[Camelot] The Name of the Rose

A girl from the Southern Isles finds a holy sword inside marble that floats upon the waters of a lake.

Arthur, who has strayed from his predetermined fate, loses his chance to draw the Sword in the Stone at the choosing of the king.

On the morning of the fated day, a knight's sword takes the place of the king's sword.

Second life · Draws the sword again and becomes king · Arthur, with memories of the past: "What? I stole the king's throne? I stole the king's queen? And now I have to kill the king, too?"

Merlin the Second, a knight turned wizard, cries out in dismay: "The one who had his throne and queen stolen, and even got [censored] is clearly you!"

The first book in the "Name of the Rose" series, "The Sword of the Lady of the Lake." The central figure of the hidden route, an active participant who interferes in the plot: Leia, dancer / princess / expeditionary knight of the midsummer kingdom of Iscariot.

(The cover art is based on John William Waterhouse's painting, "In the Peristyle." The original title, "The Ballad of the King of [Camelot]," was inspired by Tennyson's verse romance. The new title, "The Name of the Rose of [Camelot]," is a tribute to Umberto Eco's novel of the same name.)

...And the "Sword of the Lady of the Lake" and some of the fantasy elements are a tribute to The Witcher 3.

We sat beside the River of Blessings;

Remembered Avalon, and wept in sorrow.

Our swords are broken in our hands, our shields hang upon the oaks.

Those silver towers have fallen, lost in a crimson sea.

How many miles to Avalon?

So close before us, yet distant as heaven.

Those silver towers have fallen, those silver towers have perished.

"Long ago, I heard a traveling bard sing a song."

The Guns of Avalon, The Chronicles of Amber

The legend of King Arthur lies buried beneath the palaces of old and the mist-shrouded holy isle. And who now sings the truth beneath the rose?

(This story seems pretty unpopular, QAQ... Here's a less purely literary blurb. Some parts quote comments by fellow reader Hua Zui.)

Plan: In the first timeline, there is no Lancelot (& Galahad); in the second, no Guinevere (& Merlin); in the third, no Morgan le Fay (& Mordred). Leia intervenes with different backgrounds and identities, and has subtle ties to the person who "disappears" in each corresponding timeline.