"Was it about [Pruned Events]?"
Morgan's reaction was all the confirmation he needed.
Merlin-sensei had clearly gone behind his back to meet Morgan and tell her about [Pruned Events].
In Type-Moon settings, infinite parallel worlds are divided into two types.
[Compiled Events] and [Pruned Events].
[Compiled Events] are stable worlds full of possibility, worlds that can continue to branch and develop further in the future.
[Pruned Events] are worlds that have strayed too far from the main course and become exceptions, losing most of their possible branches. They are judged to have already reached completion, to have already ended, and to no longer be worth observing. They are worlds about to be cut away.
Once a parallel world is confirmed to be a Pruned Event, its operation is halted, its potential for further development is severed, and everything within that world is completely erased.
Simply put, Compiled Events are the officially recognized main route, while Pruned Events are bad ending routes.
That said, a Pruned Event is only "a world that became an exception by deviating too far from the main route, and as a result lost most of its branching possibilities." It is not necessarily bad.
For example, a parallel world where King Arthur and Morgan joined forces and ultimately saved Britannia.
To keep this world from being judged a [Pruned Event], Shirou had done his best all this time to stay as close to original history as possible.
Take Gawain and the others, for example. It would be pretty bad if half the Knights of the Round Table turned out to be King Arthur's biological sons, wouldn't it?
Merlin had probably foreseen that if Shirou married Morgan and united Britannia, this world would come to an end because the deviation had grown too great.
So she had laid everything out for Morgan and, under the noble cause of "protecting Shirou," asked Morgan to step aside of her own accord.
"...You really do understand."
Morgan spoke expressionlessly.
"That's right. Merlin told me the truth about this world.
Arthur and Morgan are destined never to be together. The person who should become your wife is not me.
Shirou, these past ten years have been the happiest days of my life.
You let me experience a warmth I had never known before, so... this is enough."
"It's not enough at all."
Shirou cut her off.
Morgan raised a brow.
"Calm down, my brother.
I understand how you feel, because I feel the same way...
Being torn apart by the will of history like this is utterly unreasonable.
Don't worry. I'm not someone who gives in that easily.
And I would never abandon you... mm, as long as you don't mind..."
Morgan caressed the boy's cheek and spoke in the tone of someone coaxing a child.
"Even after you get married, I can still be your secret lover.
As long as you want me, I'll do my best to satisfy whatever you ask of me, and I will still bear Mordred for you.
So... be good, all right?"
Shirou shook off her hand.
"No. Not at all. I want Morgan-nee-san to be Camelot's queen."
"Hah... you've always been stubborn."
Looking at her impossible younger brother, Morgan rolled her eyes, both annoyed and exasperated.
"It's only a title. I don't care about that at all."
"Don't lie. There's no woman in the world more jealous than Morgan-nee-san."
That line became the spark that set Morgan off.
"That's right. I am jealous of that woman named Guinevere. So jealous I'm going mad.
Why does she get to have all of you? Shirou is my husband, my brother.
I can't accept it. I really can't accept it, but...
If it's to protect you, then I can endure it. I've already decided that I will."
After venting the bitterness in her heart, Morgan shot back with a question.
"Shirou, why are you so determined to make me your queen?
If you want to hear me call you 'my husband,' then I can say it as many times as you want in private.
My brother... what is it you're so hung up on?
What is it that you really want?"
Under the witch's reproachful, aggrieved gaze, Shirou gave the exact same answer he had given ten years ago, without hesitation.
"I want Morgan-nee-san to be happy."
"............"
Morgan covered her mouth, tears already streaming down her face before she even realized it.
Even after ten years had passed, even after becoming the King of Britannia.
Even after Morgan herself had long since forgotten.
Shirou had not forgotten his original resolve.
He had come to this era in order to make Morgan happy.
...
...
And so.
Shirou and Morgan stood against the world.