...

...

From her following day of work onwards, Enkidu started to appear at her office door to have 'a friendly chat', as he liked to call them.

In actuality, while he excused his visits by claiming he was supervising her work, he went there to describe to her the inner workings of Uruk Enterprises and the way Gilgamesh ran his company. He also gave her speech instructions, telling her what sentences were the most appropriate to say in public in order to maintain a neutral dialogue with others, especially with people she didn't know or wasn't certain she could trust. She was glad to find out that she didn't have difficulties in picking up any of those things.

Arturia enjoyed such talks with him. Enkidu was friendly and open and, while mischievous, also very reliable. Since he also happened to be the best friend of the man she was going to marry, they inevitably ended up talking about Gilgamesh as well. At first, they just mentioned him in passing, but then it progressed to having him be the main topic of conversation.

She knew that Enkidu did that to gently help her get accustomed to the idea of her marriage – since he was well aware of the real reasons for the arrangement – and in all honesty, she couldn't fault him for that. It was kind of him, and she did not mind that part of their talks, because she also found out some things about Gilgamesh through them.

For example, a week after the shopping spree, Enkidu remarked, "I should probably feel slighted, Ria~… When Gil came here last week, he didn't even spend a minute with his best friend, instead dedicating himself completely to his future wife! It's true that he had only a few hours between one flight and the other, but he only squeezed in time for you~…"

She simply gave him a noncommittal apology – using the neutral sentences he had just taught her – and changed the subject, but later, when alone in her office again, she took a few minutes to ponder over it.

The fact that he had spent the little time he had to go shopping with her would have been strange if she hadn't known that he had done it as part of the contract, merely because he wanted his future wife to dress appropriately, or at least, in a way he thought was appropriate.

She couldn't forget so easily that everything she had been wearing from that day on came from that shopping excursion with him, since he had made sure that some of the clothes were sent to the hospital, where she was now living for the time being. She had also noticed that certain items that had been chosen, specifically ones that looked particularly good on her, had been bought more than once.

She didn't really understand Gilgamesh's behaviour. As she had known from the start, he obviously wanted a wife to give lustre to his image as businessman, and many of his actions towards her reflected that. But other actions… did not.

She knew that he was an extremely haughty person, who valued his business more than anything else, except maybe his friendship with Enkidu. Yet while what he did was to respect the contract, it seemed as if he put a little too much effort into it.

Arturia sighed. Thinking about it was giving her a mild headache. Marrying a man she barely knew for the sake of her sister had not seemed such a complicated sacrifice back when she had decided to make it.

Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that she wasn't happy with that new state of things and with how thorny her life was going to be, since it was all for Iri and Shirou's sake, she knew she would do it a thousand times over again.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

She avoided thinking too much about her upcoming marriage. After all, her priorities were looking after Shirou – who had been given leave from school because of his mother's condition – studying for college to finally graduate, and avoiding the reporters.

Iri's conditions were slowly but steadily improving, and each time she had to pay for her treatment, Arturia texted Gilgamesh, letting him know the sum she needed, and within an hour she had the money in her bank account.

She wouldn't have found it strange, if she hadn't known that he was around the world, and therefore in different time zones. But wondering about it was – once again – not going to produce satisfying results; the important thing was that the contract was being respected, and since it was, nothing else was relevant. Besides, even if she had wanted to, she wouldn't have had the time to think about other things.

She knew that in that period of time Gilgamesh was also taking care of the arrangements of the move to Japan, because she had been requested to text him Iri and Shirou's personal information as well. She was busy with other things herself in the meantime.

Her part-time job at his company, for example, was not among the things she had given up, even if it had been mainly at Gilgamesh's firm insistence that she hadn't done so. The stares from the people in the offices had reduced and things had gone back to normal after the first several days of suspicious and incredulous looks she had received. Everyone seemed to be somewhat in awe of her and, while it was disconcerting to an extent, it was not a hindrance to her work, therefore Arturia simply made an effort and pretended not to notice.

In fact, aside from the conversations with Enkidu in which he taught her more about Gilgamesh's empire, nothing had changed at her workplace. Since she was learning in those occasions, she did not find anything to complain about them. It was in fact rather refreshing to speak freely – more or less – with someone who knew about her situation.

Speaking of her work, she had been a little puzzled about another specific matter. She had been certain that, after publicly slapping Gilgamesh the way she had, he would fire her right away; instead, he had not, and had not given her a real reason for not doing that.

She decided to inquire with Enkidu about it, as he was the most likely person to be able to give her a truthful answer in order to unravel such a mystery.

"Enkidu, I have a question. After the… unpleasant public incident… in which my hand made violent contact with his cheek… " She shifted a little. "…why did Gilgamesh not fire me?"

Enkidu scratched his head at her question, his expression trying – and failing – to be unreadable.

"Well, Ria~, you know that you already have a competitor in your future life – Gil is married to his job. He knows he's at the top in his business; to be fair, he is also the best at it, and he knows that as well. Being the best at what he does, he takes care of it, concentrating his efforts in keeping it the best."

Arturia lifted an eyebrow, as what he had just said was obvious.

"I am well aware of this; but what does that have to do with the fact that he didn't fire me?" She stared at him, waiting.

Enkidu smirked, mirth dancing in his strange yellow-grey eyes.

"It has everything to do with it~, Ria, because it means that Gil would never fire valuable assets to his company. No matter what you did to offend him, you are an employee whose work is appreciated by him. I can't guess what exactly he would have done if you hadn't accepted his proposal the day after~, but I can assure you he wouldn't have fired you."

He stood up, looking at the clock and deliberately pretending not to notice the unconvinced expression on her face.

"Gil is coming back from his trip in two days. Since you have work on that day, he will most likely pick you up afterwards. I would recommend wearing something striking~… after all, it's all for your special fiancée's sake."

With a wink, he was gone.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

There was less than a month of time before the wedding. Extra lessons in college had ended, Arturia had long since finished writing her thesis and she was ready to graduate.

Because of the large media attention around the engagement, she had managed to talk with the headmaster privately and persuaded him to let her graduate one day earlier. If she took part to the final ceremony, there was going to be a massive amount of reporters present, concentrated on her, and it wouldn't have been fair towards the other students.

The interest of the media had increased after Gilgamesh had come back from his oversea trip, because he and Arturia had let themselves be seen together in public more often.

The first thing they had done, on the first occasion he had been in the US for a few days, was sign the completed, printed copies of the contract, whose full contents were going to be known only by the two of them. Once that was done, social engagements took over.

When there were college events, they went there only for a brief appearance, but they both went; when there was an announcement or the other for Uruk Enterprises, both of them were present once again. There were no more official press conferences though, because Arturia divided her time between little Shirou, studying, and work; and Gilgamesh had already said all he needed to say on the day in which he had announced the engagement.

He had been blunt and decisive as usual with the media; he had made it clear that he was going to move to Japan with his wife right after the wedding, and therefore he had tersely replied to the reporters' questions that that was the reason for which there was going to be no honeymoon.

At work, whenever he and Arturia were present on the same day, he went to pick her up from her small office as soon as working hours were over and drove her to the hospital with the limousine. She allowed him to pull her close when they walked to the building, but they never exchanged many words on those occasions.

Only once did they talk a little. She was stressed, having handed in her thesis a mere few hours before, after a sleepless night of final revising, and on that day work had been particularly demanding.

To her surprise, he seemed to notice, and for some reason he attempted to be moderately polite, inquiring on how her 'lessons' with Enkidu were proceeding.

She was a little startled, but answered him with sufficient composure nonetheless.

"As we agreed, Enkidu is describing me the inner workings of Uruk Enterprises in more detail and he is giving me advice on the world of high-class people."

Gilgamesh snorted, making a small movement with his hand, as if he wanted to chase a fly away.

"Did he give you the guest list for the wedding?"

She shook her head slightly, and he clicked his tongue, disdainfully. "Remind him of it."

Seeing the look she was giving him and knowing that it was because of his arrogant and commanding tone, he sighed and made the effort to amend, "I would give it to you myself, but I won't be here next week, and you need to be familiar with the names of the people who are going to attend the ceremony."

Since her gaze was questioning, he felt somewhat compelled to continue, even though he would not have done it for anyone else. He refused to ponder over that odd fact.

"With most of the guests, nothing more than cold politeness is required. But among them there are some specific people you should be wary of, and you have to be on your guard when talking to them. They should be treated with suitable detachment; while no real threat, they are ludicrously obtuse, and could therefore cause problems with the press."

She raised an eyebrow. Why was he warning her in such a manner and why right now?

He seemed to read her mind – as he was doing with increasing and almost frightening frequency lately – and replied, "The wedding is in three weeks. We will not have many occasions to discuss these minor yet important details anymore."

He leaned back in the car, looking mildly thoughtful. "What matters is that, when you talk with those scavengers, you don't let yourself be unsettled but maintain a firm demeanour. Never use first names, not even when explicitly asked to. It's my policy in business, and makes sure that most schemers are kept at adequate distance."

For the first time that day, his eyes actually met hers; the look in them was supercilious, but much less than usual.

"In any case, you probably don't even need to be told these things. None of those self-proclaimed rich people has anything worthy of intimidating you. After all, I am supposed to be– in fact, I am the most influential person on the planet, and you still slapped me. I believe you to be capable of handling yourself in the midst of those lowly sharks, Arturia."

While she was not fooled by that veiled compliment, she did appreciate the fact that he – quite surprisingly – gave her some credit.

She frowned briefly, observing him. This kind of behaviour was not normal for him. Her next words were completely unplanned, but she couldn't really fault herself for them: the question she asked was a spontaneous and legitimate one.

"You are being an almost agreeable person today, Gilgamesh. Are you sick?"

He gave her a glare, affronted. When he was being his normal self, she talked back to him and told him he was unbearably arrogant. When he made a conscious effort to tone down his usual, salacious comments, she mocked him.

What was there to do with this woman? Some wife he was going to have!

His mind came to an abrupt halt. Come to think about it, why was he making an effort in the first place?

It was much better to conclude the car ride in silence. He had a flight to catch a few hours later; it was no use spending the brief time with his future wife in trying to have a reasonable conversation.

He was about to turn his head away from her, when she spoke again.

"Gilgamesh, another question. We are getting married the third Tuesday from today. For what reason did you insist on a Tuesday as the wedding day?"

There went his plan for a silent car ride. He looked at her, a little irritated at having to explain.

"Monday will be the last day of work at the American offices, and I intend to make sure the week starts well, since I won't be here anymore. On Tuesday there will be the ceremony with all the press droning around. The following morning we will take the private plane to Japan, together with your nephew and your sister. The rest of the week, we will be free; you can make sure your family gets accustomed to the new country, while I will have enough time to plan ahead on the things that need to be done at Uruk Enterprises. And on the following Monday, we will both go back to work."

Arturia was silent. It was strange for a person like him, whose work was probably among the most important things for him, to keep 'free days'.

Gilgamesh noticed her silence and interpreted it his way. He smirked.

"Even if we don't consummate the marriage, Arturia, we have to give the impression of having some time alone."

Her expression did not change at his comment, since she had imagined that he would say something along those lines, but it wasn't what she had truly been thinking about. On this occasion at least, he had guessed wrong.

What had surprised her was the fact that he was giving her some time to look after her sister and her nephew, without work interfering–

–ah, but of course. Her expression hardened as she understood. It was only because of the contract, nothing else. There was no need to get sentimental merely because he appeared to show consideration towards her.

Right then, the limousine arrived at the hospital. The two betrothed gave each other a relatively formal nod before Arturia stepped out of the car.

They were not friends, after all, and they were not close. There was nothing between them aside from a mere contract.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

Among the other things they needed to talk about during the fleeting times in which they met, she also asked Gilgamesh about a matter she had found curious.

Arturia read the newspaper every time she could and occasionally listened to or watched the news; therefore, she had noticed that his name came up frequently and many invitations had been extended to him – actually, to both of them – to participate to television programs or just to be interviewed.

She knew that he had turned down all the requests, and she wanted to know the reason for it.

"I'm not interested in participating to those things; but I would like to know the reason why you aren't interested in them, either. I believe it would have been beneficial to your business, giving more attention to yourself as well."

She did not attempt to hide the veiled mockery in her words, and he huffed.

"Such public interviews are foolish and worthy only of flashy, inferior mongrels – not of us."

She blinked briefly. Had he just used the plural?

She didn't get the chance to ask about it though, because he continued, "In any case, the press would never dare be so forward as to demand trivial things like conferences with both of us, or actually try to complicate things only because we refuse."

She raised an eyebrow and stared at him. She hesitated for a second, and then decided to speak.

"Although my opinion doesn't usually concern you, I will have to disagree, Gilgamesh. One can never be careful enough, especially with the media. It's true that this specific matter probably isn't what can be considered dangerous, but I believe you might be underestimating them a little. They are the ones who sway the public opinion, and the public's decisions are the ones that ultimately assure your company's prosperity."

He did not give her a reply aside from a very odd look, a mix between barely controlled annoyance and actual pensiveness, before dismissing the matter and going back to her family and the persistent curiosity of the press towards them.

On that at least, she could firmly give him reassurances that everything had been settled.

At the hospital and around it, since she practically lived there, some rumours had begun to rise. Arturia had however been swift in putting things straight, and without lying more than necessary.

When she had gone to sign the forms for her sister's discharge and subsequent move to Japan, one of the nurses had been so bold as to inquire about her constant presence there, asking her about not spending more time with her fiancée.

Her reply had been terse.

"My future husband is very attentive and makes sure I spend time with my sister and nephew now that their conditions are particularly delicate."

It was the truth, even though she had omitted the fact that it was because of a contract that he was being so attentive.

For good measure, she had added with a forced smile, "He is very understanding."

That was such a huge lie that, aside from despising herself for having to say such a thing – it was merely to stop the rumours – Arturia wondered how she had actually managed to keep a straight face while uttering it.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

For the upcoming wedding, Arturia had to memorize the entire guest list. It would have been quite easy and bland if it had been just a number of names to learn by heart, but that wasn't exactly the case.

Enkidu showed up at her office with his usual wide grin and a large binder in his arms. There were names, pictures and more than just basic personal information of all the people invited to the wedding, and he spent quite some time going through them with her.

Arturia found it both challenging and amusing to learn all she could about those unknown, rich and high-class people, because Enkidu supplied comments on each and every one of them. They were often humorous, such as the ones on Iskandar Velvet – whom she knew – but they were sometimes more serious, too, such as on Medea Caster-Kuzuki or the Fraga McRemitz family – whom she didn't know. All those interjections from him were mainly to make sure she knew which ones were business associates and which ones weren't, but she couldn't help suspecting that he also did it to help her in the task of memorizing them all.

It was a little puzzling, to be fair. Enkidu was Gilgamesh's best friend and she knew that he had been asked by him to more or less 'shield her from the media' while he was not there; but that did not mean that he had to express such genuine warmth towards her.

His behaviour reminded her a little of her own towards her sister Iri. He was behaving as if he was some form of elder brother to her; he was truly, unaffectedly caring towards her.

He even gave her advice on how to address the society's vultures as well, pointing out the same things Gilgamesh had already mentioned during the car ride. Aside from never using first names, it was important to always be polite but – again – firm. She was going to be the wife of one of the wealthiest people on the planet; her behaviour would reflect on him, and she could not let herself be intimidated, no matter what.

Arturia sighed. After several hours of going through the names of all the people she would meet, she was getting a little weary. Seeing her tired state, Enkidu, with his ever-present smile, only nodded encouragingly.

She decided it was time to take a brief pause though, especially because she had something she wanted to address briefly.

"I know that Gilgamesh considers all these things trifling, but if he is so worried about me ruining his image, he could have put his personal effort into this."

Enkidu looked at her quizzically.

"But he is doing just that, Ria. Even when he is not present, there are many people he pays who look after your wellbeing and keep the reporters away from campus and prevent them from going close to your sister's room at the hospital."

Arturia had to force herself not to gape. Did he really do that? He was taking the contract much more seriously than she had expected.

"He is… actually being serious in keeping the press away from my family?"

She furrowed her brow, mildly impressed and quite confused. If he was being so precise and even honourable in keeping his end of the bargain – then…

She should truly take the contract more seriously herself, even if she was still disbelieving. "I didn't think he would be so… thorough."

Enkidu merely smiled a little.

"You should know that already, Ria, you are going to marry the guy! But aside from the contractual terms, think about how much fun your marriage will be~…"

His smile was huge, ready to fly off his face, and his expression was enraptured.

"You~, the only person who ever managed to put Gil in his place publicly… not only did you survive to tell the tale, but you are also getting married to him, making sure that there will be plenty of interactions between you two, all as spicy and entertaining as the first ones – or even more than that! And to think that I will get to be around to witness your exchanges as much as I want since you also work in my same office…~"

His eyes became faraway and almost misty. "Tell me the truth~… Are you sure that this whole arrangement isn't just a giant birthday gift for me?"

Arturia gave him the flattest look she was capable of producing and slammed the binder open once again, leaning back on the interminable list of names. The break they had taken had already been long enough.

As she repeated the things she needed to learn, she made an effort to store them into her memory as quickly as possible. She had her end of the bargain to keep.

After all, if Gilgamesh, of all people, was proving to be capable of taking his commitment seriously, she should not make things difficult for him.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

The day in which she graduated, right at the moment in which she was walking down the stairs of the main building on campus and going to collect the last of her things before heading back to the hospital, Arturia received a text.

On Saturday, wear one of your most elegant outfits. The blue and silver dress would be appropriate. I will pick you up from the hospital to go for the civil registration of the marriage.

She raised an eyebrow. Her future husband was such a kind person. It was already a little difficult to hide her distaste for the man; granted, not that he was completely insufferable, but he certainly did not do anything to help keep things friendly between them with such a text.

Not only was he commanding in tone, but he was also completely oblivious to the fact that receiving that kind of message on her graduation day was doing nothing positive for her mood.

A second later, her phone buzzed while receiving another brief text, again from him.

Congratulations on graduating.

She halted in her movement for a second, before resuming walking towards the exit.

Well. That was unexpected.

The tiniest of smiles appeared on her lips, although to anyone looking in her direction in that moment, it would have been imperceptible, and she hesitated only a second before typing an equally brief reply.

Thanks.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

Together with a pale silver ribbon in her elaborate hairstyle, she did wear the blue and silver dress on the following Saturday, and the small glint in Gilgamesh's eyes as he appeared at the hospital's entrance confirmed to her that he was both pleased and smug about it.

She was aware of the fact that she did not look bad in that outfit, if the admiring and envious stares that followed her were anything to go by, yet she could not complain about any of it. Of course she couldn't say she liked being at the centre of attention, but she had agreed to it the day she had signed the contract.

She had thought about the best way to greet Gilgamesh, and she had decided that, since the contract required kissing, both when in public and when needed, it was most likely needed on the very day in which they were going to make the marriage official.

Therefore, mentally rolling her eyes at her future husband's vaguely confused expression, she did her best to keep her own face calm and mildly happy as she walked towards where he was standing, near the exit.

No hesitations and no regrets, she told herself firmly.

Coming up to him, she offered him a small smile – one of her fakest, she could feel her cheeks screaming in protest – and leaned towards him, standing on her tiptoes and giving him a kiss.

It was nothing more than a fleeting peck on the lips, but it was enough to be accompanied by the hospital staff's usual ahhhhh-ing in the background; keeping herself collected, she walked with him out of the building, arm in arm, making it look like they were standing much closer than they actually were.

Inside the car – it was the limousine because of the important occasion – she had the time to look him over. He was wearing a suit, and the colours of the accessories matched hers; silver and dark blue were the most prominent ones, but a little gold glinted on his cravat nonetheless. Typical of him, she mentally snorted.

The trip was a little longer than usual, which meant that Arturia was at leisure to let her mind wander and reflect.

She did not like falsehood and pretences, and deception did not come easily to her. She knew that she had been lying to herself when she had mentally repeated that it was all for her sister's sake. In many ways, it was the truth, but the fact remained: she had agreed not to a few moments of deception, but to an entire life of it. She had agreed to become a puppet for display and on this day, it would become official, at least on paper.

She couldn't even complain about it, because Gilgamesh was being meticulous in respecting the contract on his end, therefore she had to do the same.

It was indeed for Iri. For Shirou. For her family.

But for herself, too.

She may hate what she had compromised on, but she had made a promise, and she always stayed true to her promises.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

It was actually a much quicker affair than she had expected. They did not have to wait for their turn at all – being Gilgamesh Uruk opened more than one door it seemed – and there was essentially merely paperwork to do, but the clerks and the judge himself filled it in for them, almost frantically.

Most things were formalities, and all she and Gilgamesh had to do was give answers to the people's questions and wait as they wrote them down.

Arturia's turn was first, and she had to give her full name, her date and place of birth, and a long list of personal information. As she waited for the clerks to write everything down, she leaned towards Gilgamesh.

"I thought you wanted Enkidu to be both your best man and your witness."

She herself had already decided not to bother with bridesmaids, as the closest person to her was in a coma and Arturia would have felt reluctant in any case about asking Iri since it was a sham marriage, but she knew that for Gilgamesh it was different.

Correctly understanding her question, he nodded briefly.

"He will be at the public ceremony. There is no need to subject him to this tedious bureaucratic stuff – although I believe he would deserve such a torture, sometimes."

She tried her best not to roll her eyes and took a step to the side as Gilgamesh began to curtly give his personal information as well. She did not pay it much attention, at least until she heard his date of birth.

How curious. He was a few years older than her, and she had already known that; but the day of birth was exactly one day before hers, in August.

It was something she only noticed distractedly though, because her mind was concentrated on something else in that moment.

From this day on, she would no longer be Arturia Pendragon; she was going to be Arturia Uruk. She was giving up her freedom, but she was doing it willingly – for love.

Not love for him, of course, but for her family. To give them a better life.

And her own… her own life was not going to too bad, all considered.

She was going to have a person sleeping in her same room, an arrogant and tiresome male person. She was going to have to participate to mundane events and play the role of a wife; but she was also going to have a job she actually liked and complete safety for her family. Moreover, she was going to have time to dedicate to them without being under pressure.

The last thing to do – after the judge had pronounced the necessary words – was sign the wedding papers. Without any other hesitation, she took the pen from Gilgamesh, their fingers brushing briefly, and she wrote her name – or former name – everywhere where it was required, right next to his.

There. All done. In the eyes of the law, she had just gotten married.

It had been surprisingly easy.

As she was giving the pen back to the jittery judge – who was obviously frenzied at having them in his presence – she met Gilgamesh's eyes. And to her surprise, she thought she read satisfaction and a little, just a little, relief in them.

She narrowed her own eyes at him, but she was careful not to let her thoughts show. She waited as the judge, the clerks and even the mayor congratulated them deferentially and, after they left the building, she pulled Gilgamesh close to her. She was cautious enough to make it look like she was kissing him to anyone who might be watching.

In reality, she whispered harshly in his ear, "You thought I was going to back down at the last minute? You thought I would not keep my word?"

There was both cold anger and unfriendly antipathy in her voice, and Gilgamesh did not have a prompt reply as usual. She had been able to read him with almost frightening accuracy.

He composed himself quickly, however, and pulled her close to him as well, his arms surrounding her waist in what looked like an embrace but was actually nothing more than a light contact between them.

Lips next to her cheek, he replied, "I will admit that I did consider it possible for you to have second thoughts. And you can't exactly try to blame me for that."

She stared at him, her eyes, usually very easy to read, for once impossible to discern.

"That's what you think, Gilgamesh. You think you know everything, don't you? Well, you don't. You don't know me at all."

She was the first one to break their gaze and pulled away from him to go back to the car.

To play their part, she was going to have to spend the entire day at his mansion, for she obviously could not be playing with her nephew right after getting married, to keep up appearances. Luckily, she had taken a book with her, and she was going to spend the rest of the day in relative peace, while he had told her he had a lot of paperwork he needed to take care of.

If this was how her life was going to be from now on, then being married to an arrogant jerk who had proven to know nothing about her was not going to be too bad.

It was only later, when she was sitting on the couch and flipping through the pages of a novel, that she recalled that she had not thanked him in person for not forgetting about her graduation day. But after considering it carefully, she brushed the thought aside; he had probably only remembered it by chance or because Enkidu told him, and writing her a concise text of congratulations didn't mean he deserved anything more than a brief text back, which she had already sent him anyway.

While there was no need to be overly detached with her husband, there was after all no need to be overly friendly either.

...

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