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Saturday came, and Sakura did Arturia's hair before going to separate the two yelling children and stopping them from tearing each other's hair out.

As the blonde woman had half-expected, Rin and Shirou had not got along at first. Soon after meeting him, the black-haired girl had bossily told him that he wasn't clever enough for her to put up with him, and he, mortified, had been too polite and disconcerted to retort in kind.

However, as soon as he had proved to know his way around more practical things – making Rin curious enough to leave her theoretical experimentations to stare at him build things with plastic blocks – she had grudgingly stopped crinkling her nose every time she looked at him. In fact, she had gone to sit next to him on the floor and had deigned to give him snooty suggestions on how to make the tower of his castle more stable. This had soon degenerated into a shouting match that Sakura was now swiftly and patiently sorting out, with unsurprising ease.

Knowing that the children were going to be fine once they calmed down, Arturia left the house, aware of the fact that her husband was already impatiently waiting for her in the limousine – and he hated being kept waiting.

He did in fact have a scowl on his face when she entered the car, but for some reason, he did not make a comment on her being late, and only gave her a mild glare before addressing her.

"This afternoon is supposed to be a social meeting for all the loitering sharks who think themselves important enough to be present." He gave her a smirk, his previous black look already gone. "While last time they were especially vicious, this time, with more reporters present and me as well, they will not dare do the same."

She gave him an unconvinced stare. His intimidating reputation was well known and she herself had already made sure she was not taken for an air-headed fool the previous time she had had to be in public alone, but that did not mean that any of those people was to be underestimated.

"You are not saying anything untrue, but I don't think the matter is this simple," were her sober words.

He himself had warned her, the previous time, and so had Enkidu: they had to be indeed firm and confident, but not overconfident.

"It might be the opposite of what you say, Gilgamesh. Especially because there is more press and because this is an important show-off event, they will try to undermine us – or rather, me."

She met his eyes seriously, as they were sitting in front of each other in the limousine. "I know that you're one of the most feared businessmen in the world, if not actually the most feared one. But one can never be too careful."

It wasn't that she wanted to be pessimistic; she just knew that they both needed to be watchful when the media were just waiting for an opportunity to jump at anything they did to make a saucy story out of it. The more scandalous it was – regardless of its accuracy – the better.

He stared at her, a thoughtful expression settling on his features. She was not being unwise when she advised caution and, while he wasn't truly concerned, he decided it was not going to be bothersome to keep her words in mind; but what he truly noticed was the way she had referred to him.

She had rarely addressed his capabilities in the business field; even though she worked at his company, while he had scrutinized her work personally, she had never made any comments on his work. Not that there had ever been an opportunity for it, nor a reason, and she had after all not said anything that he didn't already know about his position in the business field.

Still, hearing his wife talking about him being one of the most important people on the planet with a tone of someone stating a fact was very… satisfying.

The remaining time of the car ride was spent in silence, and they only exchanged a few words once they stepped out of the limousine, where a crowd of blinding flashes greeted them.

Arturia blinked several times to get rid of the white points marring her vision, and found her balance as she took a few steps forward. An arm slipped around her waist, both to steady her and pull her closer to what she recognized as her husband's body.

After a second of hesitation, she let one of her hands rest on his shoulder. It was a completely innocent gesture, but for the reporters, it was probably going to be more than enough. Furthermore, she wanted to avoid any potential ideas he might get about kissing her in public.

While the flashes increased as they were standing there, Gilgamesh leaned forward, closer to her. To everyone else looking, it appeared as if he was softly kissing her cheek, but in truth, his mouth was murmuring in her ear.

"Arturia, make an attempt at smiling. For the cameras."

Since her face was hidden by him from those exact cameras, she took the opportunity to throw him a dirty look.

"Maybe I could. But since you demand it like this, I most certainly won't."

His blood red eyes bore into her green ones with a glare that no one else was going to see, but he did not add a word before distancing himself from her slightly and starting to make his way inside the Water Gardens, keeping an arm around her to hold her close to his side.

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

At her husband's arm and surrounded by a mass of people, Arturia did not find herself at ease.

It was nothing like the inauguration of the museum; it was much more chaotic, and people were standing everywhere, talking to each other or, as was more likely, sneering at each other. Merely having to look at them was unpleasant.

With all of his haughtiness, Arturia knew that Gilgamesh was nothing like them. He was arrogant, he was proud, and he was occasionally a jerk, but he was not false like the people that surrounded them like vultures. In fact, he was probably the only person in the large gardens with whom she could actually have a more or less normal conversation. He would not try to fake his smiles nor try to expose her to the reporters.

Neither Enkidu nor Iskandar were present at the event – but the press was, and that meant that she had to keep her guard up the whole time.

At the very least, she could concentrate on the place. It was a truly beautiful garden: colourful without being messy, exotic, and yet with local flowers and trees growing in a way that looked natural despite being artificially created so that the guests could have pathways in between them.

Gilgamesh pulled her a little closer to murmur in her ear, "All we have to do is take three or four turns of the place, compliment the owner, be addressed by one or two mongrels, and then we should be able to leave."

It seemed quite easy when said like that, but it was definitely not going to be that simple, and that was without taking notice of the inexpressible amount of eyes that followed their every move.

As they passed next to the oleanders, they inadvertently caught a part of a conversation.

"…certainly, she's a fair beauty, but not that special…"

"…what does she even have that could interest him, aside from her barely attractive looks?"

"I heard that she works at his company, and that that is how he noticed her… But can you imagine? Working as a subordinate!"

"Yes, quite degrading, right? I even heard that she still works there! So unfitting for a wife…!"

"I wonder how it can even be considered acceptable…"

The next few steps they took brought them far enough from the voices to be able to ignore them and, throwing Gilgamesh a glance, Arturia almost had to smirk at the sheer boredom she could read on his face.

He noticed her eyes on him and sighed.

"Those kind of conversations are getting old. They really should make their talks more interesting, otherwise there is no point in us overhearing them."

At her mildly confused glance, he elaborated, "Those were staged, Arturia. It's typical of this kind of place, I would even say they consider it almost a rule. They take care to make those comments only when we can hear them – but they seriously underestimate the degree of boredom we are going to suffer because of them."

It was such a bizarrely uncanny speech for him that Arturia actually had to stifle a laugh at it, and they continued their tour in relative silence… at least until guests started popping out from all directions, and with their carefully constructed talks managed to separate them from each other.

"Mr. Uruk! How delightful to meet you! Let me be bold and allow me to introduce this young man of broad talent–"

"Oh, Mrs. Uruk, that attire is bewitching! What designer created the lines–"

It was no use that Gilgamesh curtly cut off the introduction of the person who wanted to have a recommendation for his own son; nor was it of any use that Arturia politely gave the name of the designer house – the Rimat fashion line – from which Gilgamesh had chosen her gown. The incessant talking – and the discreet but expert pulling – in the sea of people ended up forcing them to stand several steps apart.

That was more than enough for Arturia to suddenly find herself face to face with the beautiful woman with lilac hair she had already had the debatable pleasure of meeting at the exhibition, Medea Caster-Kuzuki.

"Mrs. Kuzuki, what a pleasure," she said evenly, her tone not betraying anything, while she only rolled her eyes inwardly and decided to follow Enkidu's advice and be direct. "I see that, once again, you waited for my husband to be occupied before approaching me."

Her statement, meant to deliberately stand her ground, was not easy to overlook, and Medea shot her a furious glare.

"You are still around, child," she fumed. "Even though I was gracious enough to warn you to leave a world you have no place in, you are still here. You should know that you don't belong with Gilgamesh Uruk, you little whore."

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

Only a few steps away, Gilgamesh was faced with other members of the Caster family. They were addressing him relentlessly and thus preventing him from approaching his wife. If he wanted to get close to her, he would have to push a few people, and that would catch the reporters' attention in a negative way.

Not that he intended to intervene in any case. He had meant what he had told her more than once in the past: he believed she was fully capable of taking care of herself.

"You're not going to your wife's rescue, Mr. Uruk?" came the mellifluous voice of one of the people surrounding him. It was one of the heads of the Casters' business – Medea's father.

Gilgamesh was very much annoyed by just seeing the man, and even more by being addressed by said man, especially since – aside from being mediocre and a nuisance as a businessperson – he happened to be the father of a woman he despised, Medea Kuzuki, and husband of a woman he despised even more, Lady Ishtar. The fact that, on top of that, he was even trying to manipulate him – him – was beyond outrageous.

He stared at the impudent mongrel with so much iciness that the man was forced to lower his eyes.

"Caster. I see that your daughter still hasn't learned either manners or wisdom. And neither have you, apparently. You will soon understand that no one mocks my wife and gets away with it." Himself included, he surprisingly realized, but there was no point in reflecting on that fact in this moment.

Mr. Caster sneered, even though he did not dare meet his blood red eyes once again.

"Oh, I see. So now you'll protect her by trying to ruin my business, Mr. Uruk?" he said, raising his voice a little.

Gilgamesh laughed, and his laugh was bone chilling.

"I could do that – but why bother getting through any kind of trouble when you are not even remotely worth it? You won't get away with your lowly attempts at undermining my wife – because you still don't know her. She doesn't need any kind of protection from the likes of you. She will make you regret ever trying to interfere in our marriage, and she will do so all on her own."

He was not bragging, because he never did. He knew that Arturia could perfectly deal with smart people, therefore Medea, who wasn't included in the category, would not be a problem for her at all.

Struck by a sudden thought, he wondered how his proud little wife would fare if faced with his own mother…

He filed the thought aside for later and brought his concentration back on Mr. Caster, who by now had lost much of his confidence and was staring at him with disbelief, even though, to Gilgamesh's satisfaction, he still didn't completely meet his gaze.

"You're not going to help out your wife?"

Gilgamesh disdainfully looked at the man as if he was dirt, as if his mere presence was not just insulting him but sullying him – which, in his opinion, was exactly the case. He was being far too tolerant in even allowing the conversation to continue.

"There will be need of no such thing. She is very good at looking after herself."

Mr. Caster, even if still incredulous, managed to find his voice in a renewed attempt at mocking him.

"Really, now. How can you be so sure?"

Gilgamesh grinned, his smile feral. What a mongrel. There was no need to waste any more of his time with such an asinine person, but in this single case, just to give his reply, he would make an exception.

He stared straight at him, making him cower in increased fear.

"I know, because I married her."

His brief exchange with that lowlife had held the attention of the people around them, and his last words made a collective shiver run through them; therefore, no one stopped Gilgamesh when he walked away.

No one wanted to risk their wellbeing by going against the bluntness of the most powerful man in the world.

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

Arturia was beginning to get bored with Medea, and she found it amusing that she agreed with her husband on the fact that the vipers who wanted to spread their poisonous venom seemed to always use the same tactics and the same insults.

As the lilac-haired woman had done nothing but invest her with a string of quite eccentric yet repetitive invectives for the past few minutes, she judged it was time to stop taking her verbal tirade with quiet patience.

"Mrs. Kuzuki," her voice was pleasant, polite, and most of all, calm, as she cut her off. "You have already made your opinion known, yet its relevance hasn't changed since the last time we met. I therefore take the liberty to suggest you use your apparently limitless free time more competently."

If Medea Kuzuki had had claws, she would have used them to jump towards Arturia and scratch her face in a screaming fit. She was standing in front of her and she was seething.

Suddenly, she abandoned all pretences. She had nothing left to lose, after having been told so firmly to go on her way, and her expression turned ugly.

"What does he even see in you? You have no beauty, no charm, no money, no connections, and you don't belong to this social class. What do you have that he can like?"

She leaned forward, her eyes glowing in mad anger. "What does he think you have that I don't?"

"A brain, for example," came a cold voice from behind her.

Medea Kuzuki turned around abruptly to see Gilgamesh Uruk approaching them, his expression a perfect mix of annoyance and complete and utter boredom.

"I would apologize for the interruption if I felt sorry for it, but that doesn't happen to be the case." He turned towards his wife. "Arturia, the percentage of idiotic people surrounding you is far too high to be healthy. I suggest we take some fresher air." Then he glanced between her and the woman with lilac hair. "Unless you need to finish reminding Mrs. Kuzuki of her place, in which case I will make an effort to wait."

Arturia gave him a sharp but only half-hearted glare that no one else could see, before calmly looking at the lilac-haired woman again, her gaze steely.

"I believe everything was already said. Whether or not it was understood is another matter entirely. Good afternoon to you, Mrs. Kuzuki."

She linked her arm with her husband's and the two of them walked away unhurriedly. This time, no one dared do anything more than greet them as they passed by.

Therefore, about two hours later, when it was already evening, Arturia was extremely glad to be in the limousine and headed home, where Shirou, Sakura and Rin were probably waiting.

Thinking back on the afternoon, she had to conclude that the only thing she could have truly done differently was at the beginning of it, when she could have smiled for the cameras.

But she would not do it whenever her husband demanded it, especially when he did it in such a condescending and belittling way. She wasn't a doll, and she wouldn't smile on command.

She wondered briefly why he had intervened in her talk – or rather, discussion – with Medea, and why in such a manner. Inwardly shrugging, she decided to ask him about it.

He gave her an amused smirk.

"To be honest, Arturia, it was quite entertaining to see your verbal exchange with that despicable woman. However, her last comment was directed more at me than at you, and since she asked a very obvious question, I decided to grant her a very obvious answer."

She stared at him, for the first time uncertain about his meaning. He almost scoffed at her, his eyes narrowing in an almost imperceptible manner.

"I didn't bother making up any kind of lies, Arturia; what I told her is the truth. Had I wanted a wife without intelligence, I wouldn't have married you."

The rest of the car ride was spent in a kind of silence that was uncomfortable, but in a different way than usual. Arturia was feeling self-conscious and oddly confused about his unexpected comment, while Gilgamesh was feeling satisfied by her reaction; neither said however another word, and the eerie resemblance of peacefulness was only discarded once they arrived home.

Sakura and the children were not there and they had the house all to themselves, as the housekeepers informed them. The purple-haired girl had decided to go to a nearby park with Shirou and Rin, mainly to avoid having them bicker more violently than they already did, and after that, as per Arturia's instructions in case they got tired, she had dropped the boy off at the hospital before going home. The elderly Starks had then confirmed with Irisviel that Shirou had arrived back there safely. Arturia thanked them warmly, making them smilingly accept her gratitude, and they added that dinner was ready before leaving for the night.

Spending an afternoon in the company of rich people and paparazzi induced quite the appetite, as Arturia found out, even though it could also be the effect of Sakura's skilful cooking. It had been actually some time since husband and wife had last shared a meal at home in the weekend, mainly because she had been at the hospital with her sister, usually coming home in the evenings when he was already in bed.

It was true that he had come pick her up a few times, and another couple of times they had had dinner, all four of them, at the hospital, but that happened during the week, when they had work; during the weekend, it was no longer common for them to have dinner alone together.

After putting the dishes away – Gilgamesh, as she had found out some time before, actually made the effort of cleaning his own plate and not leaving things dirty – she went to take a shower in the bathroom downstairs. She had come to prefer it to the bedroom's bathroom not only because it was smaller and she wasn't overly fond of grand ostentatiousness, but also because it was nearer to the entrance, and when she was in a hurry, as she often was recently, it was more convenient.

Afterwards, she passed by her favourite living room upstairs to pick up a book she had left there in the morning, but stopped dead in her tracks.

Gilgamesh was lying down on one of the couches, a half-full glass of red wine in hand, sipping with evident pleasure. A glance to the small table confirmed that what he was drinking was not normal wine – it was one with very high alcoholic content.

Arturia was not fond of heavy drinks, nor of drinks in general. Her family had never had an inclination towards drinking alcohol, but she had been forced by Iri to participate to quite a few college events – some of which had seen Gilgamesh present as well – therefore she knew she had a good tolerance. She had taken care of more than enough intoxicated college colleagues – who got sad, ill or violent when drunk – to decide that she would not waste much time with alcohol. She still recalled the bruises some of them had received, after beating each other up in their drunken stupor.

Now seeing her own husband there at home, drinking a heavily alcoholic substance… she couldn't help her instinctual reaction from being full of wariness.

"Gilgamesh, you… I mean…"

Her eyes darted to the door and her hand automatically moved to the phone she always carried on herself, mentally scrolling through the emergency numbers she knew.

He only rolled his eyes, guessing her thoughts immediately.

"Don't get your mind into nonsense. I can hold my liquor, Arturia, and I'm not about to hurt you."

Easy to say, less easy to prove, she thought. But hearing how his speech was not slurred and he was as sarcastic as usual, she did feel reassured, at least to some degree.

His expression changed as he observed her contemplatively, before a slow smirk appeared on his lips.

"The real question is… can you hold your alcohol?"

She arched an eyebrow. He could not mean…? Oh, that was not going to happen. She was not going to be fooled by him, nor would she let him drag her into one of his games.

"Yes, I can hold a reasonable amount of that stuff, but I'm not about to enter any kind of contest with you, as you so clearly aim to have me do – so goodnight."

Finding her book – which was the primary reason why she had actually come to the room – she went to the bedroom, and after pushing the beds apart, lay down on hers and resumed reading where she had left off that morning.

Soon enough her eyelids were drooping, and the next thing she knew, she was waking up with her Sunday alarm clock, well tucked under the blanket and with her head between the pages of her book.

How curious. She had thought she had not pulled the covers over herself, since she had fallen asleep while reading.

Well, maybe she had and had simply forgotten doing so.

Maybe.

She did not see Gilgamesh's small, almost imperceptible smile that he couldn't help directing towards her as he witnessed her confusion.

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