"Thank you for your hard work, Sella."
"Not at all, madam. It is my duty."
The homunculus maid brought over the freshly brewed black tea. The woman she addressed as madam took it and set it on the table.
"What are you looking at, Saber?"
At the call, the girl beside the bed turned and answered with a smile, "Irisviel, you're here. I was watching your daughter play with Kiritsugu in the forest outside the castle."
On her handsome, gallant face, the smile did not diminish her stern dignity. Instead, it added a touch of gentleness.
Youthful, vigorous vitality radiated from her, making it truly difficult to believe that she was a Heroic Spirit given physical form.
Saber literally meant a military sword. In the Holy Grail War, it represented the "swordsman" Class, the seat of the sword widely regarded as the strongest.
Irisviel slowly walked to her side and looked out the window with her, just in time to see Kiritsugu Emiya hoist Illyasviel onto his shoulders and run deeper into the forest.
"Does seeing this different side of Kiritsugu surprise you?"
Saber nodded honestly. Although she could not see the expression of the girl on Kiritsugu's shoulders from her angle, the little girl's laughter remained full of joy even as the two ventured deep into the forest and vanished from sight.
It showed that the affection between father and daughter was genuine, their relationship as harmonious as that of any ordinary father and daughter.
"Forgive my impertinence, but I had expected my Master to be a colder man."
Hearing Saber say this, Irisviel nodded. "Kiritsugu really was like that eight years ago. But now..."
As she finished speaking, a smile appeared on Irisviel's face. It held trust, devotion, and the purest love, whose sincerity needed no questioning.
"Come