False Glory

Gawain was Arthur's legitimate heir. That was beyond doubt, though he was not the only heir.

Besides Prince Arthur, King Uther had three princesses: Morgause, Elaine, and Morgan le Fay.

Two of the three princesses each had sons of their own.

Gawain and Mordred—both members of the royal family—shared the same blood as Arthur.

While Gawain was still considering whether he could secure the title of knight-errant at the court banquet, then leave Camelot to build a castle and develop his own lands elsewhere, Mordred had already distinguished himself in the tournament through his prowess and earned Arthur's trust, becoming one of the Knights of the Round Table.

It could be said that Mordred was already far ahead in the race for the throne.

Knighthood was a feudal institution that originated in the Frankish Empire of Europe. Kings granted conquered lands and serfs to their personal retainers after victorious wars, creating the earliest knights.

After the Roman Empire fell, the nations built upon its corpse were desolate, their finances long since collapsed.

Land was the greatest source of wealth. To possess land meant possessing control over the economic lifeline. When kings could no longer afford to pay their armies, they rewarded their knights with land instead.

The enfeoffment of land formed the foundation of knightly military service. The king provided land, while vassals supplied troops for war. This created the fundamental feudal system, a unified structure of rights and obligations bound by stable fiefs.

Once Mordred was invested as a Knight of the Round Table, he automatically received a fief as his territory. This was also a peculiarity of the Kingdom of Camelot: so long as one was a Camelot noble, whether lord, baron, or even duke, one was meant to be a knight subordinate and loyal to Arthur.

Under normal circumstances, a knight's fief was a manor, roughly the size of a village. Depending on the fertility of the soil, it contained three hundred to six hundred acres of arable land, along with a hundred farmers.

The land Mordred received was not fertile. Though, as a Knight of the Round Table directly under the king, he enjoyed the best provisions available to knights, he was merely the lowest-ranking of the Round Table knights. At present, he held no noble title and could not compare with Round Table knights holding lordly titles, such as Sir Lancelot, Sir Kay, and Bedivere. Yet his fief was located in London, England's former political, religious, commercial, and economic center, so he gained considerable commercial profits from it.

That alone allowed him to feel Arthur's profound love, and he was full of confidence in himself.

Who else but me could be Arthur's heir?

Mordred had never doubted it. Even after learning that Arthur had another nephew, Gawain, he had never paid him any mind. In his eyes, Gawain was merely a spoiled wastrel who was not even a knight.

Yet when Mordred watched the image of Camelot's court banquet reflected in the crystal ball, he instantly lost his composure.

The king and queen sat upon their thrones. Beneath them, to Arthur and the queen's right, sat a youth—or perhaps a young man. The crystal ball's image was unclear, and Mordred could not make him out properly. Yet the moment he saw him, he called out the name, "Gawain."

Arthur's nephew, the son of King Lot of the northern lands, Arthur's nephew just like himself—and also Arthur's heir.

The seat Gawain occupied had once belonged to Sir Lancelot, the foremost Knight of the Round Table. It was a position Mordred had once only been able to imagine, one forever beyond his reach. Yet Gawain had taken that place so close to the king merely because he shared the king's blood.

Mordred was nearly driven mad by jealousy. He gritted his teeth as he stared at the crystal ball's image, wishing he could replace Gawain at once.

"If rebellion had not broken out in London and kept me from going to Camelot, why would the king have let Gawain sit by his side like that? That sly bastard Gawain!"

Mordred spoke resentfully, jealousy already twisting his features.

Camelot's court was not merely a place for handling state affairs; it was also a venue for celebrations and social gatherings. By custom, the New Year banquet lasted fifteen days. The king celebrated with his relatives and the Knights of the Round Table, after which nobles and church members from every region attended. The queen, together with noblewomen from across the land, represented the king in exchanges with diplomatic envoys from various nations to strengthen their ties.

As the former capital, London was home to many nobles who had lost their power after the new king took the throne, nobles filled with hatred for Arthur and resentment toward the current order.

Whenever the Knights of the Round Table gathered at Camelot's court, rebellions took the opportunity to break out. Thus, Mordred, who had originally intended to attend the court banquet, had no choice but to remain tied down by those rebellious nobles.

He could not abandon his responsibilities for personal reasons. If some mad noble truly rebelled in London while he left at such a critical moment, then as a Knight of the Round Table whose fief lay in London, he would bear an inescapable responsibility.

"My child, your emotions are very unsettled. Though I cannot see with my blindfolded eyes, my heart has not fallen into darkness. I can see that you have sunk into a state of anxiety."

The middle-aged woman spoke gently. With the support of two maids at her side, she reached out and touched Mordred's forehead.

"I'm sorry, Mother. I lost my composure. It was only because I saw Gawain taking advantage of my absence to sit beside the king and queen that I lost my bearings. That was originally where I should have sat. Even if not, he should not be allowed to enjoy that honor alone. The same blood as Arthur runs through my veins."

Mordred seized his mother's hand and lowered it as he explained, though his tone carried no small amount of grievance and unwillingness. "It isn't the greed of a child coveting a toy. It is how I feel about Arthur. I regard him as a father, admire him so deeply, and long for his affection. Mother, you taught me to treat Arthur as my own father. That is what I have thought, and what I have done. I have no father of my own, but whenever I see the king, I cannot help feeling close to him, feeling the affection a child feels for a parent.

"You said I should inherit Arthur's throne, Mother. I am not afraid of fair competition with Gawain. Even if, in the legends, he went by the name of Dara Bengba and slew a dragon, saved a princess, and battled monsters from foreign lands, none of that gives me cause for fear. I bear your hopes and am to become Arthur's heir. In truth, that is my wish as well.

"Arthur loves me more. But because I was absent, Gawain sat in a place so close to the king. Won't that send a bad signal to the Knights of the Round Table, the nobles, and the people?"

"Mordred, do not worry like this. The throne is yours. No one can take it from you, not even Gawain. Your bloodline is far purer than Gawain's."

The middle-aged woman comforted her son, a captivating smile blooming on her face. Her mature beauty still revealed the peerless elegance she must have possessed as a young woman.

"Gawain never slew a dragon, nor did he ever take the name Dara Bengba. It is all false. Every one of his legends is false. His deeds were fabricated, his status came from blood ties close to Arthur, and his fame was invented by his drinking companions. He is utterly vulnerable."

"But Mother, if it was merely a fabricated story, why does everyone say it is true? I never doubted it either."

Mordred wore a puzzled expression. Even such a plot-ridden tale of adventure had not drawn a single person's suspicion. Even he had only discovered its absurdities after his mother pointed them out.

"Because he is a descendant of Aeneas. Uther was, Arthur is, and so are you. So am I. Aeneas was not only the hero who established Rome's glory, but also the traitor who betrayed Troy. What his descendants brought to Britain was both 'prosperity' and 'war' and 'suffering,' both 'happiness' and 'disaster.' This is the original sin of the Pendragon family, a power hidden within the bloodline."

The woman spoke calmly, while Mordred's face filled with shock. In the education he had received, Aeneas had been a glorious hero and ancestor, yet he was now hearing an entirely different version.

"I am a witch, and so are my sisters. The women of Britain's ancient baronial families all possess mysterious powers, capable of bringing both happiness and disaster. Gawain's magic, like that of our ancestor, can borrow the tiger's might to intimidate others, and can also create illusory glory just as Aeneas did! So long as everyone firmly believes, it can grant him power. This is my sisters' magic!"

As she spoke, the woman reached out and produced two bronze medallions bearing images of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. "But now I shall reveal Gawain's true form. I will summon an invincible knight. After failing to challenge Arthur, he will challenge Gawain!

"He will absolutely dare not accept. Then his reputation will be ruined, and he will lose the magical protection my sisters have bestowed upon him!"

"Mother, Arthur does not fear challenges, and no one is his match. Lancelot will be the first to step forward. Even if you summon a giant, a dragon, or a monster, there are plenty of people capable of defeating them."

Mordred frowned. He did not think much of his mother's plan.

Camelot's court was packed with formidable men. Even he had only just managed to join the Knights of the Round Table, and his seat was the very last. Though his fief was quite good, that was only because of his bloodline. Among the Knights of the Round Table, there were those superior to him, such as Sir Lancelot.

"No, my child, Mordred. What if that immortal monster wants to play a beheading game?"

His mother's words left Mordred stunned. No Knight of the Round Table would play a beheading game with an immortal monster. Faced with such a strange being, the knights would only join forces to attack it, after which Merlin would seal it away with magic.

There was a flaw in his mother's plan. Just as he was about to say so, he saw a green monster appear in the guise of a knight.

If he issued a challenge as a knight, then the knight who accepted it would also have to obey the rules of a knightly duel.

Arthur was no exception, because besides being king, he was also a knight.

Thus, Arthur had no choice but to accept the challenge. And could Gawain really stand by and watch his uncle, Arthur, play such a foolish beheading game with the Green Knight? This was not a plot against Arthur, but against Gawain.