A/N: thank you to HiddenCamellia for helping with this chapter ;)
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After what had happened a few weeks before, Arturia began to pay more attention to the time and did her best to be home earlier than usual.
She still went to her sister after work of course; however, she made sure to leave the hospital before dinnertime. She had decided to do this ever since the day Gilgamesh had showed up to drive her back home in person and had more or less asked her to keep having dinner with him, going even as far as agreeing to share the meal with her family too. By leaving earlier, they made it possible for young Sakura to have a few evenings off as well, so that she could stay with Rin.
Since Gilgamesh had actually continued to show up after the first time he had done so, Arturia had reached the conclusion that he had not acted on a whim, but he truly disliked her being away from home, especially when he too was there. This only spurred her conscious effort of returning to the house earlier.
She did it because he had actually been nice lately, and even if in a convoluted way, he had asked – not demanded – her to dine with him more often. Since the latest Saturday night together with him had actually not been unpleasant, she couldn't find a reason to refuse his request – or rather, to want to refuse his request.
However, to her puzzlement and more than just mild confusion, as soon as she started coming home earlier, he began instead to return home late, very late, and for several days in a row. In fact, more than a few times, she was already half-asleep or sleeping when he came to their room, as she had retired for sleep, separating the beds and disappearing under the covers.
It was almost as if he was suddenly avoiding her.
Although disconcerted, she believed that the reason for his being always late was work; she had heard that Enkidu had been doing a lot of travelling overseas to settle business, and had just come back a few days before. It was very likely that Gilgamesh had had a stressful time in handling everything both in Japan and in the rest of the world through long conferences and important meetings. She was quite certain about this, because she had after all attended some of them herself.
That was a very likely explanation for the sudden increase in his time away from the house, and she decided she could make another small effort, since he seemed to be so busy.
He had brought over dinner to share with her family more than once; therefore, she made sure that, no matter how late it was when he came home, there was dinner kept warm and ready for him. It was not something that was too difficult for her to do, and she thought that, since he was busy, it might be for his benefit.
Every morning, Sakura brought her the newspaper and they prepared breakfast together, even though the girl always tried not to make her work too much, claiming she wanted to do her job properly, and she could not do that if her employer helped her like that.
Lately, the newspapers' headlines had been a bit worrying, at least for Arturia's tastes. They were not worrisome for what they said, but for the questions they asked.
How is the richest man in the world faring in his precarious marriage?
Is Gilgamesh Uruk giving more attention to his wife or to his work?
Uruk Enterprises: is it now a synonym for a company that matters more than a family?
Of course, they were questions deliberately put there to be provocative and to increase the sells, but they had indeed been appearing quite often during the past few weeks. The excitement from their luxurious wedding ceremony had faded, and now there was eager anticipation among the press for some scandal or the other.
In Arturia's opinion, the fact that such insinuating headlines had already started to appear could become a serious problem.
On one such morning, she distractedly noticed that same kind of headlines once again, but resolved not to pay much attention to them. She was talking with Sakura, and the girl, bringing her the newspaper, had most likely seen the titles, but she did not seem concerned about them at all, even though they were about her own employers.
Out of curiosity, but also to get her mind off the strange sense of worry that she was unable to completely shake off, Arturia addressed her with a smile.
"I'm sure you have read the news, Sakura, yet you don't seem to pay the rumours any heed. I must confess, I'm rather curious about how you do that."
That morning the girl had insisted that Arturia did not lift a finger since Rin was present as well – her little sister was sitting at the kitchen table and was silently reading a children's book – and she thought she was already imposing too much on her employer's kindness. Sakura brought miso soup to the table together with the rest of the distinctive Japanese breakfast, while giving her a surprising reply.
"The press and the media will not be happy until they have what they want, Mrs. Ria – a scoop. But most of the time they just talk about rumours." She paused, hesitating briefly. "False rumours are what cost my father his reputation and in the end made him commit suicide. I've learned not to believe the reporters easily."
Arturia's green eyes looked at her with concern.
"I'm very sorry, Sakura. I didn't mean to bring up those memories."
Sakura only gave a shrug, not completely carelessly but not very caringly, either. She went to clean up the kitchen counter.
"He wasn't really present in my life, Mrs. Ria. He didn't neglect Rin and I, but he didn't exactly care that much, either. Mother was the one who truly cared for us."
Arturia offered her a small smile, because she empathized with the purple-haired girl's past, at least to a certain extent.
Knowing that Sakura was not the type who would ever sell information to the press, she said, "I think I know what you mean. My parents loved my sister and I, but they were detached from us."
Sakura stared at her from the counter, took a few steps closer and looked at her quizzically.
"You don't give that impression, Mrs. Ria… oh!" She cut herself off, seeming suddenly afraid of what she had just said.
Arturia produced another very small smile, showing that she wasn't offended.
"I know."
Sakura stared at her, and then her eyes went to Rin, who was sitting in her chair and now playing with her braids as she repeated some sentences from the book under her breath.
"…you have a younger sister as well, Mrs. Ria?" came her hesitant question, as if she was truly curious about the reply but was not sure she had the right to ask something like that.
Sakura had never met Iri; knowing that Shirou was Arturia's nephew – and putting it together with what Arturia had just said – had made her assume that she had to have a sister who was at the hospital, but she didn't know much else about her employer's family.
Arturia glanced up to the clock and stood up, the time having passed much quicker than she had thought. She had to run several errands on this day and needed to get going on them.
Sakura's inquiry was innocent enough, but the blonde woman did not currently have the time to discuss her family. Sooner or later, she was going to tell Sakura about her sister and even make the two meet, but unfortunately, it couldn't be in that moment.
Giving her another kind expression, she inclined her head in a way that was neither a nod nor a shake.
"Not exactly. But I'm afraid we need to have this conversation some other time, as it's too late now."
Taking her leave from the young black-haired girl and her elder sister, Mrs. Uruk left to go to work.
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Arturia forgot everything about the headlines she had seen in the newspaper that morning, because she had a very busy time at work and then quite an eventful afternoon with little Shirou coming to do the shopping with her, since he wished to get a few presents for his mother and new coloured paper materials to play with.
However, when evening came and her husband did not show up for dinner, she recalled the headlines. It appeared that, for once, they were asking questions whose truthful answer wouldn't have been positive for the reputation of the Uruk name.
At the same time, she couldn't help wondering… it wasn't her own fault for maybe being a bit too insisting, was it? Earlier, in the middle of the afternoon, when she had sent him a text asking him if there was anything specific he wanted for dinner, he had dryly replied that he wasn't going to be home for the meal that evening – and that had been it.
She did find it strange, however, when she woke up in the middle of the night because she was in an uncomfortable position and noticed that he still wasn't there. His bed was made up; it was clear that he had not even come home yet.
Pushing the worry in her thoughts firmly aside, she turned around – so to look away from his bed – and went back to sleep.
In the morning, when her alarm went off, her eyes opened and automatically darted to his bed, only to find it empty again. He still wasn't there, and his bed was exactly as it had been the evening before.
He had not come home – for the whole night.
This was something that had never happened before, not ever since they had gotten married.
She stared at her phone for a while, debating with herself on whether she should send him a text or call him – but such a thing was ridiculous.
It was unlikely that anything had happened to him, and after all, she didn't really need to know right away why he had not come home the previous night, did she? She was going to have to talk with him later in the day, that was doubtless, but it certainly wasn't urgent.
She had given Sakura permission to leave earlier that morning because her sister Rin was going back to school as vacations had ended, and therefore the girl was already busy finishing with the cooking as Arturia stepped into the kitchen.
As she sat down to eat breakfast, Sakura completed her chores by bringing her the newspaper before wishing her a good day with a smile and hurrying to the exit holding Rin's hand. She was a little worried because outside there was a larger number of reporters than usual, and Arturia recommended using one of the backdoors.
The young black-haired girl was eager to go, and Arturia wished her good luck and smiled inwardly as she heard the door close, before concentrating on her food and on the newspaper's voluminous magazine.
She threw a glance at the first page… and she almost choked on her hot milk. She immediately understood the reason for the suddenly increased amount of journalists outside her house.
Less than three months of marriage for Gilgamesh Uruk – and it's already a cheating scandal!
Just the contents of the first page were enough to make her cringe. And if the headlines had not been enough, the pictures certainly were.
Her eyes quickly ran over the article.
It was in a very injurious tone, claiming that the speculations of the previous days – the ones insinuating that Gilgamesh Uruk was neglecting his young, recently married wife – were all true, because he was cheating on her. Apparently, he was not cheating on her with another woman, but with several other women, and in places of dubious morality.
As proof, the article referred to the enclosed photographs, which indeed showed Mr. Uruk, standing between quite a few women, at what seemed to be a bar but was in a fact a nightclub.
Arturia stared at the pictures, and for several long seconds, her mind was blank.
What was the meaning of this?
It could not be true.
But… she had to look at the facts. Gilgamesh had not come home that night, and that was a fact. The magazine she was holding claimed – proved – that he had been at a nightclub, drinking and surrounding himself with women until early in the morning.
She put the newspaper back on the table and took out her phone, only to put it away again.
She tried to snap herself out of her daze, but it was no use. She was even more troubled when she realized that what confused her the most was the fact that she could not determine what exactly she was feeling.
She still… doubted the truthfulness of it all, even if the photos were admittedly a very solid proof, because she could not mistake the man in them as anyone but the one she had gotten married to.
Gilgamesh had never been her favourite person, but she had thought she had somewhat come to understand him during the past few months, and she felt quite confident that he would not behave in the manner described in the newspaper.
In the contract, however, they had not addressed the possibility of infidelity. Faithfulness had probably been implied in the fact that they were getting married, after all, and well, Arturia had already had to admit some time before that she did not have the right to probe into Gilgamesh's personal life. Her personal life – the situation with her family – was all that mattered to her, but his work was all that mattered to him.
She knew, she admitted it in spite of herself, that he was an extremely handsome man; with his undeniably attractive looks and the right amount of persuasion, she had no doubt that he would be able to charm anyone. Yet he had always made it clear that he cared more about his work than about anything else.
Furthermore, as far as she had seen, he had never shown interest in any particular woman or man, nor had he seemed to be an avid drinker of 'low-quality drinks', as he called the ones that were to be found in pubs. He enjoyed his wine, she knew that, but only the most exclusive kind, and he would never have accepted to go in a place so beneath him like a nightclub…
…or at least, that was what Arturia thought she knew about him. She did not know him well enough to be completely certain about the way he would or would not behave. Therefore, there were no precise conclusions she could reach.
However – she was his wife now. Why couldn't she… well… address him about it?
She had agreed to fulfil the role of the 'proper wife' in the eyes of the public, even though she was quite disgusted by such an outdated view; she had only done it for her sister, and she had disregarded her dignity and her principles for that reason alone. Suspecting the man she had made a contract with of cheating made her feel confused and in some ways enraged her, but mostly, it made her actually feel… afraid.
Because if it were true, and if the media had been right, it would be terrible for what concerned their contract.
Again, she pondered over the information she had. She truly had no idea of what kind of man Gilgamesh was, at least in his private life. As a person, she did not think he would break his word, once given… or rather, she was quite sure he would not do such a thing.
But then again – it was indeed true that, in the contract, nothing had been specified about cheating; therefore, there was no former promise of being faithful that Gilgamesh would have had to respect.
It hit Arturia then. She had agreed to marry Gilgamesh for Iri and Shirou's sake; she had not thought about how that decision would truly influence herself. She actually hadn't thought twice about giving up relationships in general: she loved her family dearly, and she was fond of her field of studying and her job, she didn't need other personal bonds. She had thought that, by becoming someone's wife, even without love, she would have to automatically give up the possibility of being with anyone else, of allowing herself to develop feelings towards anyone.
She had considered it obvious, even if it had not been specified in the contract.
But what if Gilgamesh did not see things in the same light? According to what the newspaper's magazine – and it was a quite renowned newspaper, the National one – reported, he clearly did not.
How foolish she had been. It was just a contract for appearances' sake; what they really did, in their private lives, was up to them. There was only the façade to keep up, the rest was obviously not under the same kind of scrutiny. She could do whatever she wanted during her time with her family, and he… he could do whatever he wanted with his free time.
To be honest, she had never thought about Gilgamesh's free time – she had actually never cared about it.
Now, as a result, the story of a cheating affair was publicly exposed to the media.
In any case, no matter how long she kept thinking about it – she was truly overthinking it – the headlines were not going to change, no matter the fact that the reporters had probably invented the whole story.
Or at least, that was what she wanted to believe. But… those photos…
And… if it were true…
Could he… have… actually cheated on her…?
No. She had to stop that line of thoughts immediately, as it was complete and utter nonsense.
It was strange, not knowing what to think and how to feel.
She was confused; she was angry; she was hurt by his not communicating with her and putting her in the situation of finding out things from the newspapers – and yet, at the same time, she was surprised by the fact that it actually hurt. She was surprised that, in spite of the fact that she had never been truly interested in her husband, she actually cared enough about all that for it to hurt.
If he had truly gone to a nightclub and slept with other women, cheating on her, it wasn't really her business, as long as the press was not aware of it.
She shook her head. What was she thinking? After all, the two of them weren't even in a relationship – where had the word 'cheating' come from? Sure, they were indeed married, but it had been a simple contract, a monetary arrangement, and that was all.
Advantageous for them both – and that was it.
Right?
Right.
That was all it was.
Still…
Just a few minutes earlier, she had thought that there was no urgency in being informed about her husband's whereabouts, but she had obviously been mistaken.
She had to speak with him, Arturia decided. She had the right to – and she had to, because those headlines were problematic for their marital arrangements.
At the same time, while her voice of reason told her that the best course of action was to call him right away, another part of her did not want to speak to him; yet she also did not want to let her mind fly away with conjectures.
Therefore, she opted for the middle ground – sending him a text.
Gilgamesh.
She couldn't continue typing after that word. What was she supposed to say to him? Was she supposed to ask him about the newspapers? Was she supposed to ask him where he had been the previous evening? Was she supposed to ask him when he would be home? Was she supposed to ask him… what?
Maybe just writing his name would be enough. He read the newspapers in the morning, exactly like she did. He was bound to see the headlines. Yet he had not contacted her…
Yes, she could see no better option. She would send him a text with just his name, and that was going to be it.
She clicked on the 'send' button.
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Gilgamesh was standing in his office. Furious.
No, he amended to himself, he was not just furious – he was indignant.
He had not gone home the evening before, not after what had happened. He had been too livid to go back to his house, because he knew that in the blind rage he was in, he would have taken it out on anyone. He needed to calm down, and the deserted offices were the best place for that. He did not intend to simply go home and yell at the first person he met – namely Arturia – for no reason, nor did he intend to take out his frustration on her when she was completely free of any blame.
That was because he was incredibly angry with himself. It had happened only a handful of times in the past, but when he was in such an irate mood, he knew he had to be alone.
The evening before had been a complete disaster, and he should have anticipated it.
The night had passed, however, and he had calmed down, at least a little bit.
After pacing the empty hallways for hours, getting rid of his fury, he went to sit down in his office where, as usual, he found the morning newspaper waiting. He flipped it over to read the front page.
And he stared.
Red coloured his vision and he jumped back to his feet. It was clear that he had not simply been tricked the night before; he had been tricked twice…!
In that moment, his phone rang. Without thinking, he answered immediately.
"Gil, calm down," came a very familiar voice from the other side of the line before he found it in himself to speak into the receiver. Enkidu's voice was missing its usual mirth and teasing glint.
Gilgamesh did not answer, his eyes running through the article and the muscles in his jaw rigidly clenching.
"Gil, listen to me," Enkidu continued, sternly. "Calm down. I'm sure you have seen the newspapers. It's all over the other news channels as well. We have to fix this, but to do that, you have to keep calm."
Gilgamesh still did not speak. His mind was already planning the best ways to get revenge disregarding all the other factors and simply making sure that that man was to be destroyed, because those headlines would not only affect him but also–
He inhaled sharply, his anger swiftly quieting down, forgotten. Enkidu wasn't the only person close to him who read the newspapers in the mornings.
He could not help an unexpectedly sinking feeling in his chest as he thought about her… Arturia.
She must have seen those headlines, and she was not oblivious: she was perfectly aware of the fact that he had not been home that night.
This was not going to bode well.
And it was not going to end well, but not for him; it was really not going to end well for the one who was truly at fault.
"Enkidu." His voice was cold and controlled, his returning anger kept tightly in check and now fully focused on the target he was shortly going to strike. "Come to the office as soon as you can. We have a punishment to deliver."
He closed the line before sitting back at his desk.
The moment he ended the call, his phone buzzed as it received a text. It was from Arturia, and it consisted solely of his name.
Gilgamesh.
She had obviously read the newspapers.
He stared at the phone, temporarily forgetting everything else.
How curious. The thought of how this entire matter would affect her had been enough to make sure his anger did not overtake him–… ah, he did not have time to concentrate on that.
One single thought in mind, Gilgamesh lifted the phone from the office table once again. Iskandar had better be awake, even if it was still quite early in the morning. The red-bearded giant was going to play an important part in the simple but efficient plan that was rapidly forming in his head.
By the time the man picked up, he had finished building the plan in his mind.
"Iskandar." Gilgamesh's tone did not leave any room for argument as he continued, "It's time for me to collect one of the many favours you owe me. Listen carefully."
It was indeed time to execute his revenge on the person responsible for everything, Shinji Matou, and show him hell's true, ugly, unforgivable colours.
With the media, he could deal. He could feed them another good piece of gossip, or change the versions of what was reported, and things could be manipulated into place, ensuring his business was not affected. But his wife…
How dare they make things look in such a way in the eyes of his wife!?
Especially when he considered the fact that his wife had been the one to foresee the danger: she had warned him in the past not to underestimate people, both reporters and entrepreneurs.
He had dismissed her seemingly excessive cautiousness; but she had been right.
Gilgamesh disliked having to face his mistakes, mostly because he never made any. But in the occasion at present…
Knowing that he was usually always a few steps ahead of everyone else, he had underestimated Shinji Matou's underhandedness, and he had also underestimated the press's quickness. The exact things Arturia had showed insight about, advising him to be careful.
Very well then. As much as he loathed admitting it, he had made a mistake, and he had more than paid for it.
Now it was time to make the others pay – the ones who had caused the mistake in the first place.
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Arturia did not make substantial changes to her usual daily routine, aside from being very careful when leaving the house. After work, however, she didn't have lunch with her husband, but went directly to the hospital, choosing to spend the afternoon with her sister and nephew.
Iri had not picked up her habit of reading the newspapers after waking up from the coma; she only watched a summary of the week's news on Sundays on television, but most of the time she concentrated on getting better – she still wasn't able to leave the bed – and giving all her attention to Shirou. Therefore, Arturia was not worried about them knowing anything about the morning's headlines.
She had taken the resolution of not overthinking anything, especially because Gilgamesh had replied to her text, even though it had been as telegraphic a message as hers.
Tonight.
For once, she was not saddened about leaving the hospital before dinnertime. She could not tell her family, but she had to talk with Gilgamesh about what had happened, and urgently.
She had reached some very simple conclusions: the reported news were either true or false. If they were true, then they would need to discuss them at length; if they were not true… then they would still need to discuss them at length.
In either case, they did need to talk.
When she arrived home – she passed through one of the two back doors to avoid the press – he was not there yet. The housekeepers had already left, and Arturia had asked Sakura to cook dinner and leave it there, still warm, for her and Gilgamesh. That meant that the house was empty.
She was not hungry; she drank a glass of water, but she wasn't feeling inclined to eat anything, and left her food untouched. She had to struggle with herself to admit it, but she was not looking forward to the inevitable confrontation that was going to happen. To be fair, it could also be that he was going to refuse to speak with her; he was under no obligation of telling her about all of his activities. Nevertheless, if he was indeed going to say something like that, then she would have to use the media as excuse to make him talk.
As excuse – because she could not deny that she wanted to know the truth. The newspapers had reported a story, and that could be fake; but photographs, photographs of Gilgamesh in a nightclub surrounded by women… those were not fake. She was adamant about finding out what had happened, even though, when she questioned herself about the reason for it, she was unable to find a satisfying answer.
Going to the bedroom, the first thing Arturia did was push the beds apart – perhaps a bit further apart than usual – before taking out her favourite home clothes and locking herself in the bathroom. If the rest of the evening was going to be extremely unpleasant, she might as well make herself comfortable to face it.
She had just come out of her shower and was standing next to her closet, choosing the accessories for the outfit she was going to wear the following day, when the door opened and Gilgamesh entered the room.
Crimson and green eyes met, both guarded and, in many ways, calculating and wary. It was quite obvious that he had just arrived home, and it appeared that he had not had dinner yet. But that was of small importance at the moment.
Keeping the same telegraphic approach from their texts, Arturia simply turned away from her closet and stared at him, firmly and unwaveringly.
"Explain."
It was not a request; it was an order – formulated as such because she was demanding to hear his account on what had happened – and it was clearly not a negotiable one.
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