Morgan le Fay recalled what Artoria said today and her heart gave a slight twitch, a surge of twisted emotion welling up inside her.
Of course her good little sister couldn't understand her… because she was born with everything.
Even before Artoria was born, the former king Uther and Merlin had already paved the way for her.
The Red Dragon's bloodline, the Sword in the Stone, the throne... and even a lover.
Everything had been in her hands since birth, so naturally Artoria could never understand what it felt like to struggle endlessly through one's own efforts, only to fail again and again.
Even now, she could give up everything, even let go of the hatred she once harbored toward Britannia, as long as it was him, as long as he could stay by her side forever.
Yet even such a small, humble wish could never be fulfilled.
If Morgan were willing today, with the power of the "Lord of the Island," she could have taken Alvin away by force.
But she didn't want to do that.
Because what she wanted wasn't just an empty shell.
If Alvin didn't choose her, Morgan le Fay's pride would never allow her to force him.
Outwardly domineering and arrogant, yearning for love yet cautious, anxious about gains and losses, that was Morgan le Fay.
But now, she felt a little tired.
'What on earth should I do?'
The woman slowly opened her bewitching deep-blue eyes and stared at the ceiling.
After a long while, the image of the boy involuntarily surfaced in her mind.
Gradually, a trace of tender emotion rippled through her beautiful eyes, her exquisitely lovely cheeks flushing with an intoxicating red.
Slender, fair fingertips slowly traced downward along her proud chest.
"Alvin… Alvin…"
She softly called the boy's name from her red lips, the tips of her toes beneath her skirt unconsciously tensing.
At that moment, someone suddenly wrapped their arms tightly around Morgan from behind.
"Morgan," Immediately after came the boy's soft call.
Morgan's movements froze stiff, her entire body going blank for a moment.
"Alvin? Why are you…"
Alvin smiled and said, "I saw you weren't in a great mood earlier, so I came to check on you… but judging by this, did I come at a bad time?"
As he spoke, he lowered his head to glance at the woman in his arms, and at her slightly disheveled clothes.
"..."
The atmosphere turned a little awkward.
After a brief silence, Morgan finally realized something and quickly withdrew her hand. A faint blush still lingered on her face as she feigned coldness and said, "Why did you come to me? Why don't you go look for Lily?"
Alvin looked at her like this and couldn't help smiling, "Morgan… I like you."
"..."
"..."
Another long silence followed.
Morgan stood with her back to Alvin, her fair, delicate face flushed as if drunk. She parted her lips slightly, but the confusion in her eyes was impossible to hide.
"Eh… eh?"
———
The sleeping chamber was utterly silent.
The curtains hung low, concealing the beautiful scene within the snow-white bed. From outside, one could only vaguely see a boy holding tightly onto the alluring body of a peerless beauty.
Morgan le Fay stood with her back to Alvin. When the boy suddenly spoke those words, the mind of this woman who toyed with power and schemes seemed to go blank for an instant.
She was stunned.
"Eh… eh?"
'L-like me?'
'Does he even know what he is saying?"
After realizing that Alvin wasn't joking, a captivating blush quickly rose on Morgan's fair and gorgeous face.
Her beautiful eyes shimmered with moisture as she lightly bit her lip.
"Alvin… I don't need your sympathy."
Alvin acted as if he hadn't heard, simply reaching out to gently stroke the woman's smooth silver hair, saying softly, "I'm not sympathizing with you. Do you really have that little confidence in your own charm?"
"How could that be—"
Morgan almost blurted it out, but her voice quickly dropped.
"But I came later, and at the very beginning, I approached you only to take you away from Lily. That was all."
Morgan had a clear understanding of her own charm and appearance.
But the title of "witch" alone was enough to scare everyone away. At least in Britannia, whether it was the great nobles or the Knights of the Round Table, all were extremely wary of Morgan.
Although Morgan had always felt that as long as Alvin wasn't afraid of her, that was enough.
But, Morgan le Fay was the one who appeared after Artoria. And from the very start, her motives for approaching Alvin had been impure.
This was also one of Morgan's deepest pains. In past arguments between the sisters, Artoria often used this point to attack her.
("My feelings with Alvin are pure and flawless, but your motives for approaching him were impure from the start. Even if he was with you back then, he was simply seduced by you, lusting after your body.")
Whenever Artoria said that, it was practically a checkmate.
You could say Morgan was weak or ugly and she wouldn't care, but say that she had seduced Alvin and that their feelings weren't pure, and she would absolutely explode.
Alvin's expression was gentle as he said warmly, "Feelings aren't that complicated. Liking is liking, and not liking is not liking."
"No matter how we ended up together back then, as long as what we feel now is real, isn't that enough?"
Morgan was slightly moved. As Britannia's master schemer and political tactician, this woman wasn't so easily placated.
But Alvin didn't flatter her or lie at all. He even frankly admitted that at the beginning, he really had been seduced by Morgan.
After all, was being tempted by Morgan le Fay really something shameful?
Just imagine it. A tall, silver-haired older sister pressing your head into her chest, whispering heart-fluttering words into your ear, who wouldn't lose their composure?
While Morgan was still in the midst of complicated emotions, Alvin suddenly grabbed one of her hands and turned her to face him.
Very soon, he saw this witch of Britannia, this peerlessly beautiful woman, her face tinged with a faint blush and shyness.
She gently pressed her bright red lips together, seemingly not used to being stared at so directly, and quickly lowered her head again.
'As expected, the transition from tsundere sharp-tongued arrogance to shyness is irresistible.'
'Heh! Heh! Big Sis really is adorable,' Alvin couldn't help laughing to himself.
Morgan frowned slightly, glanced up at him, and said coolly, "What are you laughing at? There were plenty of people in Britannia who confessed to me in the past, but I never accepted any of them. Even you, I'm not obligated to accept your confession."
Her expression was extremely cold and her tone full of arrogance, but the slight stutter in her words betrayed her.
'Big Sis really is tsundere, and her pride is strong too. Yeah… if it weren't the dead of night like this, even if I came to her on my own initiative, she'd probably just tell me to go back,' Alvin couldn't help complaining inwardly.
He put on a sad, disappointed expression and said softly, "Are you going to reject me?"
Morgan suddenly lifted her head and glared at Alvin, somewhat flustered, "I-I didn't say that far, I just need to think about it."
Her voice grew smaller and smaller toward the end, until it was almost inaudible.
Perhaps unwilling to remain passive like this, she cleared her throat and casually changed the subject, "I forgot to remind you earlier. You must be careful of the two people you brought back today."
Alvin paused and said, "Ishtar aside, Tiamat is just a spiritual body. There shouldn't be any problem, right?"
"Even as a spiritual body, she's still the Mother Goddess of Creation. Although I don't know why an existence of her caliber would become a transmigrator, no one can be sure she isn't simply gathering intelligence to make it easier for her true body to descend upon Britannia in the future and overturn this country in one fell swoop."
For a woman like Morgan, she was suspicious of everyone except Alvin and Artoria.
Alvin went without saying, and Artoria, lthough she and her sister didn't get along, Morgan still trusted the King of Arthur's integrity.
Although Morgan had once wanted revenge on everything, even to destroy this country, she wanted to be the one to end it with her own hands. Letting Tiamat do it instead was something she couldn't really accept.
"Also, you need to be careful with that goddess as well," Morgan continued.
"Ishtar?", Alvin couldn't help freezing for a moment, thinking, 'Does that useless goddess who screws things up in every possible way demonstrate something to worry about?'
Morgan's voice was crisp and cold as she said indifferently, "That's why I say you're stupid. Ishtar was summoned by King Marco, right?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"Even in the Age of Gods, even with cheating, King Marco couldn't possibly summon a god, unless the will of this planet was opening the back door for him."
Alvin's eyes flickered.
At this point, Morgan continued, "Didn't you feel that goddess seemed a bit strange?"
Alvin asked sincerely, "How is Ishtar strange?"
"She's suppressing her true personality, Ishtar probably isn't in her true form right now," Morgan revealed the truth.
Manifestation of Beauty EX was a unique authority belonging only to the Venusian goddess Ishtar. When manifesting in the world, to suppress her true personality, Ishtar deliberately lowered [Manifestation of Beauty] to B-rank.
If that authority were fully released, Ishtar would become a true Venusian goddess, not this somewhat unreliable, constantly-dropping-the-ball goddess.
Gods all belonged to the planet's will, "Gaia," a fact Alvin had already realized when he first saw Ishtar.
'In other words, Ishtar's descent upon Britannia was the result of Gaia's tacit approval?'
Alvin pondered for a moment, then sighed, "As expected, Big Sis King is more reliable in this regard."
A top-tier woman like Morgan le Fay, marrying just one of her was like gaining an extra strategist who would consider everything for you. Beautiful, powerful… the only real drawbacks were her sharp tongue and tsundere personality, and because she was born a queen, her pride was strong and her desire for control quite pronounced.
Of course, for certain people, being insulted might even be a reward.
Alvin didn't have any strange fetishes like that, but he didn't mind Morgan's sharp tongue.
After all, a woman who was cold and arrogant one moment, then the next let out sweet, uncontrollable breaths, that contrast was what made it truly irresistible.
"You chose me. What about Lily?"
At that moment, the captivating woman glanced at him.
Hearing this, Alvin hesitated slightly and said, "That's actually what I wanted to discuss with you…"
"Mm."
Morgan replied briefly, indicating she was listening.
"I like Lily too."
Morgan: "..."
The atmosphere in the sleeping chamber seemed to freeze completely at that instant.
For a moment, Alvin even felt like Morgan was about to stand up and toss him into the basement to be "properly educated."
But gradually, Morgan's body slowly relaxed.
She raised her head and looked at Alvin with a complicated expression, "I knew you couldn't let go of Lily."
"Can you let go of her?", Alvin asked in return.
Morgan said coldly, "What's there for me to not let go of. After all, there's no affection between her and me to speak of."
"If there really were no feelings at all, you wouldn't care about her so much."
Alvin smiled, "If I'm not mistaken, during all the years you left the royal palace, you were probably still watching her in secret, right?"
"That was to find her weaknesses and crush her completely. That's all."
[T/N: I hope you all are enjoying the book and if you are, please do give some reviews, be it bad or good, and keep commenting in the chapters to let me know that there are actually people reading it. It makes my day and I really read every single comment that comes on every one of the books. Even reply to some comments if I can. Have a nice day, y'all~]