Praise for the King

Mordred actually backed down before Gawain. In everyone's eyes, Gawain and Mordred were both King Arthur's nephews, and their statuses were roughly equal.

King Arthur would treat them both impartially. Yet when the two of them, like children, claimed that their uncle loved them more, Mordred was the one who ultimately yielded. This inevitably made people at this formal court occasion wonder whether even Mordred believed that Arthur favored Gawain over him.

Since neither Gawain nor Mordred was the son of the King and Queen, it did not matter who was older. There would be no difference in the order of succession.

Thus, whoever earned more of the King's trust and affection would undoubtedly be more qualified to ascend the throne after the King's death.

When both sides had equal conditions, the King's wishes became especially important. Only the King held the final say.

"Apparently, Sir Gawain is so confident that King Arthur loves him more that you won an argument against your brother."

Queen Guinevere, seated upon the throne, spoke up to ease the strange atmosphere, then could not help laughing.

Sir Kay walked over to Mordred, pulled him to his feet, and led him away from the center of the banquet hall.

This investiture ceremony was a rare public event for the royal family. Not only had court officials been summoned, but also the nobles staying in Camelot, along with their wives and daughters, foreign envoys and their families, and members of the church. Mordred could not be allowed to cause a scene.

As for whom King Arthur favored more, Sir Kay believed that the King might prefer Gawain. But as Arthur the man, as a father, he perhaps loved Mordred more. The upper ranks of the court actually knew that Mordred was not King Arthur's nephew, but his illegitimate son, with no right to inherit the throne.

Compared to Gawain, who could openly call himself King Arthur's nephew and become a member of Camelot's royal family, Mordred was merely an illegitimate son of ill repute, one whom Arthur had never acknowledged. He could only appear before the public as King Arthur's nephew. Arthur could not call him son, and Mordred likewise could not call him father.

Although the two brothers quarreled and stood opposed to one another over the throne, Arthur, as both uncle and father, surely hoped in his heart that his brothers would live in harmony. Though this was merely an ideal and an expectation, impossible to achieve, as sovereign, he still hoped the brothers would get along and would stop their disputes.

In mythology, Apollo, god of the sun, and Mercury, the mighty god, fought and argued among mortals. Jupiter, father of the gods, brought down his thunderbolt upon the center of the battlefield, interrupting the war between his two sons.

Queen Guinevere fixed her gaze on Gawain. She was doing her best to smooth things over for him, hoping to minimize the impact of the conflict between the two in the hall, though she knew the matter would certainly reach Arthur's ears.

This was Camelot, the political center of the kingdom. At the ceremony where the royal family was investing Gawain as a royal member, many people of great importance to the nation had gathered. The dispute between the two heirs, Gawain and Mordred, would be politically interpreted by everyone.

Who stood closer to the King and Queen, who received greater courtesy when their mothers were at court, even which of them the King smiled with more often and how long he spoke with them—all of it would be recorded by calculating nobles and used as grounds for choosing which nephew to support.

But Mordred was Arthur's biological son after all. Perhaps Arthur would rationally choose Gawain and deeply love Gawain, yet in the depths of his heart, he clearly loved Mordred more.

Though the gradually aging King had not yet lost his former heroic bearing or the favor of destiny, he had changed from a god in everyone's eyes into a man. Yes, as destiny's evening bell approached, Arthur seemed more like a mortal, yearning more deeply for familial affection.

Arguments between the King and Queen were like quarrels between husband and wife: there could be no winner. The victor was truly a loser, the defeated was also a loser, and only the couple, their family, and the kingdom were hurt.

It was even more so with disputes between children. No matter who won or lost, their parents would not be happy. Arthur, as their uncle, was no different.

If children said that their parents liked them best, then even Arthur would smile knowingly.

But when the two argued over whom their parents loved more, whom they would choose, all it brought the parents involved was a headache.

No matter who it was, each was a beloved child their parents could not bear to give up. There was no option to choose one over the other.

"Your Majesty the Queen, in my own feelings, in the heart of a child, when I face my uncle, my admiration for him is like a sunflower facing the sun. The sun shines upon all things in the world without bias, treating all equally. Every sunflower believes it has received the sun's greatest favor and deepest love.

"Arthur's love for me is unique. Perhaps Arthur loves Mordred more; perhaps he loves me more. None of that matters.

"Because the King's profound and equal love extends to all his people, is he not, like Jupiter, majestic, loving, and just? I do not believe him partial. This is also the voice of his subjects.

"My heart has long been filled with the King's loving kindness, until it overflowed."

Gawain sang King Arthur's praises while also defending his earlier quarrel with Mordred.

Mordred was King Arthur's biological son after all. Even if he was illegitimate, when compared with the child of his sister, this nephew, Gawain had no confidence in competing for favor. Perhaps Gawain himself believed that King Arthur ought to love Mordred more, even though, at the end of the Arthurian legend, the two would perish together in that classic scene of filial son and loving father.

Because King Arthur was just, shining upon all things like the sun, and like Jupiter, every child could feel the greatest love from him and believe themselves unique.

There was not a single flaw to find in Gawain's words. Even King Arthur could only smile knowingly. When his nephew said, "I think my uncle is the person in this world who loves me most," could Arthur, as his uncle, possibly be angry?

He would not.

"My uncle, King Arthur"—those were words Arthur himself had promised Gawain, allowing him to proudly proclaim them to the world.

The reason Mordred had knelt midway through was that he had lost the argument. Perhaps he believed in his heart that Arthur loved Gawain more than him.

But since King Arthur was the sun, was Jupiter, was a just King, how could his love be insufficient? Therefore, the problem had to lie with Mordred.

Eastern monarchs regarded themselves as fathers to their people, treating all under heaven as their children. The Tsar, too, was called a "loving yet majestic father figure," the Queen of England was respectfully known as "the grandmother of the English people," and the King of France likewise presented the image of a majestic and loving father.

Therefore, even if one had not the slightest blood relation to Arthur, even an ordinary commoner of Camelot could say such things.

There was also some sickeningly sentimental praise in it. He would not have dared say it before King Arthur, but now that he was away from him, it did not matter.