The blood was warm.
But—
How did she, who was not injured, know this?
Because it wasn't her blood.
It was someone else's blood.
To be precise, it was Ian's blood.
The moment she realized this, Artoria's green eyes, originally immersed in happiness, instantly plunged into an extremely cold ice cave.
The starlight that should have been active in her eyes was replaced by endless darkness.
Her heart, which inherited the blood of the dragon, was beating at an unimaginable frequency.
Magic power released.
The girl's body was strengthened to an extremely terrifying degree in a few breaths.
Even if Excalibur was not by her side, she could kill anyone at this moment.
"Who are you?"
"Why did you do this to Sir Ian?!"
Upon hearing the name "Ian," the black shadow surrounded by magic was stunned.
He seemed to have been shocked by some fact, taking a few steps back, and finally tripped over a stone and fell to the ground.
In that state, he probably even forgot to run away.
The situation was chaotic.
But one thing could be confirmed with 100% certainty at this moment.
That was that Artoria would never let this black shadow go.
In the magic power released state, she probably only needed one punch to kill him.
But the angry girl couldn't move forward.
The one who imprisoned her was none other than Ian.
He, with blood constantly flowing from his chest, almost used all his strength to hold Artoria back.
The two were like being pulled together by an iron chain, unable to move at all.
And in this gap, the black shadow also came back to his senses.
"Sorry... Father, I didn't want to do this."
"Please forgive me."
He said words that only he could hear, and then struggled to get up from the ground.
By the time Artoria noticed again, he had already disappeared into the distance.
Sunrise.
The sunlight shone on Ian's body, illuminating the dagger that had pierced through his chest from behind.
The girl had no time to think about revenge.
She just wanted to save her beloved.
"Sir Ian, I'll find someone to save you right away!"
[Artoria, disregarding her image, picked you up and rushed directly to the military camp.]
[Your blood flowed from the river all the way to the flag of Camelot.]
[Talent Princess's Curse++ acquired: The dagger that stabbed you was attached with Morgan's vicious curse, which will accompany you until death.]
[Talent Blessing of the Lake+ lost: The curse affected you, your magic resistance was severely reduced, it was difficult for you to maintain your energy all the time, and you could no longer use it to identify some magic.]
[Red Dragon's Gift+ activated: Artoria's magic flowed rapidly in your body, your magic resistance was greatly improved, and you regained the ability to identify magic.]
[Excalibur Galatine++ activated: The blessing of the sun enveloped you, and you resisted the curse from your beloved.]
[Combat Continuation activated: You did not die from the curse, but you were still severely injured.]
[You fell into a coma and don't know how long it will be before you wake up.]
The knights of Camelot stopped their advance.
This was not because they had encountered a powerful enemy, or because a devastating upheaval had occurred.
It was decided by the will of King Arthur alone.
"Until Sir Ian wakes up, any form of military action is prohibited!"
The young king, holding Excalibur, commanded all the knights under his command.
No one questioned this.
Ian was King Arthur's shadow, and no king could not care about his shadow.
The knights also sincerely hoped that this powerful comrade-in-arms could wake up and command with Excalibur Galatine, no less than the king.
This was everyone's desire for the dawn of victory.
But what they didn't know was—
The girl called the king was under tremendous pressure at this moment.
The cold-blooded her lost control of her emotions the moment she crossed the tent curtain.
Her originally emotionless face began to grieve, and then turned to crying.
Clear tears gathered into small lakes at the corners of the girl's eyes, and then fell to the ground like broken rain lines.
Endless pain bloomed into wet flowers at this moment.
The voice of regret echoed in the girl's heart:
"If only I hadn't taken him to the lake because of my own selfish desires."
"If only I hadn't woken up early because I missed him too much."
"If only I hadn't called him to my side."
Countless regrets born from her own wrong choices gathered together, forming star-like crystals, firmly engraved in the girl's heart.
This was something she could never forget in her life.
Days and nights passed in pain.
The girl took off the king's armor and the king's robe, and waited by his side naked.
She was looking forward to it.
Looking forward to the familiar voice calling her.
No matter how shameful it was, it didn't matter.
Please let me hear his voice again.
[Talent Maiden's Prayer acquired: The last emotion Artoria placed on you became the link for the transmission of sound.]
[You heard her call.]
[You refuse to give your life to the gods.]
[This seems to have caused you some trouble.]
[Talent Princess's Curse++ has been strengthened to Princess's Curse+++: You feel that your life is entering a countdown, although it seems to be still a bit long.]
[You woke up.]
[You saw Artoria beside you.]
Ian opened his eyes—he didn't know how long it had been since he last did this.
And what came into his eyes was Artoria sleeping beside him.
To be precise, the word "sleep" should not be used to describe it.
It should be called "half-awake and half-asleep."
The girl's beautiful golden hair was hastily rolled up, looking very messy.
Her snow-white body leaned against the edge of the bed, and the two red spots on her chest were squeezed into a heart-shaped appearance.
But even though she was so embarrassed, she still held the man's hand tightly, for fear of not feeling his waking up in the first place.
Looking at such Artoria, Ian felt his heart stirred up again.
"Artoria." He called her name softly.
The girl slowly opened her eyes.
Dazed.
Hesitation.
Shocked.
Confirmed.
"Sir Ian, you're awake!"
While saying this, the girl almost threw herself on the man.
"Hiss..."
Ian took a breath of cold air.
"Artoria, can you be a little gentler?"
"It hurts a bit like this."
"Ah!"
Artoria quickly retracted her hand.
"Sorry, Sir Ian!"
"It's okay to not be so polite."
"..."
"..."
The atmosphere became ambiguous in an instant.
The girl moved her body little by little, and finally raised her head and kissed him.
Ian did not refuse this kindness.
His fingers gently fiddled with the girl's red spots, and his lips made enough response.
After a while.
Ian stopped in Artoria's blushing and panting.
"Sir Ian..."
Artoria hugged the man's waist.
"I thought I would never see you again."
"..."
Ian stroked the girl's back.
"At first, I really might not have seen you again."
"But Artoria—"
"I heard your voice."
"My voice?" The girl was a little surprised.
"Yes." Ian nodded.
"You kept calling me, telling me not to leave, right?"
"Yes."
Artoria nodded without hesitation, but at the same time seemed a little surprised.
"Sir Ian... did you actually hear it?"
"Yes." The man looked quite emotional.
"It's probably something that can be called a 'miracle.'"
"Is that so?"
Artoria put her face against Ian's chest and listened to the other person's heartbeat.
"Then I'm really lucky."
"..."
Lucky?
Ian felt that this word was completely irrelevant to Artoria.
Her already doomed fate;
The life controlled by King Uther and Merlin;
The emotions that were taken away when she pulled out the sword;
And meeting a bastard like himself.
If this can be called luck, I'm afraid no one in this world can be worthy of the word bad luck.
This was not the life she should have had.
"Sir Ian? Sir Ian?!"
Artoria waved her hands in front of the man several times before pulling his attention back.
"What's wrong with you?"
"It's nothing." Ian smiled slightly.
"I just woke up and I'm a little dizzy."
"I see."
Artoria nodded thoughtfully.
But she soon remembered what made her angry.
"Speaking of which, who is that assassin?"
"How dare he do such a thing!"
"I will never forgive him!"
Although she was petite and her voice wasn't loud, Artoria exuded a very strong aura at that moment.
If the king's blade was used for revenge, its sharpness would be as sharp as ever.
But Ian fell silent at this moment.
After a moment of silence, he said:
"Artoria."
"Sir Ian, what's wrong?"
"I want to ask you a favor."
"What is it?"
"Well—" Ian took the girl's hands and looked at her with the most sincere eyes.
"If possible, can we just let this matter pass?"
Ian was certainly not a magnanimous person.
If he was stabbed like this usually, he would never pretend that nothing had happened.
But the key at this moment was the person who stabbed him.
Ian knew it was Agravain—only he would use a combination of Assassin and Knight to use a dagger.
And this was just the beginning of a logic.
The person who used the dagger was indeed Mordred.
But it would be a big mistake to blame all the problems on him.
"As long as Britain can continue, any path is fine."
This was what Ian learned about his wishes in a conversation with Mordred.
This silent knight actually thought far more than ordinary people.
Then—
He naturally couldn't assassinate King Arthur, who was invincible and had the momentum to revitalize Camelot, because of his own wishes.
The only person who had the ability to make this happen was only one person.
That was his mother Morgan.
Therefore—
Artoria must not be allowed to pursue this matter.
Otherwise, the person who would be implicated in the end would definitely be Morgan.
He couldn't allow this to happen.
"..."
Artoria was silent.
She looked at him in front of her and felt a strange anomaly in her heart.
"Sir Ian, can you tell me why you did this?"
"Because I don't want the knights to waste time on this matter."
Ian looked at Artoria.
"We have more powerful enemies to deal with, don't we?"
It couldn't be called a lie.
But as an explanation, it was a bit pale.
The girl looked at the man in front of her and opened her lips again.
"Sir Ian, can I ask you one more question?"
"Of course."
"Then—"
The girl recalled the scene at that moment—this was a picture passively memorized by her body, not a record of her subjective will.
The target of the dagger was not Ian, but herself.
The body of the dragon girl could feel the resentment attached to it.
But—
Even if the dagger hit her, it would probably be difficult to cause damage.
After all, on the surface, she only took Excalibur and Excalibur Galatine from the Lady of the Lake.
But what she actually had was the scabbard of the holy sword, Avalon.
The powerful power it contained was enough to resist that level of resentment for her.
This was an assassination destined to fail.
The premise was to take King Arthur as the assassination target.
Then—
Let's ask about something more important.
"Sir Ian, why did you block that knife for me at that time?"
The girl looked at the man in front of her and asked.
"..."
Ian was silent for a moment and then answered again.
"Because you are important."
"Therefore—"
"I think I must block that knife for you."
"Even if it costs my life, I will not hesitate."
Ian was actually still lying.
Artoria was indeed important.
But this importance was not only important on his personal level.
Anything he wanted to achieve was inseparable from her, the king.
But—
Was this really what he thought in his heart?
Or was it a lie woven to answer this question?
Ian found that he couldn't tell.
But all of this was enough to create a real illusion for Artoria.
It turned out that she was very important in his heart.
But what did her identity as a king bring him?
It was almost an eternal separation injury.
In that case.
At the end of the war, there must be a choice.
The girl leaned in her beloved's arms and made this determination.