A/N: warning for a little bit of sexual content in this chapter as well ;)


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Gilgamesh's control over his wandering thoughts was not as good as he would have liked it to be, but it was still steady enough to allow him to lead the meeting with composure and his usual firmness. Arturia was not present, as she was occupied with the interns, and he had mixed feelings about that fact.

On one hand, her absence made it theoretically possible for him to focus more on what needed to be done; on the other, his thoughts continually drifted off to linger on her, as he couldn't help himself from wishing for her presence.

The day was longer than usual, which was odd for a Thursday, but Gilgamesh specifically focused on getting as much work done as possible, to make sure he could fully dedicate his attention to his wife during the weekend. He planned on taking the following day off, as he suspected that his talk with Arturia wasn't going to be an easy and swift matter to settle.

If, however, things were going to turn out worse than he expected, he would then come back to the office and spend the entire weekend with work, the only thing as dear to him as his wife had come to be.

Enkidu had been right, yet he had done nothing but say something the blond man had already realized on his own early on: he had to speak with Arturia. He could delay the inevitable only for a limited amount of time, but he should stop before it became truly degrading to do so.

He wasn't avoiding it because he was afraid; he was avoiding it because he was uncertain about the possible outcome of it.

And he absolutely loathed having such a feeling of apprehension.

He suppressed a sigh. As much as he wished for the contrary, he truly could no longer delay the confrontation that was in order.

When he headed home in the evening, he had finally made his decision: he was going to speak with her immediately.

But of course – she was ahead of him.

She was clearly waiting for him, in the living room on the upper floor, the one they both favoured, in which he had thrown his wine glass against the wall a little over a week before, only to sink his hands in her long blonde hair and kiss her–

He got his control back over his thoughts. If he had to speak with her – only speak, and not anything else – then that line of thought was not the most appropriate one to have in order to reach their objective.

She was standing next to the window, gazing outside, obviously lost in deep thought. But as soon as he entered the room, she abruptly turned around to stare at him, her eyes sharp yet slightly wary. He knew that his own eyes were probably quite guarded as well.

At last, her voice broke the long silence.

"Can we talk?"

He gave a brief nod. There was no point in pretending not to know what she wanted to talk about.

"I believe we should."

Slowly, as if following an unspoken line of conduct, they went to sit down on one of the couches, next to each other but with some space separating their bodies.

They both remained silent.

Suddenly, she looked up at him – and the next instant, her arms were around his neck and her mouth was on his, kissing him deeply.

Gilgamesh froze in place for a second before getting back to his senses, and he attempted to separate them by gently pushing on her shoulders; but she would not be deterred, and he could not blame her, for his push had not been very convincing from the start.

With more concentration, he tried to focus again – after all, she had asked to talk, and he had agreed – but her lips were too tempting to resist…

He gave in, responding to the kiss and bringing his hands up to caress her cheeks. She fell backwards, against the pillows, and they did not break the kiss the entire while, sinking more deeply into each other–

But they both stopped at the same instant. Breath much heavier than usual, they just stared into each other's eyes, as Gilgamesh then moved back a little, pulling her up with him to a sitting position again.

Slowly and somewhat softly, Arturia murmured, "How did we come to this, Gilgamesh?"

He raised an eyebrow, his hand playing with a strand of her hair absentmindedly.

"A good question. Or perhaps the right one should be, how did we not come to this sooner?"

Suddenly, startling him, her voice came out sounding extremely troubled, and the emotion her eyes were holding became hard to fully translate into words; it was a mix of confusion, frustration and distress.

"Gilgamesh, what are we doing? What game are we playing? What game are you playing with me?"

"This is no game," he said, voice very low, with his stare on her intense. Just saying something simple as that was proving to be extremely difficult. "It's not and it never was… for me. What is it for you, Arturia?"

She could not look away.

"That is my question. When this marriage started, it was supposed to be nothing more than a simple and clean arrangement! Not… not this!"

He narrowed his eyes at her. Their conversation was escalating quickly, and he wanted to be sure he knew what she meant.

"And what is this you are talking about?"

"I don't know – I cannot be sure!" she exclaimed in frustration. Her eyes clouded over as she looked at him with distrust. "Why, Gilgamesh? Why did you sleep with me in the first place?"

He seemed to ponder, and then leaned forward to press a chaste, cautious kiss to her lips.

Why, again, had he been avoiding this conversation? What he had to say was not very complicated after all; he should have told her sooner, since it was obvious and, most importantly, it was the utmost truth.

"Because I wanted to and you agreed to it."

Before she could get any more frustrated at what he had just said, he continued calmly and bluntly, the words never failing him, "I feel fascinated by you, and not just because I have learned to respect you. I feel for you something I have never felt before, which in my eyes is far greater than love, though I suppose you could call it that if you want to describe it with one single word."

He paused, and the silence was stunned on Arturia's side, but he did not allow that to stop him. "I love you and I want you, and that is what made me decide not to stop when we kissed."

His gaze suddenly turned oddly rueful though. "Maybe I should have made sure you truly wanted to continue, since you now seem to regret what happened. Perhaps that was… wrong of me."

Another long pause followed. She did not move an inch from her position, and while she didn't look away from him, nothing was discernible from her eyes.

He stood up, now averting his gaze from her.

He had said what he wanted to say; all the while, she had not given him a reply nor did she seem inclined to do so, and that meant that he was done there. He could not stand to be in her presence if she kept her infuriating silence.

"Good night, Arturia."

Before he could leave, however, her hand shot out to grab his wrist. He turned to face her again, and raised an eyebrow at her suddenly enraged expression.

"You can't just tell me that you love me and then try to leave!"

He almost smirked, fully conscious of the dry irony of their unusual situation.

"And why not? Do you perhaps wish to add something?"

She was silent at that, again becoming motionless and masking her expression so to make it indecipherable.

To his own shock, Gilgamesh realized for the first time in his life that silence, coming from her, could sometimes truly be much more hurtful than words.

He turned away once more, very abruptly. If this was her answer, he did not need to hear anything else, and he was going to leave the room as rapidly as humanly possible.

However, before he could free himself from her hold, he heard her soft murmur.

"You speak of love… and yet you turn away from me… again."

He faced her brusquely, the continuous onslaught of different emotions making him now ready to lose his patience for the last time.

"You question my words, Arturia? After everything that happened, you still doubt me?"

His tone was both disbelieving and menacing, but she wasn't fazed and finally rose to her feet to challenge him.

"I don't doubt you, but I do question your words, Gilgamesh. You obviously want to be away from me right now, so I'm allowed to doubt the truthfulness of what you just said!"

He grabbed both her wrists and held them firmly, taking a step back towards her to stare into her eyes with unrestrained emotion.

"I do not lie, Arturia, as you well know. The only reason I am now turning away from you is the simple fact that you do not have the same feelings–"

She interrupted him, "And what if I do?"

After a short, shocked silence, he smiled bitterly.

"Yes, if you do… I have told you the truth, Arturia, so now cease playing this game of yours that you are accusing me of playing!"

She did not blink nor look away, not even for a second, her emerald eyes steadfast on his crimson ones.

"I don't believe that your feelings are unrequited."

He pulled her closer to him sharply, his heartbeat increasing.

"You 'don't believe'?"

Exasperated, she had to control herself, since the urge to roll her eyes was extreme, and stared at him defiantly. She was done holding back.

"I'm in love with you, you arrogant jerk, if that was what you were wishing for me to admit–… mmmph!"

His mouth suddenly crashing on hers cut her off, the kiss stealing her breath and her words away.

But it wasn't the kiss laced with desire that would usually lead them to the bedroom, the one they had become familiar with in the past fortnight of being physically closer.

This time… this time it was different.

There were so many wordless feelings in it, and it was so intense that Arturia felt herself becoming light-headed and unable to concentrate, as if… as if her mind was suddenly floating in a completely different world.

She never, ever, wanted it to end. Not just the touch itself – but the feelings…

When they separated for air, they both felt the loss acutely, and within seconds, she was in his arms once again, in his embrace, as he held her against his body, with her own arms around his neck, as she leaned against him and slowly, very slowly, finally breathed in.

After everything that had happened, they were finally in each other's arms without ulterior motives. Just in love with each other. Simple and with hardly anything mysterious in such a realization.

He was almost giddy with this unexpected form of happiness, although he felt there was still more to say and more they needed to discuss. That was because, even if he had told her that he loved her, he had not yet let her know how truly precious she was for him, or how deeply he had come to care about her, or how much he loved her.

But they had time now, and in due time everything was going to be shared. He could wait.

She suddenly pulled away from him a little to meet his eyes, but he was pleased to see that she did not try to leave his arms. He also noticed how distended her features appeared to be, how serene and happy – and without her usual, unforgiving, stern edge.

He couldn't help being elated, but was distracted by her question.

"So… what am I for you?"

Gilgamesh heard the slightly teasing tone and recognized the question, from a long time before. The day they had made the contract, she had told him what he was for her. He remembered where their conversation had come from, what it had all meant and what their words had been.

His lips tilted upwards in a genuine smile.

Perhaps he was not going to have to wait after all, even if his reply was going to be far sappier than what was typical for him.

His face leaned towards hers, their lips close, very close, almost touching – ready to touch once more.

"You are my confidant, my friend, my lover, my treasure, and my beloved everything, and far more than I thought you'd become when we married."

His lips were now on hers. "And what am I for you, Arturia?"

She smiled as well, a broad smile that was able to make his heart skip a beat, and her lips closed the gap completely, moving against his to speak.

"You are for me what I am for you… Gilgamesh." She kissed him. "My everything."

He kissed her back, deeply, for several seconds, pulling away only to give her an amused stare.

"You, my lovely Arturia, are an unpredictable minx."

She did not answer, only brought her face closer again to kiss him deeper. He pulled away slightly once more to smirk at her. "Are you not going to deny it?"

Her eyes were dancing in actual mischief as she intertwined their fingers, making sure the distance between them was as small as possible.

"No, I don't think I will."

Her hands acted on their own, going to both sides of his face to hold him closer as she opened her mouth to welcome him eagerly, each and every new contact with him being more powerful than the one before, their breaths mingling and quickly becoming one.

It would have been hard to go back to talking after such a conversation, but Arturia valiantly made an attempt nonetheless.

"Gilgamesh–" she panted between kisses, while his touch was making her lose every coherent thought.

"Yes, my sweetest?" he replied, his lips teasingly trailing from her cheek down to her sensitive neck.

She shook her head, closing her eyes at the sensations, not noticing that he was almost at her pulse point.

"Never… mind… ah!"

She knew that they did indeed need to speak about other matters – but for now, those could wait for just a little while longer.

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Lying in bed with her head on his chest, she let her hands wander over him in soft touches, until she suddenly stopped when she found a certain spot. She crawled closer to him, leaning further into him, and she stared into his eyes before burying her face into his neck.

Her hand remained firmly where his heart was, as if it was never going to move from there.

"Mine."

Staring at her earnestly, Gilgamesh simply nodded, no trace of shame or embarrassment in his crimson orbs as he held her securely. He knew that it was the truth, and he accepted it. Fully.

"Yes. Yours."

Arturia was scarcely able to name the emotions she was feeling, as they felt so oddly new, and merely because now she didn't have to hide or repress them anymore. She was so in love with him that she could cry – and, what was oddest about it all, she wasn't ashamed of it at all.

But she still had some curiosity in her that needed to be satisfied, so she couldn't lose herself in her emotions, at least not yet, not until everything was clarified. Even though her questions were probably going to sound childish, she was going to ask them anyway.

As her fingers began to trace the muscles on his chest lightly – but never wandering far from his heart – she asked, "When you say you love me, does it mean even in spite of all my flaws? Things like my 'annoying stubbornness', as you always call it?"

Gilgamesh sighed, refusing to loosen his hold on her and making sure she did not have enough room to move. She was rather adorable in asking something like that.

"Indeed, you will need to explain to me how you made me fall for you in spite, or maybe because of that."

Another smile crossed her features at that, and Gilgamesh almost found himself smiling back. It was still too early for him to be able to complete the gesture, but he had no doubt that he was well on his way to becoming used to doing exactly that.

She settled a little closer to him and, after tracing his chest for a few more minutes, she informed him, matter-of-factly, "You ripped all my clothes."

When he remained silent for a little while, she turned in his embrace to look at him, and could see that his usual smirk was wickedly impish.

"Does this mean that I can now come with you when you choose your underwear, my love?"

She gasped indignantly, at a loss for words, while he only chuckled, a hint of smugness in his tone. "After all, I am the one responsible for ruining all the articles you normally wear… let me make it up to you by helping you select the new ones – which are of course going to meet the same end."

She decided not to grace him with a reply, her eyes however remaining on him, drinking him in. He was going to come with her anyway – and she couldn't say she was completely against the idea of him now choosing underwear together with her – but all in due time. Now was not the right moment to think about such things.

Her golden locks flew everywhere as she held her head a little straighter to look at him better.

"I want a divorce," she stated, with the same matter-of-factly tone as before.

She briefly chuckled at his expression, but became serious when she realized that he had gone rigid with actual apprehension.

Her fingertips went back to touching him gently.

"I don't mean it like that, Gilgamesh. Without involving the press or anything of the kind, I would just like to do things properly this time… marry you for real."

He considered her words carefully, and then sighed.

"If you recall, you complained yourself that weddings are incredibly tiring. It's not necessary to go through such a tedious and long process of paperwork just to repeat the wedding vows, I believe."

She had to think about it for a few moments, and then admitted, with some difficulty, "You are right."

He studied her keenly for a moment. This seemed important to her – and to be fair, being truly married to her was important to him, too.

"If you want a repeating of the wedding vows for real, a private ceremony can nevertheless be arranged with the family–"

"No," she interrupted him quietly. "I was merely thinking about the contract. We got married because the contract said so, but now I want it to be true. There is no need, however, for what you – and your mother too, now that I think about it – rightfully indicated to be merely an artificial ceremony. For me, it's enough to know that you want this… to be for real."

He didn't give her a verbal reply, but his hold on her tightened, indicating wordlessly that he agreed with her.

His hand then caressed her bare back, running his fingers down her spine with a wonderful mix of tenderness and possessiveness.

"Enkidu knows," he said carefully, studying her expression as he told her this.

She stared back at him, raising an eyebrow a little.

"He guessed, didn't he?"

He smirked, his hand never stopping its slow movements.

"He knows me very well." He interrupted himself when he found her hip, and pulled her body closer to his. "Your sister?"

Arturia shook her head slightly, consciously leaning further into his touch and bringing one of her own hands up to fleetingly caress his cheek.

"I… have been avoiding Iri these days. Not necessarily on purpose, but between work and everything else, I'm sure she wouldn't have noticed anything either way."

His hand joined the other on her hip to pull her entire form more resolutely to him.

"She would have already noticed if she hadn't been so busy. She doesn't know you any less than Enkidu knows me, Arturia." He leaned forward to kiss her neck.

She moved her head to the side slightly, allowing him better access, and closed her eyes at the sensation.

"Not much changed about me, Gilgamesh, or at least not enough to make Iri notice."

His smirked into her neck, and pulled back slightly to manoeuvre her body so that she was no longer lying on her side but on her back.

His hands, already on her hips, travelled lower.

"Oh, you truly believe so? Not much changed, you say?" He hummed contentedly as he held her legs more securely, pulling them apart to settle himself between them. "Maybe you're right though."

His lips were back on her neck, kissing and caressing her with more intensity now. Her breath hitched.

"The fact that you're not bashful of being naked in my presence isn't such a great change. Or," he stopped talking to concentrate his mouth on her breasts, greedily listening to her moans with satisfaction, "the fact that you're incredibly responsive to every," a kiss, "little," a deeper kiss, "touch, each time we share intimacy as if it's still the first time," a teasing suckle, "and scream my name until your voice is hoarse… All this isn't such an impressive change in you after all."

His tongue left her nipple to go further down, replacing his body at the apex between her thighs. "Or is it, Arturia?"

She gasped loudly as his mouth delved in to devour her, and her hands helplessly grasped for something to hold on to, finding it in his blond hair and the bed sheets.

Her pants and loud cries of pleasure were delightful to his ears, and he was both scrupulous and relentless in his task, bringing her to the pinnacle before finally reaching up to kiss her deeply on the mouth and smirking down at her as she tasted herself on his tongue. She was flushed, breathing heavily, and her body was covered in sweat.

She was beautiful.

Weakly, she directed a glare at him.

"Fine, you are right," she huffed once she found her voice again, and he felt even more satisfied at hearing how hoarse it was. "Being in love with you and sleeping with you has produced a change, and if Enkidu could see it in you, then Iri would have seen it in me… had I given her the chance."

He still looked down at her in amusement.

"I like hearing you admit that I'm right."

She surprised him by regaining her energy more quickly than he had expected and suddenly flipping them over, pinning him to the mattress as she straddled him, staring down at him with a small smile. He was intrigued by what she was doing, his eyes darkening with desire, and something in his lower regions stirred as well; if their earlier actions had already awoken his passion, now he was definitely turned on.

She knew this perfectly – she could feel the evidence of it rubbing against her. And now she smirked at him.

Leaning her body over his, pressing her form against his – his arms enveloped her, not leaving her the possibility of escaping even if she had actually wanted to – she skilfully raised her hips a little, grinding against him.

A small gasp escaped him as his blood red eyes glazed over for a moment, before he narrowed them at her, while she only smirked again, her cheeks reddening with what he could recognize as hungry desire.

"I believe the one thing that certainly hasn't changed is the fact that I can still tease you, Gilgamesh," she drawled out, green eyes sparkling with amusement and love.

He growled, pulling her down for a kiss. He could not resist her, especially not when she sank down on him suddenly, making them cry out in bliss.

"Minx," was all he could breathe out, before both decided that any more words would be superfluous.

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There was a different sort of tenderness in the way they got dressed on Saturday – they had not left the bed at all the day before – mainly because he stared at her with almost eerie intensity as she arranged her hair in her favourite chignon style.

His lovely wife Arturia was his, all his – and he was hers, too.

It was exhilaratingly odd to realize that he loved knowing this, having the certainty and the secure knowledge of their reciprocal feelings.

She had decided to wear a dress on this day, and as he very willingly came to zip her up, he murmured against her neck, suggestively, "I'm looking forward to helping you take it off as well."

She met his eyes stoically through the mirror.

"I had actually hoped you would ask, as it's a much better alternative to you ripping it to pieces. But you will have to be careful not to crease it."

He chuckled against her skin, and she only barely managed to hold back a shiver and keep up her valiantly composed expression.

"Are you trying to make my mother proud by giving so much importance to the clothes?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"No, I'm trying to preserve my wardrobe, as I am fond of this particular article. You enjoy tearing my clothes to shreds far too much."

He could not deny such a statement – nor did he want to – and smirked smugly.

"You have never protested before."

She could not deny his statement either, and he used the brief moment of silence to study her.

He had discovered that, even after confessing their feelings, she still wasn't particularly good with conveying her emotions into words, sometimes even when they were in bed. She still wasn't able to tell him what she liked – not in articulated sentences, at least.

But he didn't mind. He preferred coaxing non-verbal reactions out of her, and he actually found it endearing that she could behave like a lioness under the sheets, but only stutter and blush if she had to talk about it.

Then again, it wasn't something he found bad, for he could do that in her stead, and after all, seeing her turn crimson every time he bluntly pointed it out was absolutely priceless.

Besides, it was now rather common for him to be able to read her actions and expressions to correctly guess how she was feeling. And since on this day she was positively glowing, he knew there was nothing he should worry about.

He kissed her cheek lightly before finally releasing her from his hold so that she could finish tying up her hair. Before he could say anything, perhaps to tease her some more, she brought up a different subject.

"Regarding the contract we made so many months ago, don't you believe it's time to make some changes to it?"

He grinned widely – he was doing it an awful lot lately, but it was fine. More than fine.

"About the consummation part, I most certainly believe so – as I predicted from the start, my dear."

She gave a half-hearted glare at the mirror, and he met her gaze teasingly, his self-satisfaction obvious, but then he became slightly more serious, giving her a short nod to let her know that he understood what she meant.

She returned his nod, placated. They had already broken some of the contract's rules but, since they had done it in mutual agreement on it, it wasn't going to have consequences, and now they were going to make the changes more radical.

They had thought about cancelling the contract entirely; however, since oddly enough it was what had actually brought them together, there was no real point in completely invalidating it, at least for the time being.

A few years down the road, maybe they would. But for now, they intended to simply enjoy what they had found in each other.

After all, it was hard to bother about a piece of paper binding them together, when Gilgamesh was fully focused on just staring at her – while she stared back at him – as she was in their room and did something as simple and ordinary as getting dressed.

He was also very much satisfied to find out that he had been wrong back when he had thought Arturia could not have happiness when being with him rather than with her family.

If with her sister and her niece and nephew she had calm happiness, when she was with him she expressed explosive happiness. It was different, but not any less powerful or earnest, and what truly mattered was that it was happiness, and it was with him.

Gilgamesh could not help grinning slightly when he also realized that his own happiness was now clearly determined by Arturia's – and this was unusual for him, as it being determined by others was instead how she found happiness.

She had made him change, it was undeniable, and he decided he found it acceptable.

To be fair, 'acceptable' was decidedly too mild a word, but he couldn't be bothered to search for a more suitable one. Not when he could spend his time in much more productive ways, for example holding his dearly loved wife in his embrace.

Stepping forward, he followed through with the action, bringing his arms around her again, and as she looked up at him through the mirror, he informed her, deadpan, "I make no promises about your dress, Arturia, for it looks quite bewitching."

She narrowed her eyes and turned to face him abruptly. He almost missed the devilish gleam that crossed her features before she managed to conceal it with a deceptively innocent look.

"If you do rip this dress, I make no promises about not asking Enkidu for those baby pictures of yours either, Gilgamesh."

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A few days later, when they were both finished with work, Arturia and Iri met up for lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Kariya was with Illya and Sakura, who was going to pick up Shirou and Rin from school afterwards and take them with her to the Uruk mansion, where she was going to cook while the two children would do their homework.

Since Irisviel was now working almost full time and Kariya had the usual shifts at the hospital, the children were frequent guests at Arturia and Gilgamesh's place, as the large halls and uncountable rooms never ceased to amaze them. Iri had admonished them about being careful not to touch anything that wasn't theirs, but as long as they did not go to the more private rooms on the upper floor, not even Gilgamesh found anything to complain about their presence there.

At first, the two sisters kept to small talk, mostly about Iri's children, and Arturia could not help smiling at seeing how Iri spoke of Rin and Sakura as if they were part of her family – not to mention the way she talked about Kariya.

The blonde woman was not sure on how to approach the subject she particularly wanted to discuss, but she thought that perhaps it was best to start by clarifying some other things first.

"Did you happen to notice my scarves recently?" she asked conversationally.

Iri looked a bit puzzled at such an unusual question.

"Yes, you've been wearing them most of the time– no, wait, actually… during the past few weeks, all the time."

Arturia was a bit uncomfortable.

"I must confess, I didn't wear them for fashion, Iri."

Iri raised an eyebrow.

"Of course not. You had a sore throat. I recall your voice not sounding its best a few times."

The blonde woman felt even more uncomfortable. Now that she was in the middle of the conversation, she was realizing that perhaps, bringing up the subject in such a way had not been her smartest idea.

"It wasn't because I was cold, nor because I had a cold."

Now Iri was decidedly confused. Arturia decided to ignore her embarrassment and finally came clean with what she meant.

"I am sorry, Iri. I lied to you. I had to wear a scarf in order to cover the skin of my neck because it wouldn't have been appropriate to show in public."

A faint blush appeared on her cheeks, but she nonetheless stared at her sister, straight in the eye, as she blurted out, "I have been sleeping with Gilgamesh."

For a few, long minutes, there was complete silence as Iri's expression did not change even a fraction.

Eventually, the white-haired woman slowly commented, "I see."

She brought her glass of water to her lips, her calm composure back in place.

Before Arturia could do more than blink at her sister's apparent lack of a reaction, Iri looked at her strangely.

"Ria, let me ask you what you asked me some time ago. Are you happy?"

Recognizing the question and the reason behind it, Arturia smiled widely. Iri understood far more than she let on.

"With him, yes, I am."

Iri sighed briefly.

"I can't say I know him well enough to be close with him, but I know that he is right for you. I suppose that I have a real brother-in-law now, and the uncle Shirou talks so much and so fondly about is now truly part of the family."

She seemed a little pensive, before a bright smile lit up her face. "I'm honestly really, really happy for you, Ria."

She leaned forward to touch her sister's hand for a short moment. "Considering the contract, and the sacrifices," her gaze wavered slightly, as recalling her illness was always a delicate subject, "that started everything, I'm so, so glad it came to this."

Arturia smiled at her sister's words, extremely pleased to hear them. But Iri wasn't finished yet.

"However," her eyes had a strange flicker, "I do hope that you and your husband will be more careful during the next few months."

Arturia raised an eyebrow, believing she understood her sister's concern, even though she was slightly uncomfortable around such a topic.

"If you are talking about protection, you know perfectly that I've been on the pill since I was thirteen – and that hasn't changed."

The white-haired woman shook her head, the tiniest of smirks ghosting on her lips, and Arturia realized that the light in her eyes was a playfully naughty one.

"Not that, Ria… Even though I can now again bring up the subject of giving Illya, Shirou and Rin some young playmates, that wasn't what I was addressing. I meant that at the moment it's late fall going on winter, so wearing scarves doesn't present much of an issue. But when summer comes, it will be too hot to cover your skin."

Her smirk widened and she winked. "Unless your husband holds himself back, you will be showing the world the proof of what happens in your bedroom. Now that I think about it," and she shot her a saucy glance, "perhaps it's best if you hold yourself back as well."

Arturia blushed scarlet, taken aback and mortified by her sister's bluntness.

"Iri!"

The other woman laughed cheerfully.

"Ria darling, I haven't seen your husband's skin, but I know you, and I can make my guesses. Besides, I have been wearing turtlenecks myself for far too long to play innocent on this subject. Don't tell me that you never noticed, back in the US."

Arturia cleared her throat, still a tinge of red on her cheeks.

"I always tried my best not to see."

Iri smirked, a devious glint in her dark red eyes.

"Fair enough, since I was covered there was nothing to see."

Arturia gave her sister a half-hearted glare, and then she huffed before smiling slightly once again. She was doing it with more and more frequency.

"While I can't say your cheekiness doesn't scandalize me a little, I am very happy to see you so positive and outgoing, Iri."

Dark red eyes danced with mirth, before obtaining a more sedated but not any less happy light.

"We have finally gotten our lives back on track, Ria."

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