This was a "record" from the past.
It took place after a boy from another world completed his pilgrimage alongside a witch as a knight, then went on to unify Britannia as king.
The fairy clans, who had fought each other for ten thousand years, at least on the surface accepted the king's decree to cast aside hatred and embrace peace.
The Moss, which had continued to grow and accumulate since the birth of civilization, had been brought under control to a certain extent thanks to the valiant efforts of the King's Fae Round Table.
Everything was moving in a better direction.
The Island of Twilight had been reborn and was on the verge of welcoming a brand-new age.
But some had already reached the end of their lives.
The dying King, worn down by old age and quietly awaiting the arrival of death, very rarely opened his eyes from peaceful sleep on this particular day.
"Ah... Morgan...?"
The King parted his lips in surprise.
"You're awake, my King? You seem to be in rather good spirits today... ah, there's no need to get up. Just stay like that."
The King realized that his head was resting on the Paradise Fairy's lap.
Her face was still as lovely as ever, though the girlishness she once had had faded with the passing years.
Her golden hair shone in the sunlight, now touched by a few pale silver strands.
The future Fairy Queen wore a gentle expression as she reached out and stroked his hair.
"Morgan, where is this...?"
At the King's question, the witch covered her mouth and chuckled.
"Has my King gone senile? This is Camelot, the royal capital that belongs to you and me."
So it really is Camelot...
The King gazed at the chalk-white walls in the distance and gradually understood the situation.
At this point, no matter what happened, he would not have found it strange. Even so, this still came as a shock.
Was this a miracle caused by the Holy Grail?
Or had he accidentally accelerated the time inside his body too far and ended up traveling back to the past?
His consciousness had somehow been sent to the very final moment before his death.
Arthur, the Fairy Knight, no...
The one who was truly awake at this moment was Shirou Amamiya.
The battle with the King of Heroes.
The battle with the King of Knights.
The pain and exhaustion left behind by the final night of the Holy Grail War still felt seared into his soul even now.
And yet, when Shirou opened his eyes, what greeted him was the nostalgic twilight sky and the fairy of paradise.
Shirou had once believed that while he was in the Fairy Kingdom, he had missed his final farewell with Morgan, leaving behind nothing but regret.
But that was not the case.
This very moment was his farewell to her.
That meant the conversation he was about to have with Morgan was a record that had truly taken place in the "past," yet one the "past him" had never known.
"What's wrong?"
As expected of Morgan, she immediately noticed that something was off about Shirou.
"No, it's nothing."
"It's obviously not nothing."
Knowing there was no way he could easily fool the witch, Shirou could only answer "honestly."
"I had a dream."
"Mm."
"In that dream, I returned to my original world, to my original era."
"In that world where Morgan wasn't there, I was still fighting."
"Even though I no longer had a dream, I found something new... something important…"
"And even now, I'm still fighting, not for our dream."
Shirou lowered his head and spoke in a heavy voice.
"...I'm sorry."
Morgan reached out and touched his cheek.
"Why are you apologizing?"
"We promised we would stay together until the very end. But I left you behind and changed to another route halfway through."
Shirou asked, a little ashamed,
"Morgan... would you be jealous?"
The Paradise Fairy raised an eyebrow.
"Jealous that you found a new life?
"Or jealous that you left me behind and went off to flirt with other girls?"
"...Uh."
Shirou looked thoroughly embarrassed.
Seeing how all his thoughts were written plainly across his face, Morgan let out a helpless sigh.
"Jealous... of course I'd be jealous."
"I'm a witch, after all. Isn't it only natural that I would want my King all to myself?"
"Just imagining you forming bonds somewhere I know nothing about, with girls I know nothing about…"
"It makes my chest burn with jealousy, hehe."
As she said that, she dragged her nails hard across the boy's neck, leaving behind red marks of bruising.
"But... there is nothing I can do about it."
Morgan spoke softly.
"Even if Shirou shamelessly got close to other girls behind my back, I could only accept it."
"Because from the very beginning, my relationship with Shirou was never an equal one."
"That's not true..."
Just as Shirou was about to protest, she pressed a finger to his lips.
"That is how it is," Morgan said quietly.
"Shirou, you gave far too much for my sake, yet I never had anything I could give you in return."
"For me, you gave up your own wish."
"All these years, you were always the one indulging me. No matter how unreasonable my demands were, you always found a way to grant them."
"And in the end... you really did make my dream come true."
"So no matter what you do, I have no right to be jealous."
"..."
This was the first time Shirou realized that Morgan had always carried a certain sense of inferiority in front of him.
Had she simply hidden it too well?
Or had he really gone too far, just as she said?
"And besides, I also did something to you that can never be undone."
"Something that can never be undone?" Shirou frowned.
Morgan hesitated for a moment, then put on a playful expression.
"I kept it a secret all this time because I was afraid you'd hate me for it."
"But you're about to die anyway... so it should be fine to confess it to my King now, right?"
Shirou clicked his tongue.
"Uwah, that's awful... so what is it?"
Morgan touched his forehead and said,
"You were cursed."
"Cursed? Was it you, Morgan?"
"No... not 'me.' Or rather, not the 'current me.'"
"Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"That's fine. You're not supposed to."
Morgan puffed out her lips and said resentfully,
"Anyway…"
"When you entered this world, the Fairy Kingdom, you were cursed by the most malicious goddess."
"And that curse was... 'I hope you become a little more selfish, stop caring about everyone else, and spend eternity focusing only on pursuing your own happiness.'"
Shirou's eyes widened.
"Ah..."
He did not fully understand, and yet somehow he did.
So that was it.
"That's awful, isn't it?"
Morgan carefully watched Shirou's reaction, and he nodded.
"It is awful... if I ever get the chance, I'm definitely going to complain properly."
"Mm. If you meet her in person next time, then go complain to her."
Morgan tilted her head.
"But... did that curse really work properly?"
Even though "she" had placed a curse on Shirou so that he would pursue his own happiness, Shirou still ended up treating Morgan's ideal as his own.
If that was the outcome, then would it not make the whole thing meaningless?
"It wasn't meaningless."
Shirou answered without hesitation.
"I'm very happy right now."
Even if it had only been a dream he borrowed from Morgan, the moment he fulfilled it, he had still undeniably felt happiness and satisfaction.
Shirou conveyed that to Morgan.
"Hehe... that's good."
Seeing the relieved expression on Morgan's face, Shirou closed his eyes.
This body could already sense that its end was near.
It would not have been bad to simply lie there quietly and wait to return, but after finally meeting Morgan one last time, letting the time pass in silence felt like too much of a waste.
And besides... there still seemed to be something important he had yet to say.
In a sense, the current him really was a traveler through time.
What he did here would undoubtedly affect the future. If he failed to complete the time loop and all that, that would be a real problem.
"Morgan."
The King opened his eyes once more and called for his witch.
"Hmm? My King is unusually talkative today."
"It's the last burst before death, the last burst before death. I'm about to die, after all."
Shirou said it casually, and Morgan immediately looked displeased.
She already knew he had reached the end of his life, but hearing him say it out loud still irritated her.
"Alright, alright, stop sulking. I have something important to announce."
"What?"
Shirou said, "My will."
Morgan blinked. "Huh?"
Shirou gathered his thoughts, then began to speak.
"After I die, the throne of Camelot will be inherited by my witch... in other words, by you, Morgan."
"That was how my will was originally written, right?"
"...Yes."
Morgan nodded in confusion.
The truth was, she had never wanted to become the King of Britain in the first place.
After abandoning the mission of the Paradise Fairy, she should have disappeared from everyone's sight once Britain was unified.
But Shirou had grabbed her by the wrist and declared, Morgan, you will inherit my throne.
Back then, Shirou had practically forced the issue and insisted that Morgan become his successor, and in the end, she had no choice but to accept under pressure.
To be honest, Morgan still felt resistant to it even now.
"I've changed my mind."
With a smug look on his face, Shirou declared,
"The throne of Camelot will not be inherited by the witch, meaning you."
"Oh... then are you going to choose one of the clan heads?" Morgan asked, blinking curiously.
Shirou shook his head.
"The next king of the Fairy Kingdom will inherit the throne as my last relative in this world... which means you, Morgan."
He explained that the one inheriting the throne would not be "Morgan the witch," but "Morgan, relative of King Arthur."
"???"
Morgan frowned. In the end, wasn't it still her inheriting the throne either way? What difference did that make?
It made a huge difference, Shirou said.
"..."
Morgan gave him a look that clearly said, My king really has gone senile after all.
Since explaining it properly would take too much effort, Shirou decided it would be faster to show her.
He used the last bit of strength left in his body and reached into his clothes.
I remember always keeping it here... ah, found it.
Shirou took out the item and held it up for Morgan to see. Her eyes instantly widened in shock.
"Shirou... wait... that... could it be..."
Morgan covered her mouth with her left hand, while the index finger of her remaining right hand trembled as she pointed at the item Shirou had taken out from inside his clothes.
Her voice shook with shock, and her cheeks reddened at a visible pace.
What the King showed the witch was...
"You can see it clearly, right... it's a ring."
It was a platinum ring, sized just right to slip onto a ring finger.
This was something Shirou had kept hidden close to him the whole time, something he had never been able to give Morgan before the day he died.
Back then, he still had his doubts. Was it really right for someone who was about to die to do something like this?
If I selfishly leave behind a promise and then selfishly die, wouldn't that only make the rest of Morgan's life even lonelier?
But now he finally understood.
This was not an eternal farewell, only a brief separation.
One day, they would meet again.
Maybe it would take a very, very long time... far beyond the lifespan of any human.
But Morgan was stronger than anyone else. She would never lose to time.
A mere thousand years meant nothing compared to the bond between them.
"...Shi, Shirou."
Morgan stared at the ring in Shirou's hand, too overwhelmed to speak properly.
She covered her mouth with both hands, her face flushed red all the way to her ears, her whole body frozen stiff.
"Ah... um... my King... this couldn't possibly be... that... I mean, is it really... that kind of meaning?"
Morgan asked in a trembling voice.
Shirou took a deep breath, then shouted in a voice far too strong for someone on the verge of death.
"Marry me, Morgan! I love you!!!!!!"
Shirou felt as though his face were on fire, but Morgan only covered her mouth and said nothing, giving no answer at all.
Did I mess it up? No way. I thought I looked incredibly cool.
At that moment, Morgan, blushing furiously, made a quiet request.
"...Will you put it on for me?"
Shyly, the witch held out her left hand toward Shirou.
It worked!
Shirou was going wild with joy inside, but on the surface he forced himself to stay calm.
"Oh... oh, honestly, what am I supposed to do with you?"
He took Morgan's left hand and gently touched her slender, smooth fingers.
Shirou was so nervous he could barely think. He could only focus with all his strength on putting the ring on her, while his words came out in a flustered mess.
"W, which finger was it supposed to go on again?"
"The ring finger... on the l, left hand."
"O, okay."
The shy King placed the ring on the shy witch's finger, and then...
The bride showed the brightest smile she had ever worn.
"E, ehehehe... Shirou's and my wedding ring... hehehe..."
Morgan raised her left hand high above her head and stared at the ring on her ring finger.
Her cheeks were bright red, and a foolishly happy, childlike grin stayed on her face the whole time.
Now there were no regrets left. Shirou let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"My husband!"
"Uwah!"
At that moment, Morgan suddenly threw herself into Shirou's arms.
She pressed her entire body against him and hugged him with all her strength.
"Thank you, my husband... I'm so happy... so happy. This is the happiest day I've had in three thousand years..."
Shirou gently stroked the witch's hair, unable to look away.
Morgan's face was so full of happiness that it almost made him dizzy.
Thank goodness. Now I can...
With that thought, Shirou closed his eyes in complete contentment.
"...Shirou?"
By the time Morgan had finally poured out all the emotions in her heart and ended the embrace in satisfaction, her husband had already stopped breathing.
The final expression left on his face was a faint smile without a trace of regret.
And so, the King brought his long life to an end.
As if following her King into death itself, the witch too died alongside him.
She cast off the pilgrim robes and hood of her journey, and draped herself in pitch black mourning clothes and a veil.
And thus, the Queen of the Fairy Kingdom was born.