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They were getting married on Tuesday, in the late morning. On Monday evening, the limousine drove up to the hospital, empty, to pick up Arturia. She was going to stay at a hotel that night, before being accompanied to the church the morning after, where she was going to find her dress, her jewels and a team of experts to make sure she looked absolutely perfect, mainly for the cameras.

Shirou was going to attend the ceremony as well. Arturia had asked one of her colleagues she trusted the most at university if she could keep an eye on him, and she had readily agreed. Therefore, she gave her nephew a kiss on the forehead and stepped into the car.

She was going to be a married woman the next time she would see him. To be fair, she was actually already married, since on Saturday they had signed the documents, but… it was still going to be different.

She was going to marry Gilgamesh Uruk in a public ceremony the following day. There wasn't anything too surprising in it, as she had had enough time to get accustomed to the rather ludicrous idea, therefore she might as well get a good night of sleep.

Remembering that helped her remain calm, and she went to sleep early, pushing all thoughts out of her mind and closing her eyes peacefully.

After all, it was going to be over before she knew it.

And as it happened, before she knew it, it was already morning and both she and Gilgamesh were in different rooms next to the church, getting ready for the wedding.

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GILGAMESH

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Gilgamesh, wearing the very elegant and classy black suit he had personally selected with a small blue rose on his chest – it would of course match the decorations on his bride-to-be's dress – looked around the room, without actually registering anything of what he was seeing.

Enkidu had left, luckily. While his best friend would always be his best friend, Gilgamesh did not have the patience for his cheerfulness on this day, and especially not in this specific moment.

He was immersed in deep thoughts.

In a few minutes, Arturia Pendragon was publicly going to become his wife.

As candidate, she was more than impeccably suitable, he was perfectly aware of that, and, aesthetically, she was truly a beauty; however, he would not have agreed to marry her, not even under pressure, not even if she had been a thousand times more beautiful, if she had not… fascinated him so much.

The problem that was currently afflicting him was that he could not pinpoint what about her fascinated him so.

Her devotion to her family? Commendable, probably, but not particularly surprising for her character. As he had already mused, aesthetics were not it, even though she was admittedly very attractive. Her stubbornness? Definitely amusing, and he had been able to enjoy it especially on their shopping outing.

But… those weren't the reasons why he found her fascinating.

He had after all proposed to her; while he had indeed been under pressure to find a wife, he had wanted to propose to her.

He almost snorted. Pondering over what had possessed him the moment he had decided to propose to her was of no use; what mattered was that he was actually marrying the woman to whom he had proposed.

And that was even though he was well aware of the fact that she had accepted only out of desperation, only because she needed the money, and because she had not had any other way of getting it.

However, he knew that she was not marrying him for the money per se. While the two of them clearly did not get along perfectly – quite the understatement, they were simply too confrontational for that, or rather, she was too hostile – they did have a few things as common ground. What was actually interesting was the fact that she did not want his money for herself; she wanted to save her sister and give her nephew a future.

Not once, not even once had she thought of herself in anything involving the money.

He had also seen that she felt guilty about that whole state of affairs. She felt guilty for using his money, although it was exactly what they had agreed on, in exchange for her becoming his wife.

He could not deny that he could feel some vague attempt of sympathy for her. Granted, she was getting someone like himself as husband, and that was quite a lot. Of course, her annoying abnegation was not going to let her see things in that light, and he knew that she did not love him, much less like him.

With a part of that, he could actually empathize, because he did not love her either.

She was fascinating, but that was as far as his interest in her went. He knew that there was no one who could ever make him fall in love, and that was without considering the fact that love was nothing but a dream for the foolish.

Therefore, to settle that somewhat unwelcome line of thought, the conclusion was that they were both getting married to people they did not love nor cared about.

Well, it was actually for the best. They were both going to get advantages from it, and that was all. There was no need for anything else.

He had never wanted a wife in the first place, and only the necessity of one to have a positive impact on his business was the reason why he was in this specific room on this specific day. Otherwise, he probably would never have graced Arturia with even one glance of his.

He had to stop in his thoughts at that. Only because he was alone and with nothing better to do, he forced himself to reconsider, because it was not true that he wouldn't have noticed her if he hadn't been looking for a wife.

She was not exactly special, that was true. However, he could recognize that she had qualities that made her fair and honourable; she had kept her end of the bargain admirably, at least until this moment, and that did make her stand out.

While he was bestowing a great honour on her by allowing her to become his wife, the life of a person married to him, him, the richest man in the world… was incontestably not going to be easy. He was very reluctant to admit it to himself, but that did not make it any less true. It was going to be especially hard for someone like her, who clearly detested being at the centre of attention unless she had a clear purpose for it.

In her new role, she would suffer – there was no doubt about that.

Gilgamesh felt something unpleasant in his chest at the thought and resisted the urge to scoff out loud. He was not the unfeeling person Enkidu had sometimes jokingly accused him of being, and he was most certainly not living in a stronghold of arrogance, as his mother had once told him with fond exasperation. He did care, even if sometimes only for the sake of appearances, which influenced the welfare of his company.

And in the case at present, it meant that he would decide–

Yes.

He would not let Arturia be miserable.

As her husband, he would make sure she did not suffer. She had agreed to his terms; he could deign himself to recognize her efforts by making her life easier from now on. Admittedly, he had teased her mercilessly until this moment; he had enjoyed doing it mainly because that stubbornness of hers was incredibly amusing, but maybe he had indeed exaggerated a few times.

Arturia would not love him, and he did not want her to love him; he had no need for something like that. Nor would he give love to her, as that was not necessary – nor possible – either. He did not intend to get love from this marriage. He would simply have her as his wife, and that gave him enough satisfaction.

But of one thing he could and would make sure: she was not going to regret her decision. She was not going to regret making a contract with him and becoming his wife; he would not allow her to be frustrated or miserable enough to wish their union did not happen.

That was something that was not only in his power to do, but was also among the least troubling things he would need to do in order for their marriage to work. It was going to be perfect as far as the press was concerned, certainly, but it was going to assure him a reasonably dignified personal relationship with the woman he was going to live with.

That was all.

He glanced at the small clock on the wall. It was almost time.

Strangely not finding himself bored at having had to wait for so long – he had had enough thoughts to keep him occupied in the meantime – he checked that the present he had to give to his soon-to-be wife before the reception was ready, and then went to the door.

He almost smirked at the irony of it: he was not going as a guest to the umpteenth wedding of some mongrel, he was the one actually getting married.

Usually, before leaving a room to go to an important event, people look at themselves in the mirror; Gilgamesh Uruk had no need for such a thing.

He already knew that his appearance was perfect.

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ARTURIA

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Even though it was something she rarely did, Arturia looked at herself in the mirror, carefully examining her reflection.

Her long blonde hair was unbound, cascading over her shoulders, although some locks had been braided to have them go around her head in an elegant crown-of-sorts, with her husband's golden jewels woven in the midst of it. Her golden natural colour shone more than usual and, as she and Gilgamesh had agreed, she had no veil covering her.

Even though white was not the colour that suited her best, she had never looked more beautiful in her entire life.

In fact, she looked young, elegant, stunning, and–… no, she did not look happy.

She could not stop the single tear that suddenly escaped her eyes, the true heaviness of her choice hitting her in full force.

There was no helping it: for the good of Gilgamesh's business image, the event had to be a grand one. And in the contract, she had promised to do all she could to be truly a 'wife' in the eyes of the public.

She had agreed to it. That was the reason why she was in this room on this day, and that was the reason she was looking at herself in the mirror, somewhat sad, somewhat worried.

She was not feeling at ease about the motivations for the marriage; she was after all getting married to a man she did not like nor love, solely for the money. And not only was she aware of it, he was as well.

She had however chosen to go down that path with her eyes open; she had known what she was getting into, and she was therefore going to face it.

The blonde woman had not attended many wedding ceremonies. The last one she had attended had been her sister's, and it had been a very simple and quiet moment, a brief but heartfelt exchange of Kiritsugu and Iri's vows and it had already been over. In her case, it was not going to be that simple, nor that easy.

True enough, as she reminded herself once again, she had chosen to marry the man; she had not been forced into it. She had made her decision a long time before, on her own, and she would not change her mind, not even if she could.

That did not mean however that she couldn't feel the burning desire to just rip that absolutely bewitching dress off herself and run away from there.

Yet no matter how badly she wished to do such a thing, she would never actually do it.

Firmly, she took a tissue from the nearby table and dried the single tear on her cheek carefully. Her light make-up was waterproof, and the salty water had not ruined anything. She shook herself mentally. Instead of being unreasonable, she should look at the positives, because there were positives.

She stood a little straighter. Even though she had not woken up from the coma yet, Iri was much better, and the unborn baby had been confirmed to be healthy. Little Shirou was very happy to hear that his mother's conditions were improving, and he had been allowed to attend the wedding ceremony. A trusted colleague from university was going to look after him in church, and Arturia was actually glad about the fact that her nephew would be there.

Other positives were that the wedding would not last the whole day; after the ceremony, there was going to be the reception, that was true, but it was mingled with the lunch, and after meeting all the guests, they were free to go, since their flight for Japan was departing in the late evening.

Another bonus was the fact that she would not have to consummate the marriage. She almost smirked in slightly resentful satisfaction at recalling Gilgamesh's sullen expression when she had firmly told him that she refused to sleep with him.

This whole nonsense with the wedding was going to be over soon; in a matter of hours, she would take the plane with her husband, and little Shirou would be with them. Iri was instead going to have a special way of travelling, mainly because it was slightly complicated to transport a comatose, pregnant woman, and she would arrive one day later, with the best possible medical service at her disposal. Gilgamesh had made sure of that himself, and that was something for which she felt truly grateful.

She disliked the man who was going to be her husband, but she had to remember that, even though she had never attempted to hide her distaste for him, he had made more than one effort to be considerate with her.

Just a short while before, she had accidentally found out from Enkidu that Gilgamesh actively kept a lot of media attention away from her; he energetically shielded her and her family from it, and that had confused her, because it was a little more than what the contract required.

Since she was apparently in the mood for being completely honest – at least with herself – she had to remember that no matter how hard it had been for her to make the decision of getting married, Gilgamesh had not had to face a much easier situation.

While he was undoubtedly an arrogant person, she had not been the most courteous either. She had not been nice to him – she had not made any efforts to be pleasant towards the man with whom she was going to share her life.

She had to remember that he was not marrying her out of love either; he was marrying her for the good of his image. While it was unquestionably an egotistical and selfish decision, Arturia could find it in herself to feel bad for him. He wasn't going to get any love out of it.

She was marrying him for the money, after all, so she understood.

With all the things she could find to complain about him – and all with good reason – he did not seem to be a dishonourable person; yet since he was a wealthy businessman, he did not have the possibility to marry for love. Because of the social pressure, he had chosen to marry her as the lesser evil, and she had accepted.

Those were the premises. She could and should make an effort to get along with him, or at least find some sort of truce. It would be a difficult married life for her – admittedly, just making such considerations was difficult – but it would be hard for him as well. She ought not to forget that. She could, at the very least, try to make things bearable for both of them.

First things first. If she kept the positive aspects in mind, she could probably survive the day.

No, not probably. She would.

Looking at her reflection in the mirror one last time, Arturia forced herself to smile.

It was time to go – and get married.

Next to the entrance of the church, she waited for Enkidu, since he was the one who was going to give her away. The faint perfume coming from the orange flowers in her elegant bouquet did little to calm her, but it was enough to divert her attention for a while. She was distractedly glad that amidst the beautiful blue hydrangeas and white lilies there were orange roses as well, as they were her favourite flower.

When he appeared at her side with his usual trademark grin in place, she stood a little taller and took his offered arm with ease.

She would just be getting a prideful roommate, together with the means to heal her sister, all surrounded by nosy paparazzi for a good part of the day. That was all.

There was no need to be apprehensive about it.

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MAIN

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To Arturia, the wedding remained surprisingly as quite a blur in her mind; she could not remember the details, not even if she wanted to.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. If she focused, she could remember a few things.

She recalled the press; there were quite a few photographers and journalists, but she knew that Enkidu – and she suspected Gilgamesh himself – had made sure they all kept a respectable distance.

She recalled seeing many of her college classmates, among which there was the colleague who had agreed to look after Shirou, and who was smiling at her with her nephew held up in her arms, so that he could watch her from afar.

She recalled the small boy loudly exclaiming, as she neared the altar of the church, "You look so beautiful, Auntie Ria!", and how that had made many people turn their heads in his direction and the reporters go crazy.

That commotion about it had made sure that no one noticed how her nephew's words had actually given her courage. She had unconsciously needed them to take the last few steps in a steady way and calm her beating heart enough to meet Gilgamesh's crimson eyes with a collected expression on her face and an actual small – very small – smile on her lips.

She had then distantly noticed how the media attention had exploded in that moment, because flashes had gone off repeatedly, but she had ignored them to keep her green eyes firmly on her husband-to-be.

And he… he had looked so composed.

Strangely, the usual arrogance that she had come to consider a permanent feature on his face was not present. His countenance was serious, that was true, but the look in his eyes… it definitely wasn't arrogant.

Staring at him, she had still kept smiling, and she was aware of the fact that it had prompted the reporters to start taking pictures once again, but she was certain that the look on his face had played a part in it, too.

There was a tiny, tiny little bit of something in his expression that she couldn't quite place.

Perhaps… perhaps it was because she was on her wedding day, at the centre of attention – a situation she did not like to be in – deceiving everyone into thinking that she was happy, and because she knew that what she was doing was for her sister's sake and that was something that was helping her feel better…

…but maybe… whatever the true reason was… she had had the distinct impression that there had been something… gentle in his eyes when he had stared at her.

Then they had both looked away, as was considered proper, and the ceremony had begun.

Before she had even taken real notice of it, the moment of the vows had already arrived. She had closed her heart and forced herself to endure it.

"Do you, Gilgamesh Enlil, take Arturia Igraine to be your lawfully wedded wife…?"

She had heard Gilgamesh's steady reply, and then it had already been her turn. She had not even heard the minister's voice, she had simply pronounced the words she was supposed to pronounce mechanically, and it had been over.

The kiss moment had indeed been there, but it had been brief, and it had just been a chaste touch of his lips on hers, almost imperceptible and only for the press's sake, something for which she had felt grateful and relieved. She knew she had agreed to it in the contract – she could not count the number of times she had been repeating that to herself – but she was glad that he had not made the situation more uncomfortable than it already was.

That had actually been all, and it had surprised her when Gilgamesh had taken her hand to walk out of the church, because she had not even noticed that it was already over. She had been spacing out quite a bit.

Together, they had stepped into the limousine waiting for them and spent the car ride in complete silence. At the luxurious hotel in which the reception was taking place, before going to a separate room to change into her other dress, Arturia had found a small box pressed into her hand, and looked up at him with an eyebrow raised in question.

"It's a family heirloom. Wear it for the reception," was all he had said, and she had given him only a short nod in reply.

She remembered that her hair had gotten slightly stuck in her wedding dress when she had been taking it off, therefore she had decided to change the hairstyle. Swiftly, as she wore her reception dress and the new jewel he had given her – a golden necklace with minuscule rubies all over it – she had pinned her hair up in an elegant updo, leaving a few locks out to frame her face. She had found that the new hairstyle was also an excellent way to draw attention to her new necklace, which was something that was presumably good for her image as the wife of one of the most influential people on the planet.

The rest of the public event left her memory quite quickly. All she had had to do was remain on Gilgamesh's arm and politely greet countless people, all of whom she recognized from the photos she had studied with Enkidu.

Afterwards, they were finally able to leave to go to a classy hotel room near the airport. It was more like a suite than a room, but it was for the best in her opinion; it had actually two large beds and a wooden curtain to divide the room into two separated spaces.

That was where she was in that moment. It was the end of the day, and she closed the curtain, making sure he was on the other side of it.

She sat down on her bed and sighed quietly.

"Weddings are incredibly tiring. I very much hope I will never have to go through anything similar again."

On the other side of the room, he chuckled lightly, and she heard him sit down on his own bed.

"I very much doubt you will have to, Arturia." She could hear the amusement in his voice as well. "I am assuming I can't tempt you to sleep with me tonight?"

Her reply was suave, dismissive and quite casual, as she stood up to go to the bathroom where she would brush her teeth.

"No, you really can't. Not tonight, not ever."

After returning to the room, she slowly started to change into the more comfortable travelling clothes that were next to her, before speaking up again. He could not see her and she could not see him, but not having his constantly mocking blood red eyes piercing her would make the talking easier.

"Gilgamesh, Enkidu had already told me, and today I noticed as well… You truly kept the media attention away from me." She prepared herself to pronounce the following words, because it was difficult. "I don't approve of you as a person, but that doesn't mean that I am without eyes. And…" it was obviously even more difficult for her to say such words, and he was aware of it without needing to see her, "…I am grateful for what you did. It was… kind of you."

She could sense him raise an eyebrow, and she relented, "Fine. It was almost considerate of you."

He chuckled again, and strangely, there seemed to be a little warmth in it.

"You are amusing, dear wife," was his unflattering remark.

Her eyes narrowed. She was glad he was not visible to her so that she did not need to see his haughtiness, but she was also disappointed, because she could not glare at him.

"You, instead, are not."

On his side of the room, Gilgamesh smirked. He could not say he wasn't entertained. They had reached the point where they could have their usual biting conversations even when they were not in direct sight of each other.

While it could be annoying to an extent, it was actually positive. He needed a wife who could be suitable for his image, and if she had been a meek and submissive woman with no personality, well, then it wouldn't have exactly been what he needed.

He had married a woman with fire; it was important that she kept that fire in her alive, or she would not be of any use to him. That was all he needed from her, after all.

Unaware of his thoughts, Arturia curtly wished her husband a good night and finally lay down on the bed, to rest for at least a little while.

She was tired, but she did not have much time. Their flight was going to depart in a mere few hours, and that was also when she would pick up Shirou. Her colleague from college was still looking after him, and she had agreed to meet her at the airport with the boy in tow. Arturia hoped he was already asleep.

It would make for a funny scene: a couple of newlyweds taking a plane with a child who wasn't theirs instead of going on a honeymoon. She had to suppress a small smile.

Well, the fact that she could smile about it meant that this long day had probably not been as unpleasant as she had feared.

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