"What, aren't you leaving? Kirei."
Gilgamesh swirled a new wine glass that had appeared in his hand at some point, sizing up the habitually taciturn priest through the crimson liquid with a playful look.
Kirei Kotomine slowly stepped out from the shadows.
He was expressionless, his hollow, dead-fish eyes showing no emotional fluctuation whatsoever.
He silently walked to the messy wall and began cleaning up the glass shards and wine stains on the floor.
"As a disciple's duty, I must handle the aftermath for my teacher." Kirei Kotomine's voice was as flat as water, like an emotionless robot.
"Tch..." Gilgamesh sneered, "What a boring man."
"Boring, am I..."
Kirei Kotomine stopped his movements, looking down at the glass shards in his hand. A flicker of imperceptible confusion flashed in his eyes.
"I cannot feel anger, nor can I feel joy."
"To me, this Holy Grail War is like a mission that must be completed."
"I cannot understand... why the Holy Grail would choose a hollow person like me."
Listening to Kirei Kotomine's near-confessional analysis, the corner of Gilgamesh's mouth curled into a playful smile.
That smile was no longer the contempt he showed toward Tokiomi, but a kind of... pleasure, like discovering a peerless treasure.
"I see."
Gilgamesh put down his wine glass and leaned forward slightly. His slitted pupils flickered with an eerie light, as if trying to see through to the depths of Kirei Kotomine's soul.
"Kirei, you are wrong."
"You say you cannot feel joy? No, that is only because you have not yet found the sustenance that can truly make you feel pleasure."
"Sustenance... of pleasure?" Kirei frowned.
"Just like that dull man Tokiomi, who feeds on so-called elegance and long-cherished wishes, living like a precision clock—dry and tedious."
Gilgamesh stood up and slowly walked to Kirei, his voice like a devil's whisper:
"But his so-called justice and ideals—once they shatter, isn't the resulting wail quite pleasant to the ear?"
Kirei Kotomine's pupils contracted slightly.
"Think about it, Kirei."
Gilgamesh continued to induce him, every word like poison precisely dripping onto the parched desert of Kirei Kotomine's heart.
"Tonight, when you saw that Ruler acting willfully, trampling the layout Tokiomi was so proud of underfoot, and even provoking this King..."
"In the depths of your heart, was there really no fluctuation?"
"Do you really... find it boring?"
Kirei Kotomine fell silent.
In his mind, scenes from tonight involuntarily surfaced.
Especially when Tohsaka Tokiomi had red wine splashed on his face—that wretchedness, humiliation, and the forced 'elegance' that was on the verge of collapsing.
In that instant, his heart, which was originally like stagnant water, indeed felt a slight ripple.
That feeling... was it pleasure?
Looking at the contemplative Kirei, Gilgamesh let out a low laugh.
"See, Kirei. Your soul is not hollow."
"On the contrary, it is fascinatingly turbid."
Gilgamesh patted Kirei's shoulder and leaned into his ear, whispering:
"Your justice is hypocritical, a shackle imposed upon you after birth."
"But your desire... that longing hidden behind the distortion of human nature is what is most real."
"This Holy Grail War is for making wishes to others."
"But for you, Kirei..."
"This might be a journey of Awakening to recognize yourself and find true 'pleasure'."
With that, Gilgamesh laughed and turned away, leaving Kirei with a golden silhouette as he spiritualized and vanished into the air.
Only Kirei Kotomine remained standing alone in the empty drawing room.
The sound of wind and rain outside seemed to grow louder.
He looked down at the sharp glass shard in his hand, a remnant of the wine glass Tokiomi had smashed earlier.
The glass reflected his eyes.
In the depths of those originally hollow eyes, a black flame named betrayal and malice seemed to be quietly igniting.
"Pleasure... is it?"
Kirei murmured to himself, his lips curling into an extremely stiff and eerie arc.
This was the first heartfelt smile in his thirty years of life... The morning sun penetrated the gaps in the heavy curtains of Einzbern Castle, casting several mottled pillars of light onto the floor.
Hansen woke up from a luxurious European-style bed large enough to hold four or five people. He moved his joints and stretched his muscles, his bones letting out a series of pops like crackling beans.
He stepped barefoot onto the soft wool carpet, grabbed a bathrobe to throw on, and was about to open the door when his extremely keen hearing caught the sound of hesitant footsteps in the hallway outside.
It was the very slight friction of leather shoes on the floor, pacing back and forth, appearing indecisive.
Hansen raised an eyebrow, walked to the door, and pulled it open.
"Morning, Saber."
Outside the door, Artoria, who was about to raise her hand to knock, froze mid-air.
Today, the King of Knights was still wearing that slim-fit black suit, her long golden hair tied into a crisp ponytail.
However, on that heroic face, there was currently a hint of lingering conflict.
Seeing Hansen disheveled, with his bathrobe collar wide open to reveal a large portion of his chest muscles, Saber's eyes narrowed. Her gaze quickly shifted away as if burned.
"...Good morning, Ruler."
She gave a dry greeting, trying to maintain her seriousness as a knight. "Irisviel asked me to inform you that breakfast is ready."
"Just a notification for breakfast?" Hansen leaned against the doorframe, his gaze unashamedly sweeping over Saber. "I thought you were here for Mana Replenishment."
Hearing the words 'Mana Replenishment', Saber's originally tense face instantly crumbled, and the tips of her ears began to burn.
The intimate process beyond that of ordinary comrades last night, along with the lingering sense of strangeness after the replenishment, made her feel uneasy all over whenever she saw this man now.
"Please do not joke, Ruler!" Saber took half a step back, her emerald eyes glaring at him as the ahoge on her head stood up in anger. "I am just... just carrying out the master's orders!"
"Is that so?"
Hansen took a step forward, instantly closing the distance between them.
A strong masculine scent washed over her. Saber instinctively wanted to retreat, only to find the hallway wall already behind her.
Hansen propped one hand on the wall beside her ear and looked down at the uneasy King Arthur with a smile. "Shouldn't such a dutiful knight lady be rewarded?"
Saber's breath hitched, and two streaks of crimson quickly rose on her fair cheeks.
"Y-You insolent man..."
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